MADISON COUNTY — South Madison Community School Corp. and Frankton-Lapel Community Schools have board positions on the ballot in November, but many races are unopposed.
However, two of three school board seats up for grabs in the Frankton-Lapel district are contested, leaving voters with decisions to be made in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, election.
Voters in Frankton-Lapel will have to choose between incumbent Brian Gill of Lapel and challenger Stephen Wright of Lapel for the District 5 seat.
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Gill, who is seeking his third term on the board, said he enjoys serving the community and feels the current board is special with all board members on the same page for most school decisions.
“There can often be a lot of politics on a board — people pushing for their agenda, but we work well together with a lot of respect for each other,” Gill said.
Gill would like to be re-elected to help the district make the best decisions on school growth while maintaining a quality education for students, as well as to have a voice in building issues.
“They’ll be some major decisions about whether we build a new building in one of the districts or if we put money into two very old schools, and that could be a hard decision,” Gill said.
Wright, a family medicine doctor in Lapel for 36 years, would like to be on the board to give back to a community that has supported him for decades, he said.
While Wright has nothing against his opponent, he said, Wright feels it’s time to put a fresh voice and new set of eyes on the board, someone who understands the importance of preparing students for higher education.
“We have a great school system, but there is always room for improvement,” Wright said. “It’s got to be all about the kids, getting them the best teachers and making sure our schools are safe.”
Wright’s son went through the school district years ago, so Wright said he knows a lot about how things operate; he said and is hopeful voters will give him a chance to prove his worth.
In District 6, residents will also have a choice between incumbent Joanne Amick of Frankton and challenger Bill Brobston Jr. of Frankton.
Amick, who is seeking a fourth term, said she is proud of the board’s accomplishments the past several years. However, she wants to continue to be on the board to do more, such as making sure the district is up to par when it comes to school safety.
While she feels the district is proactive in safety, she’d like to see administrators and students go through more safety training.
“We need active shooter situations, we need to be more prepared,” Amick said. “The potential is always going to be there, and we need to be ready.”
Amick is proud of helping the district maintain quality educators, administrators and a solid curriculum for the students, she said
“We’ve maintained the smaller classrooms, which are more conducive to learning,” Amick said. “Students get more personal attention from the teachers.”
For Brobston, who has lived in the area since 1976, he’d like to be elected to the school board to give back to the community, he said.
Brobston already volunteers around town and with the school district, but wants to have a voice on major corporation decisions, such as employee health insurance, hiring district leaders and building a new high school.
“The school district is our biggest employer in the area and it’s academically good and athletically good, and I’d like to see it stay that way,” Brobston said. “I feel like on the education side, we’ve got to get our teachers as many tools as they need.”
He’d also like to work to make sure employees get a better insurance policy. Employees currently have a high-deductible plan, Brobston said, causing many good educators to leave the district seeking employment elsewhere.
This will be Brobston’s second time running for the board position. He lost to Amick by 53 votes the last election, he said.
Incumbent Alan Bays of Anderson is running unopposed for an at-large seat.
In the South Madison school district, Kaye Wolverton of Markleville, the incumbent in District 1, is running unopposed, as are William Hutton of Pendleton in District 2 and Joel Sandefur of Lapel in District 3.
