LHS candidate forum Monday

COLUMBUS -- The eight candidates filing for the three seats up for election on the Lakeview Community Schools Board of Education are expected to participate in a candidate forum at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Lakeview High School.

The three incumbents and five challengers will respond to questions, attempting to convince patrons to vote for them in the May 13 primary election. Since three positions are open, twice that number (6) will move on to the general election.

District voters will be able to vote for up to three candidates in the May primary, and the top six vote-getters will be placed on the general election ballot.

According to Diane Olmer, Platte County election commissioner, the Lakeview school board has not been on the primary ballot since becoming a Class III school in 1997.

The following is a brief profile of each candidate, listed in alphabetical order, and their responses to following two questions — “What would be your future facilities plan if elected?” and “What area in the district, if any, would you identify as needing improvement and how would you plan to make the necessary adjustment?”

Daniel Humlicek

Education: Lakeview High School graduate of 1986

Occupation: Organic farmer, computer consultant

Family: Wife, Lori, and children, Megan, 12, seventh grader, twins Abbey and Amanda, 11, fifth graders and Cody, 8, second grader, all at Shell Creek Elementary School

Involvement: Vice president elect of the Lakeview Community Schools Board Advisory Council, former president of the Nebraska chapter of the Organic Crop Improvement Association and member of St. Bonaventure Church

Facilities Plan: “First and foremost, I am open” to the opinions of the patrons, Humlicek said. His preference would be a middle school building near the high school with K-5 facilities in the Sunrise, Shell Creek and Platte Center areas, because “a lot of people that moved to the Lakeview School District did so to get away from larger schools.”

He said he would attempt to recruit patrons to participate in committees that would research and analyze aspects of the building proposal and who could be looked upon to promote the plan during a bond election.

District Improvement: “First and foremost, we need to bring the Lakeview community together,” Humlicek said. “We can respectfully disagree, but first we need to listen to each other.”

To do that, he said he would disseminate more information to the patrons, distribute information packets to those who attend the meetings and try to get more people involved.

“We have to get people involved. To get patrons involved, we need to get them information,” he said. Board members “complain about rumors and the misinformation out there, but when there is a vacuum (patrons) piece together what they hear,” and that can create some false information.

Ron Keller (incumbent)

Education: Humphrey Public High School graduate of 1961, associate degree from Norfolk Junior College, B.S. in Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Masters in Elementary Administration from the University of Nebraska-Omaha

Occupation: Farmer

Family: Wife, Mary Ann, children, Corey, 38, Greg, 32, and Chris, 30, all graduates of Lakeview High School

Involvement: Served four terms between the Lakeview High School and Lakeview Community Schools boards, served as president of St. Joseph’s Church council, Pla-Co Pork Producers Association, Pork Producers Association and was a National Pork Board member

Facilities Plan: “It would depend upon the money, the total dollars we want to spend,” Keller said. “At this time I would like to see us go with a K-6 or K-8 facility. At this time I would prefer a single track facility.”

Regarding the building’s potential location, he said he is flexible with its location.

District Improvement: “We should be looking at programs. In our school district we are not delivering product, such as algebra in eighth grade,” Keller said. “We looked at this product a year ago. I did not personally want to provide the product at that time because the administration, board and myself were not ready. We are ready to provide that product this fall.”

“We need to look at some of our scores ... at the elementary levels and strengthen some of those,” he said. “Reading we need to increase somewhat. I’m not saying it’s weak, but it’s an area we need to concentrate on more because it lends itself to all the other subject areas.”

“We need to continue to improve all the time. We just can’t sit back,” Keller said.

Jerry Korte

Education: Lakeview High School graduate of 1973, B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Occupation: Farmer

Family: Wife, Nancy, and children, Seth, 26, Sarah, 23, both graduates of Lakeview High School, and Shane, 18, a senior at Lakeview High School

Involvement: St. John’s Lutheran Church school board member, secretary of the congregation and an elder, served in the Nebraska National Guard for six years with an honorable discharge with a rank of sergeant, and served on Co-op boards in Creston and Humphrey and as chairman of the Nebraska State Pork Industry Expo

Facilities Plan: “It must be something the voters would approve,” Korte said. “My first personal choice would be three elementaries, my second would be an add-on to the current Shell Creek site, and the third choice would be a completely new K-8 facility centralized for all (students).”

“The reason for my choice of schools, in that order, is the busing issue. It would be extremely expensive, and if we offer it in one area, it needs to be offered throughout the whole district to everyone,” he said, especially if smaller schools close within the next five years and want to join Lakeview, which would exacerbate busing services for everyone as well as the associated costs.

District Improvement: “The biggest thing is unity,” Korte said. “I would try to come up with some compromises between different opinions. No one is going to get exactly what they want. Everybody is going to have to give up something to come up with a happy medium.”

Dan Lutjens

Education: Lakeview High School graduate of 1979, and attended Platte College and University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Occupation: Farmer

Family: Wife, Kate, children, Sharra, 16, a sophomore at Lakeview High School, Nick, 13, sixth grader, and Marshall, 8, second grader, both at Platte Center Elementary School

Involvement: Lakeview Community Schools Board Advisory Council, Immanuel Lutheran Church Board, Platte Valley Cattle Feeders Association

Facilities Plan: “My first choice would be a stand alone K-8” in the Sunrise area, Lutjens said. “I want what the patrons want and two times (a board proposal) has been rejected. The patrons are not in favor of what they are projecting for us.”

