Bentonville School District Zone 3 has two candidates up for election in the Oct. 9 runoff. The clear and positive choice Is Grant Lightle. Lightle has a solid point of view on how to approach growth within the school district. He is fiscally conservative and will fight to make sure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Lightle has the courage to challenge the board and the administration when resources are not proposed efficiently and solutions are not being effectively offered. His opponent, Kim Mertes, is the exact opposite of that. Mertes has waffled on the key issue of school population growth repeatedly over the past two years. She has campaigned in favor of a second high school, voted against it while on the board, voted again for it while on the board, then voted against it in the general election. What will she do next year?
Who knows? Her current suggestions
to alleviate high school overcrowding include a vocational alternative
high school. In theory, this sounds great. However, we are talking about a situation where BHS will be overcrowded by about 2,000 students in the next 10 years. A vocational school is a 500-student solution. What does she suggest we do with the other 1,500 students? Ms. Mertes would like to research online learning. Once again, in theory, this is good. However, legally, there are severe restrictions with respect to this in the state. Also, mandated programs in
the states of Florida and Colorado have yielded standardized test scores of
up to 10 percent lower than average in districts where the general high school population was required to take classes online instead of the classroom. Eventually, online classroom learning will be a major factor in education, but it is not even close to being a solution today. If we want workable solutions today for the future of our children and our community, utilizing our tax dollars the most wisely, we will vote for Grant Lightle on Oct. 9.
JEFF BAKER
Bentonville