THIS WEEK' PERSONALITY: Dave Hunter running for fourth school board term
This is the second in a series of five Personality stories on the five candidates running for two seats on the Loudonville-Perrysville Board of Education.
Of the five candidates running for two seats in the Nov. 2 election for Loudonville-Perrysville Board of Education, Dave Hunter is the only experienced candidate.
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Hunter is closing out his 13th year on the school board. He was appointed to the board 13 years ago to fill out the unexpired term of member Tom Adams, who moved out of the school district.
Actually, he ran for the board three years before then, but was narrowly edged out in that race.
He has successfully been reelected to his board seat three times since. In addition to the L-P Board, he serves as the Loudonville-Perrysville Schools’ representative on the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center Board.
“Board service seems to be different now than when I first started,” Hunter said. “Our public is asking more of us in terms of school operations, which normally is not the function of a school board. Our responsibilities are to hire a superintendent and a treasurer to run the schools, and to make policy.
“Requests by the public to go beyond that scope are more common now, I believe, because of the COVID pandemic,”addedd Hunter, who is an attorney.. “I feel uncomfortable imposing my views as to whether students must wear masks at school. Decisions like that should be left to the superintendent, and the school administration.”
Hunter helped with implementation of the all-day, every-day kindergarten
Major achievement of the schools in his 13 years of service, Hunter said, “was our implementation of the all-day, every-day kindergarten program. I feel that benefits all of our students.”
Frustrations he most feels are financial in nature. “Our costs keep going up, while our income goes down,” he said. “I am a stickler for us running a balanced budget. Particularly troubling to me is the always rising cost of hospitalization insurance for our staff. I have urged us to take steps in our negotiations process to come up with a check on the rising expense for insurance. I hope we can get this problem resolved.”
Hunter operates a general law practice out of an office in downtown Loudonville, with emphasis on domestic relations, custody, estate planning and probate matters. He also works part time on the staff of the Ashland City Law Director.
His practice has changed over the past year. He had a paralegal working in the office with him until late last fall, but now works only with his wife, Chris, as his legal assistant.
The Hunters have two children. Kacee is a sophomore nursing major at Ashland University, and Brendan is a senior at Loudonville High School.
Member of Loudonville Lions Club
His foremost community service involvement is the Loudonville Lions Club, for whom he has served as president twice and as treasurer for a total of 15 years. He is also chair of the club’s scholarship committee, and is one of the chief chicken cooks for the several times a year Lions’ chicken barbecues. Rumor has it he has made substantial improvements in the recipe.
He also is a member of Hanover Lodge and the Mansfield Shrine Club.
Hunter grew up in Galion, and attended Ashland University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, with minors in history and business administration.
After graduating, he worked for a year managing a Pizza Hut restaurant in Mansfield, where he honed his culinary skills. He then was accepted to the University of Toledo Print Law School, completing work on his law degree in the spring of 1996. He passed the bar exam in November of that year, and started work in the law office of Attorney Ron Forsthoefel the next month. He worked with Forsthoefel for two-and-one-half 2 1/2 years, and then took over the practice.
Served on the Mohican Area Community Fund Board
Hunter served on the Mohican Area Community Fund Board for 10 or 12 years, serving as president for two of those years.
He also has been involved with the Ashland Bookcase Project, which
provides approximately 60 to 80 bookcases each year to children ages 5 and younger who have been identified as "at risk" for reading issues, chairing the project for the last three years.
Hunter’s work with at-risk readers goes much farther back than the Bookcase Project. Prior to his election to the school board, he volunteered an hour or two each week tutoring young readers at the R.F. McMullen Elementary School in Loudonville.