Click the link above to view the entire 2024 Salina League of Women Voters Candidate Forum.
By NATE KING
Salina Post
With Election Day fast approaching, the Salina League of Women Voters held a candidate forum on Sunday, just one day before hundreds of voters went to the ballot box on the first day of early voting.
Local and state candidates addressed critical issues, including abortion, Medicaid expansion, county facility needs, homelessness, school safety, marijuana legalization, and more.
The forum, held at the Stiefel Theatre Watson Room on Oct. 20 at 1:30 p.m., began with each candidate delivering one-minute opening remarks. Questions were then alternated among the candidates, starting with those from a media panel, followed by questions from the audience.
Candidates were allowed one minute responses.
READ MORE: Candidate responses to LWV questionnaire
Candidates present at the League of Women Voters forum included:
Candidates for the Kansas House — 69th District Incumbent, Rep. Clarke Sanders, Republican; Lori Blake, Democrat
Candidate for Kansas Senate — 24th John Baker, Democrat
Candidates for Saline County Commission District Two Open Seat — Annie Grevas, Republican Primary Winner; Kathleen Malone Crouch, Write-In Candidate, Republican
JR Claeys, incumbent for the 24th Senate District, did not attend.
The Salina Post newsroom called Senator Claeys for comment on his vision and policy positions but has not received a response.
Abortion
Abortion was the first topic asked about during the conversation between candidates and voters. Sanders, a firm supporter of pro-life initiatives, spoke about his legislative efforts following the failure of the 2022 Value Them Both constitutional amendment.
"From my perspective, unfortunately, Value Them Both failed," Sanders said. "So we now have to find ways to do what we can in the pro-life movement. One of the things I did in 2023 was offer the Infant Born Alive Protection Act. We also, this past session, passed help for pregnancy service centers, which provide services for moms and dads, both before and after the baby is born."
Sanders also advocated for legislation that would give men more say in abortion decisions.
"We need to get some legislation that gives some power to men because as it stands right now, they have no say in the abortion issue," Sanders noted. "Even if they're a husband, they can't. They have no say, and she didn't create the baby on her own."
In contrast, Blake, a pro-choice candidate, argued against government interference in personal medical decisions.
"I believe that our voters have spoken on this issue," Blake said. "I am personally opposed to the government being in my medical room making personal decisions about my body. I trust women to include the fathers of their children in those decisions, and that's a decision that those people should be making with their medical providers."
Medicaid expansion
Medicaid expansion also divided the candidates. Baker strongly supported expanding Medicaid in Kansas, citing both economic and moral reasons.
"I fully support the expansion of Medicaid in the state of Kansas," Baker stated. "We send out, I think it's over $6 billion at this point to other states who have expanded their programs. Expanding Medicaid could also serve as a lifeline to our rural communities, which are honestly dying, and it's scary."
Baker also emphasized the importance of improving access to healthcare.
"People need health care services. Somebody shouldn't have to drive multiple hours to receive the care that they need," Baker said.
Sanders, however, voiced his opposition to Medicaid expansion, citing concerns about its impact on current beneficiaries and state finances.
"I'm opposed to the expansion of Medicaid," Sanders said. "What it would do is add 140,000 to 150,000 able-bodied, 19 to 60-year-olds to the Medicaid rolls. There are already people that are back in line, and that would just push them further back. We don't know what it would cost."
Blake countered by discussing the importance of expanding Medicaid for children and low-income families.
"Since January, there have been 57,000 children removed from our Medicaid rolls because of the COVID eligibility," Blake said. "Those 57,000 children would be captured in this Medicaid expansion, along with another 150,000. A family of four to qualify currently is $11,856. These are impoverished people."
County facility needs and unused buildings
The discussion then turned to the needs of Saline County and the City of Salina, particularly in addressing facility issues such as the health department and abandoned buildings.
Grevas, who worked for the county for 35 years, emphasized the need to repurpose existing buildings, specifically the health department and the old jail.
"This is one of my top priorities, abandoned buildings, repurposing existing buildings," Grevas said. "The health department needs a new space. It's got a leaky roof, and it's been that way for a long time. People want the jail to be repurposed, but it is going to take several million dollars to do that."
