ST. GEORGE — Current Washington County School Board member and representative of District 5, David Stirland, is rerunning for election and said he wants to guarantee every student has an equal opportunity when it comes to education. His opponent, Edyth Lang, also emphasized the same concept.
Incumbent Stirland and retired educator Lang are both on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 8. Both candidates are running for the Washington County School Board District 5 nonpartisan position, which is one of four school district board positions open for election this year. However, there are two positions with more than one candidate running, while the other two have only one person running for the school board district position.
Washington County School District Board Position 4 has only incumbent LaRene Cox, while Board Position 7 has newcomer Nannette Simmons running unopposed as current board member Laura Hesson has decided not to rerun.
District position 6 is the other contested election, with current board president and incumbent Kelly Blake running against retired educator and principal Burke Staheli.
Read the District 5 candidates’ answers to questions from St. George News below. Candidates are presented in alphabetical order based on last names. Each position is for a four-year term.
Edyth Lang
What background and qualifications make you a viable candidate for this position?
In a phone interview with St. George News, Lang said she has had over 43 years of experience in education.
Lang’s educational career began in 1980 at Hurricane Elementary until Three Falls Elementary opened. It was there she resumed her career in teaching Kindergarten, second, third, fourth and fifth grades.
In 2006 she retired but was rehired to work within the district office under two grants. After the grants programs expired, she resumed teaching at Springdale Elementary until retiring in 2022.
“I have the experience to run schools,” Lang said. “I know firsthand from personal experience what needs to be done for our schools and youth.”
She has a family with four children who have been raised within the district and have “unique” educational needs, she said.
Her educational experience started with attending Rick’s College (now BYU-Idaho) and Brigham Young University for a bachelor’s in education. She received a master’s in education from Southern Utah University.
The district has developed the Library Sensitive Materials Policy in the last year. What is your stance on the policy and the controversy behind what some have considered book banning?
Lang said her position on the new library policy is on the side of parental rights.
“I am for protecting children from certain age-inappropriate materials, but parents should be more involved,” she said. “The state eliminated parental input.”
Lang said she thinks rather than books being banned, a wider range of books should be chosen for the libraries.
“How are we going to raise a global society without offering multiple views in varying lifestyles?” she said.
With the Utah State Board of Education pulling their support of the SHARP survey recently until further research is done on the validity of the program, are you in support of their decision or not? Why?
“Information is very important, but there are better ways to help students,” Lang said about the Student Health and Risk Prevention survey.
She said she was concerned about the validity of the data gained from the SHARP program. In her experience, she said she has seen more achieved in the well-being of students from adults who take the initiative to build relationships with students.
“Developing a relationship will give more information than a blanketed test,” Lang said.
With the current social movement and federal policy regarding racial discrimination, LGBTQ+ movement, and gender discrimination, is the current district policy regarding these controversial issues ideal, or is there more to be done?
In pertaining to these sensitive issues, Lang said she admired the current administration for their work in addressing and meeting students’ needs.
“There is always more that needs to be done in relation to equal rights for all students, but we are doing the best we can with the information we are given,” Lang said.
Having a child who identifies with the LGBTQ+ social classification, Lang said she understands their needs and that there is still a great deal of information that still needs to be taught to help these specific students.
One particular area that Lang offered praise is the bullying policy.
Utah has been above national ratings in teacher retention, principal retention and student success. The local district also shows the same results, with Washington County being in the top three counties within Utah in all three categories. What is the reason for the success of Washington County, and why?
For more information regarding principal retention, click here. For more information about local student success, click here.
“It is definitely not because of the pay,” Lang joked.
She outlined two main reasons for the success of the district. First, materials and support. Second, creativity and the ability to modulate.
Lang said she has seen more materials given out to teachers and students and principals give the support the teachers need to accomplish goals.
The ability to be creative and modify lessons to better accommodate the students within every classroom has been a proponent of student success, she added. That capability of modifying their classes and seeing students succeed helps the teachers feel more satisfied and happy, encapsulated Lang.
Incumbent David Stirland
What background and qualifications make you a viable candidate for this position?
Stirland, who has been on the school board for the last eight years, told St. George News he is the right person for the job due to his experience. During this time, he said his primary objective has been the well-being of students.
“Anything to keep the students safe,” Stirland said.
Stirland also is involved with the Southern Utah communities as a peach farmer and retired pharmacist. He also serves as the executive chair of the Hurricane Peach Days and announces games for Hurricane High School football.
He was raised locally but attended Utah Tech University (formally Dixie State), the University of Utah, and graduated from Idaho State University. He has six children and eight grandchildren.
“I am the best choice. … I have a unique skill set where I have been in the private sector that helps me in this position,” Stirland said.
The district has developed the Library Sensitive Materials Policy in the last year. What is your stance on the policy and the controversy behind what some have considered book banning?
“I am really pleased that we have established a policy that helps keep students safe,” Stirland said. “We worked really hard as a board to craft a policy that would withstand challenges from different groups or individuals who would challenge our library book policy. It was important to me that the policy we reenacted would be something that would prohibit questionable materials.”
Stirland said he felt certain materials were inappropriate for school libraries, and if a parent felt otherwise about a book, they could get the book for their child by purchasing it at a bookstore.
“We wanted something that would last and stand the test of time. Defensible by law,” he said. “Our number one goal was to make sure students were safe.”
With the Utah State Board of Education pulling their support of the SHARP survey recently until further research is done on the validity of the program, are you in support of their decision? Why or why not?
In response to the actions taken by the state board, Stirland agreed with some of the concerns.
“The more data that we can gather the better because I believe education is a data-driven entity,” he said. “I am a big data fan, but accurate data is the key.”
Some of his concerns involved the length of the survey, students not having the patience to answer questions honestly and question difficulty.
“I guess if I could be assured of the accuracy of the SHARP survey, then I would be fine with it, but there are too many concerns, unless you have all of those concerns taken care of, then I have issues with it as well,” Stirland said.
With the current social movement and federal policy regarding racial discrimination, LGBTQ+ movement, and gender discrimination, is the current district policy regarding these controversial issues ideal, or is there more to be done?
“I just know we try really hard to ensure success for every student,” Stirland said.
“We are more aware, so we have the opportunity to enact policy helping these kids,” he added. “We have different clubs and different options available.”
Stirland said the anti-bullying policy is strict and bullying is swiftly dealt with to ensure student safety. He said he has noticed students are better and nicer within the district.
“I want kids to feel accepted,” Stirland said. “They are the same to me. The kid who is an athlete is no different than the one girl who struggles to be in school two or three days a week due to work. We got to have and create a place for those people to succeed.”
Utah has been way above national ratings in teacher retention, principal retention, and student success. The local district also shows the same results, with Washington County being in the top three counties within Utah in all three categories. What is the reason for the success of Washington County, and why?
“These ratings have told me a few things. One, we have incredible educators that are committed. We have great administrators who are doing their part, and it also says our kids want to be in school and learn,” Stirland said.
He said his first priority is student success. Other goals of his include ensuring teachers feel validated, appreciated and compensated for their efforts, as well as helping secure administrators with the resources they need.
“I love when parents become involved in education,” Stirland said. “I realize we all have a difference in opinions and don’t agree on things, but at the end of the day, we all work together. After all, it’s always about the students.”
Check out all of St. George News’ coverage of the 2022 election by clicking here.
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