Candidate Q&A: LSC school board, four seats on the ballot

Candidates are running for Lafayette School Board in four districts in Nov. 8’s general election.

Lafayette School Corp. school board candidates, clockwise from top left: Brent Clemenz, Steve Bultinck, Chuck Hockema and Matthew Morris.

Four of the seven seats on the Lafayette School Corp. school board are up for election on the Nov. 8 ballot.

One incumbent, Bob Stwalley in District 2, is running unopposed.

The District 6 seat is empty on the ballot, after school board member Allison McKay’s bid was rejected for not meeting the minimum number of qualified registered voter signatures on her filing petition. (The LSC school board will select a school board candidate in that district after the election; it likely will be McKay.)

Here, questions went to four candidates vying for two seats, in District 3 and District 7. The school board candidates run as nonpartisans, selected by voters in their district. (Check here to see who will be on your ballot.)

For more: Find bios of each candidate, along with information about where and when to vote, at the end of this article. Expect Q&As with candidates in other Greater Lafayette contests in coming days.

District 3

LSC’s District 3 includes parts of southern and central Lafayette. Incumbent Brent Clemenz and Matthew Morris are on the ballot.

Question: Why are you running?

Brent Clemenz: I feel strongly that parent involvement at all levels of public education is essential for an effective, quality-driven educational system. Also, being part of the board is a way that I serve my community. My wife and I have raised our sons in the LSC system and have been grateful for the education and extracurricular activities and opportunities that have been offered to them.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: What are your connections with the district?

Brent Clemenz: I have lived in LSC District 3 since June of 2001. 

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: Name two of your top priorities for the district. And how will you handle them?

Brent Clemenz: When I took on the office of president of the board earlier this year, I scheduled a meeting to discuss priorities with our superintendent, Les Huddle.  One of our discussion points, and one of my top priorities, is strategic planning with requested input from all stakeholders. We are nearing the end of the LSC Listening Posts where we’ve invited parents, teachers and the community to provide feedback on what LSC is doing well, what we need to improve on, and other concerns they may have.

The safety of our schools will always be a top priority of mine. I consistently hear the concerns parents raise regarding their worries and need for reassurance that our schools are safe. Over the past several years, LSC has assessed areas in need of improvement and made changes. Jefferson High School is a good example. The entryway now requires visitors to go through the vestibule that leads directly into the office rather than the common area in front of the Jaeger Theatre.  All our schools have a security plan in place to ensure no one can enter the building unannounced.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: What do you see as the biggest challenge for the district? And how do you propose to solve or deal with it?

Brent Clemenz: Declining enrollment is a significant concern that will affect future funding for the LSC. The new charter school opening in Lafayette in the fall of 2023 will have a direct impact on LSC enrollment.  While this will present some challenges, the board will work directly with our administration to find creative ways to ensure the continuity and quality of education LSC provides.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: How would you rate the performance of the current superintendent, Les Huddle, and administration?

Brent Clemenz: The LSC Board of Trustees continues to rate our superintendent’s performance as “highly effective.”  Mr. Huddle and the LSC administration do an outstanding job of building and maintaining relationships in our corporation and community and managing the corporation’s resources. Their personal and professional behavior is of the highest standard.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: Are you part of a coalition or slate of candidates in this race? If so, what is it? And what are the common aims and goals?

Brent Clemenz: I’m not a part of a coalition or slate of candidates.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: The Indiana General Assembly debated a pair of bills in spring 2022 that would have provided more oversight of classrooms, including asking teachers to post lesson plans at the start of the year so parents could review them and limiting how schools teach what were termed “divisive concepts.” Do you back those proposals. Why or why not?

Brent Clemenz: I was not in favor of these proposals. We have already resources through technology and teacher access to review the curriculum and learning objectives in our children’s classrooms. The process of curriculum adoption includes teacher, parent and community review. The struggles schools experience with teacher recruitment and retention would be compounded by these proposals. I’d like to see legislators propose initiatives that would make teaching a more desirable profession, rather than the opposite, which I see these proposals as doing.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: A new charter school, the Indianapolis-based Paramount School of Excellence, will open in fall 2023 in Lafayette, serving Greater Lafayette. Do you back the expansion of charter schools in and near your district?

Brent Clemenz: I don’t support the establishment of charter schools in the Greater Lafayette area.  While some suggest competition can promote improvement, there are other ways to identify areas where we can improve. Additionally, I believe charter schools can hamper improvement due to competition for resources, including teachers and funding. When these resources are limited, both the charter and public schools will struggle with helping students achieve academic performance and goals.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

Question: Name two specific things that separate you from your opponents and why they matter.

Brent Clemenz: I don’t know my opponent and am not familiar with his platform.

Matthew Morris: Did not respond.

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District 7

LSC’s District 7 covers parts of the eastern side of the school district. Incumbent Steve Bultinck and Chuck Hockema are on the ballot.

Question: Why are you running?

Steve Bultinck: To continue work on improving and strengthening the educational opportunities for the LSC students to inspire, nurture and empower each student.  To simultaneously work on strengthening LSC’s social programs centered on embracing diversity and inclusion and continue focus on expanding the Career Academy to support our students in developing skills needed within our community. 

