Fort Lupton school board candidates have vested interests in the district

The two candidates for the District G seat of the Fort Lupton School Board would like to help the school district improve for one reason: They both have vested interests in it.

Celia "Sally" Ornelas, 40, is a mother and grandmother, and Michael Landweher has a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 15-year-old. The incumbent, Steve Wolery, is not running

"I'd like to see us move forward to the 80s when we were a better school district," Landweher said.

The Fort Lupton district fell under hard times recently when it was placed on academic watch by the state, but the district made improvements and recently sent a letter to the state making a case for being taken off watch. But Ornelas questioned whether the district needs to be off watch just yet: The watch forced the district to improve its standards and did better as a result.

"Are we really ready is what I would ask," she said.

Landwehr said it wasn't good enough for the district to do well enough to pull out.

"We need to consistently exceed those goals," he said. "We need to be better than that."

Landwehr has a few goals that he believes would help with that, including working on teacher retention and keeping the students in the district as well. He would install as many programs as he could to encourage teachers to stay with Fort Lupton.

"We also need to adapt more programs that reward our students for doing well," he said. "We need to stand behind them. We need to keep our kids happy so they will want to go to school."

Ornelas admits she doesn't have many other ideas as to solve the district's problem, but she wants to learn a lot to figure out ways to do that, and being a new candidate will help her achieve that goal, she said.

"Instead of complaining, I actually want to do something about it," she said. "I just want to be a voice for the community."

District G

* Michael Landwehr

Age: 35

Occupation: In sales for Frontier Business Products

Previous school board experience: None

* Celia "Sally" Ornelas

Age: 40

Occupation: Former Boulder DA's office investigator, currently seeking a job in law enforcement close to home.

Previous school board experience: None

WELD RE-8 BOARD CANDIDATES

District B

Jeffrey L. Allen, incumbent

Leonard "Lenny" Bachicha lists himself as a write-in candidate.

District D

Newcomer: Esther McCrumb

District E

Newcomer: Susan K. Browne