ML School Board candidates introduce themselves at forum

Editor’s note: The Herald also will have Monday night’s forum in Wednesday’s edition. Here is a preview of the candidates for Moses Lake School Board.

MOSES LAKE — Candidates running for seats with more than one opponent in the Aug. 3 primary election for Moses Lake School Board introduced themselves to voters in an online forum July 19, sponsored by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Each candidate had four minutes to talk about themselves and their reasons for running.

The four candidates for the School Director 4 spot are Rachel Roylance Gallacci, Kevin Fuhr, Matt Paluch and Jim Liebrecht.

Gallacci said she’s a full time mom of three children who will attend Moses Lake schools someday and she wants to help ensure they get a good education.

The district should focus on core subjects, she said, and work to raise proficiency in those subjects. Gallacci said she didn’t support some of the proposed curricula on sex education and racial issues. Schools should teach about those subjects, but she said some of the proposed curriculum materials are inappropriate for school and should be left to parents.

The school board, and the school district, should be financially responsible to taxpayers, she said.

Paluch said he started attending MLSB meetings in 2017, following the decision of the then-school board to revise the project to build a new high school after district patrons passed a bond for one. Paluch said the decision broke the trust between the board and community, and he wants to work to rebuild that trust. He would do it by telling district patrons the truth, and working to make it easier for district patrons to contact, and talk to, board members.

The board and district need to make long term plans to remodel or replace the district’s aging elementary schools, Paluch said. Fiscal responsibility is one of the board’s main jobs, he said, and it’s fiscally irresponsible to suggest the district sue the state over proposed curricula on racial issues. The proposed curriculum is not what people think it is, he said.

Liebrecht said he owns his own business, has experience with budgeting, and parents and district patrons need to know where the money is going. The district and school board need to be transparent in their decisions, he said. Parents should have more control over education decisions for their children, he said.

The district has a good staff of teachers and aides, Liebrecht said; it’s the administrators who make the mistakes. He cited extracurricular activities as an example -- when there’s a budget shortfall, extracurricular activities are always one of the first items mentioned to be cut.

Fuhr is the Moses Lake Police Department chief and said his experience has shown him the need for effective communication. Communication is something the school board needs to work on -- its members struggle with getting information out to the public, he said. The district needs more transparency in all its operations, Fuhr said, from expenses to buildings and programs.

As a police officer, Fuhr said a safe and secure environment for students is one of his chief concerns. The district also needs to find ways to engage students, and to increase the graduation rate.

Fuhr said he’s always been interested in public service, and his 25 years in law enforcement have given him experience in budgeting, program implementation and personnel.

Incumbent Vickey Melcher is one of three candidates for the School Director 2 seat, and she’s being challenged by Noah Zemke and Paul Hill.

Melcher said she thought the board and district responded well to the challenge presented by the COVID-19 outbreak, working quickly to help kids get the tools needed for online school. The board gave parents options when it came to reopening for the 2020-21 school year, she said, with schools open the entire year for parents who chose to send their kids. It wasn’t a lost year for Moses Lake children, she said.

Melcher said she’s worked with board members, school officials and legislators from throughout eastern Washington on different projects, including setting up a monthly webinar to discuss education issues. The challenges facing eastern Washington schools are not the same as those in western Washington, she said.

If she’s re-elected she wants to work on updating the school funding formula, she said.

Zemke said his children, and their education, motivated him to run for school board. He wants to see children succeed, he said.

The district’s graduation rate has improved, but test scores show math and reading proficiency hasn’t improved as much as it needs to, he said. District officials need to find ideas to address shortcomings. The district has good teachers, and officials should listen to them, he said.

Zemke said his own life is testament to the power of a good teacher. When he was in junior high a teacher encouraged him to pursue training in computers, he said, a talent he didn’t know he had until the teacher encouraged him.

The district also faces the challenge of a limited budget, he said, and he would be an advocate for placing students and teachers first.

Hill said he was like a lot of other people -- he sat back and expected somebody else to take the lead, but in the end decided he could and should run for the school board. He urged people to register to vote if they weren’t.

The school board isn’t as transparent as it should be, he said, and said he would advocate for schools to have review boards made up of parents and students to look at curriculum and programs.

Children should be in the classroom, he said, and the district needs to focus on core subjects: reading, writing, math and science. He said he would advocate for more vocational education.

The board must assume local control of education, he said, and state officials can’t mandate local curriculum.