West Plains, MO. – The West Plains R-7 School District Board of Education will elect three board members in this coming election on Tuesday, April 4th. Three members of the board are up for re-election (Jack Lee Freeman, Jr.; Christena Silvey Coleman; and Warren Reid Grigsby) and, there are two newcomers (Jodi Purgason and Scott Tuma) running for the open position.
News Team 7 will be releasing our interviews with each of the candidates throughout the week.
We present our third school board candidate interview with Christena Silvey Coleman:
Transcription by Rev.com
Nate Hudson: This is Nate Hudson with Ozark Radio News, and today I’m speaking with Christena Silvey Coleman, who is running for reelection with the West Plains School Board.
Christena Silve..: Hello Nathan, how are you today?
Nate Hudson: Oh, I am doing great. So I’m asking all of the candidates the same list of questions. Sometimes they give me answers for other questions in previous answers, so if that happens, then it might change a little from interview to interview. But with all the interviews I’m starting off with, why are you running for the school board and what are your qualifications?
Christena Silve..: Well, Nathan, I graduated from West Plains High School in 1989 and I came home and have been practicing law here since 1995, 28 years ago. I can’t believe. I have a daughter, Camille Coleman, who is a freshman this year. And so I went on the school board when there was a vacancy created when Elizabeth Grisham resigned from the board. And so I was appointed initially and then I ran for election last time. So I’m starting, will if reelected, start my 5th year on the board.
Nate Hudson: All right. That actually takes care of my next two questions.
Christena Silve..: Okay.
Nate Hudson: Which is, have you participated in past board meetings and are you a parent in the district?
Christena Silve..: Yes. Yes.
Nate Hudson: So what do you believe are the top needs of the school district?
Christena Silve..: Wow. Well, I think that we have done a really good job as a district in always making a priority, the education of our students. I would like to see the continuation of development of programs working on academics emphasizing fine arts in addition to our athletic programs. So I definitely think that it’s a well-rounded education that most of our students are looking for. And I believe that we are providing, of course, budgetary issues are always of concern and what we can do in terms of opportunities, facilities are a big concern for us.
Nate Hudson: So when it comes to the different needs of the many students at the West Plain School District, how do you plan on addressing those needs?
Christena Silve..: Well, I definitely try to take an active and involved role as a board member. And I try to always remember when I’m acting as a board member versus as a parent to Camille. And so I do think that having a child in the district does provide me a good opportunity to know of needs in our district, particularly in the building that she’s in. So I started on the board when she was in the elementary school here at West Plains, then the middle school and now the high school. And there are different needs I think for each of those buildings. But I definitely think that, again, making academics a priority for all of our students and our faculty and our staff, I think we have an outstanding team now and have had, but certainly priority has been given to that. And so I just continue to want to be an observer of those things and where a difference can be made that we try to do that.
Nate Hudson: Okay. So we had talked a little bit about budget. I know you have served on the West Plain School Board, have you served on any other boards in the area that have made budgetary or policy decisions?
Christena Silve..: Well, yes. Coming back to my hometown, when I did to practice law, I’ve had the opportunity to be on several different boards. I was on the planning and zoning board, I was on the West Plains Public Library Board. I currently am serving on the Christos House Board. I’m on the Downtown Association Board. I also serve Presbyterian church. I am an elder there at our… I’m trying to think what else. So I have had the opportunity to be a part of various organizations in dealing with budgetary issues and of course have my own law practice here and have for quite some time. And so I’m pretty familiar with budgets and making sure that everything is flowing as it should.
Nate Hudson: So when it comes to the school’s budget, what is your priorities there?
Christena Silve..: Well, of course, making certain that all of our priorities are met in the sense of academic programming as well as extracurricular programming. I am a big advocate for the salary schedules and making sure that our teachers, our staff and our administrators to the best of our ability continue to always have a step every year and being able to provide them with some appreciation for all of their hard work. And it is really difficult I will tell you, with current budget issues. Obviously there’s been a movement by our state and our Senator Eslinger has been a big proponent of the $38,000 grant. And our district did apply for that and receive it. Of course, we hope that is continuing. I would like to see in the future our ability to not only have that, but also to reward our teachers who’ve been there for a long time. And so I do think that that is something as a priority for me to see that we do our very best to make sure that our salaries stay competitive and it is so very difficult with the current constraints.
Nate Hudson: Honestly, that did cover my next question, which was going to be on educator salaries and benefits. So moving on from there, what is your view of school choice? It’s been something of a big talk nationwide and locally here in Missouri as well. So how is your view on school choice?
