Crowded fields: Meet the LSC, West Side school board candidates
Plus, Purdue Convos rolls out its 2024-25 season lineup.
Today’s edition is sponsored by MatchBOX Studios, presenting Sixth & South, an annual fundraising event that returns Friday, July 12, from 6-10 p.m. inside MBX and on Sixth Street, from South to Alabama streets. The event benefits entrepreneurship by supporting small and local businesses, first-generation founders, pre-revenue startups and underfunded and underserved innovators. Tickets cover event admission, music sets by DJ Kyle and Ebony & the Ruckus, local food, NA beverages, access to an auction full of local and experiential items, and four tokens that can be exchanged for curated event experiences such as candle pouring, ax throwing, an escape room and a petting zoo, or drinks from the bar (additional tokens will be available for purchase). Get your tickets and all of the event details: mbx.studio/sixthsouth
CROWDED FIELDS: MEET THE LSC, WEST SIDE SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES
Two of the three districts in Greater Lafayette will feature crowded fields in November ballots for seats on school boards.
Lafayette School Corp. has seven candidates running for three at-large seats. West Lafayette has six candidates running for four at-large seats.
Tippecanoe School Corp.’s school board races essentially have been decided with three incumbents – Julia Cummings, Jake Burton and Brad Anderson – running unopposed for re-election. Connie Harper, a retired teacher, has filed to run in the fourth district seat on the ballot to replace Brian DeFreese, who did not file for re-election. (Look for more from TSC candidates later.)
Here’s a look at the school board candidates in LSC and West Lafayette and the reasons why they filed by last Thursday’s deadline to be on the Nov. 5 ballot. The candidates don’t run with party labels.
Lafayette School Corp.
Two incumbents and five challengers filed to run for three at-large seats on the seven-member Lafayette school board. This year will be the first that LSC school board members will be elected as at-large candidates, meaning they’ll appear on ballots across the school corporation instead of on their home districts. Current board member Dave Moulton is not running for re-election. The candidates include:
Ebony Barrett, who was appointed November 2023 to replace Brian Wagner when he moved from the district, will be on the ballot for the first time. Barrett is senior diversity, equity and inclusion consultant for IU Health.
Reason to run: “Our schools are facing numerous challenges that require strong leadership that understands these complexities and can bring everyone together to find solutions. Over the past 18 years, I’ve been deeply involved in LSC as a parent, volunteer, coach and classroom contributor, witnessing firsthand the strengths and needs of our educational system. I was honored to be appointed to the board in the fall of 2023. Since then, I have attended professional development seminars and dedicated time to understanding the administrative side of education. What I have learned is that the intricacies of our educational system are far more complex than many realize. I am running again because our community needs greater engagement and alignment. Our diverse stakeholder population spans multiple dimensions, and everyone has a role to play. My particular strength lies in bringing people together to address complex challenges, and we have many ahead of us. However, I am confident in our collective ability to overcome them. We are fortunate to have passionate and brilliant educators and administrators, as well as caring parents and community members. The real challenge lies in uniting everyone in a way that makes sure we are all seen, valued and heard. We are all here for the same reason: to help our young ones fulfill their full potential. Achieving this will require the collaboration and commitment of us all.”
Josiah Eller, who described himself as “a Christian parent who works at Caterpillar,” ran for Lafayette City Council as a Libertarian in 2023. He said his oldest son attended Lafayette Jeff until removing him to finish his schooling with Indiana Digital Learning School (INDLS), an online program of Union School Corp. “He graduated a few weeks ago,” Eller said. His youngest son goes to Burnett Creek Elementary in Tippecanoe School Corp.
Reason to run: “During the height of the pandemic, I reached out to members of the school board with some concerns and was never responded to. Not long after, I pulled my son from Jeff. The lack of common sense amongst some current school board members has motivated me to pursue a seat on the board.”
James Hass has run a number of campaigns for various offices, most recently as a Republican in Indiana House District 27 against Democrat Sheila Klinker. He did not immediately respond to a question about why he was running.
Margaret Hass, a Lafayette Jeff graduate who moved back to Lafayette a decade ago, is an educator at Purdue. She is active in multiple community organizations and has two young children who will attend Lafayette schools.
