Voters To Select 3 School Board Members

Few discernible differences between candidates have surfaced during their campaigns for the Ann Arbor Board of Education. Three will be elected Monday. Except for the Human Rights Party (HRP) candidates, a majority of the candidates sound like they are reading from the same script. A need for long range planning, more adequate coordination of what is taught and firm and fair implementation of the discipline policy are frequently cited by candidates. Also mentioned are the need for alternative programs, to accommodate a variety of students, more emphasis on pareer education, and accountability. One of the few issues that separates ;he candidates is the board's request for m additional 1.3 milis. Candidates who support the request ire: Wendy Barhydt, 5175 W. Liberty Rd.; Stanley Bielby, 1325 Ardmoor Ave.; E. Stevens Binder, 4001 Jiratt Rd., Scio rownship; William L. Cash Jr., 3540 iVindemere; Tanya B. Israel, 2937 sted Blvd.; Willié Simpson, 1058 Westaire Way; and Peter Wright, 2140 Needham Rd. Manfred Schmidt, 3214 Williamsburg, said at the first candidates' night sponsored by the Parent Teacher Organization May 30 that he opposed the board's request for additional millage but at the second candidates' night he said he favored it. Opposed to the millage request are George Kolasa, 2760 Colony, and candidates supported by the HRP, Astrid Beek, 1706 Mclntyre, and Larry Mann, 1331 Olivia. Mann, a 14-year-old student at Pioneer High School, is a write-in candidate who is not legally eligible to hold a board seat. The name of Elliot Chikofsky, 1015 Vaughn, will appear on the ballot but he has withdrawn from the race. Among those candidates who are critical of the school district's move to decentralization two years ago is Wright, 42, a manager of labor relations for Ford. Wright said to improve education in Anrf Arbor the district needs to establish a sequential progression of basic skills from grade to grade, establish guidelines tol assure uniformity of approach, provide I internal coordination and follow-up to I make certain guidelines are followed and I begin a follow-up system with graduates. Simpson, 48, a social worker in the counseling department at Washtenaw Community College, frequently cited the school district's responsibility to teach , all children. "We have far too many children leaving our schools who have not been helped to the extent possible," he said. Simpson favors strengthening the district's elementary program and giving students remedial work when needed. Schmidt, 44, a part time landscaper, I said he also would stress the importance I of improving each child's early I enees t at school. If smaller class size is I the answer, Schmidt said he would I port spending the money necessary to I ■ - - achieve it. Throughout the campaign Schmidt stressed the need for the board to work together as a team, rather than being divided into voting bloes. Kolasa, 29, assistant manager of payroll at the U-M, focused his campaign on I the need for financial accountability. KoI lasa said rising property taxes will force I many citizens to move who can't afford I to live in Ann Arbor. The school district I must evalúate its productivity and learn I to live within its resources, he said. OthI er issues he cited: need for discipline, I relevant education and more efficiënt I use of school buildings. Mrs. Israel, 38, a former special eduI catión teacher who is now a housewife, I thinks the school district should offer a I variety of learning and teaching styles to meet different needs of students and I teachers. She said as a school board member she would solicit ideas f rom members of the community, not wait for the citizens to come to her. Cash, 58, a University administrator and professor, said he is concerned about career development and favors exposing students to vocational opportunities and decision-making skills at the elementary school level. Also cited as concerns by Cash are decisión making by the board, counseling and Pupil Personnel Services and development of a school system to meet the needs of "the total child." Binder, 27, a teacher at the Human Resources Center in Pontiac, has geared his campaign to the need for excellence in the school system. He says his biggesf concern is the need to teach reading to all children. "We have a moral obligation to provide kids with the tools they will need in life. The most important tooi is reading." The district also needs to evalúate programs so it can improve , weak áreas, he said. Bielby, 39, a senior enginering teachnician at U-M has said he would work for impfoved long range planning, better use of buildings in the evenings and, summers by adults and students, an alternative method of financing educa-B tion, better coordination between grade I levéis and schools, alternative programs ■ to serve differing needs of students andfl accountability for teachers, students, I parents and administrators. Beek, 31, who supports neighborhood I control of schools, said she is concerned I about the dehumanized quality of "edu-l catión" as defined by the current Board I of Education. "I don't want our schools! to be edueation faetones which teil 1 pie what {hey should be . . . I want an I education isystem which will help young I people shape themselves - not one I which constantly frustrates them and I self in futile attempts to mold them to its I own specifications," she said. Mrs. Barhydt, 35, a research assistant I at the U-M Highway Research jlnstitute, I said supportive services at the 1 tary school level need to be increased to I identify a child's problems early when I they are more easily treated. If elected, I Mrs. Barhydt said, she will support I Supt. Harry.Howard and work for firm] and fain implementation of the discipline I policy ariti better long range planning.