Forstner: Board experience is important

Editor's Note: This article is another in a series profiling candidates for the District 88 School Board.

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- When District 88 voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will chose from 11 candidates for four open seats on the school board.

Candidates are incumbents Brian Wieland, Don Potter and Gene Forstner, and challengers Susan Nierengarten, Bruce Schreckenberg, Rick Berg, Deborah Hertling, Sheldon Rieke, Renee Otis, Barbara Becker and Duane Hauser.

Forstner originally intended not to seek re-election, but he felt his 18 years of school board experience would be an asset in the upcoming years.

He served on the board from 1966 until 1978 and was chairman during that time. In 1994, he was appointed to the board. He is a retired farmer. He still lives on the farm, which is now managed by his children. He and his wife Evelyn have seven children. He currently has three grandchildren enrolled in District 88.

"I was going to stay out of the election this year," Forstner said. "I was disappointed that Leuthe didn't file again, which is why I put my name on the ballot."

Salary negotiations will be a task for the school board after the election.

"One area where experience will be crucial this year will be in (salary) negotiations. This is not an easy process, but we have to be even. I have always managed to keep negotiations low key and fair."

Forstner serves negotiations committee as well as the policy and personnel committees.

"I am as interested as I have always been in the district and in the future of our children," he said. "We are also facing some critical issues in the next two years that will require some experience."

This fall, the school board cut busing within a two-mile radius of all schools as a result of a failed excess levy referendum early in the spring.

In Forstner's opinion, the busing cut was minor in comparison with the future cuts. The district is in critical need of passing a referendum, he said.

"Getting the referendum pushed through is not an easy task, either," Forstner said. "The board has to work at it. This will be a negotiating year, and it can be an awful mess when making cuts. It is crucial that we remain competitive. If we fall below the average of surrounding districts, we will lose teachers. Experience (in negotiating) is the key to that."

Getting proper funding for schools is not a local or a regional problem. It is a state problem brought on by declining enrollments and rising costs, Forstner said.

"If our state leaders can't see the funding problem with schools, then they have no business being in St. Paul," he said.

Forstner believes change is a good thing. Education is a constantly evolving process, he said.

"We have the strongest superintendent we have had in years, which helps as well," he said.

Forstner does not believe there is a lack of communication between the board and the community. Plenty of opportunities exist for the community to get the information it needs, he feels.

"The public should be interested in what is going on because it affects everyone," he said. "The public is needed to get things done. If there is a lack of communication, it lies with the public, not the board."