There are five candidates running for two seats on Upper Arlington School Board. Pencilstorm asked each of the candidates five specific questions centered around issues that impacted Upper Arlington schools and questions that were being raised by fellow voters. Pencilstorm will be posting their complete and unedited answers individually throughout October and reposting all their answers together before the election. Answers will be posted in order they're received. Our first candidate, Lou Sauter, is featured below.
Lou Sauter, Upper Arlington School Board Candidate
Lou Sauter
https://lousauterforua.com/
What makes you qualified to have oversight of the $98 million schools operating budget?
I have been a successful business owner for over 21 years. I have navigated various economic crisis’s through a conservative approach to spending. The 2007 economic crisis and the COVID crisis were tough on everyone, and many small businesses weren’t able to withstand it. The decisions I have made for my business over the years helped me not only withstand it but come out of it stronger.
Nearly all my employees have worked for me for more than 15 years. On March 13th 2020 when people were laying off employees I evaluated my business and realized we were on strong financial ground. I called and employee meeting because they were all scared. Missing a paycheck meant they would be homeless. I went to my restaurant supply store and filled my walking freezer with food. I told my employees that I could promise them a 40/hr work week paycheck for at least 6 months and I had enough food for everyone to eat. Many of us can’t understand this but for them, they were petrified, and I had to take care of them. I am proud to say that was a promise I kept.
Decisions made when everything is going well protect you and your employees when things are tough.
One priority of our strategic plan is “Whole Learning.” How will you foster whole learning in our elementary schools, middle schools and high schools?
The current plan to teach the “Whole Child” is laid out in the strategic plan. It states, “we pursue equitable practices that cultivate the diverse gifts, talents, interests and identities of every child as they learn how to serve, lead and succeed”. Our job as board members is to provide the administration and the teachers with what they need to be successful.
What I think we need to do is give the teachers more freedom to decide what they think is best for each child and room. I have been involved in Coaching for nearly 20 years and I quickly learned that each kid is different, and the best part of coaching is figuring out how to communicate to different kids to get the best out of them. It changes with each kid and each team every year. I don’t think I would have been so successful if a governing body mandated that I instruct a certain way.
One thing I do not support is the schools focus on limiting or removing anxiety from schools. Sending emails out saying we can’t let kids use middle school lockers because many kids have anxiety over remembering the locker combination is harmful to creating a self-sufficient child who can survive outside of your home.
We must challenge kids more and provide resources to help them succeed. But life is hard, challenging and full of stress and anxiety and not introducing children to these things so they learn to deal with it while they have their parents with them to help guide them is harmful in the long run.
You don’t want your child to first experience social and emotional challenges when they go to college and no support staff there to guide them.
Another priority of our strategic plan is “Student and Staff Well-being” with a key element of belonging. How will you serve as a role model to our community and create a feeling of safety and connectedness?
Nobody running for school board today has as much experience working with kids as I do. I always take the responsibility of being a positive role model seriously and embrace it. I do that because growing up in UA I was surrounded by the most amazing role models to help me become the man I am today.
But we must not forget that you can never make everyone’s well being be realized. It’s a fantasy approach to make people feel good. Every decision has a reaction to it. “Johnny” might feel uncomfortable with what makes “jimmy” feel comfortable. So, we make a decision for “Jimmy” and we feel so special that we made “Jimmy” feel good, but that decision made “Johnny” really uncomfortable and now what do we do?
Our strategic plan needs to be more about improving the academics in our schools. You should go back and read some of the Strategic Plans from prior years when our school was the top district in the area and always in the top 15 of the state. And then read this Strategic Plan we are currently operating under, and you will quickly realize why we have dropped to the 67th ranked school district in Ohio (last reported in 2019).
If you think this plan is what our community needs, if you think we are heading in the right direction then you have two incumbent candidates to vote for. But if you think dropping from 26th in 2014 to 67th in 5 years is clearly heading in the wrong direction then I encourage you to vote for someone who is committed to changing that. I have made changing our failing direction the key element of my campaign.
Everyone at Pencilstorm is a musician. To that end, what would you do to support music education at a younger age in our elementary schools?
Yes, I can remember hauling my Cello to Greensview growing up. Luckily, I lived 3 doors down from the school. I was always tall and so my music teacher told me I had to play the Cello because I could carry it. I really wanted the play the violin because Charlie Daniels released the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” when I was nine and the violin was the closest thing to the fiddle so I could jam that song. But I was tall and strong enough to carry the Cello so my dreams we dashed by my height and strength.
Our music and theatrics programs are great programs and we should continue to support them.
Here’s a fun question. If you had a time machine and an unlimited amount of money and could pick any band or performer to play in the new auditorium for our students, who would you pick? Bonus question – who’s the opening act?
Easy question, Opening act “The Foo Fighters” Main act “The Beatles”. I am adding that listening to Mozart or Beethoven would have been my answer, but you said it was for the students and I don’t think they would appreciate it as much as I do now.
Pencilstorm would like to thank Lou Sauter for taking the time to answer our questions. Learn more about Lou at his website: https://lousauterforua.com/. Look for responses from future candidates in the coming days. Pencilstorm is an independent news source and does not endorse any individual candidate.
Local UA Politics coverage provided by Wal Ozello. You can email him at Pencilstormstory@gmail.com or try to catch him at Colin's Coffee.
Check out coverage of all the candidates we've received responses from by clicking here.