Candidate spoke at dinner

Twenty-five years ago this week, a candidate for statewide office was visiting Jay County.

The Oct. 14, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of the Jay County Democrats Jefferson-Jackson Dinner that featured Ann England, a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, as the guest speaker.

England filled in for attorney general candidate Jeffrey A. Modisett, who had been scheduled but was unable to make it.

England, who was challenging incumbent Republican Suellen Reed, stressed the importance of attendance, discipline and parental and community involvement in schools.

“We need to get back to getting the community back into the school districts,” she said.

England also proposed changes to the state’s standardized testing procedure. At that time, Indiana’s students took the ISTEP and IPASS tests.

“We really don’t use this information to help the kids,” said England.

She said she would strive to get the test results back to the schools in a “more usable fashion.”

“I plan to work with the state legislature to be proactive rather than reactive to try to correct problems before they occur,” said England. “We need to be on the defensive and say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is going to hurt the kids.’”

(England went on to lose to Reed, who earned a second term and would go on to serve a total of four terms in office.)

District 33 State Rep. Ron Liggett also attended the dinner. He was running for a third term in the state legislature and was facing a challenge from Jay County Republican Sam Shoemaker.

“I’m not comfortable in my election,” said Liggett. “I’ve got a tough election. But I’m comfortable with my ticket.”