This interview has been edited for clarity.
Tomorrow is election day in southwest Missouri. Residents will go to the polls to elect new city council members, determine whether city and municipal bonds will pass and in Joplin voters will elect two new school board members.
Last Friday, KRPS’s Rachel Schnelle interviewed all four candidates running for Joplin School Board within hours of each other. Next hour we’ll hear from Derck Gander. First though, Lori Muser.
Rachel first asked Lori about her campaign goals.
LORI MUSER - Well, I have several. Of course the main one is just to ensure that all children are receiving everything they need as far as resources and instructional time and good instructional practices to have the most successful education possible.
You know, just to prepare them to be good and productive citizens.
RACHEL SCHENELLE - So I have done for some context, I report for Joplin. Our station covers parts of Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and in Oklahoma.
And so I've reported a lot in Missouri and in Joplin, and I did a story about homelessness in Joplin and someone with the Joplin schools mentioned something about how the homeless population for children for Joplin schools is high, especially in high school.
I was wondering, as someone who has worked in schools, how do you want to address that issue?
LORI MUSER - Well, I think that that issue is not just the school issue. Of course it's going to take a lot of collaborative partnerships with the community, with resources in the community to make sure that we're providing. Meeting those basic needs of those students, and we have a good program going in Joplin already with bright futures.
They provide a lot of resources for our students who are homeless. You know, for example, the snack packs or the food programs that go home with children on the weekends.
To make sure that they have food when they're not in school, because a lot of kids, you know, have two of their most basic meals when they're school, breakfast and lunch and then a lot of them have snacks in the afternoon.
But oftentimes when they're away from school, they may not be getting those nutritious meals, so we try to help with that through the bright futures program.
Plus there's all kinds of clothing that's provided. There are medical resources, you know, free eyewear, free hearing tests, and then hooking them up with the. Medical professionals in the community that you know will are willing to help with with that population, but it's just it's going to be a partnership with the whole community.
You know, they say it takes a village and it really does those needs. That students that are homeless have are just really high priority, I think, for not only the school district, but our community in general.
RACHEL SCHENELLE - I was wondering what the first thing that you want to do if elected?
LORI MUSER - Well, you know, I'm not going to pretend that I know everything. Everything in the school changes on a regular basis depending on regulations set down by the state or changes in budget changes in legislation. So I'm going to be working on familiarizing myself with those legislative priorities that the school district is focusing on.
And just informing myself, I'm going to have a lot of research to do. I've been researching a lot of hot topics in education, but I think that's number one. I'm going to listen, I'm going to listen to the experts. I'm going to learn from them, do my own research.
To get started, a couple of my priorities is working on and not really working on but supporting the addition of early childhood classes in our elementary classrooms or elementary schools.
To get that program really solidified and moving forward, we already have some, but we need a lot more. I would love to see an early childhood classroom in every elementary school and also in addition to that, still sticking with that early childhood theme.
I'd like to see us add some kind of daycare for school personnel, for teachers and staff, because that's a really good fringe benefit.
I think that's a really good recruitment tool and retention tool as we all know, there's a shortage of daycare options for all of us, and that would be one way that maybe we could help with that. Need and then also you know provided needed service for our teachers and staff.
RACHEL SCHENELLE - Why are you? Why did you decide to run again?
LORI MUSER - Well, Rachel, I kind of have a little saying that education is my calling and it just keeps calling me. So I spent 38 years as an educator, 26 years in the public school system, and then 12 1/2 years in higher education.
I just retired recently in January and thought you know, this is my time to get back out and serve my community and serve the children because that's what I know. I've served two other terms on the school board, and really enjoyed it. And, you know, I thought maybe it's time for me to get back in there and seek reelection, and both of my children graduated, went through jobs and schools and graduated from there.
And I currently have 4 grandchildren that are Joplin school students. So not only for them, but. For all kids, a lot of my students that I've, you know, spent time with in the schools over that time period are now, you know, raising their own children.
They're in the school system. I still keep in touch with lots of them. Still have a lot of teacher and school personnel friends. It's just kind of in my blood, so I'm hoping I get the opportunity again.
Tuesday April 8 is election day. You can find your ballot, poll site and hours by clicking this link.
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