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Four men in the running for one school board seat in fall election

Candidates running for the open seat on the Huntington County Community School Board are (from left) Stephen Geders, Chad Lippe, Matt Roth and Gary Snyder.
Candidates running for the open seat on the Huntington County Community School Board are (from left) Stephen Geders, Chad Lippe, Matt Roth and Gary Snyder.

Four candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the second district seat on the Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees.

The seat is currently held by current School Board President Kevin Patrick, who will not seek another term.

The four contenders are Stephen Geders, Chad Lippe, Matt Roth and Gary Snyder. The district they seek to represent is located in the northwest corner of the county, mainly within unincorporated areas, and a portion just west and just east of Huntington.

Voters in all of Warren Township, Clear Creek Township Precincts 1 and 2 and Huntington Township Precincts 6, 11 and 11A can vote for District 2 school board candidates.

• Stephen Geders, 62, 33 Stone Ridge Drive, Huntington, is a self-employed chiropractor located in Huntington. He has a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Logan College of Chiropractic and is a member of the Christian Chiropractors Association. He has been married 39 years and has five children and three grandchildren. He attends the Huntington Nazarene Church.

Geders has no prior political experience. Two of his daughters have taught in public schools. He is past president of the Huntington Salvation Army Advisory Board.

He says he is running for school board to improve the lives of the corporation's children by offering them a better education.

"I've always had a passion for education," Geders says. "I've been very active in the last 20 years in addressing the board on certain issues I felt passionate about. I've had very good relationships with many board members over the years. Many of them have encouraged me to run."

Among top issues Geders wants to address include teachers, who he says are overburdened with excessive state and local mandates and micromanaged in the classroom without improving education. He also says that after four years, Viking New Tech has not been evaluated for its effectiveness.

"It costs taxpayers more per student to put a kid through New Tech than it does the standard curriculum," he says. "After four years not once has the administration of Viking New Tech come to the school board and given any kind of evidence whatsoever that it's achieving its goal."

Accountability is another important issue, Geders says, citing the iPad program as an example. He says the rental that parents pay for the devices is far more money than traditional textbook rental.

"While technology is very important in today's world, and I'm all for it, the question remains, do the iPads really improve education? That's what the kids are in school for," he says. "There's actually no measurement whatsoever in place to make that determination. I think the iPads were introduced prematurely with no adequate teacher training."

If elected, Geders plans to remove what he calls "burdensome regulations" and provide teachers the autonomy and respect they deserve. He also wants to see an evaluation of New Tech and the cost-benefit ratio of students' iPads and consider alternative teaching tools if they are found to be ineffective.

• Chad Lippe, 47, 1501 Canterbury Court, Huntington, is a claim representative for State Farm Insurance and has been employed with the company for 25 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in business from Huntington University, as well as CLU and ChFC insurance designations.

Lippe is a member of SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church and the Huntington Knights of Columbus.

He has no prior political experience. He comes from a family in which his father, brother and stepfather are teachers or school principals. He has three children in the school system, ages 14, 11 and 4.

Lippe says he is seeking the school board seat to make a difference in the community.

"I'd like to be a voice for new ideas and help provide some fiscal conservatism," he says.

Among the top issues Lippe sees for the school board are improving the use of electronic curriculum in the schools.

"I want to keep on the cutting edge, whether that's the proper use of iPads and laptops in the classroom and electronic textbooks. Whatever the teachers deem is appropriate, I would be supportive of that," he says, "In my opinion it's the right direction."

The decline in student enrollment is another of Lippe's concerns. If elected, he plans to support teachers and be considerate of the budget. He also wants to see more parents become involved in school government and run for the board.

"And I certainly think we could do better in the arts area," he adds. "I'd just like to see some better support of the band and the choir. Our numbers are pretty low, I think, based on what we could have."

• Mathew J. Roth, 40, 4130W-724N, Huntington, is an attorney and partner at DeLaney Hartburg Roth & Garrott LLP. He has a bachelor of Arts from Taylor University, Upland, and a JD degree from Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington. He is married and has three children.