Reason to run: “I’m stepping up to serve on the school board because I believe everyone in Lafayette, from Vinton Woods to Veterans Memorial Parkway, wants our kids to be free to learn in a safe and supportive environment. Certain politicians are trying to divide us and turn parents against teachers or administrators, but we can and should ensure that all students, whatever their family background, color or gender identity, have a quality education and a place to belong. And when we support young people, everyone in the community wins.”
Rocky Hession, a former Fairfield Township Board member, works at Fresh Thyme Market and as a bookkeeper for the Fairfield Township trustee. The Central Catholic grad was a school board chairman for a parochial school in West Lafayette for six years.
Reason to run: “I have been a spectator of the problems that LSC has been facing for years. My wife has operated a day care since 1992. We have watched the situation at the schools become gradually worse. I have watched the support system for day cares almost completely disappear. I have seen hundreds of children face the issues of growing up; some in whole families, mostly in fractured ones. I decided it was time to do something. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. I believe that the board, as it is, needs a fresh outlook from someone who has helped kids one-on-one. I have had various years of board experience, good and bad. Most of my experience has been engaging with people of all types and figuring out how to solve problems – what works, what doesn’t and what needs to change.”
Gary Mueller, a father of three Lafayette Jeff graduates, has worked for Caterpillar for 35 years in various roles that include engineering, quality, marketing and customer service. He currently is the product support manager for all Caterpillar large engine commercial applications. He and wife Cindy Gerlach, communications director for LSC, have three daughters who attended LSC schools and graduated from Jefferson High School over the past 12 years.
Reason to run: “My motivation to run for the LSC school board is to give back to the school system that educated my children and allowed them to go on to university degrees and fulfilling careers. I do not believe national partisan political issues have any place in running a public school system like LSC and hope to use my skill and management experience in a complex organization like Caterpillar to bring good governance to LSC. I would like to ensure the LSC board is focused on using the resources provided by the citizens to deliver the best possible education to the children in the Lafayette school district.”
Julie Peretin, who was selected in February 2023 to fill the remaining term of board member Kay Walton, is running for re-election. She is programs administrator in the Office of Professional Practice in the College of Engineering at Purdue, the coordinator for the Lafayette Children's Choir, the Junior Warden at St. John's Episcopal Church and “a single-parent navigating life with three children.”
Reason to run: “My early years were spent in the southwest corner of Tippecanoe County (McCutcheon High School) and in Grand Rapids, Michigan (Calvin College, BA, Philosophy). I moved back to Lafayette and had the opportunity to ‘stay at home’ for eight years while my children were young. I served a term on the board of the Montessori School of Greater Lafayette before joining the MSGL staff, where I worked in the classrooms and then on the administrative team. I grew up watching my parents participate in the community in various ways, and that instilled in me the importance of understanding the work involved in navigating legal, democratic and institutional processes. When I was appointed to an LSC district seat in early 2023, I was excited to be able to serve in a new way. This is my first time running for public office, and I am now in an at-large district for the entire corporation. I like to show up, to observe and to listen. I feel I have learned a great deal about the complexities of the district in the past year-and-a-half and still have more to offer the community.”
West Lafayette Community School Corp.
Six candidates, including two incumbents, will be up for four of the seven, at-large seats on the West Side school board. Current school board members Brad Marley and Tom Schott did not file for re-election. Here’s who did:
Amy Austin, elected in 2020 and now the school board president, filed to run for a second term. She works with IN Space, an aerospace propulsion research and engineering services company her husband co-founded. Before she was elected to the school board was a parent council member, wrote the school newsletter for roughly five years. She has two children in West Lafayette schools and another who graduated this year.
