Six Vying For Seat On School Board Marks, Treppiedi Among Candidates In Primary

A faith healer, a retired military man, an attorney, a school volunteer, an educational consultant and a Gypsy leader are running for the same seat on the Spokane School Board.

Incumbent Carol Wendle’s decision not to run opened the floodgates to a half-dozen wannabe board members.

Five men and one woman running for the six-year term will face off in the Sept. 19 primary. The two top vote-getters graduate to the Nov. 7 general election.

Because Rob Fukai is unopposed for another seat on the board, his name will not appear on the primary ballot.

The race is non-partisan. Board members can receive $50 per meeting up to $4,800 per year, or may decline that money.

The candidates include Jimmy Marks, a Gypsy leader who is suing the city for $40 million, and Rocco Treppiedi, the attorney defending the city in the 6-year-old case.

Marks, who can’t read or write, said illiteracy shouldn’t prevent him from serving on the board.

“Did you know a lot of great people didn’t have an education? Jesus Christ for example. You don’t need an education. You need common sense,” Marks said.

Treppiedi said a frustrating experience with Salk Middle School prodded him to get more involved with the district. When his twin sons were Salk seventh-graders, limited space kept some students, including one of his sons, out of advanced classes.

“The school system almost went into a baby-sitting mode rather than a motivational mode,” Treppiedi said.

Treppiedi believes schools should not become social service providers or take over the role of families. That tends to dilute schools’ academic purpose, he said.

Lonny Bingle, pastor of Spokane Faith Center on the North Side, performs divine healings as part of his ministry. His Christian beliefs would influence his votes as a board member “a lot,” he said.

“I’m not going to be coming in there saying we must teach the Bible in school. But we can do a better job teaching high moral standards,” Bingle said.

Bingle wants schools to emphasize abstinence in sex education, to use phonics to teach reading and to steer clear of outcome-based education, an educational philosophy that focuses on performance goals.

His school-age children attend Arlington Elementary, where he is a past president of the parent-teacher organization.

Ludwik Chobot decided to run because of problems involving his teenage son, a Jantsch High School student. Chobot believes school officials were too soft on the boy.

Chobot said his friends call him Mr. By-the-Book.

As an example, he said Jantsch, an alternative school, allowed his son to wrestle for Shadle Park High, even though Chobot told both schools he didn’t want his son in extracurricular activities until his grades improved.

Christie Querna estimates she spends four to eight hours a week on district committees and other school volunteer work.

“It’s important to have people who are experienced in the school district on the board, people who have worked in the trenches and on committees,” she said. “You see the kinds of concerns people have on a grass-roots level.”

Querna wants to make the board more accessible to citizens, perhaps by having office hours and a phone number in the phone book.

Steven Neumiller designs and eval uates educational and anti-drug programs in his private consulting business. He said he would no longer do work for the Spokane School District if he is elected. He would consider it a conflict of interest.

Neumiller believes the district made a mistake when it cut the Operation Aware anti-drug program this year. He said he didn’t know what he would cut instead, but would stress greater efficiency.

He said he supports the U.S. Department of Education, under fire recently from Republicans in Congress. The department has been on the “cutting edge in changing the way we do business in education,” he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: See individual profiles by name of candidate.