Education Forum Gives Board Candidates a Shot at Sharing Vision, Qualifications

By Hamilton Richardson

Writing staff

Autauga County Board of Education candidates met at the Chamber-sponsored candidate forum on Thursday to share their views on the future of education in the region and to warn people about what sets them apart from the crowd.

The nonpartisan education forum is funded by the Prattville County Chamber of Commerce and is held at the Doster Center and includes the majority of candidates vying for council seats, but both could be Jamie Jackson and Kevin McNatt, who are vying for seats in Region 3. not to participate in the event.

During the event, all candidates running for a position in a certain constituency enter the stage at the same time, have the opportunity to make an introductory speech, answer questions from the moderator (Prattville Chamber Elected Board, Catherine Porter) and then make a final statement. Each of the five districts was represented at the forum.

Public participation was significant and was attended by many local leaders, including Mayor Bill Gillespie, Supervisor Tim Tidmore, Commissioner Larry Stoudemire and Sheriff Co. Sedinger.

The first to stand out and speak to the crowd were 1st Constituency candidates Tracy Strichik and Eleanor Ballow.

Eleanor Ballou shared her experience and the qualities needed to be re-elected: “I have been at Atauuga County School for 27 years. Most of them are at Prattville High School. I work in the head office. I was also a member of the Board of Education and I am very proud of what we are doing now. "I want to stay here because we worked hard to get there."

Asked about the country's priorities, Ballow said: "The biggest problem is money. We need it to repair schools and new schools."

Tracye Strichik then presented her qualities for the 1st District State.

"I give kindergarten and talented first and third graders to Daniel Pratta," he says. "I went there and got a doctorate and worked for a first-class Pre-K in Alabama, the number one pre-k in this country. After that, I went to the State Department as the director of the Alabama Reading Initiative, and there we applied the Alabama Literacy Act. I am currently a retiree and a professor at Faulkner University. "I give literacy courses to those who want to become teachers and work part-time with the Aftercare Network because that's my heart."

"We need new facilities due to overcrowding," Strichik said of the region's biggest problem.

He added that he believes there is a gap in performance and that the system needs teachers to be more qualitative and quantitative.

Region 2 candidates, including Jim Manderson, Kim Crockett, Wayne Lambert and Jonathan Jett, will enter the round.

Kim Crockett first shared his qualities: “I am very organized, an excellent communicator and I have a story that fits what I say. "I have a very good relationship with the people in these schools."

Crockett said he was also a volunteer in the school system and wanted to reunite the community.

"We've been apart for years," he said. "I want us all to work together to create a super school environment."

Jonathan Jett, a campus services coordinator and assistant professor at the University of Auburn Montgomery, says his training prepared him for a role on the board.

"My master's degree prepares me to look at an organization and find its biggest weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and find areas where we can improve and then create these solutions to do what it can. Well, well," he said. "I'm sure I can bring him to the table."

Jett added that the concerns he hopes to address are the negative consequences and problems of student behavior, which he says are not properly planned or implemented in virtual learning.

Wayne Lambert, a retired chief financial officer and now a part-time strategic planning consultant, says she has more than 40 years of experience in accounting.

"If you look at the council itself, that's a job," Lambert said. "This is the second largest business in the Autauga region. I think it can bring value, because my discipline is that when someone asks me to be a board member, I always think, what value can it bring? I can bring it together. And take the educational aspects and everything in a positive direction. ”

Lambert also shared with the crowd his desire to help students catch what he calls "Post-Covid."

Re-elected Jim Manderson has been on the board for 12 years, and he says being a board member is more difficult than it looks.

"I work in construction management. I have 30 years of experience in IT. I sell real estate." I understand the impact of property and property taxes on quality of life and property values ​​in this area. "My goal is to reach the full potential of every child in Autauga County," Manderson said.

Manderson said the other two key issues for him are to improve student performance and address staff shortages.

Three candidates are competing in District 3, but only Ell White II can participate, but moderator Jamie Jackson reads the statement.