Reason to run: “I spent most of my first two years on the board learning. I've spent the last two putting that knowledge into practice. I really believe that my best years of service are in front of me. I work very well with (Superintendent) Dr. Greiner, his team, our principals, our teachers and our staff. All of us are united in our desire to always do what's best for our students. Dr. Greiner and I have two guiding principles that we come back to in virtually every conversation we have – always listen, because everyone needs to be heard, and always do the right thing for students. We'll begin the process of strategic planning this fall, and I want to take the goals we set together as a community and help see them through to completion. I want to take the pre-K program from a pilot to a first-rate program for our littlest community members, because research shows that high quality pre-K is a predictor of future success. We have undertaken the massive task of reviewing all our board policies and I want to see that through. Leaving things unfinished is against my nature, and I don't know if I could easily walk away in the middle of that undertaking. The GPS Diploma will require a lot of change and adjustment between now and 2029 when the first students graduate under the new program (including my son), and I want to be a part of implementing those changes.”
Maria Koliantz, a board member of the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation, is a Purdue graduate with a construction management degree who returned from Detroit to West Lafayette in 2021 when her husband, Ara Koliantz, accepted a call to pastor of Riverside Covenant Church. She is a project manager with Summit. She has two children, going into fifth and eighth grades, in West Lafayette schools.
Reason to run: “During our time in Detroit, I got involved in our community school during a very pivotal time for Detroit Public Schools. They were relieved of state control within our first year there and elected their first local school board in over 15 years, who then hired the new superintendent. One of the superintendent’s initiatives was to get parents involved. I went through training and helped convert my school’s group to an official PTA and then assisted other parents establish PTAs at their schools. So that’s really where my passion for involvement in public schools started. … I’ve had numerous people encourage me to consider it, and I’ve finally said yes. It’s an opportunity to use my experience and skills and serve my community in a way that I’m passionate about.”
George Lyle, is a security analyst and lawyer for Purdue IT who works in IT security, and has three young children, one in the West Lafayette schools. He is making a second run for the school board, after being among six candidates on the ballot in 2022.
Reason to run: “I worked on the ‘Yes’ campaign last year to renew the funding referendum for the schools, and I met a lot of people along the way. They all love the community and the schools, and they want them both to be the best they can be. A few issues kept popping up in the conversations, so I’d like to see what I can do to help address those concerns.”
David Purpura is a Purdue professor of human development and family science and director of the university’s Center for Early Learning, research, practice and policy center focused on conducting and translating research that enhances the lives of children birth through 8 years old. He and his wife, Ashley, have four children who will be spread across three schools in the district this fall. He co-chaired the Vote Yes for our West Lafayette Schools committee, which promoted renewal of a property tax referendum to fund schools. He was among the 15 candidates for school board on the ballot in 2020.
Reason to run: “I am running for school board because I want to offer my expertise in educational research, practice and policy to help our schools become even better for all our students. We have an excellent school district — amazing teachers and administrators, talented students, engaged families and substantial community resources. We have to work together as a community to identify and support unique opportunities for continued success.”
Beau Scott is a former Dayton Elementary teacher. He was a Golden Apple award winner there in 2015 before accepting a role as an elementary math and science specialist at the Indiana Department of Education. He now is director of STEM Learning for a company called EES Innovation, which works to support K-12 schools across Indiana grow their STEM programming.
Reason to run: “My motivation to run for school board may sound very simple to most people, but having two children in the district, one going into fifth grade and one going into first grade, the experiences they have had thus far has been amazing. The teachers, the administrators, the families, they have all been so wonderful and have provided my kids with a loving place to learn and grow, and I simply want to give back. I felt it was more of a duty to be able to use my experiences in education to support these amazing educators. I really just felt it was the right thing to do. I'm so passionate about education, and since I can't be in the classroom any longer, this was an opportunity for me to still be involved.”
Yue Yin, elected to the West Lafayette school board in 2020, is running for re-election. A West Lafayette resident for 16 years, she is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago, working remotely. Her husband works at Purdue. Their three children, now at the high school and intermediate school, have been in West Lafayette schools since kindergarten.
Reason to run: “I am deeply grateful for our community’s trust and support over the past four years. During my tenure on the board, I have actively listened to community voices and advocated for improvements such as prudent spending, better recognition and compensation for our teachers and staff members, transparency in school and board operations, community engagement, effective communication and feedback collection, data-driven decision-making, quality education for all students and expanded after-school educational enrichment programs. I have learned immensely from our community, parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and fellow board members. With my experience on the board, deeper knowledge of our community and expertise in educational research and quantitative methods, I am eager to continue contributing to our district. I aim to further optimize resources, support our teachers and staff, improve feedback mechanisms and data-driven decision-making, enhance education for all students and strive for excellence in every aspect of our district.”
