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http://www.reporter-times.com/news/local/githens-meets-with-martinsville-constituents/article_20699046-82f9-5002-a1d6-f92070ce08a8.html

Githens meets with Martinsville constituents

By Nicole DeCriscio | ndecriscio@reporter-times.com

Nov 2, 2016

Penny Githens speaks with Foxcliff residents Warren and Becky Waymire. Submitted photo.

MARTINSVILLE
Sunday, candidate for State Representative of District 60 Penny Githens
had a meet and greet at the Foxcliff Club House in Martinsville as a lead-up
to Tuesdays election.
Githens is running against Peggy Mayfield (R- Martinsville).
It went well, Githens said. We had a whole range of people here.
Githens said interacting with those who, if elected, would be her
constituents is important.

Its always interesting to me to hear what the questions are and what the
concerns are of the people, she said. Some of it was the same as Ive
been hearing at other places.
Githens said education was one of the topics that she has spent a lot of
time discussing.
Were spending money without public oversight with our charters and our
vouchers, Githens said. Charters are quote public schools, but they dont
answer to a publicly elected board. Theres a private board and some of
them are for-profit so we dont know where our tax dollars are going the
same way we do with public schools and other entities.
In addition, she said there is another crisis facing education a shortage
in teachers.
One of the teachers who was here was from Martinsville. This year they
had an opening in social studies, and they had one applicant. He said in the
past they would have had 70 to 80 applicants for that one position, Githens
said. That sort of tells you what is going on in a nutshell.
Githens said not only is there a decline in enrollments into teaching
programs at the undergraduate level, but there is a growing student K-12
population.
And keeping first-year teachers is difficult, as well.
For every five that start to teach, one of them is gone after the first year,
she said. These are people that went to teacher training they paid for
college.
Githens said something has to change.
Weve got to stop demonizing teachers. Theyre not the problem, she
said. Good teachers are the solution.
She said that there is too much time spent on standardized testing, which
isnt providing the information desired.
Githens said education is something everyone should care about, even if
they dont have children, and not just for the altruistic idea of having those
around you educated.
If youre in a community where the school is listed as a failing school, your
property values as a homeowner are going to go down, Githens said.
Youre going to get hurt. Even if you have no children, you should care
about public education.

She said that another topic important to those she has met is the coal ash
pond at IPL.
The coal ash itself contains heavy metals, she said. If thats not
contained properly, youll get a leaching of that water down into the aquifer.
This, she said, can contaminate wells.
I mean, theres been all kinds of documentaries about stuff out in North
Carolina Indiana is probably worse in terms of the coal ash that were
producing, Githens said.
She said that for Indianas 6.5 million residents, seven million tons of coal
ash is produced per year. This averages to one ton per resident per year.
Githens said shes learned a lot while campaigning and has had to
research things she didnt previously know were problems.
Thats one of the issues actually that, as Ive been out campaigning, that
Ive learned about from people, Githens said of coal ash. One of the
things my campaign has been about is listening and learning, and I didnt
know about this issue.
Githens also talked about logging in state forests, which has focused on
clear-cutting without planting new trees.
If the current trend continues, within 20 years, our state forests will all have
been logged, she said.
Githens said the excess logging has been tearing up county roads used to
transport the logs and the logs are being sold at 40 percent below market
value.
Githens thinks her campaign has been going well.
I feel positive, she said.
She credits a lot of what she considers her campaigns success to her
volunteers.
How can I be exhausted when I have so much energy around me? she
asked.
For more information on the issues most important to Githens, visit
PennyGithensforIndiana.com.

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