You Bike. You Walk. and You VOTE! H-Burg School Board Info

Learn more about our local candidates who are running for Harrisonburg City School Board. You can find out where you vote on the Harrisonburg Voter Registrar Office website and Google provides an easy to use map to help you find your polling place. Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and does not support or oppose candidates or political parties.

We asked the 7 candidates running for the City of Harrisonburg School Board to answer four questions. We received responses from 5 of the 7. Please see Questions and their responses below:

1. Currently, less than 5% of our students walk or bike to school. Do you think this is how it should be?  If yes, why?  If not, what should the school board do to encourage more students to walk or bike to school?

2. Given that our city will likely be building more schools in the near future, what can be done to recreate the concept of neighborhood schools?

3. What is one unpopular decision that you think needs to be made to shape Harrisonburg City Schools? How would you work to convince people that this decision will have positive benefits.

4. What ideas do you have for developing a comprehensive plan for improving student physical health?

Candidates Running for Harrisonburg City School Board (You may vote for not more than three):

• Deb S. Fitzgerald
• Dominic D. “Nick” Swayne
• Tom D. Domonoske
• Dany R. Fleming
• Kaylene R. Seigle- No response to questions but did attend 10/17/2016 Candidate Forum

• William “Bill R. Wilson* No response to questions but did attend 10/17/2016 Candidate Forum
• Lauren Berry Penrod*Read Full Response to SVBC Questions

*Denotes candidates running for an unexpired term to end on December 31, 2018 (Vote for only one)

Answers to question #1 “Currently, less than 5% of our students walk or bike to school. Do you think this is how it should be?  If yes, why?  If not, what should the school board do to encourage more students to walk or bike to school?”

•  Deb S. Fitzgerald: The idea of children walking to school is a great idea; I live in the Keister district, less than a half mile from the school, and it is an easy walk through relatively safe streets, even in the absence of sidewalks. I’d done it many times with my son when he was younger.  The answer now, though, depends where the child and their family lives, especially with the new school district boundaries that take effect in Fall, 2017. Our largest elementary school, Blue Stone, is located in area with the lightest population density. Older and smaller elementary schools like Waterman, Spotswood and Keister, are located in areas with high population density. As we’ve seen this year during the redistricting process, drawing new boundary lines is complex and involves many tradeoffs. Blue Stone draws from a big geographical area; thus, it’s going to be difficult to adapt even very successful Walk To School programs to this school when children live across busy highways. Where it’s possible, programs that get children moving before they settle in for their day in their classrooms should be encouraged and supported.

• Dominic D. “Nick” Swayne: I’d really like it if 30-40% of our students walked to school.  Seriously increasing the number of walkers and bikers would require a pretty significant increase in the number of bike lanes, sidewalks and signaled crosswalks – and repairs of existing sidewalks.  Those kinds of improvements have added value to other communities.  We need to look at the non-vehicular infrastructure for the entire city and these features should be mandatory for any new developments.  We can’t move the schools but we could make them a lot easier to access.

• Tom D. Domonoske: Continue to support and encourage walking school buses and the Safe Routes to School program, and local efforts at each school to encourage students to rely on themselves for  transportation.  Most importantly, the adults need to do more biking and walking as basic transportation.  We cannot ask children to do something we do not do.  As more people realize their body is their primary transportation device, we grow a different idea about moving through the city, how long it takes to get somewhere, what you take with you, what freedom of movement really is, etc.

• Dany R. Fleming: Increasing the number of students who walk or bike to school is an important goal for our schools and for our community. We know the benefits are numerous and significant. Students with safe routes and who walk or bike arrive at school better prepared to handle the rigors of their school day. They are better prepared physically, emotionally and socially and, as shown by research, achieve better academic results. We also know there are economic and environmental benefits of walking or biking: reduced busing costs, less traffic congestion and traffic hazards, lowered emissions and pollution. Encouraging walking and biking is smart for our schools and students and is smart for our city and citizens. The school board can support this in a number of ways. Location of schools is critical and the school board needs to incorporate bike and walking needs into every our school facility decisions – both new and existing facilities. The school board can also continue building partnerships with the bike coalition and other partners and encourage staff to explore their own ideas for walking and biking efforts. For communities where walking and biking is not as common, the board and schools will need to better understand barriers and motivations for those students.

