A committed candidate
Eilers says she would be ‘involved with the community’ if elected to school board
Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part series of interviews with the five candidates vying for a seat on the Marshalltown School Board.
“I stay pretty committed to anything I get involved with.”
Laura Eilers said she would be a good addition to the Marshalltown School Board, and she is challenging for one of the three four-year seats up in the Sept. 12 election.
The mother of a two-year-old daughter and attorney at Peglow, O’Hare and See P.L.C., Eilers said she and her husband are looking forward to their child’s enrollment at Marshalltown Schools.
“I find that I’m fairly reasonable with trying to find good solutions to things,” Eilers said. “I really just want to be involved in the community.”
In reading up on school board issues, she said she’s impressed with long-term plans the district is currently working on. Woodbury Elementary’s dual-language program is one such program.
Additionally, Eilers said she would work to see drop-out rates decrease and graduation rates increase if she is chosen to represent district voters.
“You see some of those kids that have just fallen through the cracks, and that’s really disheartening,” she said. “I noticed that part of that strategic plan was really going to try and address making sure that we kept absences and drop-outs and things like that to a minimum.”
Another idea Eilers said she’d like to discuss is before and school programs for busy parents.
“They’ve always talked about not having resources for before school programs,” she said of discussions with district parents. “That’s something I’d like to look at as a possibility, seeing what options are available for that.”
She also said facilities are important to the health of the district, and that students should have adequate places to learn and do extracurricular activities.
“The Roundhouse renovation was pretty exciting to hear about,” Eilers said.
Some concerns she said she’s heard from parents include drug use by some district students, as well as open enrollment out of Marshalltown.
She said one idea could be to ensure parents enrolling out of the district include information on why they chose to do so.
“How can we get more of an answer than asking for the survey later, after the fact?” she said.
In her work, Eilers said she deals with a range of issues some district parents and students face.
“Being an attorney, I work a lot in juvenile law, so I’ve dealt with some juvenile delinquency cases,” she said. “For a long time, I was doing a lot of family law, which is custody, divorce [and] adoptions.”
In her seven years as an attorney, EIlers has also worked in criminal defense through contract with the State Public Defender’s Office, and she has expanded to dealing with real estate law, title opinions and more.
She worked for over six years at Grimes, Buck, Schoell Beach and Hitches law firm, and has practiced at Peglow for the past year.
Being on the school board means striking a balance between making beneficial decisions for district students and managing finances. Financial issues may play a big role in the 2017-18 school year, with a 0 percent increase in state supplemental aid expected. Eilers said she’s up to the challenge.
“I deal with [financial decisions] a lot just in my work,” she said. “I’m also on the board of the Water Works here in town, and we deal with financial decisions all the time.”
Along with reading up on past board and district issues, Eilers said she plans to attend every regular board meeting until the election.
“You have to learn how to interact with other board members, and see their opinions and gather all of the information that they have so you can make a good decision,” she said, adding she’s also been gathering district residents’ thoughts on the issues.
Eilers said she knows there will be a learning curve if she’s elected to the board, and added she’s prepared for that challenge as well.
“I was that person three or four years ago when I got on the Water Works board,” she said. “You have to learn as you go; you trust in the people that give you information.”
Hobbies Eilers enjoys include local recreational league sports like volleyball. She said her daughter keeps her very busy, but also very happy.
“As far as books and movies, I just kind of like everything,” she said with a smile, adding her taste in music is a little more specific. “I’m definitely more of a country fan than anything; I think I’ve seen George Strait in concert about five times.”
Taking an annual trip with her husband to the Des Moines Civic Center to watch a performance is another thing Eilers said she enjoys.
The Marshalltown School Board election is set for Sept. 12.
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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com