Malone Crouch agreed but raised concerns about the condition of some buildings.
"I agree there are buildings that we should be using," Crouch said. "However, having worked in the basement of that building that the old jail is in, I know that when it rained, the basement flooded, and that's not how we need to spend our time."
Addressing Kansas' unhoused population
On the issue of growing unhoused populations in Kansas, Baker stressed the importance of addressing the housing crisis and the need for mental health services.
"Housing is extremely expensive right now. I'm a professional. My wife is a professional, and we're not in a position to buy a home right now because the prices are outrageous," Baker said. "I think we need much greater access to mental health resources in our communities. A lot of people who are homeless struggle with addiction and substance abuse."
Sanders agreed that homelessness is a complex issue but focused on addiction as a key factor.
"Homelessness is a really big and tough issue," Sanders said. "If there were simple solutions, people would have come up with them by now. One thing we should pass is legislation that says one unit of government can't ship their homelessness to another county."
Blake took a more collaborative approach, highlighting Saline County's ability to use public and private resources effectively.
"I think Salina and Saline County are a beacon of hope for our state in how we work together," Blake said. "We should look at putting together a pool of grants that could be competitive, as we did with COVID dollars."
Marijuana legalization
The candidates also discussed the legalization of marijuana, with differing opinions on how the state should proceed. Sanders expressed his support for medical marijuana but remained opposed to recreational use.
"I'm opposed to legalizing or decriminalizing recreational use of marijuana," Sanders said. "But as far as medical goes, I think there's ample evidence that it could do a lot of good. It needs to be dispensed through pharmacies, not dispensaries."
Blake expressed openness to exploring the issue further, particularly after hearing from voters.
"There is definitely an appetite in our community for the dialogue," Blake said. "We need to consider the implications, whether that's medical or recreational, and look at how we can help families recover from addiction."
Baker voiced full support for the legalization of both medical and recreational cannabis.
"I fully support the legalization of both recreational and medical cannabis," Baker said. "Seventy percent of Kansans in a recent poll said they support medical cannabis, and over 60% support recreational. Legalizing it could help fund our schools and address issues in criminal justice."
School safety amidst a rise in threats
Finally, the candidates discussed how to ensure school safety amid growing concerns over gun violence.
Grevas emphasized the importance of being proactive and supporting local schools through grants.
"I think we can assist in providing them access to grant dollars," Grevas said. "We need to be active and listen to the school board and not put a shield over us, saying, 'Well, we're only county commission.'"
Malone Crouch disagreed, arguing that the county plays a larger role in school safety than Grevas suggested.
"Emergency management, which is unique to the county, is under the direction of the county commissioners," Crouch said. "They work with police and fire departments to provide training for active shooters and other emergencies."
Sanders called for the state to fund school resource officers in every high school and junior high.
"I would be in favor of earmarking dollars at the state level for school resource officers," Sanders said. "A school resource officer can't necessarily stop a school shooting, but they can certainly mitigate it if something tragic happens."
Baker made the case for a broader focus on mental health support in schools.
"I think mental health and children's ability to access services are critical," Baker said. "Rather than focusing solely on police officers in schools, we need a bigger conversation about supporting teachers and families."
Questions from the public
Following the media's questions, members of the public lined up behind a microphone to pose questions to the candidates.
David Norlin, resident of Salina, asked the county commission candidates where they would stand if they had to choose between maintaining a lean budget or prioritizing women's health care, especially reproductive health and choice.
"I support women health issues, and I am pro choice, and so I want those availabilities in Salina and Saline County," Grevas said.
Grevas also praised Saline County Health Department Director Jason Tiller for applying for grants.
"The director, is very proactive and writes multiple grants and has ever since I've known them and known them for 20 some years," Grevas said. "I would continue to support those grants. I would continue to look for those dollars in whatever ability there is. Our health department needs to serve those that need to be served, and we need to have a environment that is healthy, safe and proactive."