Chuck Hockema: Hockema did not respond directly to questions asked here. But he offered statements from his campaign site, via TippeCitizens’ DOE (Devolution of Education), including this: “I strongly oppose any ideology that teaches or 1. Undermines traditional values and beliefs; 2.  Promotes gender confusion; 3.  Encourages peer to peer sex education; 4.  Violates of undermines parental rights; 5.  Supports CRT (Critical Race Theory), SEL (Social Emotional Learning) when used as a cover for divisive instruction ("Privilege", et al); 6.  Promotes woke ideology (Change of descriptive pronouns, etc.).”

Question: What are your connections with the district?

Steve Bultinck: Lived in Lafayette since 2002 and have been active as an LSC board member since 2007.  

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: Name two of your top priorities for the district. And how will you handle them?

Steve Bultinck: Strengthen educational opportunities to elevate all student results to high level in areas of English, math, reading and STEM. This is accomplished with a concentrated effort on constantly updating our education and career programs.

Strengthen LSC efforts in working with the diversity within our school community accomplished by listening to students and parents in the development of programs focused on the importance diversity and inclusion bring to our community.

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: What do you see as the biggest challenge for the district? And how do you propose to solve or deal with it?

Steve Bultinck: Educating students that are part of the diverse community.  Each sector of the student body has specific needs and to address those needs involves the development of programs that are focused on those specific needs.  This is a major part of the strategic planning that is in process that, as a major component, includes the Listening Posts that provide LSC with issues that need to be addressed, as presented by parents, to make LSC a premier school corporation both now and in future years. 

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: How would you rate the performance of the current superintendent, Les Huddle, and administration?

Steve Bultinck: Excellent, a rating that reflects their openness to new ideas to providing quality educational programs to the students that will serve as the basis to prepare them for being active members of the community. 

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: Are you part of a coalition or slate of candidates in this race? If so, what is it? And what are the common aims and goals?

Steve Bultinck: No, I firmly believe there is no place for politicization of a school board. 

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: The Indiana General Assembly debated a pair of bills in spring 2022 that would have provided more oversight of classrooms, including asking teachers to post lesson plans at the start of the year so parents could review them and limiting how schools teach what were termed “divisive concepts.” Do you back those proposals. Why or why not?

Steve Bultinck: I am a firm believer that parents have every right to know what is being taught and there should be transparency available to them and they should be able to provide input.  

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: A new charter school, the Indianapolis-based Paramount School of Excellence, will open in fall 2023 in Lafayette, serving Greater Lafayette. Do you back the expansion of charter schools in and near your district?

Steve Bultinck: I don’t understand the need for additional charter schools in an area where high quality public and private educational corporations exist.  With the Career Academy, more educational opportunities are available for the students that a charter cannot provide.  Charters do provide parental choice, which is very important, but I just feel that the Tippecanoe County area has excellent public and private school options at present and another alternative seems unnecessary and represent a drain on educational programs that already exist.  

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

Question: Name two specific things that separate you from your opponents and why they matter.

Steve Bultinck: I have a proven record of promoting program development for improving educational opportunities and education facilities to further inspire, nurture and empower our students.

I do not support politicization of school boards. 

Chuck Hockema: Did not respond.

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BALLOTS, VOTER REGISRATION, ETC.: Who will be on your ballot? Need to check your voter registered? That and more, available at Indiana’s voter portal, Indianavoters.in.gov.

EARLY VOTING: For a list of early voting sites in Tippecanoe County ahead of the Nov. 8 election, here’s the schedule.

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Candidate bios

District 3

Brent Clemenz

Age: 53

Occupation: I’ve worked for Valley Oaks Health for 33 years in different capacities. I’ve been a therapist for the past 20 years and established the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program in 2003. For the past nine years I have been on Valley Oaks’ Leadership Team as the Senior Director of Clinical Services covering clinical programs in Tippecanoe County.

Education:  BA in Psychology and History, Purdue University, 1992.  Masters of Social Work, Indiana University (IUPUI), 2002.

Past elected positions, if any: I was appointed by the LSC Board of Trustees to represent District 3 in June 2015. I was elected to this District 3 in 2018.

Immediate family: My wife, Suzanne, and I have been married for 23 years. Suzanne is an associate pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church.  We have three sons: Quinn, age 21, who is a junior at Purdue studying biology; Lucas, age 19, and a sophomore at Purdue studying physics education; and Aidan, age 17, a senior at Jefferson High School who plans to study musical theatre.

Your campaign site online: none, though I’m in the process of establishing a Facebook page.

Matthew Morris

Did not respond. More about him is available here, via TippeCitizens’ DOE (Devolution of Education)

District 7

Steve Bultinck

Age: 66

Occupation: Banker

Education: BS in accounting, Manchester College (University)

Past Elected Positions:  Lafayette School Board of Trustees

Immediate family:  Wife, Cheryl; four children:  Stephanie, Sarah, Graham and Colin and 6 grandchildren

Chuck Hockema

The Lafayette Jefferson High School graduate, class of 1958, is retired.

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