“He’s very serious about all of his goals,” she [Meisterling] said. “He’ll say, `Which child do you want to leave behind? Point to that child for me.’-” Mary Meisterling commenting on Superintendent Markward in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 17, 2005.
Today’s Cedar Rapids Gazette includes a short interview with Karen Gorsh, District One write-in candidate for the Cedar Rapids School Board. It’s impossible for Karen to go into all the reasons she is running for school board in one short article, but it is safe to say that the lack of interest in the Taylor families, and other working-class neighborhoods, demonstrated by current school board members inspired her to jump in the race.
Meisterling has been a strong supporter of Markward’s performance over the years. What makes anyone think she disagrees with Markward’s agenda when Meisterling’s first words about the Taylor families comes has she faces a challenge to her political future.
The article includes the first public comments Mary Meisterling has made about the Taylor school situation. She attended one meeting with Superintendent Markward and Taylor families but has not crossed the Cedar river to attend any of the Taylor neighborhood meetings.
Actions often speak louder than words.
It’s also important to remember that Mary Meisterling was President of the Cedar Rapids School Board and lead the efforts to hire David Markward back in December of 2003.
Taylor issue drives woman’s write-in bid
By Kristina Andino
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — What may be the first write-in campaign for a seat on the Cedar Rapids school board in at least a decade has begun.
Karen Gorsh, 50, of 921 Eighth St. SW, unhappy with decisions made about Taylor School after the flood, is running for the three-year District 1 seat in the Sept. 9 election, challenging incumbent Mary Meisterling.
Laurel Day, school board secretary, could not recall another write-in campaign in the school district since she started that role in 1998.
“I feel very strongly about the fact that the Taylor neighborhood and the other working class neighborhoods recovering from the flood don’t seem to have much of a voice on the Cedar Rapids school board,” said Gorsh. She is running to ensure Taylor reopens as a school.
Gorsh has thought about running for school board before, but did not think about it this year until after the July 31 filing deadline.
Here is why: On July 17, she attended a neighborhood meeting during which Superintendent Dave Markward said Taylor may or may not open as a grade school next year. It could also reopen as an early childhood center or administrative offices, he said.
Then a Gazette story said on July 27 that district officials had yanked government trailers the Army Corps of Engineers had included for Taylor from its plans for Kingston Stadium, which now hosts administrative offices.
“The combination of finding out those two things, quite frankly, was a shock,” said Gorsh. “By the time I had processed it … it was too late to get on the ballot.” Meisterling said she also wants Taylor to reopen as an elementary school, but said the students are better served in established schools this year than in trailers.
She noted that it was school administrators — not the school board — who made the quick, short-term decision to close Taylor for 2007-08 in the wake of the flood. “In my mind, Taylor is temporarily suspending their services” for the school year, Meisterling added, and will be back next fall. “Neither (administrators) nor the board can arbitrarily close a school” without a legal process that involves lots of community input, she added.
“For anyone to run for a school board with one issue is really not in the best interest of the community,” she added.
