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Running for: I-SS school board, district 2
Hometown: Scotts
Occupation: English teacher
Education:
1988 Graduate of North Moore High School, Robbins, N.C.
1990 Associate of Arts, Sandhills Community College, Southern Pines, N.C.
1992 B.S. English-Secondary Language, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.
2000 M.A. School Administration, Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, N.C.
2004 National Board Certification in Adolescent Young Adult/English Language Arts
2005 AP Certification, Literature and Composition, Maryville College, Maryville, Tenn.
What are the biggest issues facing your constituency?
Several factors are having enormous impacts on education in Iredell County. First, the issue of growth dominates the entire spectrum of life in this once distant stepchild of the giant Charlotte metropolis. The consolidation of banking giants brought an influx of transient workers and their families. Add to this the recent addition of the Lowes Corporate headquarters and their accompanying distributors, as well as the unstoppable urban sprawl of Charlotte, and schools have been stretched to their limits as enrollments continue a steady rise each year.
“Bandage-building” is doing little to get ahead of the problem, and closing individual schools to consolidate them into one campus leaves many tax-paying citizens, educators and county commissioners scratching their heads.
Secondly, closing the achievement gap between white and minority students must continue to improve in a consistent pattern. This issue, while impossible to achieve overnight with a flick of a wand, is very achievable. Successes are evident throughout the system, but the improvements need to be on a more consistent incline.
Third, the exodus of experienced teachers from the I-SS system is unwarranted and unacceptable. In order for the system to grow and improve at a consistent rate, does it not make sense to hang on to veterans who are learning the demands through experience as opposed to the current model of hire, train, resign?
Of those issues, which do you feel is the most important?
The fact that growth will continue unabated until it stretches throughout Iredell County. As such, this is an issue that will never go away, and hence, I cannot consider as the most important. Instead, it will be an issue that will never take back seat. With that thought set forth, the issue of teacher turnover must share the spotlight.
As this county continues its burgeoning growth, does it not make sense to hang on to our highly qualified teachers, administrators, support staff and specialists? These last four weeks alone have witnessed over a half-dozen speech therapists resigning.
The same situation occured at the same time last year, as evidence by the job listings on the school system Web site. Why? is there no system in place to mediate or meet with these teachers and specialists who are leaving in the first week of school, mid-year or at year’s end? With very few, and perhaps only select, individuals being offered to complete exit interviews, how can system administration, and more importantly, the Board of Education, gauge the reasons behind why our best, brightest and most highly qualified educators are leaving the system.
The argument has been made, even at the expense of time allotted to Professional Learning Community meetings in schools, that these individuals are being “recruited away for better paying jobs.“ Quite the contrary, only Mecklenburg County to the south offers a better salary.
The Board of Education must serve as a system of checks and balances to listen to all educational sides, find out what is going on, be it good or bad, and make solid decisions that will impact students, teachers, administrators and all stakeholders in a positive manner.
What, if any, prior experience do you have that will help you if elected?
I just started my 16th year in education, having served primarily as a high school English teacher. I have also taught journalism; psychology; sociology; world history; Spanish I, II and III; and middle school language arts, as well as coached girls basketball, tennis, cross country, boys basketball and served as assistant principal. In addition, I have served on various decision-making committees, such as chair of a school improvement team, the district’s writing improvement committee and the district’s curriculum guide revisions committee.
Each of these experiences has allowed me to not only share my experiences and skills, but learn from and collect the wisdom of countless other professionals. I am a decision maker who values listening to wisdom, heeding common sense and scrutinizing each and every sure-fire new teaching model that is “proven to work without question.“ Each and every model has something that is good, somethign that should be used and put into each teacher’s bottomless medicine bag of teaching tricks, but I also am knowledgeable enough to know that there never has been, nor ever will be, one perfect fit that engages every learner every second of the day.
As such, I see the best educators and board members as those who borrow, steal and share in order to maximize student-teacher-stakeholder success. I can help effectively bridge the growing gap of mistrust that exists and/or lingers between students and teachers, teachers and administrators, administrators and the public, and the board with the county commissioners. I feel that my acquaintances with educators and the public extend not just in the District 2 area, but throughout Iredell County. After all, it is their cumulative support which led me to seek this position.
What is one particular thing you think the current board is doing right?
The current board is doing an admirable job at addressing growth. The three-tier appraoch to building and renovating our schools is progressing with positive support from the public and the county commissioners.
What is one particular thing you think the current board is doing wrong?
The current board is failing to address the growing number of teacher and administrator turnover. The number of teachers on the job listings page of the system Web site either remains constant or increases throughout the year. Where is the data explaining this trend? I-SS is a data-driven system, yet data on teacher turnover appears missing. Teacher and administrator turnover is paramount to a system’s success. Again, this turnover only leads to a hire, train, fire/resign cycle.
I noted that one current school board incumbent stated that he wanted to work to increase the number of National Board Certified teachers. This puzzles me. I personally know, and have been approached by, at least six NBPTS educators who have left the system. Not one was approached and asked to complete an exit survey, not one even politely approached with persuasion to stay, and not one who left for better pay.
Highly qualified teachers are not first and second year beginning teachers, or BTs. The majority of those will exit the profession inside of four years. A working school board is involved in finding out hte reasons behind staff turnover and making the decisions that will, if district administration fails to do so, stem that tide and instead keep our best and brightest.
What specifically would you do if elected in response to the county’s growth?
Growth happens. It’s Iredell County’s unspoken motto. Yet, as the Crossroads of the Future, Iredell County’s commission and its board of education must go beyond simply addressing the issue of growth. Both must step up to the plate to get ahead of it. The southern end has advanced past the flood stage and is now enveloping the once quaint town of Troutman. Next up is the Exit 42 projected explosion that will push the school system’s infrastructure to a near breaking point.
I will immediately push for plans that will address school population for seven years down the road and work closely with the county commissioners to get ahead of growth. I will push for a sixth high school in the southern end immediately and work with commissioners to see how much of the burden developers should shoulder.
Additionally, I will advocate for a very close look into adding an additional high school that will serve the newest area of growth that is taking place along the I-40 and Highway 70 area that borders the Catawba River. West Iredell High School, with recent renovations completed will again be plagued with overcrowding in five years. New schools, when built, must be built to hold in excess of what it is expected to open with so as to avoid such overcrowding disasters as Lake Norman High.
A seventh high school in this area would collect students from both West and the soon to be overcrowded South High. Also, older schools must not be torn down unless condemned. These buildings must be renovated, and more importantly, maintained appropriately so as to head off overcrowding and the discipline problems that follow.
I would not vote to spend taxpayer or school money on constructing a new central office. Instead, I proposed the streamlining of non-essential central office staff in order to move all staff into a central location, such as a Monticello or ADR school, each of which could be renovated to meet this tertiary need.
Posted on 02/11/08 at 11:56 AMCopyright (c) 2008 Media General. All rights reserved