Teachers union supports 5 of 8 candidates for Newton school board

The teachers union at Newton Community School District announced in a Oct. 28 press release it supports five of the eight candidates running for school board this year, including all four of the incumbents hoping to retain their seats.

Newton Community Education Association said candidates Robyn Friedman, Cody Muhs, Travis Padget, Graham Sullivan and Ray Whipple would best meet the needs of the school district and its students. Friedman, Muhs, Padget and Sullivan are all candidates seeking another term on the board.

“We believe they will advocate for all students and public school employees and work to steer our district in the right direction,” the association stated.

Of the remaining candidates, Liz Hammerly, Matt Holmes and Jeff Holschuh did not receive union support.

Morgan Miller, of the Iowa State Education Association, said Hammerly and Holmes did not respond to interview requests. The state teachers union, Miller added, worked with the NCEA on the process for recommending candidates and evaluated them based on returned responses to questionnaires.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article stated Holschuh had not responded to the NCEA’s question. However, a representative of the NCEA and Holschuh himself confirmed he did reply to the questionnaire, but the union chose to not recommend supporting the candidate. The president of the teacher’s union did say Holschuh was “education friendly.”

“The recommended candidates had the most complete responses to the teacher specific questions and the most complete responses to the questions that were of most importance to teachers,” Miller said. “Masking was not a consideration and was not addressed in the questions.”

Each local association’s candidate recommendation process is internal and not always the same, Miller added. In general, a bi-partisan group of members evaluate the candidates running and come to a consensus on who to support; all candidates are given the same questions and opportunity to participate, she said.

“We know educators are experts in what occurs in our classrooms and our public schools, so we are pleased to see our local associations get involved in this election,” Miller said. “We make our recommendations based on the candidate questions and their answers and how we believe they will represent our schools and our profession.”

The NCEA stated in the press release it appreciates so many candidates stepping up to seek an elected position “at a time when local school board meetings are in the news for the hostilities expressed by some.” NCEA is also happy to have candidates who are interested in a broad range of issues.

“…And have ideas about how to improve and enhance our education community,” the associated continued. “Decisions made by the school board impact the educational experiences of thousands of students now and for decades to come.”

NCEA is a local affiliate of the Iowa State Education Association, which represents preK-12 educators, education support professionals, community college faculty, Area Education Agency professionals, retired educators and aspiring educators.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com