Candidate Q&A: TSC school board, seven candidates in three districts

Seven candidates running in three districts will be on the Nov. 8 ballot, running to be on the Tippecanoe School Corp. board

Oct 13, 2022

Candidates for Tippecanoe School Corp. school board, clockwise from top left: Carl Krieger, Diane Kelley, Josh Loggins, Will Sondgerath, Sara Bagsby, Holden Mugford and Holly Keckler.

Three seats on the Tippecanoe School Corp. school board will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

TSC school board seats are spread among seven districts. The school board candidates run as nonpartisans, selected by voters in their district. (Check here to see who will be on your ballot.)

Here, candidates answer questions about their approaches to serving on the seven-member school board.

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 1

District 1 covers Wabash Township and parts of Shelby Township, generally west of West Lafayette. Incumbent Patrick Hein, who served two four-year terms, did not seek re-election. The candidates are Holly Keckler, Dianne Kelley and Carl Krieger.

Question: Why are you running?

Holly Keckler: As the parent of two children in the district, a 22-year resident and a strong supporter of public education, I am invested in a commitment to quality education for all learners in our community.

Diane Kelley: I’m running as a concerned mom who supports strong academics without any agendas, and I want to uphold parental rights. Across the country and in our own community, political agendas are infiltrating classrooms, so I’m getting involved to protect our kids and parental rights.

Carl Krieger: The first reason I’m running for school board is my children. They both have attended TSC schools for most of their lives. I actually chose the schools they’d go to over all the others in the area because I was told TSC was a mix of being rigorous while also supporting each individual student’s passion areas. This has been true for both of them. My daughter is a focused student with a love for music, and she’s found her community of peers and has been supported by her teachers. My son is your typical Minecraft kid but is also a sponge for information. He’s been tracked in accelerated math and been supported by his teachers to excel. I ultimately want to, as the old adage says, leave it better than you found it. TSC has already done so much for my family, and I would like to make sure it continues to provide excellence for future families.

The second is that, over the past two years, I’ve seen too many of our policies swing back and forth because there’s little to no conflict resolution but rather conflict amplification. I believe that my experience working with parents and students along with my education, focused on educational administration, will allow me to be a mediator. I want the school board to be a steady hand that is not just focused on the crisis of the moment but a group of people looking to better the future of TSC.

Question: What are your connections with the district?

Holly Keckler: I am the parent of two TSC children, by way of Klondike schools and Harrison. I also currently serve on the TSC Long Range Planning Committee, which looks at a number of issues such as building updates, land acquisition, enrollment and county growth.

Diane Kelley: I have three children in TSC schools as well as one graduate.

Carl Krieger: I’ve lived in the same house in the district, with my family, since August of 2015. Both of my children have attended TSC school district for most of their lives. One is currently in Harrison High School, and the other is in Battle Ground Middle School.

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

Holly Keckler: 1. Decisions based on what is best for the learner

2. Decisions based on science and evidence

Decisions like these are rarely black and white. Decisions are not made in a vacuum, but instead require inquiry, open lines of communication, compromise and transparency.

Diane Kelley: One of my biggest concerns is the books kids are reading in their English and literature classes without parental knowledge or consent. I want to work with teachers, parents and administrators and get these books replaced with quality literature. Like I said, parental rights are a big issue for me, so I will work and vote to uphold parental involvement and rights — whether that’s health care choices, books or curriculum.

Carl Krieger: The first is student belonging. This was an issue before COVID. We began to see student mental health concerns rise. We saw discussions about how LGBTQ+ students felt supported or not. Inclusion was becoming more a part of our world. Then COVID came along and added issues of isolation. Our students just want to spend their day in a community where they feel like they belong, and I don’t think that’s too much to ask. We need to ask our teachers and principals how they are helping students feel like they belong. We need to ask our students what we can do to help them feel like they belong. Then we need to actually do something with that information. We will need to allocate funding and identify staffing that can provide a community where students feel like they belong.

The second is student safety. Our students’ mental and physical safety is imperative. I would push for us to be as proactive as possible with balancing the physical safety of our schools with our student’s mental safety. We need to make sure that we have community experts proactively tell us what is needed to keep our spaces safe. But we don’t need the schools to feel more like a jail than a school. This is a fine line and a balance that should be undertaken. Once we’ve made decisions, we need to then be proactive about making sure the policies are followed.

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

Holly Keckler: I believe meeting the growth demands of the county is a huge challenge for TSC. This means intentional communication and sharing information between county leaders and TSC. Further, TSC needs to continually look to the future, problem solve and partner with key constituents in order to make thoughtful, responsible decisions.

