It’s Asher Mansdorf vs. Asher Matathias in Lawrence

In addition to voting on the budget, residents in the Lawrence School District can cast ballots in the race between incumbent Board of Education Trustee Asher Mansdorf and challenger Asher Matathias on May 20. Sitting Trustee Murray Forman is running unopposed. All terms are three years.
Mansdorf, 61, is running for his fifth term. His main incentive for running again, he said, is to continue the work he has been involved in to help make the school district what Mansdorf called “a community of learners” and not just viewing the district as a “community of voters.”
“I feel I have not only talked the talk, I have walked the walk,” he said. “I have put my heart and soul into this, and been in the schools almost every single day.”
District programs such as pre-kindergarten and after-school classes have not only been geared to lend the children a helping hand toward education, but to get parents involved in their education, according to Mansdorf, who said under Superintendent Gary Schall’s leadership, the district has reached out to the Spanish-speaking community and worked to improve communication.
“I have practiced level-headed nonjudgmental approaches to governance,” Mansdorf said, pointing to the fiscal health of the district, providing guidance to administrators and working with local legislators to ensure that Lawrence receives its fair share of state money. He wants to use the Number Six School sale money for capital improvements.
Matathias, 70, is running on a platform of improvement ranging from increased transparency and public comment at board meetings to shifting to an at-large vote for trustee seats to “eliminate artificial animosity in District 14.” “We need a new way of looking at problems and resolve them,” he said. “Public comment means public comment. [The board] should be encouraging not discouraging open public comment.”