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Wayne Flint is running for reelection to the Buena Vista School Board.
Flint was first elected in 2011. In the 12 years he has been on the Board, his greatest accomplishment has been in salaries, increasing pay for Buena Vista teachers and staff.
“We’ve improved — from the superintendent on down, teachers to bus drivers,” he said.
However, he still hopes to see growth in this area, and if re-elected would continue to focus on salary improvements, particularly for teachers.
“We’ve made progress but there’s still a little ways to go, especially for teachers,” he said.
Another goal for Flint is facility improvements, in particular, building a new facility to house Buena Vista’s elementary and middle schools.
Currently, Buena Vista has two elementary schools, F.W. Kling, which serves pre-K through first grade, and Enderly Heights Elementary, which serves second through fifth grade students. Flint wants to see these combined with Parry McCluer Middle School in a new facility.
Due to the age of the current buildings, Flint believes that a new facility will be more costeffective than continuing updates to the old ones.
“The middle school needs to be dramatically updated, in the old Parry McCluer building. From what I’ve received from engineers in the past, it will be cheaper, in the long run, to build a new building than it will to refurbish the one it’s in now, and then to refurbish the two elementary schools,” he said.
Flint’s vision for this new facility would be to locate it near the current high school, on property already owned by the city of Buena Vista, so that the city will not need to purchase additional land.
“There’s space, set aside, up where the current high school is, so the city won’t have to purchase any more property,” he said.
While he anticipates challenges in achieving these goals, particularly when it comes to funding, Flint believes that the strength of the school division is its people, “the staff, from the superintendent on down,” he said.
