Kleiber, Wolfe Disagree On Johnson’s Consultancy Role

By Terry Britt

Quinlan ISD School Board Place 6 candidates Eric Kleiber and Rodney Wolfe made their election pitches and answered questions at a forum held Tuesday night at the Lake Tawakoni Regional Chamber of Commerce office.

The brief session was punctuated by their opposing views on the decision to retain outgoing superintendent Larry Johnson as a consultant through the remainder of 2008 after a new superintendent is hired sometime this month.

The district announced this week that Scurry-Rosser ISD Superintendent Micheal French has been selected for that job.

"You have to look at how money is being spent," Wolfe said in response to a question on how the district would look at dealing with impending growth.

He then turned to the superintendent hiring.

"Why do you go ahead and hire a new superintendent if you continue to pay the old superintendent to consult him? I think that is money that could have been spent on other resources like textbooks, curriculum and fine arts programs," Wolfe said.

Kleiber, the incumbent, defended the decision, saying Johnson would provide great assistance to the new superintendent.

"It’s a big undertaking for anybody to come in…I don’t think anybody wants to set up a superintendent to fail, but provide that person with all the tools needed to succeed," he said.

Wolfe later added that he felt the district’s assistant superintendents could provide enough consulting.

"I personally don’t agree with the decision. There are too many other areas where things are lacking," he said.

On another question regarding curriculum and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), Kleiber said it is important to equip teachers with the ability to reach classroom and testing goals.

"The right curriculum is out there where we can teach these kids, and there is a way to teach them where they can pass the TAKS and get a true education to the kids," he said.

"We have to find the right curriculum and get the teacher equipped to teach," he added.

"There has to be more to education than how to take and pass a test," Wolfe said. "I think you have to find a balance between the two."

Both candidates said they were in favor of developing better vocational/technical courses at the high school.

"We have to get students prepared for the reality of life after high school," Wolfe said. "But we also need to push so that they want to try to go to college…

"It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but I think if a student applies himself, that student can be the best he can be and not just skate by," he later added.

Kleiber said a strong vocational/technical program is important to keep some students interested in continuing their public education.

"When you’ve got a lot of kids, they are going to have different interests. If you get those interests engaged, you find they are not as likely to walk the streets and it will make education more important to them," he said.