Tom Glick Photo courtesy of Tom Glick
Local farmer and veteran Tom Glick has won the race for the District 5 seat on the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board.
Glick said he was running to get BCSC to “bring the basics back to the forefront.”
“I was actually surprised how close it was with a lot of groundwork that we did at the polls, but I’m glad that we at least got one out of three,” Glick said after the final voting center reported, referring to Samantha Ison and David Theile, who did not win, but ran as a team with Glick.
“It’s one of those things that you never know what you’re going to get into until you’re actually in there. I’ve known Whittney (Loyd) for quite awhile, I think she’s going to be a pretty good addition and a good level-head on the board. And I’ve seen what Nikki (Wheeldon) has done in the last four years, so hopefully we can work together and find some common ground, so we’ll see what happens.”
Glick ran against Leigh Britt, a lecturer of mathematics at IU Columbus and former BCSC teacher. Britt had said she wanted to be on school board because of her passion for children and public education, and as a means of giving back.
“I feel really great about how we ran our campaign and because of that—though I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t come out ahead—I honestly wish Tom (Glick) the best of luck, because he’s got a lot of important things coming up in front of him over the next four years,” Britt said, going on to name new diploma standards, Envision 2030 and the potential for another referendum in 2028.
“I thank my family, I thank my friends. I had a lot of support that were in this with me for what’s been a full-year.”
There were three seats open on the seven-member board this cycle, with six candidates running. They all aligned themselves in two groups based on their respective beliefs in how the school board should operate. Voters were able to vote for candidates in all three districts.
While races for school board are purportedly nonpartisan, the dynamics of the contests have becomes increasingly imbued with political overtones in recent years, particularly among those running as part of the ideological right locally.
Glick, Theilie and Ison have run as a group identifying themselves as conservatives, claiming that current school board members, with the exception of Jason Major, District 1, and Logan Schulz, District 6, are nothing but a “rubber stamp” for whatever administrators opt to do.
The three have campaigned on more parental involvement as the crux of their agenda and continually expressed skepticism about decisions made by BCSC and the school board on a range of issues. They’ve also engaged in criticism of the Columbus Educators Association, said that BCSC is lacking in transparency and claimed that plans for Envision 2030 overlook safety considerations and are more concerned with aesthetics.
One of the most discussed topics this cycle has been the accessibility of certain library materials. Books in BCSC libraries have been the subject of two challenges this year and sparked impassioned public comment from community members on both sides of the issue during meetings. Glick, Theile and Ison indicated they were not satisfied with the current BCSC policy for evaluating certain books, along with the state statute that governs the policy. They’ve disputed allegations that they are interested in “banning books” and instead have said they would want additional policies in place to separate certain books deemed age-inappropriate.
The conservatives were joined by Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita and lieutenant governor-elect Micah Beckwith for a fundraiser in October. The event was sponsored by a local PAC called Your Community Partnership that said it was seeking “school reform” on documentation filed with the Indiana Election Division.
Local resident Megan Johnson, who is listed as the PAC’s treasurer, told The Republic its objective was to support candidates that want to improve school safety, help “parents understand what their rights are,” along with making sure BCSC isn’t spending money on things “we don’t need.” Johnson also named ensuring “bathrooms are used based on biology” as one of the PAC’s chief concerns.
Britt, Wheeldon and Loyd were publicly endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats, including several current and former local leaders. The three were supported The Columbus Educators Association, a union comprised of BCSC teachers, and the Indiana PAC for Education, the political action division of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
They’ve been supportive of BCSC efforts to increase teacher recruitment and retention, improve the foundational reading skills of the district’s second and third-graders, BCSC’s Envision 2030 facilities plan and said they were satisfied with the current district policy regarding the accessibility of certain library materials.
Bartholomew County voters in 2020 voted to approve a property tax referendum, with the idea being the funds will be used for teacher recruitment and retainment, along with school safety.
In terms of a potential referendum on the horizon in 2028, they’ve said they would be supportive, whereas Glick, Ison and Theile have been skeptical of how the 2020 referendum funds have been used and questioned that another referendum would be necessary.
