Senior Sameeksha Subba from Canal Winchester High School acted as moderator at the Meet the Canal Winchester Board Candidates event on Oct. 2.

Dave George, current member of the school board, is running for re-election and spoke about his years in service, past and present.

“I have a unique skill set for being on the board, so, of course, with the military service, direct leadership out of college, and then after that profit and loss responsibility for a Fortune 500 company….” George said.

George ran out of time in his 90 seconds allotted time and Subba reminded him.  He passed the microphone to Vangela Barnes, another current board member seeking re-election.

“I’ve been in the district for 23 years, I raised for sons, who graduated in the district, and four foster sons.  I was a foster mom for several years…I do a lot of work in the community…I also serve Columbus as the chair of the Greater Southeast Area Commission,” Barnes said.

Vargas explained that the current board has a plan, and she is hoping for re-election to continue being a part of the implementation of that plan.

Monica Talley was next to take the microphone, Talley is also up for re-election. 

“I have a desire to continue to serve the community,” Talley said.

Talley discussed her work in the Child Support Enforcement Program for Franklin County and her continuing education toward her master’s degree.

“When I was a child, the job that I wanted to do was become a teacher, and teachers have always been like my hero, I have so much admiration for teachers,” she said.

Lea Cobb took the microphone next.  Cobb explained that she moved to Canal Winchester due to work and how she fell in love with the community.

“I’m running for school board because I am passionate about our community, I’m passionate about our district, and I’m passionate about seeing the growth of everyone here,” Cobb said.

Lauren Torgerson took microphone and explained that like Cobb, she fell in love with the Canal Winchester community.  Torgerson shared that her oldest just graduated and was Indian of the Year last year.

She has two more children currently in the district and she said she is running to bring a parent’s perspective to the board.

“Fiscal responsibility is an extreme concern, we come from a district that’s in pretty big trouble right now and we’d love to make sure that Canal Winchester stays in a great fiscal position, as they are right now,” Torgerson said.

Elizabeth Jewell introduced herself next with her history of living in Canal Winchester for 15 years. 

“The reason I’m running for school board is because I think it is important to have a parent’s voice at the table, there are decisions that are made every day about our school system that directly affect our children,” Jewell said.

Joe Arndt was the last to introduce himself at the event.  He explained that had moved to Canal Winchester when he was 8 years old and that he received a great education.  He worked for 24 years as a high school counselor and retired in 2021.

“I saw this opening, I do want to say that I think that our board currently, I appreciate what you guys are doing and I am not running because I think you guys are doing a bad job or anything like that. It was an opening I saw, and I wanted to offer my services,” Arndt said.

Arndt added that he knows how schools run, specifically Canal Winchester schools.

The stage then moved to questions where candidates had one minute to answer.

View the rest of the event courtesy of the Canal Winchester Education Association via YouTube on the Justin Natalie channel.