Lenoir School Board Candidates Talk Overcrowding

By: Shane Eachus

Lenoir, Pa- As students continue to overpopulate Lenoir School District classrooms, senior citizens worry that their purse strings could be greatly affected by proposed solutions to the problem.

School board candidates took their campaigns to the Lenoir Retirement Community Center, to discuss potential fixes to the overcrowding issue on Tuesday night.

Policy lines seemed to be drawn pitting those in favor of construction projects as a means for solution against those in favor of year round schooling.

Candidates Larry Doorman, Board President Elton Fay, and incumbent Kerry Corino all dismissed the idea of a year round school schedule, citing greater costs in the long run.

“If we are to avoid erecting additional buildings, to save on construction costs, the cost of educating our children would go up substantially,” Fay argued.

Additionally, Corino wanted to be sure that comparison was not made between public and private schools. Overcrowding is an issue unique to public schools, one that they must deal with.

“Public schools cannot pick who they want,” Corrino said. They must work to provide equal and appropriate education for all students who live in and enroll in their district limits.

One candidate, Henry Lane, disagreed that Lenoir was doing enough to provide a good educational environment. He claimed that more can be done to provide a better learning experience for students in the Lenoir district.

Lane claimed that year round schooling would limit the population of schools at any given time by up to 25 percent and reduce the need for trailers to house students.

Senior citizens also asked candidates about teacher unionization. Teachers are not permitted by state law to bargain collectively or form unions. So the Lenoir district will not see teacher unionization anytime in the near future, unless state laws are changed, Fay said.