Diane Kelley: I think keeping up with the growth of our community and, thus, schools, is the biggest challenge. This encompasses both school space as well as educators. I need to learn more about the various aspects of this issue before I would propose a solution. I am certain the solution is multi-faceted and will require working together with the community and those in the school community (teachers and administrators, etc.).

Carl Krieger: I believe that the biggest challenge in the district is growth. We are a growing and thriving community. Between the opportunities in manufacturing and the continued growth of Purdue, more people are coming to our community. This allows for our community to flourish economically but there are often strains on our infrastructure. We see this is the constant need to find and build space for our school children. There’s no magic wand that will solve this problem. It will take proactive planning and constant revisiting. We need to be nimble visionaries as we deal with the constant change that’s inevitable while keeping our eye on the goal, to provide school spaces that create the best educational experience in TSC for ALL students.

Question: How would you rate the performance of the current superintendent, Scott Hanback, and administration?

Holly Keckler: Coming off of two-plus years of managing and coping with COVID, I know the administration and school board has worked tirelessly during this time. I look forward to continuing working with them as a school board member.

Diane Kelley: Regarding the superintendent and his administration, I agree with some actions they take and disagree with others. I appreciate their efforts to strengthen safety and security in our schools, while I would like to see improvements in upholding parental rights, which includes making parents aware of what is taught and read in classrooms.

Carl Krieger: I don’t envy any K-12 administrator who has worked over the past three years. None have done it perfectly because we’ve all had to learn together about pandemics and masks and issues we never imagined. I have been proud of the way our current administration has handled the past few years. Have there been decisions I’ve disagreed with? Of course. But unlike other places in our country, the TSC students attended school in person. Families were given multiple options. Administrators listened, even if THEY disagreed with what was being told to them by the parents or the state leadership. They’ve been nimble, moving from masks required to masks not required and back again multiple times. They’ve been in a no-win situation, so they’ve lost. But they’ve gone down doing what they’ve thought was best for our students.

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?

Holly Keckler: I am not part of a coalition, nor a slate of candidates.

Diane Kelley: Yes, I am part of TippeCitizens DOE (Devolution of Education). We work to put education back in our schools and end indoctrination. We support kids first, parents making medical decisions for their children and all parental rights; we oppose woke agendas. I’m also supported by the Hoosier Liberty PAC which “exists to support and defend our federal and state constitutions, to promote an educational system that supports those documents, and to assist bold courageous people willing to run for office and stand for the principles and ideals expressed in those documents while serving in office.”

Carl Krieger: No

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?

Holly Keckler: I believe education should be a shared partnership between the educator and learner and caregivers. Learning does not stop just because the school day is over. Our educators are some of our most valuable assets; we should be building them up, not de-professionalizing them.

Diane Kelley: Yes, I back the pair of bills that would allow for parents to have access to the lesson plans their children are being taught; this is a parental right. I am not for adding to our teachers’ workload unnecessarily; they already work hard and do much to serve and educate our students, but I believe this can be done on Canvas on a weekly or quarterly basis.

Carl Krieger: We ask teachers to go through years of college and learn how to teach a particular subject. This is extremely important because I believe you should intimately understand the topic before you teach it. Teachers already spend more time than they’re paid for to educate our children. Adding an additional step to their planning will simply push more of our amazing teachers to find a new job.

Parents already have plenty of opportunities to learn about what is in the teacher’s lesson plans. They are given the opportunity to attend the open house at the beginning of school to talk with teachers. Teachers offer multiple options to have parent-teacher conferences. TSC offers a parent portal so that parents can see what assignments their students have had. But the most effective way to find out what the teacher is teaching is for parents to talk with their children every day about what they are learning. If a parent is troubled by a topic, then they can talk about their perspective directly with the student. If the topic is causing anxiety for the student, then they can talk about it with the teacher together. I believe this is a much better solution that requesting that our overburdened teachers add additional steps to their teaching.

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?

Holly Keckler: I support the opportunity for educational choice. Different learners need different environments. More choices allow families to select what is best for their learner.

Diane Kelley: As you know, I support parental rights, so I support our community of families having more options for educating their students.

Carl Krieger: If I were a new school I would also grab a thesaurus, as it seems they’ve done, and look up the word “best” and just add as many words as I could in the title that were the same. However, there is a difference between words and actions. TSC is the best school system around. I truly believe that. I had the choice of where to send my children, and I chose TSC. So, I don’t care about a charter school with a thesaurus because competition can bring out the best in organizations and I believe TSC, and the other school systems in Tippecanoe County, will step up to the challenge.

