What are your top goals if you’re elected?
Well, my top goals really are to continue doing what we do, which is, you know, we’ve been one of the top ranked school districts in the state of Florida, just, you know, continuing the mission, I mean, that’s pretty much it, I guess, at this point.
What are the biggest issues that the schools are facing?
That’s an easy one. The biggest issues that we’re facing right now are the financial difficulties. That’s primarily coming from the homeschooling vouchers, so forth. Our budgets are being cut. We are down over $2 million here in the last several years. Again, most people don’t know, but most of our funding comes from state sources. Even the local effort gets pooled together with the state money, and it’s then allocated back to us based on a per seat basis. As we continue to lose enrollment, our funds continue to go down, and it’s been very tight the last several years with our budget.
What are some changes you’d like to make?
First off, can I just say that, just from clarification, for changes most people don’t realize, but the School Board itself is really focused on their main objective, I guess you would say, is for policy making and the budget itself. Most of your day-to-day operations are ran by the superintendent and her staff, which includes even the principals and all the district staff and administration. The School Board also consists of five members, and one member by himself really has no power whatsoever, so anybody that’s promising big changes and so forth has to understand that those are the rules between the superintendent and the School Board, and again, the School Board, to make any changes in policy or anything, has to have at least a majority of the members, so one member just can’t do anything. If I had the power to change things, the biggest thing I would like to see is increasing the amount of trade-type school opportunities, and so forth. I would really like to see our district have a program that would help in either something like the construction industry, HVAC, plumbing. The state has had, in my opinion, the wrong attitude that every child is going to college, and of course we know that that’s not factual, and this area needs trades. I mean, if I could do anything with the flip of a switch, I would ask for money to implicate some of those types of programs.
What are some things you think schools are doing well right now?
Again, we obviously are doing well with what we have to work with. We always have. Like I said, I think our school district has been in the top school districts in the state of Florida for quite some time. Most every school is always an “A,” or at least a high “B,” so the teachers, the administration, the staff, everybody is doing a great job with what we have to work with. Not only on the academic side, but also our extracurricular activities. I mean, we recently had a state vice president for FFA from Bell. Trenton softball team just won the state championship in the end, so I think we’re doing a lot of good. I don’t know how to answer that with what we could do better at this point that doesn’t have anything to do with the financial situation.
What are some things the school board currently does you’d like to maintain going foward?
Cooperation. That’s probably the biggest. Again, I told you you’ve got to have a majority of the members to agree to any changes. The core group that we have now seems to be very consistent with making changes. I think we look at things trying to look at the big picture instead of just a small picture. If I had anything else that I would add would be that we would try to do at least more business locally. I think we need to support our local business. That’s something that if they could help us build a road, if they could help us build a building, perform maintenance, and so forth, I’d like to continue to see it stay local.
What experience do you bring that’ll help you if you’re elected?
Well, first of all, I’m currently the longest-serving school board member. I have hundreds of hours of training through the Florida School Board Association. I own my own private business, so I bring that experience to the table again. I told you that one of our main duties is the financing side of it, and policy making, and of course running a small business — you run one yourself, you know how that is — you do have to make some tough decisions sometimes on the financing side. The advocacy part, I think I have a step up on, especially, my opponent, from that aspect of it. I’ve been to Tallahassee numerous times advocating money projects. I have direct connection to our current state representative. I’ve been working with lobbyists with the Florida School Board Association, and so forth. And we’ve had success. We lobbied to get the school cafetorium that’s over at Trenton. We currently are in the mix of ,hopefully the governor signs this from the budget aspect, but we’ve got about $20-something million earmarked for improving our existing infrastructure on our multiple campuses for upgrades, modernization of different items, and you know the the I think that that’s where we’re going. I see that there’s a war on public education right now. I don’t disagree with the parents’ choice, but I also think that we need to be playing on the same level field. If they’re going to take state money, then they need to follow the same procedure, same guidelines, same requirements that we have to do, and without money, you know as well as I do that all this stops. I think every teacher, every staff member, and so forth, they’re all underpaid, but it takes money, and that is our sole basic source of money, is the state. So unfortunately, they kind of control what we can do and what we can’t do. So, there you go.
What makes you the best candidate in this race?
Well, I think I just highlighted a lot of that. I do have the most experience. I understand the role of the school board member. Again, I put in the time. I’ve tried to learn everything I can learn. I am a certified school board member. I’ve been on two master boards. Both of those were awarded by the Florida School Board Association. I’ve lived here my whole life. My kids all graduated from Gilchrist County schools, my parents both graduated from Gilchrist County schools. I feel like I’m vested in the community, and I feel like I’ve done a good job.

Is there anything we haven’t talked about you feel like everyone needs to know?
Again, I would say that people need to understand the rules of what a school board member can and can’t do. I think, as we are in a war for public education at this point, and I really think we’ve got to continue to fight that battle. We’ve got to go to our state people and let them know that we want to continue local education. I mean, let’s face it, in our small county, I mean, the schools are the heart of our county. There’s nothing better than, you know, a Friday night when Trenton and Bell play each other and seeing the whole community come together. You know, I would hate to see that continue to decline. I mean, I’m hoping that at some point my grandkids are going to be able to go to have the same experiences I had. I love this community, and I’ve showed that with not only from the time that I’ve put in but also the money. I mean, I don’t know how many thousands of dollars I’ve spent at the Suwannee River Fair, and how many clubs I’ve sponsored, and you’ll see my banners at the sports stadiums, and so forth. I think with me you get the whole package deal. I mean, I care about what I do, and I care about this community.