Christena Silve..: Well, I don’t know if it passed last week. I know there was legislation. I think it may have gone through the House and it may be ready to go to or being considered by the Senate at the present time about the open schools which would allow school choice. I think that there would be some limitations. You can’t have more than 3% I don’t think of your student population making a change on that. I think there’s a place for that, Nathan. I think again, that ties into the budgetary situation because as I understand it and certainly am not an expert on the legislation, but I do believe that there would be some funding issues that might affect that in the sense that if a student chose to go to a district other than what their address would define that the receiving school might not receive anything other than the state dollars. And so that could be something that would be an issue.
Nate Hudson: Okay. And on that same line of thought, how are your feelings on public funding for private and religious schools? Do you favor it?
Christena Silve..: I want to say as a local school board member, we are not political in terms of those sorts of things. And certainly whatever the legislature in the state of Missouri determines is what we abide by. And I will say that I do believe the current legislation does encompass the choice for charter schools, for parochial schools and or for private schools. So there’s some things that do overplay there. I think that the ability for parents to choose the best option for their students within the confines of the legislation is always the best.
Nate Hudson: Now moving on to another big thing that’s been talked about on the national stage. And pardon me, another big thing that’s been talked about on the national stage and locally is critical race theory. And do you think that critical race theory is currently being taught in the district? And can you define what CRT is?
Christena Silve..: Well, I do not believe that we are teaching critical race theory. And I know that that has been a hot topic both nationally perhaps as well on a local level. But we are not to my knowledge, there’s no curriculum that includes that. I will say it is a theory. It is a theory that has been around, I think longer than maybe is well understood. And as I understand the definition, critical race theory is intended to say that our racism is based in our systems, our legal system, our societal system, and not based on individuals’ particular bias.
Nate Hudson: All right, well thank you. Moving on with more things that the state legislature has come down within that really been talked about a lot lately. Missouri Senate had recently passed a bill enacting a parent’s Bill of Rights that furthers what the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, D.E.S.E., currently has. What are your thoughts on it?
Christena Silve..: I think the parent’s Bill of Rights, as I understand it, has a good intent, which obviously is to provide transparency from the district to the parents. I am a strong advocate of parents’ involvement in our districts. What I don’t like about it perhaps would be the burden it would place on our educators. Curriculum is available through a certain grade level on our website. I mean, parents can go look at that. And I think that maybe is through 5th grade. Beyond that, I think it does require a request.
I think there’s a two day time limit or some provision that might put that time crunch on there. So I certainly am not opposed to the transparency component of it. And I think parents’ involvement and concern about their kids’ education is great and we encourage that I think throughout our district. But I don’t like if it puts a time limit that is not a reasonable time limit for educators amongst everything else that they’re doing because we are asking a lot of our educators in the classroom, our administrators and all of our staff, and I just have to give a shout out to them.
What they do every day is amazing. So as a board member, what we do is easy compared to what they do every day. For sure.
Nate Hudson: So moving on to my last question. This is something that has to do with the school’s libraries, and last year Missouri passed Senate Bill 775. This was a book banning, the things that banned were descriptions of sexual intercourse, genitalia, other materials like that. And what are your views on this particular book banning and I have a list there. Have you read any of those books?
Christena Silve..: Oh, well, it’s a very long list and I had not reviewed it obviously in advance of that, Nathan. But I would venture to say that I may have read some of these books. I again don’t know. I think that each again of our buildings and age categories, the librarians as I understand it, are very careful in their selection of books that are available for the students that are age appropriate and are based on things that might enhance their learning experience from the classroom. I understand that banning books has become something, again on a national level, maybe has gotten some attention. My understanding is that we have protocol in place that if a parent has a concern or an individual has a concern that they first go to the librarian, the librarian reviews it, and then there is protocol for further review of that if requested.
I, again, I have a lot of confidence in our librarians and all of our administrators, educators, and staff. And I feel like that they use good discretion in determining what should be in our libraries. I certainly respect everyone’s ability to control their children’s exposure and if they have concerns about things. And I think as a parent, they certainly have the right to say, “Don’t check this book out,” or, “We don’t want you to see that.” When you get into a ban, it causes me some concern on what that’s based and hoping that it’s objective, not subjective. And again, I think that that is something we as public education have to be really careful about, not to have our opinions personally impact those decisions.
Nate Hudson: Well, that is all for my questions today. Christina, you have been wonderful. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Christena Silve..: Only Nathan, that I have appreciated the privilege to be on the school board. I do believe in public education. My mother, Carol Silvey, who’s been here in the community a long time, and her parents and a lot of relatives were public educators. In fact, my grandmother was very disappointed when I chose law over education. But I will say I believe in public education and I believe it’s very important that we on a local level provide the very best education we can for each of our students. And I would like the opportunity to continue as a board member in seeing that that happens here in West Plains.
Nate Hudson: Well, thank you, Christena Silvey Coleman. Running for the West Plains School District Board of Education. Good luck come April 4th.
Christena Silve..: Thank you so much, Nathan.
