When voters go to the polls on Tues., Nov. 2, there will be four candidates, including three incumbents, seeking three seats on the Boardman Board of Education. Incumbents seeking re-election are John Fryda, Vickie Davis and John Landers. They are being challenged by Anthony Buchmann.
      When considering the field of candidates, the incumbents stand above their opponent as the best qualified to serve the Boardman Local School District.
      For example, when the League of Women voters asked each candidate about their qualifications for office, Mr. Fryda, who is seeking a second term on the board, said he has worked successfully with other board members, the administration, students and community, adding he has a knowledge of the fiscal responsibilities of the system.
      Ms. Davis, who has served on the local school board since 2014, points to her experience as a major qualification for returning her to a seat on the board.
      Mr. Landers also cites his service to the school district for the past twelve years, noting he is an advocate for fair school funding and is a member of the Boardman High School Class of 2000.
      Mr. Buchmann said as a tradesman, he would bring uniqueness to the school board, adding “I am an American citizen, a husband and a father of teenagers.”
      As for priorities, Mr. Fryda said he will serve all citizens, support a safe and positive learning enviroment, and maintain open communication and a working relationship with the community.
      Ms. Davis says she will “continue to stretch taxpayer dollars...while continuing to fight the unfairness of public school funding at the state level.”
      She adds “The role of a school board member is also to support the community around them.”
      Mr. Landers opines his priorities include advocating for fair school funding, “continue to evolve and improve communication to the community” and (provide) support for “individual pathways to learn.”
      Mr. Buchmann calls for increased transparency, accountability and in a seeming poor-mouth call he says “Bring all trades/military service to equal level with college to allow kids every option before making a decision that will effect (students) for the rest of their lives.”
      Mr. Buchmann has made efforts to bring his campaign into the public forum, including demonstrating in opposition to the school system’s mask policy (with about a dozen other people) at the intersection of Rt. 224 and Market St. one recent weekend, as well as having a family member parade around a school board meeting objecting to the district’s busing policy---to the point of intimidating a young girl who also wanted to address the board to thank fire-fighters for their service, out of doing so.
      Such antics don’t serve students and the district well, as the example of the frightened young girl demonstrates.
      Mr. Buchmann makes a call for zero tolerance for bullying (an apparent reference to a mother whose complaints last year forced a teacher’s aide, under pressure from the school board, to resign). So in fact, there is a zero tolerance for the teacher aide’s actions, and it cost the aide a job.
      Mr. Buchmann’s candidacy wreaks of smoke and mirrors, and if elected, his candidacy has displayed a lack willingness to work as a team for the overall benefit of the kids in the school district, as he alludes to the belief that as a tradesman, he is somehow a lesser person than someone with a college degree.
      To be certain, Ms. Davis and Mr. Landers need to be more open with their communication skills. It is a well-known fact if either of these two board members are asked about their opinions on school-related matters, they more often than not, defer questions to someone else.
      However, in the best interests of the Boardman Local School District and the students they serve, John Fryda, Vickie Davis and John Landers are the best candidates for election to the school board.
      We recall board members like Norm Purucker and Robert Ameduri, whose terms on the school board were divisive, and serving as one-man minorities on a five-member board, they accomplished little to benefit the students and school district they were elected to serve.
      Especially in that light, John Fryda, Vickie Davis and John Landers are the best candidates for election to the Boardman Local School Board on Tues., Nov. 2.