As the November 7th Loveland City School District school board election looms closer, the question of which candidate to support and vote for becomes ever more important. To help students and community members answer this question, The Loveland Roar has been interviewing candidates, with Jack Gerber (12) interviewing candidate Robert Vanover.
Robert Vanover is running for school board on a platform of unity, going so far as to claim that his “sole interest in seeking this position is to help bring our community back together” through “fiscal responsibility for long-term district stability” and by providing “the best education possible to the students and prepare them to become successful members of our society.”
Vanover is a father and business owner in the Loveland community. When asked what his relevant experience is, Vanover told The Roar that “the experience I will pull from is from my 25+ years of being a business leader at multiple Fortune 500 companies here in Cincinnati.” The companies Vanover has worked with include GE Aviation and Proctor and Gamble. He also told The Roar that “for the past ten years I have been in governance of establishing company policies, guiding the business, and ensuring compliance with international and federal regulations.” He stated that he would bring “complex problem solving, negotiation, critical thinking, money management, teamwork, listening, and collaboration” to the board.
When asked what his position was on past levies, Vanover told The Roar that he “was among the majority of people in Loveland that could not support the 2019 16.6-mill Levy” since “the work behind this levy was not made public until after a deposit was placed on land to be used to build a school building that had not been approved.” Vanover continued, saying that he believes that “the school board failed to perform one of its primary functions which is to clearly communicate with the community, and then advise the superintendent of the communities’ concerns,” adding that “the school board failed the community, the students, and the district with their actions.” While Vanover did state that he was opposed to the first levy, he did not state his position on the following two levies.
While gathering signatures to launch his campaign, Vanover “spoke to 220 people from Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren County” and said that “80% still [do] not have confidence in the schools” due to “‘lack of trust’ and ‘no accountability.’” Since becoming a candidate, Vanover has been listening “to what our community has to say and [trying] to understand their needs and concerns using the most effective face-to-face conversation.”
Vanover is campaigning on a four-point platform, with his points being to “ensure our school provides the best education possible,” “approve fiscally responsible budgets that do not require new property tax levies,” “support high school busing,” and “provide district report cards on spending,” all of which fuse together to “build community’s confidence in school.”
As the election quickly approaches, students and community members must make informed decisions that represent their interests. To be able to make an informed decision, make sure to check out The Roar’s interviews with the other three candidates running for the school board.