SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES VIEW BAUTISTA CA...
SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES VIEW BAUTISTA CASE (continued) about McPherson aïïcï concéntrate on kids." Stronger feelings on the recent investigation were voiced by Terry Martin who said: "The Bautista affair has brought into focus the questions of credibility and leadership in the top school administration, which has been festering for many months. "The recent inquines into the activities of the assistant to the superintendent have been viewed by some as further reason for replacing the superintendent with someone who will display more concern with both the public and the teachers." j Mrs. Martin added: "With the erosión of confidence in the administration, an added burden has been placed on the board. Increased responsiveness to all segments of our school society and community at this stage is mandatory and closer review by board members to matters normally handled by administartors is essential." According to Mrs. Martin, the voters appear to be venting their frustrations through her as "the only candidate who has questioned some of the changes taking place withln our school system- the arbitrary manner in which administration proposals are handled is deeply resented in some sectors." Curtis Holt says the Bautista case has not affected his campaign since his views are based on the Human Rights Party platform. He did say, however, that now the community is exposed to some of the things he saw as a former administrator working with the Ann Arbor schools. He added that possibly the incident would stimulate some change to make the administration more accountable to the people, which, he said, is a focal point of the HRP campaign. Incumbent Henry Johnson says the Bautista case has pre-empted a lot of time and energy in his discussions with voters and made his campaign more difficult since the public seems preocj cupied with this issue. I "The majority of people are concerned 1 with how credible the board and administration are," he said. Another HRP candidate, Gretchen I Groth Wilson, says she is concerned by I voters' questions of credibility between the board and superintendent as it relates to the Community. She feels the main issues for voters involve how to I make the board more responsive and accountable to the people. Ronald Bishop, the third school board incumbent seeking re-election, relates that the Bautista incident created a serious problem but that all decisions must be based on fact. Bishop also indicated that one of the major concerns is for local school communities to have adequate input and control. This information should be filtered up to the board for the final decisión, he said. Although 15-year-old Sonia Yaco doesn't appear officially on the ballot, she plans to run as a write-in candidate. The Bautista case, she said, hasn't affected her campaign that much since "the community had very little trust in the board and administration anyway." One of the major questions posed to Miss Yaco is: Why does she feel she is qualified to run for school board since she is only 15? She says that she and other HRP candidates also are asked if they are puppets for the HRP. "But that's not the point. The fa et is that we're directly responsible to the community for all decisions that we make and that's why a platform was formulated. We're committed to follow something we believe in."