“Now, since the hot contention over Columbia Falls’ Animal-Person population has been the focus of the present race,” the moderator spoke in a sort of refereeing voice, “the topics of the debate will not involve that issue… or at least the questions coming from “me” will not involve that issue.”
A soft groan escaped my lips. Pointing out Hireman’s racism was Tabby’s best weapon. It was the thing that was doing the most to help Tabby, if what Patten had told me about his private polling was accurate. Outside of that, Hireman had a clear advantage because of his experience as a “politician” and as the School District Superintendent. I hoped that Tabby was ready and had some good answers.
“Are the candidates ready?” the moderator asked.
Tabby and Hireman nodded.
“Very well,” the moderator spoke, “the first question will go to you, Mrs. Choir. As I’m sure you’re aware, for the past ten years education funding has dipped dangerously low nationwide and both parties have failed to come up with an adequate answer to the problem. In Columbia Falls specifically, it is threatening that our school system will be consolidated with Kalispell’s at the high school level at least. As the superintendent, what would you do to keep the Columbia Falls School District as its own entity?”
Tabby paused to think for a moment.
“For the short term, the solution that could save the School District’s funding would be to switch to a four day week,” Tabby answered, “or at least for part of the year to run a four day school week. The only other solution would be pass a series of bond issues or opt outs to give the school district the funds needed to pay for the various upgrades, maintenance, and cleaning during the summer and allow the main budget given to the schools to pay the teachers, staff… and have funds available for an emergency.”
“What about a long term solution?” the moderator asked, catching the modifier Tabby had used.
“Long term solutions will likely involve various major budget alterations,” Tabby answered, “for example, the High School does not need to switch to a new uniform style every year. Doing so puts too much money into the Athletic Department that could be spent on things more closely related to maintaining the schools… most of the long term solutions, however, may involve putting “political pressure” on the State Government in Helena or the Federal Government in Washington DC to put a greater funding into education or to at least halt the cuts to education to finance the tax cuts that have been made over the past several years.”
“I see,” the moderator nodded, “Wayne Hireman, the same question goes to you.”
“Thank you,” Hireman answered, “Mrs. Choir does have a good starting point for this question.”
He then paused to clear his throat.
“Moving to a four day week will save this district a lot of money,” Hireman answered, “and it is a battle that I have waged since our district began to suffer budgetary problems. It has been a long battle and one that I must admit has not gone well… but as the problems of funding education continue to get worse, that battle will resolve itself. I will be able to finally win it and save this school district a lot of money.”
He then paused to lean forward, “and it is my experience that will be able to get those on the School Board who believe in a five day week to agree. Mrs. Choir has a good starting point… but her solutions are a sign of how inexperienced the woman is when it comes to the administrative tasks that must be done. So she starts with what is the answer to the problem and then fires in a series of “options” that will be bad for the school district as a whole.”
Hireman then looked up to the crowd in the stands.
“Bond issues and opt outs will only increase the local taxes on the people of Columbia Falls and its business, killing the town’s overall economy,” Hireman added, “in addition, she proposes to ask the Federal government to raise our taxes, despite the fact that no one in the Federal Government uses money wisely. The President has wasted billions on studying ants from his homeland in Kenya. And Mrs. Choir thinks that he will actually spend money wisely… it is a sign of gross ignorance and inexperience… shooting for any potential escape…”
Molly and I both held back a growl. The school district election had nothing to do with Presidential election where both sides were hammering away at each other in what appeared to be an equally ugly race. Yet, Hireman was using the campaign to launch not only an attack on Tabby but on the US Presidential race as well.
Hireman paused to give a slight sigh, “and on top of it, she proposes to cut our school’s sports teams besides. The Columbia Falls football team has brought more money into the district then any academic policy and has so far been the only thing keeping the school’s budget afloat.”
“I never said that!” Tabby challenged, “I advocated not changing uniforms every year.”
“Uniforms get dirty and torn, Mrs. Choir,” Hireman shot back.