• Lauren Berry Penrod:  I feel the School Board should advocate for more walking and biking to school when it is safe to do so. The Connect Our Schools initiative is a great way to provide a safe route between Thomas Harrison Middle School, Harrisonburg High School, and the neighborhood that connects them. It is also important for School Board to convey to the parents and citizens the many advantages of walking or biking to school instead of riding the bus. In addition to the obvious health and environmental benefits, there is a great financial reward as well: cutting one school bus route can save approximately $37,000 per year.

Answers to Question #2: “Given that our city will likely be building more schools in the near future, what can be done to recreate the concept of neighborhood schools?”

• Deb S. Fitzgerald: I’ve attended all the school board meetings over the fall and listened to all the input from parents about the new school district boundaries. On the one hand, it’s clear that neighborhood schools, and the ability to walk or bike to school, is important to many families. It was also clear, though, that some are in favor of equalizing the proportion of children who qualify for free and reduced lunch over the whole school system. Advocates of this approach address equity and fairness, especially in terms of access to new facilities, equipment and technologies that might be more available in the newest schools. If we as a city think this is important, then we’d be accepting the idea that transporting children to schools out of their neighborhood is a good idea, because the value of access to these enriched opportunities outweighs the value of going in a school close to home, even one close enough to walk to and bike to safely. Additionally, there is the reality of just where new population growth is occurring in the city. If it occurs through the construction and development of new neighborhoods throughout the city, then building schools in those neighborhoods is the right and obvious solution. But if, as is the case in Harrisonburg, the growth is mostly occurring in existing neighborhood which are becoming more densely populated, then building another neighborhood school is not viable, and we find ourselves where we are in the city today: constructing schools where we can, given the constraints that actually exist. So far, HCPS has decided that the value of neighborhood schools outweighs the benefits of equalizing access of all children to the most modern and up-to-date facilities. As we’ve watched the redistricting process this fall, we’ve seen the administration and School Board draw and redraw the redistricted lines with care, trying to keep children at schools close to home. I support that decision. In the future, as the city grows, these choices will become more difficult.

• Dominic D. “Nick” Swayne: I think the key to this is City Council.  They have been very reluctant to buy land in the city where it makes good sense to build schools – as the neighborhoods are being approved and developed.  They claim this is a conservative approach but it really ends up costing us more in so many ways.  Once the neighborhood is developed, there’s no room for schools when we do need them so we’re forced to build them on the periphery and bus.  There are still many undeveloped parcels of land so eventually those periphery schools will connect to neighborhoods but there are other open tracts that could be set aside for “interior” schools if we act quickly.

• Tom D. Domonoske: First, many of our schools are neighborhood schools and the current redistricting program is trying to preserve that.  Second, we should see our schools as places where neighborhoods mix, which is a different vision than neighborhood schools.  Third, as we are growing a different expectation for how we move through our city (see above) our concept of neighborhood changes and expands.

• Dany R. Fleming: This is about both our current schools and decisions around any future schools. For our current neighborhood schools with supporting infrastructure, we need to continue developing a walking and biking practice among all our students. Educating students and families and helping students with functional bikes is important. Where possible, moving students away from buses may also be an important option. For new schools, location is certainly key. However, in Harrisonburg that’s increasingly difficult. So, looking at new school configurations and buildings on some of our current, larger neighborhood school properties may be worth exploring as an option. Certainly, increased distances, safe routes and functional bikes are factors. Providing For this, our schools need the continued strong partnership of the city’s biking community. We need to extend our reach into communities that are not currently or may not traditionally have been walkers and bikers. This is expertise and work which the schools will need help understanding and implementing.

• Lauren Berry Penrod: Schools should be the anchor of a community, and neighborhood schools even more so. I think the key to maintaining a successful neighborhood school is ensuring that all schools in the district are given the same opportunities for achievement as well as approximate similarities in population size and academic and extracurricular programs. When we start offering certain programs at some schools but not others, it creates a divide between those that have and those that have not.

Answers to Question #3 “What is one unpopular decision that you think needs to be made to shape Harrisonburg City Schools? How would you work to convince people that this decision will have positive benefits.”

• Deb S. Fitzgerald: The unpopular decisions coming in the near future will concern big facility construction projects that involve many tradeoffs, choices that have a complex variety of big benefits balanced by big costs that are unevenly spread over many years. Those costs and benefits won’t fall equally across the community, and will be unpopular with those folks who bear a bigger share of the down-side. It’s going to be the responsibility of City Council and the School Board, working together, to make the decision in as transparent a way as possible, and to explain over and over again the consequences of making –and not making- these sets of choices.