Malone Crouch recalled working for the health department in 2014 when a Saline County Commissioner gained national attention for rejecting a grant for IUDs, mistakenly calling them "IEDs."
"I am pro-choice. I am pro-women's health. And again, the county commissioners approve or disapprove what the health department or any other department brings to them, they set the policy by doing that," Malone Crouch said.
Sanders, a supporter of the pro-life movement, said he favors Home Rule. Established in 1961, Home Rule allows cities and municipalities to govern local matters like taxes and zoning without state approval, empowering communities to solve their own problems and maintain their identity.
"I think that needs to be handled by the local county commissioners and the administrator," Sanders said. "I wouldn't be in favor of any funding that could go to the county that would facilitate abortions."
Blake echoed Sanders' remarks, highlighting her support of the Home Rule policy, but said she found Sanders' support of passed legislation that allocates $ 2 million of state funds to the Pregnancy Compassion Awareness Program "interesting."
"I find it interesting that Clarke says he doesn't think the government should be doing anything with abortion, yet they took our tax dollars for these unsupervised pregnancy service centers and those are being held accountable to by our state treasurer," Blake said. "I am pro-choice, I am pro-woman, I am pro-family, and I believe we need to take care of people, but we need the appropriate people making those decisions."
Forum attendee and Salina resident, Haley Helzer, shared her experience as a single mother, working multiple part-time jobs while struggling to qualify for healthcare.
"I worked multiple part-time jobs. I didn't qualify for Medicaid, but my child did, but because I also worked part-time jobs, I didn't have that there," Helzer said. "When I did have a full-time job when the child care was there, I was excluded, because it was a small business. I still made too less for the marketplace and so in that situation, how do you guys plan to help someone like me?"
Sanders acknowledged the complexity of addressing constituent problems within a short time and suggested that the government's role in solving personal issues is limited.
"The fact of the matter is this is very difficult to discuss this with having 45 seconds of your history, but all God's children got problems," Sanders said. "I don't know how much the government can and should help you solve your problems."
Sanders continued.
"I know that's not particularly popular, but I mean, do you get no WIC? Do you get no help whatsoever from the government for anything? I mean, I find that hard to believe a person in your situation doesn't," Sanders said.
Baker suggested that Helzer's issue could have been addressed through Medicaid expansion, noting that many people face similar challenges.
"It was a number of years ago when my mother was working a job where she fell into that donut hole. She didn't make enough money to provide for everything that we needed, and so we accessed state funds," Baker said. "Some people aren't able to do that, like we had, we had KanCare growing up and it was a lifeline for us. We need to do whatever we can do to support our families in that way, so that mothers and fathers and everybody in the household, including children, has access to the health care."
Blake said unfortunately Helzer's struggles are a common occurence Blake has seen many times during her professional career.
"We've got to be real about what our human needs are in this place, and we've got to pair it with private investment, with local, county, state, federal resources. An example of what can happen when we're open to that idea is a program called Family First that was at CAPS," Blake said. "It's a federal, state partnership that takes dollars, and these families that are at risk of having their children removed from their home,when they get the support they need, are able to stay together. In four years, they removed the out-of-home placement by 50% by targeting some of those dollars. That is an economic development tool to keep families together in our community."
A 'last minute hiccup'
The League of Women Voters candidate forum was initially scheduled as a co-sponsored event with the Salina Chamber of Commerce. However, a last-minute decision by the Chamber's Board of Directors and community partners, citing concerns over partisanship within the League, resulted in the forum's temporary cancellation.
Lori Trow, Salina League of Women Voters president, expressed frustration over the Chamber of Commerce's decision to cancel their more than a decade-long partnership.
"We had everything worked out, and then I got a text message or an email from Renee Duxler [Chamber CEO] saying that they ran into a hiccup," Trow said.
According to Trow, Duxler told her that one of the candidates suggested that the league was partisan and wasn't nonpartisan, like the organization proclaims.
"They thought, in order to keep their nonpartisan appearance, that it was best if they did not partner with us,"Trow said. "It really upset myself and our board, because we have partnered with the Chamber of Commerce for more than a decade doing candidate forums and there's never been a question that we were a partisan organization," Trow said.