“They also invented washing machines and repair kits…” Tabby retorted, “and if a jersey or something needs to be replaced, it will be cheaper because the supplier will not have to change patterns. Changing uniforms wastes money… money that could be spent on academic programs, or perhaps upgrading the sports facilities themselves allowing the district to attract more people to the games.”
“Order!” the moderator called between the two, “we will have order. There is to be no shouting match between candidates. Mr. Hireman, your solution?”
“To push for a four day week and to use my experience to get it approved,” Hireman answered.
“Do you believe there might be other options that could save us in the long term verses the short term?” the moderator asked.
“No,” Hireman replied, “moving to a four day week will solve our budgetary problems.”
“Mrs. Choir, as one with no prior experience, do you believe you are capable of handling the various issues related to running the School District?” the moderator asked.
“I do,” Tabby answered, “Mr. Hireman claims my positions are based off of inexperience and that that inexperience is a liability… yet he fails to mention that at one time he had the exact same experience that I have now… and with the obvious exception of his unethical treatment of Molly Wayne, he has done relatively well. Experience is not an issue…”
The moderator nodded.
“…and if I may add,” Tabby continued, “his charge that I am rushing off and jumping at “quick fixes” as it were largely ignored many of the problems being faced by this school district. Many of the buildings are old and are in desperate need for upgrades or potentially building a whole new building. Moving to a four day week will not solve those issues. Bond issues or opt outs may seem like bad medicine… but when it comes to the big issues that will have to be dealt with eventually. The longer these upgrades are put off… the more expensive they will be in the future. It may be a bad tasting medicine, but it is necessary. Very necessary.”
The moderator nodded and then turned to Hireman.
“Mr. Hireman, there can be no denying that several of the buildings in the Columbia Falls School District will need to be replaced or undergo major upgrades in the coming years,” the moderator began, “based on your position on only saving money through a four day week, how would you go about funding the needed upgrades or new construction?”
“Our buildings are not so far gone that we are in danger of having a building collapse on us,” Hireman answered, “the simplest solution to the issue would be to properly budget school funds… which I have overseen as the School District Superintendent. Any and all money saved goes into a fund that will go toward saving for those upgrades. Moving to a four day week will allow us to save even more money and step up the timeline for the necessary upgrades.”
“All that does is put it off! And the price for the upgrades will go up each year because of inflation,” Tabby charged, “any business would tell you that it is best to invest in upgrades quickly before things get truly out of hand!”
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Hireman quipped.
“It could break!” Tabby answered, “and if nothing is done, it could be catastrophic when it does break!”
“The system will adequately save money for all the needed upgrades,” Hireman asserted.
“Barring an accident or something else you haven’t foreseen,” Tabby challenged.
“The district has had no costly accidents,” Hireman answered, “the Mountain Lion did no lasting damage to the buildings, and the school’s insurance was not held liable to pay for the medical costs… and to my knowledge the insurance policies held by Officers Frederick Barnes and Danielle Jenkins of the CFPD covered the bulk of the girl’s medical bills… and the worst damage done by Bill Williams was done to the Columbia Falls PD…”
“He’s lying there,” Angela practically growled from where she was seated, “Patrick and Timothy’s wounds were cased by that insane ex-principal and in that case, the school was deemed responsible… financially anyway, given Williams’ rampage was a deliberate act.”
“He only said “worst damage”,” I replied, “he’s likely writing the wounds sustained by Patrick and Timothy off as minor costs.”
“Still lying in my book,” Angela answered me.
“And since we have had no costly accidents, we are in a better position then most other school districts,” Hireman finished, “we are prepared for them.”
“Tell that to the people Williams murdered!” Tabby challenged, “I doubt the man murdered outside the school, or the secretary inside it felt the school was prepared to deal with the issue!”
“Order! This is not to be a school yard argument!” the moderator cut in, silencing the present arguments of charge and “counter-charge”.
