DRIPPING SPRINGS — On Thursday, April 13, Dripping Springs ISD (DSISD) Board of Trustees candidates were questioned regarding their plans if they were to be elected. The candidate forum was held by the Hays County League of Women Voters at Church of the Springs to allow the public more insight on who would fill the two vacant seats.

Jeff Aylstock

The candidates include the following: Ron Jones, a three-term incumbent,  a registered republican that has vowed to serve nonpartisan on the school board; Rob McClelland, a father of two in the district and a veteran; Jeffrey Aylstock, a father of two that moved to Dripping Springs in search of high-quality education; and Kim Cousins, a lifetime educator with 32 years of leadership experience.

It was noted early on by Jones that all four candidates were in support of the bond that would provide the financial ability to expand and improve facilities in the district to accommodate the rapid growth. The bond, which was rejected last November, is up again for approval in May.

Top three priorities in the district

Cousins was the first to answer what she believes is important within the district, listing growth as her first choice. The growth of the district is a priority that every candidate commented on and recognized as an issue that is becoming more and more apparent. In regard to transparency, Taxpayer Tuesday is an event that Cousins believes has benefited the community by helping citizens understand how their tax money is being used. Her final concern was mental health.

“Mental health is huge to me — very, very big. I like what the education foundation is doing, funding those three particular positions on campuses to help our students and staff. It’s a community issue, not necessarily a school issue, but the mental health of students is critical to me,” said Cousins.

Jones’ priorities are financial transparency, academic progression and advocating for the school district. While mentioning his priorities, he cited the main reason that people are interested in moving to Dripping Springs is for the education, which could be confirmed by Aylstock, who moved his family out here for the quality of the schools.

Kim Cousins

“We [need to] maintain the primary reason that people move out here in the first place,” said Jones.

Aylstock focused on similar ideas, but emphasized the importance of rebuilding trust within the community. He believes by building trust, the district could fix the growth issue through bonds that the residents would now support.

As a military veteran, safety is high on McClelland’s list, citing that his 12-year experience in the military provides insight on the future of school safety.

High stakes testing

High stakes testing and the formatting of the STAAR test has been a topic in recent months. When asked about their thoughts, the candidates suggested that the test was an unnecessary and inaccurate form of examination.

McClelland started off the discussion by stating that he is no fan of the exam — doing poorly on the exam himself — and his disdain only heightened as his own daughter struggles with the reading test and has yet to pass it. These two experiences justify his advocacy to move forward with a different examination.

“Listen, I’d love to find something better. I’m an advocate for it, but I don’t get a say in that,” said McClelland. “If something comes down from the TEA and they’re ready to change, then let’s change. I’m ready for that.”

Both Aylstock and Cousins agreed that the test is causing distress to both the students and the teachers, but there is still a need for some type of test to determine where children are academically.

“I’m not a big fan either. The problem we have, though, is we still need something to help gauge a metric [to find out] where our students are going to be and I don’t like the STAAR test as that gauging metric, but we do need to figure out [something],” said Aylstock.

Rob McClelland

Jones had a stronger reaction to the test by stating that it is simply a waste of students’ time.

“I believe that the STAAR test is repulsive, and I think in future years, somebody will look at this and say, ‘What were we thinking?’” said Jones. “Among many of the issues I have with it is that it’s not a very good indicator of where students are, it just happens to be a test on that particular day … There are other measures that we can use to determine success in a public school system … No employer has ever asked a prospective employee how they did on the STAAR test. It’s a waste.”

Other topics

There were several additional topics that the candidates were questioned on, due to their growing controversy in school districts and society as a whole.

Regarding the increasing number of deaths and incidents occurring due to fentanyl, the candidates were asked how they would approach this issue. All of whom answered that there simply needs to be more education for teachers, students and parents.

Campus safety has been a concern for every individual who has a loved one in a school environment. Though there may be no real solution to preventing every case, there are certainly precautions to be made. The candidates answered as follows:

“One of the things we can do is to encourage small, little steps that we can look at. For instance, we are already talking about increasing our SRO presence at elementary schools,” said Aylstock. “One of the biggest things is making sure that those people who are willing to defend us and run into harm’s way are personally there and accountable.”

“I love the presence of our SROs. The visibility of those officers is key and they also have great conversations with our students,” said Cousins. “Taking care of all of our kids, making sure they are all fitting in and they all have a place to be. It’s the kids that are lonely. It’s the kids that don’t talk to anybody. That concerns me about safety. Why are they alone? What are they thinking about? I took a safety seminar a couple weeks ago and it said those are the ones you need to watch out for.”

Ron Jones

“There are other factors that go into play including cybersecurity, equipment, upgrading facilities and technology to help us conquer this potential issue,” said Jones.

“In this area, I have a ton of experience … Physical security is an essential component to school safety. The state has passed some bond money that is going to go towards physical security at our campuses and, quite frankly, I’d like to see us go a little bit further than what the state requires,” said McClelland.

After the initial lineup, the candidates were asked additional audience questions, one of which inquired about whether the candidates supported teaching about civil rights, gender diversity and history in DSISD. After failing to comment on gender diversity in the curriculum, Jones, Cousins, Aylstock and McClelland all agreed that history is important for students to understand.

Election Day is Saturday, May 6. More information can be found at www.hayscountytx.com/departments/elections/current-year-elections/may-6-2023-uniform-election.