Vote on Tuesday to build a better board

To the editor:

Vote Phil Hemingway, Brian Richman and Tom Yates for the four-year Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) board seats. Vote Chris Liebig for the two-year seat. We need board members who listen to and let the community speak, who will ask the right questions and are competent to oversee the education of our children. Please vote to build a better board.

Hemingway is honest and smart. He lives in a multicultural, bilingual household, appreciates diversity, and his family includes his wife and their child, who is pursuing a degree in chemical engineering. Plus, he stays informed about current ICCSD issues and asks responsible tough questions of ICCSD's administration for our children's betterment.

Richman, a local parent and expert in public financing, comprehends that future facilities' planning must be carefully managed or the costs will be out of control. He, among all candidates, best discerns the benefits and perils of ICCSD's planned long-term debt financing strategy.

Liebig, with a Yale degree, is a Harvard lawyer who has the capability to understand curriculum, assessments and IEPs. Plus, he strongly supports the arts.

Yates, a retired teacher, brings an important necessary perspective about children and their classrooms to the board.

Now is the time to elect board members who will be passionate about our children's education, competent to handle all fiduciary responsibilities and honest.

Mary Murphy

Iowa City