Covington Independent Public Schools Board

Six candidates will vie for three open seats on the Covington Independent Public Schools Board of Education this November. The board is composed of five members, and seats are elected on a rotating basis, meaning that two of the seats, currently occupied by Hannah Edelen and Kareem Simpson, are not up for election this year.

School board members have little say in the day-to-day operations of the district. Instead, their role is to set overall district policies, including fiscal policies, approve contracts and engage with community. They’re also responsible for hiring and evaluating the superintendent. Board members serve four-year terms.

Key issues on the minds of the candidates were the relationship between the elected board members and the professional district administration, the future of the district, as well as the well-being of the students.

There are three incumbents in the race: Tom Haggard (the current board president), Stephen Gastright and Glenda Huff. Courtney Barlow-Schulte, Joyce Baker Murphy and Michelle Williams are challengers.

The last year and a half has seen sometimes contentious disagreement between some the board members and the district’s administration, including Superintendent Alvin Garrison.

In February of last year, the district recommended closing one of the district’s elementary schools, 9th District Elementary, and redistributing the students to Glenn O. Swing Elementary and Latonia Elementary. The district estimated the move would have saved the district about $1 million. Although the administration said that no one would loose their jobs, the move proved unpopular among district families.

The board decided not to vote on the issue, instead opting to assess the overall state of the district’s facilities. In the end, the board decided to furnish a new master facilities plan, which aims to provide data and information for the board to make informed decisions about the possibility of consolidating the district. The master planning process is ongoing.

Gastright, who works as an architect, and Haggard have both been outsized proponents of the master plan. Barlow-Schulte, a nonprofit professional, sits on the Community Advisory Team for the master plan and was broadly in agreement with them on its importance.

Gastright, Haggard and Barlow-Schulte all spoke about the importance of having as much information as possible before deciding to close a school. Barlow-Schulte, especially, lauded the importance of having an embedded neighborhood school, rather than shuttling students the city. She also expressed unease about the historically racist connotations with busing.

Murphy, who formerly sat on the board and who is active in a variety of community and civic associations, questioned the need for a master plan, adding that it was sometimes necessary to close schools in order to ensure the broader health of the community.

Huff has sat on the board for 24 years and has overseen school closures in the past. She supported the master facilities plan, but said she was still in favor of closing 9th District.

Williams, a former Covington city commissioner, did not speak directly to the issue of consolidation in her correspondence with LINK nky. We have reached out to her for additional comment.

Huff and Murphy both expressed a desire to mend the board’s relationship with the district staff. They advocated for listening more to the educational professionals in the administration, arguing they were the ones with on-the-ground knowledge of the goings-on in the district.

Baker, especially, was highly critical of the current board’s unwillingness to listen to the recommendations of the administration, believing that many recent district projects had been needlessly delayed. In fact, it was one of the reasons she chose to run, she said.

Huff expressed a similar concern about tension between the board and the administration but qualified that by saying things had improved in recent months.

Gastright, on the other hand, has criticized the way in which the administration has communicated its goals and recommendations in the past, especially as it related to construction projects and district spending. Haggard, Gastright and Barlow-Schulte advocated the district facilities master plan as a way of being more thoughtful with how the district addressed its aging infrastructure.

Haggard touted teacher raises and the freezing of the property tax rate in August, both of which occurred under his tenure as president.

All of the candidates spoke to a need to make Covington Independent the district of choice in the city. The student population has dwindled over the past few years–it was one of the reasons the administration recommended closing 9th District–and the candidates universally expressed a desire to provide more resources and opportunities to help the students succeed.