Trow expressed disappointment that the Chamber made the decision to end the partnership based on one candidate's claim.
"They talked to their board and community partners, and they made a decision based on what this candidate said," Trow said. "They didn't even give us the chance to talk about it. They just made the decision and then told us, we're not going to partner with you."
Trow said she and her board have yet to decide whether the Salina League of Women Voters will reach out to the Chamber of Commerce to co-host the next candidate forum. She said for local elections next year the league plans to host "Speed Dating with the Candidate" events.
The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce was not available for comment.
Verbatim candidate quotes on each issue discussed during the forum can be found below:
Abortion
Rep. Clarke Sanders' response:
"From my perspective, unfortunately, Value Them Both failed. So we now have to find ways to do what we can in the pro-life movement. And one of the things that I did in 2023 was offer the Infant Born Alive Protection Act. We also, this past session, passed help for pregnancy service centers, which provide services for moms and dads, both before and after the baby is born. And we need to get some legislation that gives some power to men because as it stands right now, they have no say in the abortion issue. Even if they're a husband, they can't. They have no say, and she didn't create the baby on her own."
Lori Blake's response:
"I believe that our voters have spoken on this issue, and I am personally opposed to the government being in my medical room making personal decisions about my body. I believe that I trust women to include the fathers of their children in those decisions, and that's a decision that those people should be making with their medical providers. So in in the case of our current law, I see no need to change anything.
What have you learned on the campaign trail and what trait about yourself would serve you well as commissioner?
Annie Grevas' response:
"I've learned that people want to be informed. People care that you're out and about. People in Saline County and in Salina are beautiful. I have just met some of the most caring individuals, whether they're supporting myself or my opponent, they're open, they're honest."
"And so I think that people care more about politics than I've seen or or or thought in the last 10 years, and so I think that that is wonderful, and you see it in other states, and I like to think that we care in Kansas. So that's the first I know. Well, my personality is, I'm gonna avoid the word aggressive, but I'm bold and I'm forthright, and I bring it to the table."
Kathleen Malone Crouch's response:
"I have learned, as Annie did, that the people in Saline County do want to be informed. There was a door that I knocked on that an hour and a half later, my husband came from the car to find out why I was still talking to that person. He was worried. We were standing in the yard. It was around the corner from the front door. But and only once have I had someone say, I don't have time for this. So overall, it's been people wanting to be informed."
"My trait is, I would have to say perseverance and the determination to see things through. I believe that if there's a job worth doing it all, you should follow it through and complete it to the best of your ability. And too often, I think people start things and don't finish, but I do."
Medicaid Expansion
John Baker's Response:
I fully support the expansion of Medicaid in the state of Kansas. It's a no brainer at this point. We send out, I think it's over $6 billion at this point to other states who have expanded their programs. Expanding Medicaid, I think is the right thing to do also, because, like, we should be caring about our neighbors, people need health insurance. Expansion of Medicaid could also serve as a lifeline to our rural communities, which are honestly dying and it's scary.
"People need health care services. Somebody shouldn't have to drive multiple hours to receive the care that they need. We can afford to do it. It makes financial sense for the state to do it, and it's the right thing to do for friends and family members."
Clarke Sander's Response:
"I'm opposed to the expansion of Medicaid, what it would do is it would add 140,000 to 150,000 able bodied, 19 to 60 year olds to the Medicaid roles, which there are already people that are back in line and that would just push them further back. We don't know what it would cost. We don't know what it would cost over the length of time we would be in it. Everybody always talks about, 'oh, we're missing out on this much or that much of federal money.' It's still your taxes, whether it's federal, state or local, and we don't, we don't know what it would cost. And there are 13 populations, vulnerable populations, served by Medicaid already as it stands now, why push those people who really need services back further in line? That doesn't make sense to me. I'm opposed to the expansion of Medicaid."
Lori Blake's Response:
"I have worked with children and families for my entire career, and since January, there have been 57,000 children removed from our Medicaid roles because of the COVID eligibility. And so those 57,000 children would be captured in this Medicaid expansion, along with another 150,000 a family of four to qualify currently is $11,856 these are impoverished people."