• Dominic D. “Nick” Swayne: The most challenging decision we have before us involves our high school.  While it looks great and it seems like it only opened last year – it’s actually 11 years old.  It was built for 1350 students but it’s currently supporting 1700 students.  In other words, we’re about 30% over capacity now.  We’re expecting to have a high school population of around 2000 in just four years. This puts us at a crossroad – if we add on to our existing high school so that it can accommodate 2,000 students we will forever be a one high school town.  Our neighboring school divisions have high school populations between 800 and 1100.  That means our VHSL league competitors will be in Fairfax County, Richmond and Norfolk.  Having one large school will probably cost less in the short-term (one building, fewer administrators, etc.) and allow us to have more programs.  Building a new school will definitely cost more in the short term, but weighing the long-term costs and benefits of either option amounts to a huge decision that can’t be taken lightly.  Right now, the school board is leaning towards a major expansion to our existing high school but that was significantly influenced by lackluster support from our city council (for any action), the need to solve the problem VERY quickly, and the desire to offer outstanding programming only possible with a large school.

• Tom D. Domonoske: For School Board that decision right now is redistricting.  No matter where the Board draws the lines people will be opposed. For City Council the unpopular decision is how to free up the funds to commit to solving the high school over capacity issue.

• Dany R. Fleming: It’s hard to know ahead of time what decisions might be unpopular. Any solution that is arrived at for our overcrowded high school, will be among several options that have both pros and cons. It’s likely to be unpopular with some people. So, it will be important for the school board to show how any decision places our student’s education and well-being as the top priority.

• Lauren Berry Penrod: As most of us are already aware, we have a big overpopulation problem at the high school: 25% over capacity, and even more growth expected over the next few years. There are some people who believe building an annex to the current high school is the best fix, because it is cheaper and quicker. I think the best solution to the overpopulation issue is building a second high school. If we choose to build an annex onto the current high school, it will be a short-term, expensive solution to a long-term problem, and the result will be a high school with over 2,000 students. It will be easy for troubled students to slip through the cracks, without receiving the help and attention they require to succeed. By creating two smaller high schools rather than one large one, we will be able to return to our traditional athletic division and rivals like Broadway, Spotswood, and TA. Currently we are in a different division with tougher teams from bigger schools, because of our student population size. Harrisonburg has always been a city with a small town feel–it’s one of things many of us love about it. The school system should reflect that. We are not Northern Virginia, and we do not need schools of their size.

Answers to Question #4 “What ideas do you have for developing a comprehensive plan for improving student physical health?”

•  Deb S. Fitzgerald: The expertise of the staff of HCPS in these specific areas of health and physical fitness far exceeds that of any individual serving School Board, current or future. That being said, the Board could encourage the Superintendent to include improving student health as one of the Division Goals for the academic year. Current goals for 2016-2017 include literacy, equity of access to programming, and socio-emotional goals. Incorporating student physical health as a division goal would mean that explicit measurable goals would be set, ongoing progress reports would occur, outcome measurement would take place, and the School Board would be in a position to monitor the results.

• Dominic D. “Nick” Swayne: Addressing the growing problem of behavioral health issues is really a societal issue.  Schools play a role, but getting 30-50% of the kids to walk or bike to school won’t solve the problem.  We need more and better, safe recreation areas, sidewalks and bike paths, organized programs and free play opportunities.  I think the schools are ready and willing to support all of these opportunities and work with the community to realize them, but it needs to be a community effort and commitment if we’re going to make a real impact.

• Tom D. Domonoske: Regarding improving student health, I defer to our physical education staff for how they do their jobs and what they need to do their jobs better.  I also support our nutrition program and all the steps it has taken to increase the quality of food served in our schools.

• Dany R. Fleming: Social and emotional well being for students is one of three primary school district goals. Incorporating a goal for physical well-being, as well, may be a complimentary addition to this goal. Improving physical health and confidence is an important part of social and emotional health. Apart from encouraging activities like walking and biking, healthy nutrition and education is important. Finding more ways to ensure that students, who may not have regular doctor and dentist visits, is important. We currently provide yearly dental check-ups at our schools for students. Importantly, partnering with other organizations can be critical in developing other ways to increase physical health.

• Lauren Berry Penrod: The best way to develop a comprehensive plan for improving student health is to form a committee made up of students, faculty, school board members, and citizens in the healthcare field to address the various issues that contribute to poor health such as socioeconomic and cultural factors, and use that knowledge to create a broad collaborative effort to make significant changes in the schools as well as in the home.