Candidates for Newport School Board Share Visions for Better District

Four candidates seeking three seats on the Newport Board of Education discussed issues at an event hosted by ReNewport late last week.

 

Incumbents Julie Smith-Morrow and Melissa Sheffel were joined by challengers Nadine Parris and Sylvia Covington at the Newport Schools Welcome Center on Thursday night. Incumbent Theresa Miller did not attend.

 

The Board of Education is made up of five members who serve four year terms.

 

Candidates picked numbers to see who would speak first, and Nadine Parris was the first to speak. She is an active member of the education task force at ReNewport – a grassroots, comprehensive plan designed to improve Newport’s quality of life – and said she has spent a lot of time researching ways to improve the schools. She has been attending the school board meetings since August of 2015.

 

“I helped develop the education objectives for ReNewport, and those include increased safety measures, an outstanding gifted program, establishing a K-12 magnet program that raises student achievement, and providing excellent vocational education,” Parris said. “Others are attracting and retaining teachers who love to teach in Newport, a comprehensive pre-K preparation program, and increasing parental involvement in the schools.”

 

She talked about a “promise program” that she saw in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where all children who attend public schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade are promised a full ride tuition to any state school or post secondary education program. Parris told Superintendent Kelly Middleton about the program, and he has begun efforts to start one in Newport, she said.

 

Parris said that although Newport is graduating students at a higher rate, those students aren’t taking anything with them after graduation except for their education. 

“We are sending our students off to college with a composite  ACT score of 16.9, and I think we need to reach higher than that,” Parris stated. “Both NKU and Gateway require at least an 18 on the ACT for admission without remedial work.”

 

She also mentioned that the district has risen from being ranked 173 out of 174 districts based on Kentucky state test scores, to being ranked 167, which is an improvement, but she maintains that the school district needs to reach higher.

 

Melissa Sheffel has been on the board for six years, and she says the journey to improve the schools has been more of a marathon instead of a sprint. 

 

“College and career readiness has more than doubled,” she told the audience. “The finances are strong, the facilities are strong and the morale is up. We are making progress,” Sheffel said.

 

Sheffel said that she has a personal reason for being on the board: she has two children in the Newport schools.   

 

“I have a unique front row seat to see what we decide on the board, play out in the classroom,” she said. “My children are the number one reason I want to be on the board, but right behind that reason are 1,600 other reasons. I have gotten to know these kids, and they are great kids. They deserve the best. They deserve a school board that will give them the best. I want to fight for them, to give them a good education.”

 

She said that it is a long race but they are in it, and she hopes to see greater improvements on the horizon.

 

Dr. Julie Smith-Morrow said that she has a deep-seated personal commitment to education, and she believes education is a key to success. She related that she comes from Brookfield, Wisconsin, and lived in Texas for a while, and that her three sons all went to public schools.

 

“I have been on the board since 2007,” she said. “I have been Vice Chair on the Gateway (Community & Technical College) board since 2014, and I have been trying very hard to link the pathways with the schools, such as with the dual credit. Our K-prep scores have risen from 46.4 to 61.3 and we have a 94.8 graduation rate. Our district finances are sound.”

 

She explained that the board doesn’t work alone: it has to work with businesses and parents and everyone needs to work together toward one goal, she said.

 

“Honestly, we have much work to do,” she said. “We have homeless children, grandparents who are raising children, and we have to find solutions to reach all the children. I would like to continue the work.”

 

She said she has been going door to door to reach people and talk to them about what is important to them about education.  

 

Last to speak was Sylvia Covington, who has taught in the Newport school district for years. What drove her to throw her hat in the ring was a boy she met at a football game she attended. The boy said he was unhappy in school, and overwhelmed.

 

“I know what good schools look like, and Newport schools don’t look good to me,” she stated. “Children are not getting what they need. Our district went from 173 to 167. That’s not good enough. We can do better.”

 

Covington said she doesn’t know all the things the other candidates talk about.

 

“I know kids,” she said. “Newport is thriving. We need to be thriving, too.  We need to be a turnabout district, and work with the city and the businesses to use all the resources we have. We need happy teachers, and happy parents.”