Schools

Ankeny School Board Candidate Profile: Justine Peebles

Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce sent the four school board candidates questionnaires. See what Challenger Justine Peebles had to say.

Justine Peebles is the lone challenger on the Ankeny School Board ballot Tuesday. She hopes to unseat one of three incumbents.

See a profile provided by the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce:

The Board plans to propose a bond referendum to finance the renovation of Northview Middle School. If this ballot question were to fail, how would you propose to pay for the proposed changes to that building?

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After touring Northview Middle School last week with a parent of a student and Principal Bev Kuehn and seeing firsthand the improvements that need to be made, I have to say that it would be incredibly unfortunate if the bond referendum to finance the renovations did not pass. If the ballot question fails, I would prioritize a list of needed renovations and complete as funding is available. I would also commit to ensuring that all excess funding be dedicated to these projects before anything else. 

What are your views regarding the current pay structure of teachers in the school district? What changes do you propose, if any?

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From the research I have done, I do not believe that a step and lane type pay system is best for our students. As a part of the Education Reform package, Gov. Terry Branstad is attempting to implement a pay for performance system in regards to teacher’s salaries. There are many pros to a merit based pay structure. The pros include:

- Rewarding the best instructors, who are currently underpaid.

- Eliminating educators who have floated by on tenure instead of proven results.

- Motivating by the spirit of competition that results in better performance.

- Promoting modern teaching technologies, new approaches and expanded curriculum.

- The focus on educational efforts and adjusting teaching styles so that each child is able to learn in their own way. 

As a business person, I value hard work and most importantly, I value honest and transparent results. Why would we pay an unmotivated educator and an exceptional educator the same? Teachers are already underpaid for the job that they do and this is another step towards correcting this inequality. I try to think it about it from their point of view as well. If I were in their shoes, I would want to push my students to excel and to be rewarded for their successes. People who are incentivized just work harder and produce higher quality results. If we implement this new pay system, I feel that we will be able to attract and retain the best educators in our state which directly affects our students. While this is my personal opinion, I would be open to hearing other views and perspectives regarding the cons of this pay type and also what others believe the pros and cons are of the step and lane system are. This is a newer concept to me relating to education so I imagine there are potential issues that may arise if we were to take this road. 

What policies or procedures does the School Board propose in keeping Ankeny a unified community regarding business and community support ensuring not having to choose between funding the Jaguars or Hawks independently?

Because I am not on the current School Board, I cannot intelligently answer this question with hard facts or insight to their plan on a policy regarding this matter, however, I will answer it with a proposal on how I would handle this. As a parent and concerned citizen, I would work to develop a procedure that pulls together a committee which includes chamber members, non-chamber business owners, Booster Club leaders, community volunteers and school staff to address this area and to ensure equality among the Hawks and the Jaguars. I would also inquire to other rapidly growing multiple secondary systems such as Iowa City and Dubuque and see how they address this issue. 

What is one thing the district has not planned for but should in order to improve student academic achievement? 

Something that I would like to see in our district to improve student academic achievement would be to provide foreign language at the elementary level. Many of our children are exposed to this in preschool and then lose their knowledge because it isn’t consistent. In order for our students to be able to compete on a global level, we must add this back into the curriculum. I would also institute a board policy which requires review of curriculum on a regular and rotational basis every few years to ensure we are keeping up with educational needs and trends.

What is one thing the district has not planned for but should in order to reduce the school tax levy?

Commit to being fiscally responsible and following through with strategically laid plans. Had prior boards planned for future growth, the tax rate would not have had to spike as it has, making the Ankeny School District the second highest school tax rate in Polk County. We need to set goals for Superintendent to continuously looks for ways to do things better, faster and less expensively. Be forth right with the facts. Develop a five year financial plan and stick to it. Don’t let other things intercede, such as the more than $4 million that the current board spent to upgrade Ankeny High School athletic facilities with costly amenities so they could be used for competition. These were planned as practice facilities and should have not been upgraded until after other necessities, such as the planned renovation at Northview Middle School which was approved by Ankeny voters, had taken place. We cannot continue to ask taxpayers for more and more money for planned projects, then pull a bait and switch and use the funds elsewhere and then ask for more money again.

Do you favor a Ward System for School Board members instead of electing them all at large? Please elaborate on your reasoning one way or the other.

I feel that in order to be fiscally responsible, we should focus our dollars on other big issues. I understand the need for all parts of Ankeny to be represented equally on the school board, however, the time, resources and money spent on figuring out where would boundaries would be would be time consuming and a costly expense to our already scarce resources. I personally think that time should be spent on developing a term cap policy instead so that unethical and corrupt alliances are broken up, fresh ideas and perspective are able to enter and contribute to the district and other citizens of Ankeny are able to serve the community by being on the school board. If a decision is made to go to a ward system, I believe this will cause competition between the wards, political unrest and will prevent cohesiveness which will ultimately get in the way of accomplishing goals and making positive changes. Finally, there are too many unanswered questions relating to the time, cost and logistics that I would have to study before making a sound decision on this topic.


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