"I have a bachelor's degree in accounting from Samford University and an MBA from Auburn Montgomery," Jackson said. "I am a Certified Public Manager of the Alabama State Audit Office as the Director of Accounting."

Jackson said his priorities as a candidate are better communication, equal education, personal participation in schools, fiscal responsibility, organizational and strategic planning, and the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff.

Elle White II gave her qualifications offstage and said, "I'm a retired Army Major. The Army gave me the opportunity to go to school."

White later explained that he is also in the Navy, with a Liberal Arts Degree in Humanities and Social Sciences and a Master's Degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Auburn Montgomery.

"I have served in various positions in the army. "Human resources, budget and military training," White said. "I have to teach the soldiers to take me away when I die. Our children are our future. Our children must continue where we left off. ”

White added that the biggest problem he currently sees in Autauga County is inequality.

"The construction gap, the teacher gap, the teaching material gap," he said. "You look at every school. Not all schools look the same. We need to do something to reduce the difference."

In the 4th district race, Roger Dempsey will face Billy Hollon.

Roger Dempsey approached the microphone and began to share his experiences and past.

"I have 36 years of experience in managing the Postal Service, as well as human resources and finance," he said. "I have the ability to make decisions, but I also have the ability to work with other board members."

Dempsey emphasizes that students are the most important thing.

"One of my favorite things is working with some institutions to help students learn something about the real world," he explains. "It's like balancing a checkbook and showing good timing and management of finances. We must return to the basics. We also need to reduce the student-teacher ratio, but it costs more money. "Everything comes back to money."

Dempsey's biggest challenge with this competition is to provide teachers with the support they need, such as discipline issues and "stress and overload." She also wants to promote community members who come to class voluntarily.

Billy Hollon, who has many years of experience in education, said: “I was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, elementary school principal, high school principal and now I am in the Department of Foreign Education. I saw all the aspects of it. "

Hollon says one of the most important things he does is learn from his failures.

"I always see things and say I want to know them first," he said. "One of the problems with education is that we are limited to the building and education must continue to improve. We must raise children as lifelong learners. We always have to come up with new ideas. "

The candidate added that he wants to ensure good leadership and classroom support in the district. He said that morality is a big issue in both schools and society, and that he felt that transparency was very important to the public and the work system.

This time, the last group of candidates for the 5th District included Kyle Glover, Ledronia Goodwin and Hazell Stoudemire.

Kyle Glover is a local business owner, systems instructor, chairman of the Economic Development Department at the Prattville Chamber, and chairman of the Business Development Council.

"If there is an economic engine that drives society, it is the education system. "Not only my experience as a teacher, coach and sports director, but also my attitude as a small business owner gives me a unique specialty, because they are interrelated. The money we have in the area should be spent as efficiently as possible. "I've been to classrooms, field houses and gyms where resources are scarce."

Glover also said he believed it was important to be a good representative if elected to the school board.

"There are two ways to reach this happy forum: not to represent the people, not to represent educators in schools, not to represent students, and to do it as well as possible," he said. "The combination of work experience, the combination of educational experience, I think makes me unique to do this job."

Ledronia Goodwin, who served five years on the board, is ready to be re-elected.

"When I first ran, there was a line in the sand and it was repaired," he said. "But guess what?" I saw the lines come back again. "I'm always with a child who doesn't serve."

Goodwin says his qualities include "mother, citizen, grandmother."

"All the children in this area are mine," he said. "Everyone is mine and deserves an equal education. What suits me is that I am my brother's goalkeeper." It is not something we should do if our students leave the system completely unconditionally.

After clearing two churches in Thalassi, Hazell said he would work for the people of the Autauga area if elected to Stoudemire.

“When I first became a pastor, I had to take 20 courses to deal with church members, to deal with the situations we were in, and all of that meant I could be a counselor to be with my parents. staff and community for the best for the child. .

Stoudemire, the school system will be ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said.

He also said he wanted to see a disciplinary code for all students.

"We all need to come together," he said. "We can all be different, but I believe we all have to be different to agree."