District Improvement: “We should have had algebra in the schools years ago,” Lutjens said. “Right now the administration is dragging its feet, using the excuse we need to have a junior high to do it,” with which he disagrees.

He said he would also seek out recent graduates, find out areas of potential deficiencies and find out how to improve or introduce those curriculum subjects.

Larry Mohrman (incumbent)

Education: Columbus High School graduate of 1971, attended University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Occupation: Farmer

Family: Wife, Lois, and children, Lucas, 26, and Lily, 19, both graduates of Lakeview High School

Involvement: Served three full terms on the school board, was the school board president at Platte Center Elementary School and has served on the Platte Center Co-op board, Tri-Valley Co-op board, Central Valley Ag Co-op board and Pla-Co Pork Producers board

Facilities Plan: “My preference would be to continue with a junior high setting either at the high school or a stand alone building,” Mohrman said, or even a “K-8 building ... for at least two of the schools ... with a junior high wing,” which would be located in the eastern park of the Lakeview district.

District Improvement: “Curriculum improvements for our K-8 students,” Mohrman said, such as “better science, art and music programs.”

At the high school level, he said he wants to offer more accelerated science and math classes. “I want to get them taking some of the math classes earlier to give them an opportunity to take more” advanced classes later in their academic careers.

To assist in that effort he also would look into implementing an eight-period day and the potential for providing a pre-school program.

Timothy J. Mueller

Education: Lakeview High School graduate of 1979, attended University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Occupation: Farmer

Family: Wife, Suzanne, children, Nichole, 24, Brian, 22, both graduates of Lakeview High School, and Tony, 16, a freshman at Lakeview High School

Involvement: Served on the District 10 school board for six years before it became Shell Creek Elementary School and serves as vice president of the Immanuel Lutheran Church congregation. He has held multiple positions on the church board

Facilities Plan: “I’d like to see a single track down at the Sunrise Elementary School area,” Mueller said. “Build a new school down there so there isn’t so much transportation.”

He said he also would look into a junior high in the district. “We are kind of headed for that because there are too many kids in each school.”

District Improvement: He said he would like to see advanced math classes at the elementary and high school levels.

“Get eighth grade teachers qualified to teach algebra and, at the high school level, offer calculus and trigonometry” if trigonometry is not currently offered.

Dan Pabian

Education: North Bend Central High School graduate of 1977, associates in Business Administration from Central Community College-Columbus, B.S. in Business Administration from University of Nebraska-Kearney

Occupation: Account manager

Family: Wife, Sue, children, Tim, 21, graduate of Lakeview High School, Becky, 17, senior, and Cindy, 16, sophomore, both at Lakeview High School

Involvement: Former member of the Lakeview Community Schools Board Advisory Council, member of the local Eagles, Rotary, Knights of Columbus and St. Bonaventure Church, previous retail/services committee chair for the local United Way fundraising drive, has been active in the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and served as a local officer and as area governor of Toastmasters

Facility Plan: “My opinion is to put the elementary education schools in areas where the populations are,” Pabian said. He supports a “school in Platte Center, Shell Creek and one more in the Sunrise area, (which should be) located within a four-mile range of most of the population that would attend it.”

He said he would be open to a “double track (two classrooms for each grade) in the Sunrise area” to accommodate expected growth in the area.

District Improvement: “Something I see is the lack of overall communications between the school, school administration, school board, teachers, patrons and tax payers,” Pabian said, “communication about what the future needs of the district are.”

“The patrons and taxpayers need to see the big picture of where (the district) is going,” he said. “Parents are not aware or take the time to look at what school does have to offer. We rely on the school to provide that information to students. More informational opportunities for parents (should be provided) to learn more about what students need to be studying and activities kids can get involved with.”

John Wurdeman (incumbent)

Education: Lakeview High School graduate of 1977, B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduate of the Nebraska Leadership Education Action Development (LEAD) program

Occupation: Farm manager and real estate appraiser

Family: Children, Rachel, 22, Morgan, 19, both graduate of Lakeview High School, and Leah, 15, freshman at Lakeview High School

Involvement: President-elect, slated to be president next year, of the Nebraska Association of School Boards, pending re-election, served four terms between the Lakeview High School and Lakeview Community Schools boards, served as vice president of the association; is active on the choir of Christ Lutheran Church and is a previous choir director

Facilities Plan: “I would like to explore any options, which could include a stand-alone junior high, middle school or consider continuation of having a junior high at the high school if that works well and if the patrons are favorable to that,” Wurdeman said. He would like to “revisit the idea of combining the Shell Creek and Sunrise students in some fashion, such as a K-6 or K-8. Those are my preferences for a long range solution.”

As for Platte Center Elementary School, he said since it is the newest building he would like to “maintain an elementary school building there and do what we need to do to increase attendance to maintain that school.”

District Improvement: “I would like to see us find ways to offer more curriculum opportunities for students,” Wurdeman said. “One way for us to explore that option would be to go to an eight-period day.”

That would create “more opportunities for fine arts, being able to offer more of the core subjects such as math and science subjects,” he said. “It is important to me to bring the district back together and unify the district as well.”