On Nov 4, voters in Upper Adams School District will have the opportunity to elect four candidates for Upper Adams school board. Here is a sampling, in the order they will appear on ballots, of what five bipartisan candidates supported by bipartisan community members think about school board membership:
Kay Hollabaugh – Will provide the necessary guidance and oversight to the district so that families want to send their children to UASD schools, and that graduates look back with pride at UASD
Rachel Elliot – Will be open-minded to different perspectives and work collaboratively toward decisions that support the common good
Deb Steckler – While her personal beliefs will inform her thinking, she will listen to constituents, teachers, and administrators and vote for the common good
Eric Markle – Advocates for a quality education that provides all students access to post-secondary life opportunities
John Lindemulder – Will work to make available the necessary tools and resources so that teachers can provide the education parents want for their children
These five candidates are dedicated to the basic tenets of school board membership: provide oversight and guidance and not management to the district; follow the law, not attempt to write law; remember they are spending other people’s money as they strive to provide the best education the community can afford, not the best money can buy.
None of the five candidates listed above is hard left or hard right in their views. None of the five candidates comes with a specific agenda beyond doing what is best for the students and families of their community. All five candidates have or have had their own children in UASD schools and therefore understand the vital and central importance of district schools to their families and the families of relatives, neighbors, and friends. Understanding the importance of parental rights, these five will not ignore the concerns of parents or the community at large in order to impose their own ideas.
These five candidates are committed to a quality education for your children, to maintaining the high standards you have come to expect in UASD and each will ensure tax dollars are spent wisely. You can only pick four but you cannot go wrong with any of the five listed.
Exercise your franchise and vote. As a former UASD school board president, I wholeheartedly endorse each of the five.
Tom Wilson is a U.S. Navy veteran, retiring as a Rear Admiral. After moving to a farm in Butler township in 2012 he has been active in the local community, currently serving on the boards of WellSpan Hospital Foundation, Adams County Community Foundation and the Susquehanna Regional Transit Authority (Rabbittransit). He is a past two term member of the UASD school board. He was board president for five of the eight years on the board.