One contested school board race in Indian River district

DAGSBORO — There is one contested school board race in Tuesday’s Indian River School District election, a District 4 showdown between Anita West-Werner and Joshua W. Hudson.

They are seeking a four-year term on the 10-member board, a seat held by Dr. Donald Hattier, who did not seek re-election after spending 22 years on the panel.

Ms. West-Werner served 25 years in the U.S. Air Force including on C-5s at Dover Air Force Base with the Air Force Reserves. She is now a reservist for the Air Force Crisis Action Team at the Pentagon and a captain and 737 pilot for United Airlines.

Raised on the family farm near Clarksville, she and her husband have two children, a sophomore at Indian River High School and an eighth grader at Selbyville Middle School.

“My whole campaign is focused on a back-to-basics platform. I feel like, especially since COVID but just in general, our kids are suffering, academically, socially. They are just behind the power curve,” said Ms. West-Werner.

“We need to focus on the basics – reading, writing, English, starting at the very basic level. We need great leadership from top to bottom. Our teachers need support. We need improved discipline. And curriculum, we’ve got to get out of Common Core somehow.”

Mr. Hudson, born and raised in the Roxana/Frankford area, is a full-time captain with the Delaware Natural Resources Police. He and his wife Melinda, a teacher in the Milford School District, have two children, ages 5 and 7.

A 2007 Indian River High School graduate, Mr. Hudson has contemplated running for the school board for some time, and says he is committed to making a difference.

“I started to think about it really probably over a year or year-and-a-half ago,” said Mr. Hudson, a 2007 Indian River High School graduate.

“I’ve got a lot of really close friends that are all school teachers throughout Indian River, and just hearing some of the big problems they are having, whether it’s discipline with the children, the school bus issues that we are having with recruitment, and then the recruitment/retention of our teachers. Our teachers I just feel are not getting the support they really need.”

“Just kind of seeing what it has come from when I was there to even now, I said, ‘You know what, you can talk all you want but it might be time to actually try to make a difference,’” said Mr. Hudson.

“We have got to start trying to make sure we’re taking care of our kids and our teachers with the curriculums, keeping literacy and a lot of the other pieces that we are starting to sway away from in the schools.

“Now, people want so much censorship and all that is going on. There is so much that has changed.”

Ms. West-Werner hopes as a member of the school board the district can rise to the top in the state “through good support of our teachers, basic education first. and then we’ll focus on all the extra stuff once we get that right. We cannot accept our schools being No. 20 and No. 26 out of 40 on the list of high schools in the state of Delaware. That is why I am focusing on the basics.”

“Our children have been falling behind academically for years. However, COVID exponentially increased the pace at which this was happening,” Ms. West-Werner said. “Our administrators, teachers and students are faced with many pressures and threats that are perpetually increasing. Issues such as safety/discipline, recruiting/retention, curriculum and opportunities for advancement are at the forefront. “

Ms. West-Werner is a 1996 Indian River High School graduate and 2023 Indian River High School Hall of Fame inductee.

Noting that he has been endorsed by the Indian River Education Association, Mr. Hudson is a board member with the Roxana Volunteer Fire Company and is on national committees related to his work as a marine police officer.

Both candidates are hoping for a big voter turnout Tuesday.

“It’s everybody in the community. It’s not just people who have kids there,” Mr. Hudson said. “It affects everybody. Hopefully, we can get some people out there.”

Ms. West-Werner says she is disappointed that there have been no candidate forums or other pre-election public opportunities precipitated by the district.

“I’ve been trying to get the message out,” she said.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Indian River High School, 29772 Armory Road, Dagsboro, and the Millville Community Center, 32517 Dukes Drive, Millville.