"We need to add those 19 to 60-year-old, able-bodied employees to these roles so that they can afford to pay rent, They can afford to pay for housing, and they have some additional assistance for child care, and having access to medical care is a basic need. It's a basic right, I think, in our community, we need to at least have the debate about it that's been blocked by our leadership in the Senate and in the house currently, and we need to have more bipartisan dialog."
Saline County/City of Salina facility needs assessment, unused buildings
Annie Grevas' Response:
"This is one of my top priorities, abandoned buildings, repurposing existing buildings. You see it downtown all the time. We're owning it. We're doing it, and it's beautiful. The health department needs a new space. It's got leaky roof, and it's headed that way for a long time, you mentioned the Jail, Memorial Hall is currently being looked at as maybe some spaces. I'll shout out to a Boys and Girls Club. I'm serving on a committee to get a Boys and Girls Club started in our community, and I see several members of my committee here, and I'm grateful for that. We're touring these buildings. We know that just to knock down the jail is a million dollars. I've got to actively participate with the county and the city on the review of these things. And so dollars are going to be impacted."
"People want the jail to be repurposed. It is going to take several million dollars to repurpose that. Knocking it down is a million dollars but we don't have a million dollars to do that, so it's going to sit but there are other buildings that can be repurposed, and the health department needs to go into one of those."
Kathleen Malone Crouch's Response:
I agree there are buildings that we should be using. However, having worked in the basement of that building that the old jail is in, I know that when it rained, often the basement flooded, and that's where my office was in the basement, we didn't flood, but records did, so records for court cases, there were many, many police officers and deputies who were rescuing evidence and records, and that's not how we need to spend our time.
"The health department does need to be razed. When I helped move back into that health department pipes overhead burst on us as we were moving in. Some of those buildings are not worth using. We are looking at the use of some of the buildings, like Memorial Hall, but some of them just need to be done away with."
Unhoused populations and the need for state dollars to address it
John Baker's Response:
"This is a very complicated issue, and it's going to require a lot of cooperation between state agencies, and, of course, additional funding from the state level. I think at its core, the issue with homelessness, or the homeless population in our state, is quite simply, just access to housing and affordable housing. Housing is extremely expensive right now. I'm a professional. My wife is a professional, and we're not in a position to buy a home right now because the prices are outrageous."
"Now, a lot of people are experiencing that and being pushed out of their homes like it's it's a major financial issue. I think is also part of the solution here, we need much greater access to mental health resources in our communities. I know a lot of people are homeless, have difficulty with addiction and substance abuse, and this is definitely part of the solution is access to care."
Clarke Sanders' Response:
"Homelessness is a really big and tough issue. If there were simple solutions, people would have come up with them by now. One of the major things that you have to answer is which comes first, addiction or the homelessness? And can you really treat homelessness without finding a good way to treat addiction. So I've been involved in some meetings where we've talked about what to do about it, but it's definitely going to be addressed again in the legislature this coming session."
"I hope to be a part of some productive conversations in that, one thing that I think we can do and should do, is address the low hanging fruit, and that is, we should pass legislation that says one unit of government, such as a city or a county, can't take and ship their homelessness to the county line so that it becomes the second county's problem that ought not be allowed."
Lori Blake's Response:
Just like tough issues like child care locally, I think Salina and Saline County are a beacon of hope for our state and the way we work together. We are really good at looking at private investment and then taking local, state and federal resources and pairing them together. I think our state's role in this would be to potentially put together a pool of grants that could be competitive again. So there's some oversight. This happened with COVID dollars and happened with some state dollars recently in the childcare crisis, and then the community came together and says, 'We are unique. We understand our place better than everyone in Topeka does.'"
"So let's come together and look at what that looks like here. I do believe that our mental well being is a big part of the issue when it comes to homelessness. And so Medicaid expansion, again, would be another lever that we could pull to assist in that process, in caring for our citizens that don't have that basic need of housing every night."
What different initiatives would you implement at the County that have not been seen by the current board of commissioners?
