Lines are drawn at Ottawa High School candidates forum

For most of the Ottawa High School candidate’s forum it seemed more like a job review of administrators, especially Superintendent Matt Winchester.

Numerous times Tuesday night, candidate Dave Keely mentioned a need for change in leadership, saying his top priority if elected was “proper leadership”. He accused the current administration of showing a lack of leadership and creating an “atmosphere of fear”.

Andree-Marie Koban and Richard Gama are campaigning along with Keely to shake up the board and school administration team. While Gama missed last night’s forum, Koban said fixing the budget deficit should start with cuts “at the top”. She says teachers are being bullied by administrators and take the approach of “shut up or be fired”.

Current board members Karen Fisher and Bill Byczynski agreed on most points including saying they handled last year’s building trades situation which included student suspensions in a legal way. Fisher says talks of a culture of distrust in the school involves a few disgruntled people while Byczynski says he takes each situation separately and won’t react to public outcry.

The other two candidates, George Hupp and John Levy answered most questions saying they need to sort out the information once they join the board of education.

Three spots on the Ottawa High School board are up for grabs April 7th.