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

Holly Keckler: 1. Playing on my personal strengths, I excel at meeting people in the middle, consensus building and providing representation from all angles. This campaign is not about fighting and polarization, but instead solving problems with conversations, evidence and practicality. Civil discourse should be a foundational minimum when discussing school board issues.

2. As I mentioned earlier, I am a member of the TSC Long Range Planning Committee. Through this, I have gotten to know and interact with TSC leadership. I work well with them and have been able to establish rapport, a level of trust and teamwork with this group.

Diane Kelley: I am willing to listen to others and work cooperatively together to achieve what is best for TSC students’ education. As a counselor, I must be a good listener and ask appropriate and hard questions, so I will bring this to the school board. Since I do not work full-time outside the home, I am able to devote more time to school board work, including visiting our schools and having meaningful conversations with parents, teachers and administrators.

Carl Krieger: In public service it doesn’t always matter what a person’s academic background is. However, in this case, I believe that what I’ve learned about during my doctoral work in education administration will help me understand all the nuances of TSC administration.

I have also run large organizations with large budgets and diverse constituents. I believe this will help me understand the scope and magnitude of the many people that the school board will serve.

DISTRICT 2

District 2 includes Tippecanoe Township, north of West Lafayette. Incumbent Josh Loggins and Holden Mugford are on the ballot.

Question: Why are you running?

Josh Loggins: I was appointed two years ago and have found that I have enjoyed the position. It is rewarding to be involved with a school corporation that I feel always tries to put the interests of our youth first.

Holden Mugford: I am running because I feel a civic duty to help guide the school corporation in a way that I believe will ensure our children thrive within a safe, nurturing environment that fosters free thought. My son, my board experience at The Farm at Prophetstown, and Leadership Lafayette's mission of encouraging servant leaders to serve in community leadership roles inspired me to run. I hope to help improve our already-thriving local schools.

Question: What are your connections with the district?

Josh Loggins: I attended Battle Ground Elementary and Middle School, and graduated from Harrison. My wife is also a TSC graduate, having graduated from McCutcheon. I also have two boys, Hayes and Taggart, that are currently attending Battle Ground Middle and Burnett Creek Elementary.

Holden Mugford: I am a Lafayette native that was born, raised and schooled entirely within the Tippecanoe School Corp. I graduated from Harrison in 2005 after attending Hershey and East Tipp. My son will be attending Battle Ground and Harrison in the future.

My parents were both faculty members of TSC before my mom retired, and they have a combined 55 years of experience working in the district. Local, state and national education issues were a regular topic of family conversations around the dinner table when I was growing up, and those discussions continue to this day.

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

Josh Loggins: My priorities are focused around the kids that attend our schools. I feel it is important to provide all kids with an equal opportunity for a quality education, regardless of their unique and personal background. I also feel it is important to provide a safe environment for them to learn and grow, both through the curriculum we teach, as well as the experiences they enjoy outside of the classroom as they grow.

Holden Mugford: My overarching top priority is to actively solicit community feedback and then recommend policy decisions on the issues that are most important to TSC residents.

Secondly, I believe a school board should focus most on three policy areas – protecting, transporting and feeding our students. I address all three – following local health/safety guidelines, busing and school meals – more specifically in the following questions.

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

Josh Loggins: Our biggest challenge is our pace of growth. We are a district that is comprised of a vast range of property, and with that comes the challenges of making sure we accommodate everyone that is in our school district. That growth also presents challenges in the many different backgrounds of those that attend our schools come from. It is important to attempt to accommodate all of those unique backgrounds with compassion for what makes us all unique. I believe that is one of the benefits of the public school system. The exposure to situations that are different than what many may be around in their own personal lives.

Holden Mugford: While knocking on doors and speaking with parents in the community, I have repeatedly heard that the altered school starting times are placing an enormous strain on their finances and reducing the amount of time they spend together as a family. I believe that this is a crisis for our community that officials are seemingly treating as an inconvenience.

TSC has a rainy day fund that should be utilized in crises. I would propose that the administration use this fund, or other available resources as recommended by the financial committee, to incentivize more bus drivers to apply for positions and help alleviate this community burden.

Question: How would you rate the performance of the current superintendent, Scott Hanback, and administration?

Josh Loggins: Having dealt closely with our administration and superintendent over the last two years, I can confidently say that they make decisions with the kids of our school district as the No. 1 priority. They do not make decisions quickly and carelessly, without first thinking of the positives and negatives to every decision. They have been open to discussion on topics when presented, even when some topics are uncomfortable. Having been in the room, listening to discussions, I can say that they care very much about the direction of our schools, and this is not just a job to them.

