SNEA Recommends Three for School Board

SNEA Recommends Callen, Hosmer and Renner for School Board

This year’s school board election will take place on Tuesday, April 3. As in years past, SNEA formed a committee of members, sent out questionnaires to candidates and held interviews. A sincere thank you goes out to SNEA members Shannon Benne (Watkins), Anna Copeland (Study), Brent Fullington (Cherokee), Steve Ingalsbe (Pipkin), Rebecca Jamieson (HickoryHills), Sarah Schofield (Sequiota), and Jane Sellars (Central) for volunteering their time. Interviews with candidates were held on February 27 and March 3.

Three seats are up for election this year, and there are four candidates: Kris Callen (incumbent), Andy Hosmer (incumbent), Bruce Renner (incumbent) and David Awbrey.

Interview Sessions

Questions ranged from general reasons for running to more specific and timely issues like teacher tenure, merit pay, teacher evaluations and collective bargaining. Needless to say, there was a great deal of discussion with each candidate. After all interviews were completed, the committee weighed a broad range of factors relating to each candidate, and a ballot vote was held to determine the SNEA recommendations.

SNEA recommendations for the April 3 School Board:

Kris Callen

Kris Callen has served on the school board since 2003 and was President of the board from 2007-09. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Missouri School Board Association. Callen became involved with SPS as a parent of two children who have attended SPS schools over the past 16 years. Throughout her service, she has demonstrated a strong advocacy for SPS and public education in general. She is well informed about federal and state legislative issues that affect our district’s funding and operation.

While there have been a few times over the past nine years when SNEA has differed with Callen on specific issues locally, her steadfast support and advocacy for public education – and her awareness of legislative attempts to undermine public education – cannot be questioned. No realistic view of candidate endorsements would assume that the group and any given candidate would be in agreement 100% of the time. That’s not what SNEA seeks in this process. We seek knowledgeable people who understand the issues, are not bound by narrow ideological constraints and will work with teachers to bring improvements to our school system. Kris Callen, through her years of service, has proven that she is that kind of school board member and candidate.

Andy Hosmer

Local attorney Andy Hosmer has been on the school board since 2006 and is now seeking a third term. Hosmer has two children attending elementary school in our district and a third begins next year. His vocal support for teacher representation during his first term on the board is indicative of his broader advocacy for higher teacher compensation and respect for the teaching profession. When asked about how Springfield compares to other districts in compensating teacher, Mr. Hosmer told SNEA, “If we have to parse the salary levels and benefits to see where we rank, we are not doing what we need to do. I think it needs to be clear that SPS pays more.” He opposes the effort in the state legislature to repeal teacher tenure law, and is well aware of political attempts at the state and national level that seek to undermine public education.

Since his early service on the board, Hosmer has arguably been the most vocal critic of state and local dependence on MAP scores to determine the effectiveness of instruction and learning. During the planning and construction of the new Hickory Hills, Hosmer promoted the concept of building and sustaining a “green” school in Springfield. He is a LEEDS Schools Advocate and a member of the United States Green Building Council. Throughout his service on the school board, Hosmer has never shied away from asking the tough question, offering a new idea or taking an opposing view. For all these reasons, SNEA recommends Andy Hosmer to serve another term on our school board.

Bruce Renner

Bruce Renner is one of two former teachers now serving on the school board, after having worked as a counselor at Central and Parkview for a combined seventeen years. He also worked for eleven years in the Student Services office at Ozark Technical College. He now holds a position with Missouri State University. In 2009, Renner was the recipient of the Missouri NEA Horace Mann Award for his contributions to public education. He has also served on the Executive Board for the Missouri School Board Association.

Needless to say, Renner’s sixteen years of service on the school board has been characterized by unwavering support for the teaching profession and a body of institutional knowledge that is unmatched by any other public servant in our area. His positions on key issues such as teacher tenure, merit pay and teacher evaluations are based on common sense standards that SNEA supports. Renner’s wide range of knowledge and broad experience on the board make him a strong candidate for re-election. SNEA is proud to support his candidacy.

David Awbrey

David Awbrey is a journalist with a career spanning some thirty years at various newspapers and publications in a number of states. He served for a brief time as Communications Director for the Kansas State Department of Education before moving to Springfield and teaching at Pipkin Middle School during the 2006-07 school year. His book, A Journalist’s Education in the Classroom, was based on his teaching experiences while at Pipkin. He has also written numerous op-ed pieces in the local newspaper where he has voiced strong criticism of our district leadership, particularly our district’s propensity to call itself a “high-performing” district. Awbrey disagrees with that assertion and is critical of the district for subjecting its students to what he terms “grinding mediocrity”. Awbrey says that, “Missouri is drowning academically in 10 feet of water, (while) Springfield is a “high-performing” district because it is submerged only 9 feet.”

Awbrey also believes that Springfield is in a uniquely advantageous position be a model district for school reforms and innovation. He cites the NEA white paper, Leading the Profession, as a guide to upgrading the profession and a model for teacher involvement in driving their own professional development. In short, Awbrey is a passionate supporter of education reform and has a lot of good ideas that SNEA supports. However, several members of the committee had trouble understanding why a candidate for a public school board would choose to send his school-age child to a private school. One year of teaching may have provided enough material for an interesting book, but some questioned whether some of his portrayals of our district were based more on conjecture than real experience. While Awbrey is obviously passionate about school reform and has strong opinions about how it should be done, the interview team felt that his assessment of our district was somewhat biased and that he lacked practical experience relating to our community and schools.

Vote April 3

We hope that SPS employees will get out the vote on April 3, place signs in their yards and become active in supporting good candidates for the school board. Please call 869-5090 if you'd like to help or have any questions about the SNEA recommendation process or the candidates. Thanks.