JEFFERSON CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION: Marc Ellinger

Marc Ellinger is a founding partner of the Jefferson City law firm Ellinger and Associates.

Ellinger's biography touts extensive experience in the political realm -- he has more than 20 years of experience in election and campaign finance law. He also has a degree in accounting. He's also a former Cole County presiding commissioner.

Should JC Schools bring back masks if we get hit with another coronavirus case surge?

No, I really don't think so. I mean, education, particularly with younger kids it's so important that they can see teachers, teachers can see them. And the masking really, I think, retards the ability of young children to learn how to pronounce, how to speak, how to read. There's really very little evidence out there that indicates that there's a substantive threat to children. I would leave that to the medical professionals. If there was a variant that came out that was incredibly dangerous for children that might change an equation, there's been no evidence of that throughout the waves, so you know, barring something truly unforeseen and unprecedented, I can't see any circumstance in which a new surge would require putting children in masks.

How do you think the JC Board of Education handled navigating the previous pandemic surges?

I give them credit. They kept the schools open and the kids in classes, particularly in the 2021 school year,. Obviously, the last couple of months of the 2019-2020 school year were difficult. Nobody knew what was going on. I think it was good that they kept kids in class.

The masking issue is going to cause us problems for a long time. The fact that kids were having to do remote learning is going to exacerbate the learning gaps that are out there. So you know, we could have done better. Absolutely. At the time we were doing it, would we have known what was coming? Probably not the first few months. But ... time went on, I think keeping kids out of masks would really have been beneficial, to their long-term educational benefit. And as I said, really, trying to keep them in a classroom is always the preferred way to have learning.

Is teaching about history, race and LGBTQ issues being done appropriately in JC Schools classrooms?

Look, I think we need to teach our history, all of our history, that's good and bad. You know, we're not a perfect nation, we're better than everywhere else. But we still have our problems. We need to teach the true history that's out there. I think we need to be very cautious in teaching anything that indicates that based upon somebody's gender, or somebody's race, or somebody's ethnicity, that they are inherently an oppressor or inherently an oppressed person, that's just wrong. Every child has an opportunity to learn and grow. And that's really what I think schools need to most focus on.

It's an equality of opportunity to grow. Each child learns at a different rate, each child learns at different areas that are going to be more interesting to them. We need to make sure that we teach the history, we need to open it up to opportunities for children to learn. In the end, they make the decisions on where they go in the future. And I think the school district struggles with that. I think all schools struggle with that somewhat because of the national push, particularly from teachers' unions and other groups, to really put critical race theory or other terms that they use now such as equity and education, to teach inherent discrimination. We can't teach inherent discrimination, that's against everything this country believes in, and I think we really need to focus on what makes our country great and never ignore the mistakes we've made in the past.

How accessible do you think the school board is to the public?

I think that's one of the great problems we have in Jefferson City. Our school board is not transparent and we absolutely have to have transparency. At school board meetings, parents and community members have to be allowed to come in and raise in open session issues that ought to be addressed to the school board. Currently, the school board doesn't allow that. They control the agenda. And if the item that you wish to talk about is not on the agenda, you are prohibited from discussing it in public. I think that's a terrible way to run a public governmental entity, as school board members. And if I'm fortunate to be elected as one, we are representatives of our community, we need to always be open, open, whether that's at the grocery store, whether it's on the street, or when we're in session at the school board, it's critically important that we take that input at all times. If there's not transparency, there won't be trust in the process. And if there's not trust in the process, the school districts are doomed to fail in the long run.

Are there any other issues you see as important to JC Schools?

I think there's two of them.

First of all, I think it's really important that we talk about how to have good discipline in classrooms. And that starts at a young age. Disruptive students need to understand and their parents need to understand that when they disrupt a classroom, it's not just their education, that's every student in classroom's harm. If we start early, we explain expectations, and we have a good solid structure with consequences for misbehavior, in later years, when they get into middle school and high school, we'll see less of a discipline issue and more opportunity for students to learn the entire time they're in school.

And the second thing is, and I think this is also really important, is to have excellent education. You have to have great teachers, and great teachers need to get great pay. We need to look at every opportunity we have to create incentive pay for great teachers, teachers that are excelling. They need to see rewards not just in the classroom, not just in recognition, but also in the bank account. And teachers that are struggling need to get resources for training to expand their opportunities to make them become better teachers, great teachers. That's one of the most important things we can have and great teachers leads to excellence in education. And that's what this is all about. The reason I'm running is we need to come back with excellence in education in Jefferson City.