Cathie Peterson, 4754 E 200 N, Craigville.
Peterson, 44, is a real estate broker with Steffen Group Auction and Real Estate Company.
She is a Bluffton Elks member and scholarship sponsor, campus life sponsor, and serves on the Wells Community Swim Team Board and Norwell Swim Boosters Board. Peterson also volunteers in the classroom at Lancaster elementary School, Forgotten Children Worldwide, Helping Hands and the children’s ministry at Hope Church in Bluffton.
Qualifications
I have had children continuously in Norwell Community Schools since 2009. I have spent a lot of time volunteering in classrooms, getting to know teachers, staff and students at all four of our campuses. I have experience in starting and running multiple successful small businesses and I am invested in not only our School Community, but Wells County as a whole.
Why are you running for this office?
I believe our local School Board of Trustees is one of the most important government units affecting our daily lives. As my children have gotten older, I have seen the importance of being informed and involved in the issues facing our corporation.
I feel as a parent and involved community member, I have a lot to bring to the table. I am excited to address issues and concerns with the valuable input of parents, staff and other community members. Cultivating a culture of trust is something I feel very passionate about and I believe we are better together.
As a candidate for an open seat, what initiatives would you continue? What changes or new initiatives are needed?
First, I would like to bridge the gap between the Norwell Community and the school board. I’m running a campaign that is focusing on bringing accessibility, transparency and accountability.
Even as an active member of the Norwell Community, there will be issues and concerns that other parties can bring to my attention that otherwise might go unnoticed by the board. I would like to be an advocate for transparency in decision making. I will work to bring clear communication regarding budget decisions and policy updates. I want to implement more accessible reporting methods, like newsletters and enhancing our social media updates. The past few years, the focus has been on attracting new students. While this is important, I believe it is more vital to ensure we are dedicated to our current students and families needs; If we are devoted to becoming the best version of ourselves, others will naturally want to be a part of our community as well.
What do you feel are the most significant challenges and opportunities for Norwell right now?
I believe one of the biggest challenges we are facing right now is fiscal responsibility. After speaking with many local taxpayers, there is a concern for the seemingly endless cycle of bond issuances. I have also seen a high turnover of staff over the past few years and would like to explore the causes for these vacancies and solutions to retaining these quality employees. Furthermore, having kids in the high school, I am concerned with the amount of students that are vaping and using other illegal substances; this is a culture problem and as a school corporation, we need to be exploring ways to combat this issue. We have so many positive organizations pouring into our kids locally, a collaborative approach to addressing the issue is needed.
Norwell Schools have done an outstanding job with the recent addition of many dual credit courses as well as the career technical Education programs. We have an amazing opportunity to leverage that with local employers. I would seek to have more dialogue with county employers to figure out how to retain our students in our community post graduation.
Jeremiah Tomlin, 1506 Bell Brook Blvd., Bluffton.
Tomlin, 36, is a senior project estimator at Hagerman Incorporated, where he’s worked since 2014.
He serves as a deacon at Grace Bible Church in Berne and recently became a prayer leader at LifeWise Northern Wells. Tomlin has also been endorsed by the Northeast Indiana Right to Life’s Political Action Committee.
Qualifications
I’m a concerned parent of two elementary-age children at Norwell Community Schools, and I’ve maintained a career and community involvement that has developed leadership skills and a knowledge of public K-12 schools.
As a council member at Grace Bible, I’ve developed the requisite skills to thoughtfully, prayerfully, and collaboratively deliberate and vote on issues that impact a larger group. As a senior estimator at Hagerman, I’ve worked on more than a dozen projects with eight regional public-school corporations. When working on these projects, I’ve worked collaboratively with the board, teachers, coaches, and administrators to create spaces that perform above expectations and will stand the test of time, all while staying within the budget constraints faced by the corporation.
Why are you running for this office?
I’m running for this position because I want the best for the children in our community, both mine and yours.
Through my career, I’ve sat in tough meetings tasked with making the best decisions possible, and I’ve brought successful construction projects to many other school corporations in Northeast Indiana. As a result of sitting in countless board meetings at these various corporations, I’ve seen and experienced many of the difficult situations school boards are faced with — dealing with a pandemic, discipline of faculty, budget issues, course offerings, special education, and countless others. I’m running because I’m the right choice to rise to the challenge and help fortify the future of our children.
As a candidate for an open seat, what initiatives would you continue? What changes or new initiatives are needed?
I love the strategic planning meetings, the corporation-wide surveys, and focus groups the corporation has been implementing over the past several years. Our community is stronger together. With insights and opinions from more stakeholders, we can create out-of-the-box solutions to issues that arise, areas that can be optimized, and long-term strategic planning. I would love to see more opportunities to have input from as many of our community members with vested interest as possible. Along the same lines, I’d like to see the school board make a concerted effort to make public comment during meetings more encouraged and comfortable.
I’d like to see Norwell make a greater effort to nurture the bottom 25% and top 25% of learners. This will help strengthen our community as the next generation of Knights become the next generation of citizens, employees, business owners, and parents in northern Wells County. On the flip side, I think we need to allow the top 25% to flourish and grow at their own pace. Although I believe we have a lot of options for advanced learns at the high school level, I would like to see us create more opportunities for advanced learners at the elementary and middle school levels in order to maximize these students’ potential.
What do you feel are the most significant challenges and opportunities for Wells County right now?
A challenge I’d like to see addressed is staff turnover/retention. I personally know several teachers that have left for other school systems. I’d like to see our school corporation lead the pack in attractive employment. I feel great staff leads to great education, and I find significant value in continuity.
We’ve spent significant energy over the past decade renovating our facilities, and in large part, I feel like the short-term facility needs are minor when compared to the actions already taken. With that in mind, our biggest opportunity is the ability to turn our focus toward education, extracurriculars, and student experience for all our students, from kindergarten through their senior year and from our most affluent to those who need the most assistance. I’m excited for what’s next.
