Athina Koumarela is challenging Wasatch County School Board member Tom Hansen for the Midway seat, which includes Midway City, Charleston and Interlochen.
Athina Koumarela says her focus is on students and teachers. She has a master’s in education and has taught in Utah public schools for more than 30 years. If elected to the school board, she plans to bring more transparency and better communication with the community. Koumarella believes the failure of the school bond last year reflected people wanting more transparency about the costs and the process. She says a level of trust is missing between the school board and the community.
“The process did not involve community input. I believe that people wanted a choice. They wanted involvement all along the process. They wanted a choice in location, [school] sizes and designs of a high school and plus several alternative choices but the main concern was let's attach some price tags to it and be transparent about what it's going to cost us.”
Tom Hansen is the incumbent asking voters for another four years. He has children in the school district and was previously part of the Midway Elementary Community Council. He says with COVID school closures in March, and all the work getting schools open to in-person learning in the fall, they are now ready to take on the school bond issue once again.
“Begin school at home in the spring and then back to school classrooms in the fall. And so we are just barely revisiting those learnings from the failed bond and I'm excited to be a part of that and I really think that there's an opportunity to unite the community by listening and coming up with a plan for a future high school or second high school or something that will help with the growing population. I’m not sure what that is. All these options are on the table and I think that's what drives me to be re-elected is being part of that process and get it right this time."
In addition, Hansen says a new high school is needed and he remains committed to making sure all Wasatch students are college or career ready when they graduate.
In 2019 the Wasatch County School District purchased land for a potential second high school. Earlier this year the Wasatch County Taxpayers Association requested access to a Bio West engineering study which evaluated the land for building feasibility and wetlands assessment. Earlier this year, the school board denied a government public records request for the study by the Wasatch Taxpayers Association. The school board then obtained legal protections to withhold the documents until a subsequent Army Corp of Engineering Study could be completed.
Hansen supports the board decision to withhold the earlier study saying that it would not best serve the public to release it until the Army Corp completes their work.
“The survey that we do have out, no one cares about and it’s a favorable survey. It shows that there's less than two acres of wetlands out there. But what everybody wants to talk about is the Bio West study that was an abandoned study in our opinion that doesn't add value to the conversation. But the Army Corp will, and I’m excited so we can get that information out.”
Koumarela says she would be more transparent with how taxpayer money is spent.
“I do believe that anything that’s paid for by our tax money should be fairly transparent. I think there has been issues requesting information from the school board. They're not being as transparent as I would assume, they would need to be, to build that trust with the community. Issues of that land of course, I think have been brought up, that maybe we paid too much for it. That, well for sure we paid too much for it, but also that it was done prior to the bond passing and there are issues with the wetlands there that need to be alleviated.”
Hansen says the school board is prepared to release all requested documents once the Army Corp study is finished. He hopes that will happen in the next few weeks.
A link to Athina Koumarella’s web page or facebook page.
