From: Kathy Oren
Columbus
At the June 16th meeting of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation board, a vote was held on whether to expand free meals to six schools and to maintain funding for pre-K. Rich Stenner, Dale Nowlin, Whittney Loyd, and Nicole Wheeldon voted YES for pre-K and meal access—putting forward a focused and sustainable plan to ensure support for students who need it most. Jason Major, Logan Schulz, and Tom Glick voted no, favoring instead a sympathetic, if unrealistic, proposal to offer free meals to all students, regardless of financial need. The majority prevailed, and BCSC was able to expand access to free meals while maintaining access to pre-Kfor low-income families.
Rather than accept the outcome, Major, Schulz, and Glick have chosen to launch public attacks against their fellow board members, stirring unnecessary division within the board and the broader community. It’s hard to ignore the political calculations behind this move. Another school board election is around the corner, and the pattern is familiar. Instead of governing, these members seem more interested in campaigning. Let’s not forget that during their time on the board, these three have prioritized performative battles: in Mr. Schulz and Mr. Major’s cases, repeated attempts to ban books, or, in Mr. Glick’s case, publicly belittling retired educators. This noise and unnecessary drama doesn’t help our students.
The deeper issue goes beyond local politics. The real constraint is the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly, which passed a state budget that forces school districts to make these painful choices. We shouldn’t have to choose. The money is there. Indiana could have provided enough funding for BCSC to cover pre-K and school meals for all students, but the Indiana GOP keeps putting political ideology over children. Until that changes, school boards across Indiana will face these impossible decisions, and next year will be even worse.
If Mr. Glick, Mr. Schulz, and Mr. Major genuinely cared about improving conditions for students, they would partner with their colleagues to demand that the legislature reinvest in our schools. Instead, they’ve chosen to foster division, dragging our community into another round of unnecessary conflict.
The people of Bartholomew County don’t need more culture wars. We don’t need more finger-pointing. What we need is unity and collaboration in advocating for the children of this district. I urge Mr. Major, Mr. Schulz, and Mr. Glick to join Mr. Nowlin, Mr. Stenner, Mrs. Wheeldon, and Mrs. Loyd in calling on the legislature to restore full funding to public education in the next state budget. Until then, we should all see these local political fights for what they are: distractions from the real work and the real enemy—chronic underfunding from Indianapolis.
Let’s work together, not tear each other apart.
