We were happy to host candidate Kelley Arnold for a lengthy discussion last week and we are bringing it to you now as our first School Board feature of the election season.
https://kelleyarnoldforhilliardschools.com/
Kevin jumps right into the action and opens the interview by asking about Kelley’s shared appreciation of Peter Gabriel. Once we’ve all had our say on the former Genesis frontman he then asks Kelley to get into some of the reasons she’s seeking the office.
We touch on the function schools fulfill as a social services hub for growing kids and families in the Hilliard community.
Kelley discusses her experiences raising her own kids through an entirely different educational format for a few years in Japan and how some of that cross-cultural exposure and insight made her think about addressing needs.
Kelley then talks about her experiences working on her own educational growth through organizations like the P.T.O. First, as a volunteer and then in various district level positions growing her contribution and understanding of the various ways all the schools systems work together to meet student population needs.
We talk the Master Facilities Plan and how the “shape” of our school system is contingent on the condition (age, size, geography) of the material district but it is also conditioned on understanding incoming demographic changes and how student populations are “built” and move through their school careers in Hilliard.
Kelley discusses some of the ways a long term working relationship with Cooperative Strategies has provided reliable insight into those changing populations and has evolved from Census based analysis down to very granular detail of every building and neighborhood. Cooperative Strategies Student Population Report
That moves us into the recent back and forth in a School Board session regarding the potential impact of future growth and Community Plan related development. We touch on how Kelley thinks the district should prepare for and respond to growth but also how she understands our system to flex and absorb *any* growth or change over time regardless of city plans or goals.
Hilliard School Board Deadlocked 2-2
Hilliard Board of Education President Beth Murdoch will not reintroduce a failed resolution that appealed to the Hilliard City Council to re-evaluate its comprehensive plan, a planning document that recommends where and how commercial and residential development is to occur in the city.
We then head into talk, generally, about the unique responsibilities and collaboration between local stakeholders like schools, city government, and residents trying to manage challenges like growth and the best methods to get that done.
Tim wants to know how Kelley thinks communication should or could be improved coming from the schools to show the community value and the meaningful results we all want.
Jordan asks if the recent Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation led education reform efforts (driven at the national level) around teacher assessment and retention really delivered meaningful change or were just misdirected resources that might have been better spent elsewhere.
Improving Teacher Effectiveness: Final Results
We talk about the importance of unions in providing focus, support and a consolidated purpose to employment in the education world that helps each member meet their needs and responsibilities while addressing the challenges of a complicated and tough workplace.In light of a recent incident the topic of an expansion of the school resource officer (SRO) program is discussed as well as other means and methods of support for challenging moments that come up in the course of any given school day.
What is the equation for responding to crisis situations (health, environment, resources) in students lives outside the school day that manifest within the school experience and does any of that responsibility lie with our municipal choices around budgets like Public Health spending?
We hope you enjoy this series and we are taking this very seriously.
We would like to extend a perpetual “thank you” to candidates and officials willing to make themselves available in this format.
Featured below is the guiding document we developed - drawing on decades of Kevin Corvo’s reporting experience - to provide residents the best chance to get to know the candidates you’ll be asked to vote for this November.
2023 Hilliard Beacon Election Candidate Interview Guidelines
Purpose of this document:
Create a framework for candidate interviews that will lend consistency to the overall project in an effort to keep the interviews fair and unbiased
Provide candidates with an idea of what to expect during the interview
Purpose of the interviews:
Provide a resource for Beacon Readers (and Hilliard voters in particular) to hear from candidates in a neutral environment so they can vote with confidence.
Give candidates the chance to speak at length about the issues they consider most important.
General format for the interview:
Timeframe for the interviews is open-ended. Most of our podcasts last about 40-50 minutes.
We will start with introductions and some chit-chat, then into questions.
Candidates will have the last word at the end of the interview to direct people to websites, fundraising, and ongoing contact.
General questions we may ask:
What’s your background/history in public service?
Why are you running for office?
What are the most important issues facing Hilliard and what can we expect of you if you win?
Outside your family and upbringing how did you develop your essential “common sense?”
Specific to longstanding and or ongoing issues in and around Hilliard as it pertains to our key focus areas - development, city governance, schools administration.
Of the 5 focus areas highlighted by the community plan which do you feel should be prioritized and how?
When it comes to Land Use how do you feel Hilliard should proceed with the Big Darby Accord?
On the subject of TIF - talk about your understanding of recent Hilliard history and how we got here via Issue 9 - Issue 25 - The Hilliard Development Corporation - and tax abatements in general? Examples: BMW Financial - Hickory Chase.
We will be putting considerable time into talking about the Community Plan- we’ll ask what you like about it, what you do not like about it, and what policies you will pursue in light of the plan.
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