I almost snickered at the line the moderator had used. Calling the debate for the School District Superintendent’s seat a “school yard argument” had a sort of ironic feel to me. But, I managed to contain myself, as it wasn’t my place to laugh at these things.
After a moment, the moderator then looked at a clock up on the wall and proceeded to go through a couple of other questions from the cards she had for the debate. However, with the fact that the shots traded back and forth between Tabby and Hireman had made the first couple of questions having much longer answers then expected… it was apparent that the moderator was trying to get as much in before the debate would move into is “town hall” segment where the audience could ask a few questions.
Both Tabby and Hireman gave relatively decent answers to these questions, although it was also obvious that both were suffering a little because of the up tempo of these last questions. When the moderator got through last of her note cards, she opened it up to the audience.
Thomas Qickfield stood up and was eventually recognized. An assistant working for the moderator came up the stairs and held a microphone up to make sure that Thomas did not have to shout his question.
“Mr. Hireman,” Thomas began, “you say the school suffered no serious financial struggles as a result of Williams’ attack on it… how can you say that? People were wounded, including my sons, and the school was held responsible because of Williams’ deliberate plot in relation to the attack. And my children are important to me, regardless of the cost… I’d think any parent would fight for anything to care for their children. And you’ve told us that caring for them is no big deal!”
“I meant no such implication,” Hireman answered, “and I apologize if any of my answers presented such an image. I was merely trying to compare the total costs of the attack. The Police have had to rebuild their entire front office area and will be paying the pensions for the two officers killed in the attack for the foreseeable future. The school’s financial costs from the attack were much lower. The only real structural damage was only fixtures in the front office and repairing the damaged section of the wall. Work which was completed in the first week and a half of summer. The highest cost was in the medical bills for Mrs. Fitzpatrick and the two boys wounded in the attack… and the school district gladly paid those bills, but even with them, our total costs were far lower then those taken on by the police department.”
And that segment went on for a little while. Molly and I didn’t ask any questions, for fear that it would come off as a partisan attack on Hireman rather then a question that was supposed to be politically neutral. Many of the questions went on various points of policy, which Hireman repeatedly claimed his successes was more then enough evidence in its own right… though Tabby gave some good answers, particularly when she was allowed to explain her answer.
Some of the last questions taken though, went back to Hireman’s racist policies against Molly. They essentially challenged him to quit hiding behind his past as an excuse for his racism. That made me smile. A sign that not everyone bought Hireman’s position hook line and sinker. Once that was done, everyone was dismissed. Mr. and Mrs. Qickfield left quickly in order to get back to their sons who had been left with a neighbor who couldn’t attend the debate.
Tabby was waiting for Molly and I as we made our way down the stairs.
“How do you think I did?” Tabby asked after a moment.
“Fairly well, I think,” Molly answered, “you got your point across and for the most part you were able to explain everything.”
“Even though he kept creating the image that because I’m new to this I’m automatically bad?” Tabby wondered.
Molly and I nodded.
“Good,” Tabby said with a sigh, “a lot of this campaign stuff is rough… I may only just stay in one term… it’s rough…”
“It may be rough now because Hireman is actually facing a legitimate opponent,” Molly told her, “from what some of the other teachers have told me, he’s commonly waltzed through past elections because the guy running against him was too much of a “nut” to really stand a chance. You do stand a chance and Hireman’s puling out all the stops to save his job.”
“We’re all hoping you win the election though,” I told Tabby.
“Thank you, you two,” Tabby nodded, “although, the politics isn’t entirely why I wanted to talk to you.”
“It isn’t?” Molly wondered.
“The Fourth of July is coming in a few days,” Tabby wondered, “I was wondering if you two would mind coming to a barbeque? We’ll have hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs… and Dave always cooks more then Veronica and I can eat for the fourth.”
“So long as we aren’t in your way,” I told her, “Molly and I will come.”
“Wonderful!” Tabby smiled “we’ll see you at five PM on the Fourth.”