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Huber Heights school board candidates want to be involved

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer 1:07 PM Wednesday, October 28, 2009

HUBER HEIGHTS —Each of the three incumbent Huber Heights City school board members believe it’s important they remain involved as the district embarks on an ambitious effort to rebuild its schools.

The two challengers want to keep an eye on how that multi-million dollar project is funded while they work to improve the district.

Carl D. Fisher Jr. has served on the board for 20 years and has been board president the past two years.

Fisher, 56, of 7301 Troy Manor Road, is manager of Hickory Bar-B-Que restaurant in Dayton. He has lived in the district since 1958 and graduated from Wayne High School in 1971.

Fisher said he is seeking re-election primarily because of the passage of the bond issue that launched the new schools project.

“I felt like it would be good to stay on with my experience as far as decisions being made in the next couple of years,” he said, adding that if re-elected, it would be his final term.

Fisher said he had considered not running this time, but administrators and staff told him they thought it would be beneficial if he stayed on during the construction phase.

Board member Karen Weaver-Cox, 51, of 7807 Berchman Drive, also wants to remain involved during the construction phase.

“That’s a lot of decisions being made by the board, by the administration, with input from the community and teachers,” said Weaver-Cox, who has lived in the district nearly 25 years and has had three children graduate from Wayne High School. She is editor of the Skywriter newspaper at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and has been on the board for four years.

Weaver-Cox said another top priority is encouraging and working with the administration to look at opportunities that help students discover future job opportunities.

She believes a lot will come through science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives.

“With industry leaving Ohio the way it has,” she said, “we have to give them a real vision for what is ahead.”

Weaver-Cox noted her name will appear on the ballot as Weaver because of an error she wasn’t able to correct in time.

Challenger Kelly Bledsoe, 54, of 8519 Schoolgate Drive, is a retired Air Force major who is running because of a “sense of responsibility” and because he believes in “the importance to maintain a high sense of quality” in the district.

He believes his time in the Air Force and experience commanding various units prepared him for the position.

The father of four Wayne High School graduates said his family has lived in the school district since 1996.

He considers two issues, including the construction project, to be top priorities.

“There are still some decisions to be made on the final projects,” he said. “I want to make sure things are being done wisely. This money belongs to the taxpayers.”

He also wants to see the district improve its effective rating on the state report card.

School board incumbent Lu Dale, 72, of 7057 Pineview Drive, has served on the school board for four years. She retired in 2003 from the school district, where she taught and counseled students.

Dale said she has lived in the district at least 28 years and her daughter graduated from Wayne.

“We made a lot of progress, even in the four years I’ve been on the board,” she said, citing the bond issue for the new schools.

Dale, who is on the superintendent’s facilities planning advisory committee, said she’d like to see the building project through “to make sure it goes like we planned it.”

She said she’d like to see the district move from an effective district to an excellent one on the state report card.

Candidate Mark Combs, 43, of 7024 Geary Place, graduated from Wayne in 1984 and is a product line manager for a Vandalia company.

The father of four has had two children who graduated from Wayne, while his two other children, ages 6 and 3, attend a Montessori school. He intends to enroll them in the Huber Heights school district when they’re older.

Combs said he is running for a school board seat with the goal of returning the district to educational excellence. His campaign focuses on three issues: Fiscal responsibility as the district builds new schools; “unification” of the administration, teachers’ union and community; and curriculum realignment.

Combs proposes realigning the curriculum so that grade school children be permitted to take a foreign language, either Spanish or Mandarin Chinese.

“From a fiscal responsibility standpoint, I think we should limit it to fewer languages. Those should be the two,” he said.

Carl D. Fisher Jr.

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