Annie Grevas' Response:
"I want to be clear, I worked for the county for 35 years, and I worked right hand in hand with the county commissioners. I've seen too many county commissioners that I can even recall. The current county commission as a whole is very active, very out there and participating with efforts. And so I don't want to say that I'm going to fill a seat and do better than they have. Our current county commission does a good job."
"I bring, I'm a female. If you don't know that. That has not been on the county commission since Lucy Larson was appointed, when they changed it from three to five commissioners. So I bring a different voice, I bring a different perspective. I bring different emotions, but also thought, thoughtfulness and those kind of things."
Kathleen Malone Crouch's Response:
I know one thing that the County commissioners are considering right now is a change in the number of meetings that they hold, or how they could better use their time. I don't know that the public is aware that that's a big consideration, and that was one thing that I was going to propose.
"I would again bring a female's perspective, and there have been female commissioners the earliest that I when I made a list for a county in service some years ago, there were female commissioners back in the 1980s but they have been far between and few. I believe that I would be present, minus medical reasons. There are commissioners who are not present, and I just think that I have, again, a unique perspective to offer you."
K-12 School Funding (question posed to only John Baker)
"John Baker's Response: I think Kansas is a model for public education throughout the country. The only issue that I can think of off the top of my head right now is that every single year in Topeka, it's a fight to fund our public schools, which I think is ridiculous. Like, congrats they can pat themselves on the back for fully funding public schools last year, but we're still underfunding special education, and we need to fix that."
"We have extra money in the rainy day fund as a state, and I think we could be allocating some of those resources to special education, but most of all, we just need to be supporting our teachers so that our schools continue to be as great as they are."
Adults with intellectual disabilities waiting list
Lori Blake's Response:
"I worked for 11 years, and disability supports and understand Medicaid waiver services probably better than anyone at this table because of that work, I was an advocate in schools, and those services not only support the individual, but it allows family members to get back to work. For me, it's it's an economic development opportunity. And again, this goes back to Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion. Some of those dollars could be utilized specifically for waiver services.
"We have a $3 billion surplus in our state coffers right now that could be utilized to address that. They did, I think, fund about 100 off the waiting list last year. So they recognize that there has been an issue. But these children and families need it, and the caregivers that come in are not making a ton of money doing that, so we've got to make sure that our wages are also competitive, so we're not creating impoverished people who are reliant upon those those services."
Clarke Sanders' Response:
"I attended a meeting last year, not in the Capitol, but it was in Lawrence and Steven Johnson, the Treasurer, had invited us to this meeting because he wanted to talk about a program that has been developed through his office, and it was a good program, but the problem was a lot of people who could take advantage of the benefits of this program didn't know about so what I would be in favor of is making sure that everybody who needs these services and Number one, knows of their availability, and number two, how to access them."
John Baker's Response:
"I'm gonna say I don't necessarily disagree with anything that Clark has stated, but I especially agree with things that Lori stated for sure. She knows a lot more about this issue that I do."
"I'll be fully transparent, and this feels really lazy of me to do it's not something I'm entirely informed on, but I know it upsets me hearing that many people are on a waiting list, and we need to do something about it."
Marijuana legalization:
Clarke Sanders' Response:
"The first thing everybody needs to understand is, despite what a lot of states have done, marijuana isn't legal anywhere in the United States, there's still a federal law against it. That's important because pharmacies are very uneasy about prescribing marijuana, even if it's for medical use."
"Now I support medicinal marijuana, however, I don't support it being dispensed by dispensaries. It needs to be dispensed through pharmacy, so we've got to figure out a way to work around that issue. I am opposed to legalizing or decriminalizing recreational use of marijuana, but as far as medical goes, I think there's ample evidence that it could do a lot of good."
Lori Blake's Response:
"This is an issue I didn't really have on my radar heading into this election, but as I've been at the door, there are a lot of our citizens that want us to look at this and study it. I believe that there's a place in our state to consider the implications, whether that's medical or recreational. I know that our jails and our families are struggling with addiction. We don't have enough services to support those who are in recovery now. So it's a complicated conversation.