The election will be Nov. 5. To register to vote or to check your voter registration status, go to the Secretary of State’s portal at www.indianavoters.com.
ON SALE NOW: PURDUE CONVOS ROLLS OUT 2024-25 LINEUP
Purdue Convocations launched its 122nd season on campus Wednesday evening at MatchBOX Studios in downtown Lafayette, with a rollout of Broadway shows, jazz, opera and Shakespeare in the 2024-25 lineup.
Here’s a look:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live in Concert – Sunday, Sept. 15, Elliott Hall of Music. Animation a live orchestral and DJ performing the score live. Tickets start at $26.
29th annual West Lafayette Global Fest – Saturday, Sept. 21, downtown West Lafayette. This year’s Global Fest – a celebration of international food and culture – will feature performances by Brazilian singer Bia Ferreira, Yemen Blues and Barcelona-based Balkan Paradise Orchestra, a brass band that will play pop-up performances on Purdue’s campus the Friday before. Admission: Free.
Dear Evan Hansen – Wednesday, Sept. 25, Elliott Hall of Music. The coming of age Broadway musical has won six Tony Awards. Tickets start at $39.
A Conversation with Yo-Yo Ma – Sunday, Sept. 29, Elliott Hall of Music. Part of the Purdue Presidential Lecture Series, cellist Yo-Yo Ma will join PBS NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown for a conversation and music at Elliott Hall. Tickets are free, with RSVP.
The Isaiah J. Thompson Quartet – Saturday, Oct. 12, Loeb Playhouse. Thompson is the 2023 American Pianists Awards winner and recipient of the Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz. Tickets start at $17.
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – Tuesday, Oct. 29, Elliott Hall of Music. Based on the life and music of Tina Turner, starting in Nutbush, Tennessee, city limits, on Highway No. 19. Tickets start at $39.
Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” Excerpts in Concert – Tuesday, Jan. 21, Elliott Hall of Music. Blanchard, a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated jazz musician, brings a selection of pieces from an opera that debuted at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2019 and was presented at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 2021 as the first in the Met’s history from a Black American composer. Part of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Event by the Purdue Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, the event is free to attend, with an RSVP. Get tickets at convocations.org/events.
Mingus Big Band – Friday, Jan. 24, Loeb Playhouse. The Mingus Big Band will headline the 35th Annual Purdue Jazz Festival. Complete schedule and details are at convocations.org. Tickets start at $27.
Hadestown – Thursday, Feb. 6, Elliott Hall of Music. Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Tickets start at $39.
Pretty Woman: The Musical – Thursday, Feb. 20, Elliott Hall of Music. The Broadway adaptation of the Hollywood hit movie. Miss it? Big mistake. Big. Huge. Tickets start at $39.
Hamlet – Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1, Loeb Playhouse. Actors From The London Stage return to Purdue for an encore week-long residency for three performances of the Shakespeare play. Tickets start at $36.
Chicago – Thursday, April 3, Elliott Hall of Music. Broadway’s longest-running musical. Tickets start at $39.
Les Arts Florissants with Théotime Langlois de Swarte, violin: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300 – Thursday, April 10. Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants is joined by violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte for “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300,” commemorating the work’s original publication in 1725. Tickets start at $31.
Tickets went on sale Wednesday, June 26. For tickets: online at convocations.org/tickets; by phone at (765) 494-3933; or by visiting the Stewart Center Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Thanks, again, to this edition’s sponsor MatchBOX Studios, presenting Sixth & South on Friday, July 12. Get tickets and more event details: https://mbx.studio/sixthsouth
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So we have someone running for LSC board who doesn't think LSC schools are good enough for his children but he wants revenge against some of the board members who didn't write back to him? At least he was honest enough to admit this.
I can't think of time in my teaching career that choosing the right school board members was so important.