Holden Mugford: I have been consistently impressed by Dr. Hanback's leadership and the administration's operation of the corporation for years. I especially commend their sound fiscal decision to save the corporation money by building new schools utilizing the same blueprints that had been used for previous schools. I further applaud the TSC Brain Brigade and their Social-Emotional Learning program for helping students and staff manage growing mental health issues.

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?

Josh Loggins: I am not.

Holden Mugford: I am not part of a coalition or a slate of candidates.

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?

Josh Loggins: Part of the job of our administrative team is to review materials that are able to be taught to our students. There is a process by which a person can challenge any curriculum that is in our classrooms, and I would encourage those with concerns to take the appropriate channels and ask the necessary questions. That being said, I would not want our teachers to not have the ability to teach and be able to make adjustments to their day to day dealing with the kids in their class. My father was an English professor, and my mother was an elementary school teacher. I know firsthand the passion that goes into being a teacher and the reward those that are in education feel when they “reach” a kid. I wouldn't want there to be things in place that limit the abilities of our teachers to find the avenue to "reach" that developing mind.

Holden Mugford: I do not support any proposal advocating for the censorship of ideas in the classroom. Teaching "divisive concepts" in the classroom is not an inherent endorsement of those concepts. We teach books like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” including its uncomfortable themes, so we can teach students what these concepts are while providing context.

Pushing these concepts out of the classroom, especially in the age of the internet, won't prevent children from encountering them. Keeping these concepts in the classroom will allow responsible teachers to provide context to children when they need it the most.

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?

Josh Loggins: I will answer this question like this. I feel it is extremely important for any child to have a path toward an education. I also feel it is extremely important for the parents of children to determine what that path is. My personal belief is there is a lot that comes from attending a public school. Things that aren't just taught in books. My father told me when I was going to college, "Go to get an education, not just a degree." That holds true all the way through elementary school. The exposure to being in a school provides a path to education, that is not just about receiving the paper at the end of the path.

Holden Mugford: I am generally fairly neutral on charter school policies. It is a complex issue with pros and cons that must be considered often on a case-by-case basis. As worded, my answer to the question would have to be, "It depends." However, I am against charter schools receiving public funding if they engage in selective enrollment practices.

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

Josh Loggins: I don't know my opponent well enough to address this question. I met him once when we were at the election office. He was a very nice guy when I met him, and I'm sure he has the same things in mind that I do. I'm sure he wants what is best for our kids and our school district.

Holden Mugford: To highlight specific differences that separate me from my opponent, I will point to two examples from the recent voting record.

On Aug. 11, 2021, board member Linda Day moved to modify the school reopening plan to follow the Tippecanoe County Health Department and CDC guidelines. The motion failed with a split vote of 3 "yeas" to 4 "nays." My opponent voted "nay." I would have voted "yea" in support of Mrs. Day's motion to provide more protection to our students, teachers, staff and the broader community during a health emergency.

During the June 8 meeting this year, when the free school lunch program was set to expire a few weeks later on June 30, the board voted unanimously to increase school breakfast prices by 25 cents and lunch prices by 50 cents at a time when many families were struggling and had come to depend on the free lunch program. I would have voted against this motion in an attempt to help provide relief during a difficult time for many.

DISTRICT 3

District 3 includes Washington and Perry townships, east and northeast of Lafayette. Linda Day, a school board member since 1998, is not running for re-election. Sara Bagsby and William Sondgerath are on the ballot.

Question: Why are you running?

Sara Bagsby: Did not respond. From her bio page at TippeCitizens’ DOE (Devolution of Education) site, she wrote: “I am running for the TSC District #3 school board position because of the current state of our society and the ideological dangers being pushed on our kids through public education. … I am an advocate and strong supporter of the Constitution. I believe that parents are the ultimate authority in their children’s lives. Therefore, the school board has a duty to set the direction of the corporation through curriculum and policy making that is conducive to a wholesome learning environment that promotes academic excellence. During the last few years, I regularly attended school board meetings. I saw firsthand the rights of the parents usurped by state and local bureaucracy. It is my goal to bring balance to the TSC school board and advocate for the wellbeing of our students.”

Will Sondgerath: My interest in serving on the TSC school board is rooted in my experience as a father of a son with autism. My son, Tommy, is a senior at Harrison High School. He has had several dedicated paraprofessionals and teachers who have had a huge impact on his education. However, we have experienced a woeful lack of coordination of systems that have led to inconsistent programming of his education. This is, unfortunately, a common experience for a significant number of the 2,200 TSC students who have some form of disability.

I want to bring a voice to the TSC school board inclusive of all students. Our corporation is home to multiple contrasting viewpoints. Isolating people because of their views does not serve us well. I believe in consensus building and will work to that end.