By Amantha Garpiel

For Miami Valley Today

PIQUA – Three candidates, including two incumbents and one newcomer, are running for the two open seats on the Piqua City Schools Board of Education. Piqua community members have the opportunity on Nov. 7 to elect two individuals to serve the next four years on the school board.

Miami Valley Today sent questionnaires to each of the three candidates and the responses of the two incumbent candidates are compiled here to allow community members to get to know the individual they might be voting for on Nov. 7. Candidate Jojo Marrs did not respond to Miami Valley Today’s requests for information by the provided deadline of Oct. 23.

Steve Frazier, of Piqua, is an MRO buyer for a living and a current member of the Piqua City Schools Board of Education. He has been married for 44 years and has three sons.

Clint Bostick, the second board incumbent running in this election, holds a masters degree in school counseling from the University of Dayton and a Bachelors of Science degree in education from Wright State University.

Bostick is currently retired, but has numerous years of experience as a board of education member. He served for two years on the Upper Valley Career Center Board of Education and has served the past eight years on the Piqua City Schools Board of Education.

Bostick’s wife, Joyce Bostick, is a fourth grade math teacher at Piqua Central Intermediate School and together they have five kids and give grandchildren.

Why are you running for Piqua City Schools Board of Education?

Frazier: “I am running for the school board for a second term. I have lived in Piqua all my life. Piqua City Schools has always been home for me. I retired from coaching for 40 years at Piqua High School. After being a student and coach I wanted a new challenge. I enjoyed my first 4 years but feel as though Covid did not give us the opportunity to make a difference. I would like to serve another 4 years to continue to be a part of a great school district and the chance to help improve even more.”

Bostick: “I am running for reelection to the Piqua City School Board because my family and I have lived in Piqua for almost 30 years. I worked as a guidance counselor for my last 17 years at Piqua City Schools before retiring. I have come to appreciate the people and community and realize that the best way I can give back to the community is by using my knowledge and experience in education as being a member of the Piqua City School Board.”

Why do you feel you are the best candidate to serve on the board?

Frazier: “Thirteen years as a student showed me what I liked and disliked. Continuing on with Piqua City School for 40 years as a coach for many sports I was able to connect with the athletes and hear their perspective. Now as a board member I would like to take part in making decisions that will only continue to better Piqua City School. Piqua has a lot to be proud of and I want to keep it that way.”

Bostick: “I believe that the past 8 years serving on the Piqua City School Board has given me knowledge and experience in dealing with issues and concerns facing public education in Ohio and our school district. Our district has worked hard to be fiscally responsible, update our facilities, and to develop programs that are beneficial to ALL students. We are going to be upgrading and/or making plans to construct new sports facilities and I feel my prior experience will be valuable as we look to the future to keep improving our district.”

Funding for the district is always a concern since state funding changes from year to year. How will you bring new money/funding to the district?

Frazier declined to answer this question.

Bostick: “With the Governor, Senate, and House of Representatives indicating that they will only do biennial budgets does make funding more challenging. It does make it more difficult to establish programs and hire necessary personnel for programs that a district may want to implement for longer than two years. At this time our district is doing well financially with our current funding from the State. We hope to keep it that way. Other ways we can look to bring in funding is to apply for grants that we want/need and to reevaluate contracts to make them more economically beneficial for the district.”

What are the strengths of the district?

Frazier: “Great leadership starting with the Superintendent, Administration, Teachers, Support Staff, and Board that truly cares about the Schools.”

Bostick: “I feel one of our strengths is our school district employees/personnel. No matter what position they have in our district, they are always thinking and doing, ”What is best for the students.” They always go the extra mile to see that our students and their families have even the most basic needs they require. Our community is also a strength for our district. They support us in so many ways I don’t have enough room to mention all they do.”

What are the weaknesses of the district? How do you improve the weaknesses?

Frazier: While I believe that Piqua has very few weaknesses. Everyday in Education of any level is a new challenge. I want to help with those challenges.

Bostick: “One thing our district is looking into is some sort of assistance for preschool children and/or possibly developing a preschool program. Every year we give a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to incoming Kindergartners. On average only 20 to 30 percentile are scored ready for Kindergarten. One challenge facing preschool is that the State currently has no attendance requirement for children under 5 years old. We will continue looking into possible things we can do help our preschool children in our school district.”

How can you improve communication with the school district residents?

Frazier: “I would encourage the residents to come to board meetings and get involved. Come support your school district by attending board meetings, attending school functions of any kind. The more you are a part of an organization the more you learn about why the decisions are made. Ask questions, don’t assume anything.”

Bostick: “Our school district uses our district website, email, various social media platforms, phone messaging, texting, The Indian Nation Station on local channel 5 on YouTube along with other local news sources. We publish a yearly school calendar with important dates, information, and district happenings. Our school board meetings are televised and open to the public. We also involve many students in our productions that is positive for them and our community. One of our priorities is to always look for new and creative ways to more effectively communicate with the community.”

The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.