- Why are you running for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education?
I am running to represent the people of Post 7 in a manner that is fiscally responsible and transparent.
For too long, the current Board has been a rubber stamp for a $1.3 Billion budget with little-to-no dialogue with the community as to how their tax dollars are being spent.
As a father of children who will spend the next two decades in our school system and a tax-paying member of our community, I want to ensure the Cobb County School District makes prudent and deliberate decisions on issues that matter the most to Cobb County families and all residents.
The current 4-3 majority is out of control. They ignore the stakeholders in our community and spend our money and their time chasing political clout–rewarding their friends and political donors with large contracts. They misuse school district resources—such as proposing a $50 million event center with no parking only to “bring it back for discussion” after the election–and they use private parent information to send out fundraising requests disguised as “CCSD Townhall Newsletters” to enrich their own campaigns.
Parents deserve a board that operates with transparency and integrity and responds to its community’s needs. When parents rightfully ask for school safety to become an agenda item after a shooting on CCSD property, the board should honor that request. When parents of children with special needs request a clear policy to ensure their kids are included in graduation ceremonies, that policy should become an immediate priority and include input from parents.
I’ve been monitoring our Board of Education meetings for years, and I could no longer stand by while the current majority continues to waste Cobb’s valuable time, money, and assets on performative political party antics instead of (what should be) their actual role: maximizing academic outcomes, school safety, fiscal responsibility, and operational oversight.
- Are you supportive of the superintendent’s removal of library books he deems inappropriate? Why?
No board member or board candidate, myself included, is in favor of inappropriate materials in school. We have a district process for materials review. My suggestion is that we follow the existing, established policy, which has not been the case thus far. Perhaps if it was, some of these books would not be on the shelves in the first place.
I also am disappointed that the community’s questions about this process, and how it is (or isn’t) followed, was routinely dismissed and actively denounced at Board meetings. Constituents should feel comfortable speaking and asking questions at their school board meeting without being labeled as an “extremist” if the viewpoint or concern is not in lock-step with the Board majority’s viewpoint.
- Do you support the current superintendent and current academic policies around student achievement?
I appreciate the pride Superintendent Ragsdale takes in our district and the achievements of a student or member of the CCSD team. I also want our entire CCSD team to be happy, trusted, well-paid, and heard.
Some of our academic policies are effective and some are not, depending upon the school, community, and/or grade level. I believe in keeping what works, adjusting what doesn’t. Typically, our teachers, the school staff, and parents know what policies are working and those that can be improved.
As a project manager, my own expertise is in defining and measuring success to achieve optimum results. I’m excited to apply my lived, academic, and professional experience to steering every unique school in the school district toward greater success.
This takes hard work and communication from an active and engaged board. Given that our Post 7 has had few, if any, community town halls, this is something I see as imperative as we move forward. I want to hear from our teachers, so they feel safe using their voice and expertise to continually improve the quality of our schools. The same also goes for every other CCSD stakeholder: students, staff, parents, caretakers, and constituents. All of these groups have something important to share and contribute.
- What specific policies would you advocate for in order to increase student achievement?
We must continue addressing pandemic-related learning loss, as we are still in a place where students need to catch up to academic standards. There is also a return on investment when early-age academic success is supported and enhanced. I believe in the value of current mathematics and reading improvement initiatives, teaching such “old-fashioned” concepts as phonics and cursive, parent and caretaker support and engagement, and the value of providing opportunities for physical activity. I’m passionate about supporting arts programs at all levels and providing ample opportunities for students who need a variety of outlets to compete, play, engage and express themselves.
We also need to have a renewed focus on students with special needs. A frequent topic at board meetings is the unique and necessary adjustments the school system should be making to ensure academic success for our students with special needs. Here, too, it’s vital that we listen to our teachers, students, and their caretakers to do whatever we can to maximize our shared CCSD experience.
I also want to emphasize the need to better address the mental health of our students. We need to double-down on our efforts to assist students with mental health challenges and find innovative ways to serve them upstream before a situation becomes a crisis.
- Do you support Cobb’s senior tax exemption which waives homeowners 62 and older from paying school property taxes?
Simply put, yes.
To be more clear, the Senior School Tax Exemption has been highlighted and leveraged for years for the sake of partisan, alarmist politics by our current board majority and local politicians to boost base turnout and maintain party control of the Board. There are seniors in our community, who at age 62, have earned this exemption. It is fundamentally important that they keep it.
Further, the state legislature is the only governing body who can make a decision about the exemption, not the School Board.
This race is not about the non-issue of the exemption. It is about wise fiduciary responsibility of our taxpayer dollars, the safety of our children, and a Board that should be engaged and laser-focused on student success both academically and emotionally.
I pledge to guide our district with logic, community interaction, and transparency so we can ensure our school system focuses on what matters. It is not about politics, it’s about education. It’s about using data-backed and stakeholder-approved initiatives and methods to keep our students, teachers, and administrators safe, supported, and successful.