"If we're going to open the open the floodgates, you know, regulate it, tax it, maybe there's some additional opportunities to be prepared to help families recover from addictions that could be related to this, but again, it's a subject that I need to spend a lot more time learning about, but there is definitely an appetite in our community for the dialog."
John Baker's Response:
"I fully support the legalization of both recreational and medical cannabis and surprise, surprise, 70% of Kansans in a recent poll said that they also support the legalization of medical cannabis, and I think it's just over 60% that supports legalization of recreational despite the fact that it's still technically illegal at the federal level. There are a lot of laws that are still on the books that are not enforced, and marijuana happens to be one of those cases. Look at our neighbors, like Colorado, they've had recreational marijuana available to their citizens since I think 2014 and it's been fantastic for them. They're using their money to fund our public schools, and I'd love to see something like that happen for the state of Kansas."
"For recreational legalization also has serious implications for Criminal Justice in our state. The number of people of color who are arrested disproportionately than white people for simple marijuana possession is ridiculous, and we need to stop it. And for legalization of medical I really don't even think we need to get into that too much. It's pretty apparent that it has medicinal properties, and it would be great for our veterans and PTSD and people who suffer from chronic pain."
Ensuring school safety amidst regular threats and gun violence in schools
Annie Grevas' Response:
"I want to make it clear that Saline County Commission has no ability to dictate how the schools do things. We all know that Salina Police Department and Saline County Sheriff's Office have first responders within the schools, and what happened several years ago at a request of the schools. I think, a demand of the parents in the community. I think us being active and listening to the school board being a part of what's going on in our community, and not putting a shield over us and saying, 'Well, we're only county commission. We don't play a role in that.'"
"Funding is not going to come directly from that, but I think we can support grant funding. It's all across the nation right now because we've seen a lot of school shootings, and so there is grant dollars out there. I think we can assist in providing them access to those, maybe support in the riding of those but be supportive as a community member."
Kathleen Malone Crouch's Response:
"I beg to differ with my opponent. Our county does have a great deal to do with the training in the schools. Emergency Management works for all of the public and any private entities who want to be worked with on emergency preparedness, including going in and training for active shooters and training for any extra whether it's weather-related or anything that's safety in any manner. Emergency management works with the police department and works with the sheriff's office and the fire department, and brings in to the schools, many programs. So emergency management, which is unique to the county, is under the direction of the county commissioners."
The last nine years, I was the executive director at Child Advocacy and Parenting Services, and in that time, I coordinated with the Chris' Place, a multi-disciplinary response team specific to recovery for children who have experienced child abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. I say that because our county, like Kathleen and Annie were just talking about our county and city resources come together every single day.
"Currently, we do have state laws that are in place currently that require our schools to have Crisis Response Plans and to train our staff currently on that what we need is the flexibility in our schools to use our budget the way that that the way boards want to do that, and special education funding would help us free up the general fund so that we could direct those dollars back to safety and not just special education, which is a federally required expense."
Clarke Sanders' Response:
"I would be in favor of earmarking dollars at the state level for school Resource Officers. I think that every high school and junior high ought to have a school resource officer. And so if in order to get that done, it needs state funding, that would be something that I would definitely be in favor of. A school resource officer can't necessarily stop a school shooting, although they might be able to, but they can certainly mitigate it if something tragic begins to happen. My opinion, is we need school resource officers at every high school and junior high."
John Baker's Response:
"What I'm hearing a lot of up here are reactions to school shootings. As Clarke said, you know, a police officer can't necessarily, or may not be able to stop a school shooting. I think, rather than viewing the police as a solution to this problem, because they really only respond to crime, they're not necessarily going to prevent it every single time, there should be a much bigger conversation about the mental health of our students and the resources that are available to our students."
"Even just like the number of teachers that we have in classrooms who may potentially be able to solve these problems. This is such a deep topic. I think, mental health and children's ability to access services that they need and a teacher's ability to give a child the attention they need. And of course, this also extends into like what family life is for the child and as a community, being able to provide support for families who need it."