SYRACUSE — An incumbent and two challengers are seeking the only contested Wawasee School Board seat in the Nov. 6 election.

Mary Lou Dixon, the incumbent in District 2 covering Turkey Creek Township, is being challenged by Steven Baut and William “Bill” Cripe. Rob Fisher, District 1 (Tippecanoe Township), and Rebecca Linnemeier, District 3 (Van Buren and east Jefferson Township) are both running unopposed.

Dixon is a retired teacher and is seeking her fifth term on the board. She said she was asked by several people to seek another term on the board.

Baut moved to the Syracuse area nearly three years ago and has three children involved in the Wawasee school system. He wants to give a voice for the teachers in the school district.

Cripe, a 1965 graduate of Syracuse High School, moved his family back to the Syracuse area in 2008 from the Middlebury area. He has always been interested in schools and now has the time to serve on the board, he noted.

Fisher will be serving his third term on the board and said he feels like serving has been a way to give back to the community. He also noted the growth of the career and technical education program, among other accomplishments.

Linnemeier will be serving her fourth term. She said her love of kids has not changed and feels like she is not done with her role on the school board.

Each of the three candidates seeking the District 2 seat in Turkey Creek Township were asked two questions. Following are the questions and their responses.

1. If elected, what do you hope to accomplish as a board member?

Dixon: “As a member of the Wawasee School Board, I would say this current board has done an excellent job, works well together and I would consider it a great honor to find myself part of this board for the next four years. Under the board’s role as supervisor, we have accomplished many good things. We have a new elementary school utilizing geothermal heating and cooling, an ultra-modern football field, a CTE program that is expanding in many fields including marine technology, welding and even a new chicken coop with real live chickens.

“For our corporation’s fans, in addition to football, basketball, track and other sports, I would suggest you come to a robotics competition, an Academic Super Bowl meet or inspect our super mileage cars. All these ‘lesser’ known events find Wawasee ranking among the best in the state, and the robotics rank among world competitors.

“For the next year the board plans to continue to improve on student safety in the schools, to implement some solar technology to help reduce heating costs and to fix or renovate part of our present buildings. An example of the latter is to provide good drainage at Wawasee Middle School. Water has always been a problem there, and now part of the tiling may have broken, allowing for backup.

“Restrooms need to be updated, humidity issues need to be addressed; as any property owner knows, the list goes on and on.”

Baut: “One area that needs to be accomplished is developing a bridge of communication from the school to its community. We have numerous mediums that the schools engage in regarding communication but need to establish a routine discipline to inform the community of these decisions. My objective is creating a quarterly update of these decisions and attend any of our local groups meetings every quarter. Certain examples of these groups, while not exhaustive, would be the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis groups in each town, the Lions Club and so on. I believe if we can provide an update on what decisions have been made and those that are in the near future, this will create that dynamic bridge of communication. We may disagree on decisions, however it would result in being respected by keeping our people updated and also allowing differing viewpoints to surface.

“We must have honest collaboration as this results in a healthy culture for our overall school system.”

Cripe: “I would hope to represent the schools, the community, the taxpayers and the students and to enhance the reputation of our schools. Being a good listener and with my life experiences, graduating from Syracuse High School, a Purdue graduate and coming back home after college to build my business. Being an entrepreneur for the last 45 years, my goal is to use those life experiences to increase the positive image that our schools have in our communities.”

2. What do you see as an important issue facing the school corporation and how would you address it?

Dixon: “The most perplexing problem schools face today is the protection of our students. School safety has always been an issue, but in our changing, more complicated world, the existence of shooters, bombers and terrorists has greatly complicated this issue. We have installed self-locking doors, cameras and the Raptor system, an identifying system for visitors. We are moving forward with new security and technology upgrades as they become available, and we have school resource police officers. School evacuation plans are in effect as well.

“While we realize in spite of all that has been done, the eradication of this problem in today’s world is practically impossible. Our efforts must not cease, and we must continue our vigilance with whatever modern means become available.

“Another issue I would hope the board would address is to continue to strongly support our teaching staff in their efforts to better educate our youth. Our state government has given our teachers extra paperwork to document what they are doing, which in some cases might prove useful, but there are only 24 hours in a day. Our teachers spend many hours preparing lessons and meeting the needs of individual students. We should provide them with whatever they need to simplify and improve their teaching performance and to free up some time so more of it can be spent in actual teaching.”

Baut: “We have in place a great CTE program that connects our students to certain trades certifying them when entering the workforce. As our country evolves annually, so do the needs of education and what our student body is prepared for. We must continue to grow and increase programs that will align well with Wawasee’s future and what occupations are out there being demanded. We need to continue and hopefully expand this area with other trade disciplines to provide numerous opportunities for our student body. What company would not want to hire someone who is already up to speed on whichever discipline our students are being hired for?

“How much savings would companies acquire by decreasing the employee’s training time, bad or mistaken product usage and most of all the most valued asset of time companies would be able to have a distinct advantage on? Secondary education is a response to plans after graduation, yet not all students may want to attend a college immediately. In this manner we are building students on being successful regardless if they move toward higher education and possibly offering them something they truly enjoy doing.”

Cripe: “Our students come with a wide range of social, economic and emotional needs. Finding strategic ways to support all students is one of our most important issues. I believe ‘Pathways to Graduation’ being adopted in 2019-20 is something I support. Through our careers and technical education program, we are getting students involved and seeing the value of education. I believe students who are involved in their school do better. Student success should be our main issue.”