Perhaps in a few years Northwest students will be a part of the Massillon School District or another close by district?
There are two elections for the school board this November.
First, there is a slate of three running for three full-term (4 years) positions. There is no competition is this race.
Second, there are three candidates running to fill two "unexpired" terms.
Because there is no competition for the full-term positions, the SCPR is going to give short shrift to this part of the Northwest school board election.
The apathy/disgust is soooooooooooo strong in Northwest that the race includes a candidate (Beadle) who is a "home schooler" at heart. He did appear at the Canal Fulton Library candidates night last Wednesday, but it seems as if he is a recent convert to the public school system because he says he has a "special needs" child.
As a taxpaying citizen, he certainly has a right to run. But how committed, dedicated can a board member be when he has historically had no confidence in the public school system. Also disturbing was his pleasure at being in a school district (Northwest) with half the property taxes of his former district (Copley - Summit County).
To the SCPR, the addition of Mr. Beadle is a sign that Northwest is headed toward public school oblivion in terms of how we identify the Canal Fulton, Clinton, Lawrence Township, New Franklin, North Lawrence and Wayne County (only a small part of the district) as being the Northwest Local School District.
There may be some hope for Northwest with at least one of the candidates for the "unexpired" two positions that three candidates are vying for.
Where does the hope come from?
From Nicole Metzger, that's who.
The SCPR was not impressed when the Northwest school board circumvented an "open to the public at large" application process to pick Mrs. Metger to succeed her husband who passed away recently.
Short-circuiting the public is a symptom of very, very deep problems with the the board at Northwest.
Notwithstanding, the SCPR's condemnation of the board for cutting out the public, it turns out that Nicole Metzger is "the best of the bunch" in the opinion of yours truly based on her presentation at the candidates night.
She owned up to the huge "lack of trust" problem that the Northwest school board and administration has and seems to have the spunk/etermination to deal with it as well as a forthright willingness to take input from the citizens of the district.
It is inspiring to see a person such as Nicole Metzger, who has gone through an excruciatingly difficult personal tragedy, to apparently be the person who will redeem the public trust, if anyone can.
It certainly will not be Stephen C. Jones. The SCPR's take on Jones, over the years of being familiar with him and his tenure on the board (broken for a period of time because he didn't get enough qualifying signatures for one election cycle), is that he is on the arrogant/dismissive side and thereby is likely a huge reason why the board has gotten in such disfavor with the board's constituents.
He reinforces the SCPR's take on him by, one, not appearing at the candidates night and, two, by not turning in answers to a questionnaire sent to him by The Repository.
While Victor Colaianni is questionable credentials to be a school board member, he has to be a better bet than Jones. Colaianni will most likely be more attentive to Northwest's consumers of education that Jones. However, the SCPR does have questions about his judgment. Hopefully, he has improved. He is a former member of the Canal Fulton City Council.
Here is a video of the Metzger and Colaianni presentations at the Canal Fulton Friends of the Library candidate night.
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