Roth is a member and past president of the Huntington Rotary Club, past board member and chairman of the Huntington County Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the boards of directors of Youth Services Bureau, Huntington Theatre Guild Act II. He has served as a steering committee member for Youth for Christ and is past president of the Huntington County Bar Association.
He has no prior political experience. His wife has been a teacher for 10 years and two of his children are currently students in HCCSC schools.

Roth says he is seeking the position on the school board to improve education in Huntington County.

"As a parent and a local business owner, I'm very interested in the school corporation continuing to be a success," he says. "NPR had a great article about how a successful school system is the foundation of a successful community, and I want to be a part of that."
Issues that Roth wants to address on the board include teacher and administrator retention, as well as facilities management.
"I think we need to do everything we can to be competitive in wages so that we keep the good teachers that we have," he says. "And we need to make sure we are being pro-active, not reactive on things like the sewer system at Northwest, and the roof at Lancaster and the parking lot at Huntington North ... I don't want to be playing catch-up, because usually, the fix is more expensive than if you are doing preventative things first.

Other issues Roth sees as important include technology and online learning.

"I want to continue to be a leader in technology, whether that be with the iPads or similar forms of technology," he says. "I think online learning is something that we need to be seriously looking at."
Roth says students may benefit from taking online classes coupled with afternoon internships. He also cites home-schooled students, who could benefit by taking online classes at HNHS.

"Huntington schools can provide some resources for them," he says. "I think there's a way to continue to do that and take advantage of the funding that we can get for that and still provide some things that homeschoolers might need ... I know that Huntington North is doing some of this right now. I think it's something we need to look at and consider expanding."

If elected, Roth says he plans to visit every HCCSC building once per month as well as participate in every board meeting. He also plans to work toward creating new streams of revenue, as well as attract students from other communities.

• Gary Snyder, 46, 5101W-1000N, Huntington, is president of Indiana Talks Radio Network. He has been married for 19 years and has seven children and three grandchildren.

Before co-founding the Indiana Talks Radio Network he hosted a talk show on radio stations WBAT and WOWO. He also worked as an anti-money laundering officer and served in the U.S. Army and Indiana Army National Guard.
Snyder's political experience includes serving on the Taylor Community School Corporation's board from May 2006 until November 2006.

He says the main reason he is seeking the school board seat is to become an advocate for the school corporation's children.

"You also have to be an advocate for the teachers that educate our children and the support staff the work with the children," he says. "I think that someone who wants to be on the school board has to be an advocate for the children that attend, the teachers that educate and the support staff that supports."

Snyder believes the top issues that need to be addressed are mandated from the state.

"Huntington County School Corporation has seen a reduction in funding from the state in the tune of over $2 million in the last several years," he says. "You have to find a way to work within that reduced budget."

Teacher retention is another key issue, Snyder says.

"You find that at Huntington North or the school corporation in general, you have an aging teacher population. You have quite a few teachers that have a lot of experience and they're leaving. You have quite a few teachers that are fairly new to the system," he says. "But the teacher that's in the middle - the five, to eight to 10 to 15 years, they're leaving the system. We have to do a better job of finding ways to keep them in the school system."

Snyder has also issued statements in opposition to REPA III, opposing what he calls "experimental teaching permits" and the hiring of any teacher utilizing such a permit. REPA III allows for a two-year renewable license for secondary level teachers who have a bachelor's degree with at least a 3.0 GPA and 6,000 hours of work experience in a content area related to the subject the applicant intends to teach.

If elected, Snyder plans to serve as an advocate for children as well as a lobbyist for elected officials who dictate the education policy.

"Too many times, I think, we tend to listen to politicians and not teachers when it comes to teaching our children. I think as a school board member, you obviously have to do your role as a member of the school board, but you also need to be an advocate - a lobbyist, if you will - with the people making the decisions that affect your school, and I don't think that has really been the case in the past."

School board offices are non-partisan and candidates do not declare any political party affiliations on the ballot.