There could be up to four out of eight new faces on the South Bend Community School Corporation's board.

One will be the announcement of a new superintendent.

That search is in the interim stages but, November 4th, the public gets to vote whether to keep or get rid of three incumbents on the board.

Twenty people are running. Sixteen are competing for two open at-large positions including incumbents Kim Barnbrook and Ann Rosen.

Three are running for a district position, one being incumbent, Bill Sniadecki.

Incumbent Dawn Jones is unopposed.

At a forum held Thursday night at the St. Joseph County Library, it was supposed to be an opportunity for the public to meet potential school board members. Instead, it turned into mainly a candidates meet their competitors night. Very few people showed up.

We had an opportunity to meet eight candidates. From parents, to future parents, former teachers, to folks born and raised in South Bend or bigger cities, the bottom line, they all say they know they face a challenge and they're ready.

Especially, after a lot of negative attention the board attracted when they voted to oust Dr. Robert Zimmerman.

"I question some of the leadership on that board," admits Anthony Douglas. "I have some board experience with other boards locally and I think the board leadership that I have acquired through those boards actually has groomed me for this position."

"I think the entire corporation has failed all the children from top to bottom," says Dustin Saunders. "I think honestly they need to go back in and restructure the districts."

"We need an objective viewpoint on the school board. My relationship with the corporation is in its infancy," admits Kyle Chamberlin, "but we need a fresh face who can come in and give an honest evaluation of where we stand."

"I think the high school graduation rates are unacceptable. The way we need to approach it is by forming a new partnership between the board and the community, by making sure that our kids who leave the primary centers leave reedy for the next step," explains Don Wheeler.

"We need to listen to our students, our parents, and get the communication circle intact, because we've got a gap somewhere, and we need to close that circle up," Karen Brandy-Comer advises.

"I wonder about those children that don't have the support, those students that are struggling, that aren't quite the exceptional student. How do they make it through the process that we have in place right now?" asks Mark Smith.

"I taught special education for four years. I left school in ninth grade to care for my parents. I'm from down south and I understood that it takes intrinsic motivators for people to progress and to want to do better," Stephanie Spivey explains.

"Stop saying that this isn't possible because of this, but start saying let's figure out how we can," Joseph Adams encourages. "Evaluation is the most important thing. I'm a business student. We're taught to evaluate."

Links to candidate websites

Joe Adams
votejoeadams.com

Kyle Chamberlin
www.kylechamberlin.com

Dustin Saunders
www.dustin4schoolboard.com

Mark Smith
www.electmarksmith.net

Don Wheeler
www.wheeler4rkids.org

Candidate email addresses

Karen Brandy-Comer
Singer561@yahoo.com

Kyle Chamberlin
kyleforboard@gmail.com

Stephanie Spivey
Stephaniespivey4sbcsc@yahoo.com