This is the 10th story in an 11-part series featuring the candidates for City Commission and School Board. One story will be featured each day between Oct. 8 and Oct. 18. This Q&A was lightly edited for clarity.
Lynn Reazin
Candidate for School Board
Current job
I am a manager at Burns & McDonnell in the IT department.
Current community involvement
The primary one is school board. As part of that, I’m also a board member of our cooperative, which is for special ed. Otherwise, I have done lots of different things. I was on the Eudora PTO when my kids were little. I did my stint over at the Eudora Schools Foundation.
Why are you running for election?
I’ve really enjoyed the last eight years. The two terms that I have served, we’ve seen lots of different things, including COVID, the bond, and I’m excited about where we’re going. There’s a lot of excitement of doing and seeing those things come to fruition. I also have four boys. Two of them have already graduated, but they went all the way through 12th grade through here. I still have two, and I still think I can make a difference, still have an impact and still see my children benefit from some of the decisions that we’re making right now.
The opening of Panasonic will have a big impact on the region. What steps do you think the school board should be taking right now to prepare for that?
We’ve been discussing it a lot, and I think that’s one of the biggest things is to keep asking questions, keep staying involved. I know that we are having conversations with the city because we’re really relying upon them as being that forefront of knowing this kind of conversation, what the impact can be. We’ve had conversations with other groups out on the West Coast. What kind of impact did it have on the schools?
So right now, it’s kind of this anticipation of a huge unknown. The other big thing is just understanding what kind of growth can we have with our housing? The housing in Eudora is going to be the big thing. And so we’re really keeping abreast of what’s going on with the development plans. Recently, the city annexed behind the high school field. So, understanding what those plans are, because with houses comes people.
We are one of the more poor districts as far as valuation per pupil. So the growth of people is one thing, but we don’t get to benefit from the Panasonic dollars, tax dollars of that commercial [property]. So the school board keeps talking about these things. We’re doing lots of different surveys, understanding our natural growth, trying to anticipate what Panasonic growth will do and then trying to figure out funding wise, what kind of growth and how we’ll be doing that. So right now, we have a lot of ears low to the ground, trying to collect a lot of information, but that’s all we can do right now because right now it’s speculation.
How do you hope to improve the educational experience for students in the district?
So, we have done so many good things already. That’s the exciting part is we really do believe in that whatever the student is looking for that might be career bound after they leave here – they might go into tech schools, it might include those of the co-op kids and that bridge program, trying to help them find their jobs – and also as well as college bound – there’s just so much exciting stuff going on.
We are offering a lot for our students today, but I’m really looking at there’s more we can do for those college-bound students, including are we offering enough at the high school for college credits? There’s a lot of schools that can do even more. And so right now, one of our values is just making sure that whichever area it is, whether it’s college bound or entering the career force, making sure that they have those better connections. That’s really what we need to be doing.
Nationwide, school districts have been struggling to hire and retain teachers. What role do you see for the school board in helping with that issue?
The first one, we have to be a great school, an exciting school where there’s things going on and where people want to be, I think we have that. We’re very fortunate that, when we do have openings, that Eudora’s interesting, great location, small town, however, close enough to lots of things going on. So close to universities like KU, all the various colleges up in Kansas City, so we’re known for that, and that’s a good thing.
I think the other thing is just the administrative: making sure that you’re joining a school district that really has strong building identification, and each one of our buildings do have that strong identification. We’ve also really offered up a lot more as far as our coaching for resources, coaching and resources for especially new teachers. I think it’s really important when you have a brand new teacher, attracting them by saying, “Hey, we’re not gonna just hope that this goes well for you. We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure you’re successful.”
And then, of course, pay and benefits. And that’s a very, very tricky one. Like I said, we have a lot that we need to figure out, a lot of pennies to watch, and we’re doing our best with that. But we’re constantly trying to figure out how can we get more pay for the teachers? So there’s a fine balance between all those things.
I would love to pay teachers more, but we can’t always give everything we want. So then we have to concentrate on those others: the environment, the support staff, and so that’s really where I think the school board can make sure we are constantly trying to get them more pay, but at the same time, trying to make sure we have those other tangibles and intangibles.
Staff also play a critical role in keeping schools going: bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria workers, secretaries, etc. How do you think the school board can support and retain these employees?
I would say the same things – there’s all of those non-tangibles. The work environment, the support and people want to go to places where they enjoy where they’re working, and then, of course, pay, as well. Our transportation, especially, that’s a great example. That is led by directors excited about what they’re doing, try to ensure that their folks are satisfied with their job, that they’re part of the community, that they feel that enrichment and they’re making a difference. And I know that also extends to all the others.
Paras are another big thing. Making sure that they’re part of the community of Eudora.
So, pay, we want to definitely increase on all of these things, but until we can do that, we have to look at all those intangibles for all of them.
With the passing of the bond, there are a lot of changes coming to the schools, especially the high school. What do you think are the greatest needs in the district as it relates to infrastructure?
We are addressing those with the bond. We spent a long time as a school board identifying what those visions are and getting community input. The beauty is that we have a long list. The bond does not cover them all. So I think we are hitting the important ones. Safety over here at the middle school, additional classrooms at the high school, and then really setting up the pre-k over at West and that’s a good example of really leveraging resources that we already have.
The bond would have been larger if we would have chosen to expand entire buildings, but instead we’re trying to be very frugal, and trying to make sure that we are using the resources. So I think those are the big ones, we’re hitting the big ones. Obviously, there’s some HVAC and phones and communications things that will also be covered in the bond as well. So we’re getting the important ones, and that list is long, even after the bond. So we’ll figure out what we can keep working at, but I think we are hitting the important ones with the bond.
What would you like to see from the Legislature to provide better support for K-12 education?
They are supposed to do more funding for our special ed. Kansas legislation is not meeting our obligations, legal obligations to fund special ed. So that’s what I’d like to see is to make sure that we really get the funding that we need. Unfortunately, because of that, Baldwin, Wellsville and Eudora all have to contribute additional funds and take it away from the others. So, I think that’s really my one message is, if [legislators] can make sure that they’re looking at their legal obligations for special ed funding, that would help out and trickle down everywhere else, too.
What is the district’s greatest strength?
The community. I was at the homecoming parade and even one of our seniors was talking about that community. There’s that sense of community. The bond is a great example of that. You know, I read somewhere somebody saying, “Oh, nothing ever passes for more than 70%,” and we proved that wrong. And, you know, if you do get the message out there to the community, the Eudora schools and the city of Eudora are one and they support each other, and that’s a great example that it’s about the community.
What about the biggest challenges for the district?
We don’t have those corporate dollars. We don’t have commercial dollars and our valuation is very, very low. KSDE publishes valuations and valuations per pupil. I think we are bottom 13 or 14%. That’s our biggest challenge. We don’t want to overtax people so we got to figure out how are we going to try to attract businesses to Eudora, and yet keep that small-town feel and that sense of community?
Anything else you’d like to add?
I’m excited about what we’ve been doing. I wouldn’t have been in Eudora unless I thought it was a great school system. I think that our teachers are doing an absolutely amazing job. and we just – we’re all united, and I’m excited in the leadership of Stu, that we have a vision, we are looking at metrics, we’re very analytical about it. And I just think that we have good plans, and we just need to keep rolling along and succeeding.
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