District: Wake School Board, District 1
Age: 64
Occupation: Lawyer
City of Residence: Wake Forest
Incumbent: No
Website
Do you have children in the district? If so, explain.
I have one child who attends Franklin Academy in Wake Forest.
The school board has been divided over partisan politics in recent years. How do you think that’s affected how the district has been run?
It’s had a big negative impact, all the partisanship, because one board does one thing and another board cancels it and then another board gets in and they might change it again. That’s how we end up spending a ton of money and accomplish nothing. So we’re going to have to have some unity of direction.
What do you think about the current reassignment plan and what would you do, if anything to change it?
The reassignment plan is in transition, as I understand it — it depends whether you’re referring to the one set up by the Board that was established in 2009, or the current Board.
What is your main priority for the new superintendent for the next year or two?
We have to deal with the core curriculum issue: a lot of people feel that it’s unnecessarily restrictive on our local School Board. We need to educate people as to what that really is, so they’ll understand it completely; I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding. As to the reassignment: reassignment issues have been around for 30 years, and there’s still no resolution. There’s no permanent working arrangement. We need to work towards getting rid of reassignment, by having the schools more properly placed so that we can get complete diversity instead of just fractional.
Do you support the proposed school bond? And, if so, what are your priorities for spending that money?
I don’t have any priorities in mind yet. I haven’t studied it enough. As far as supporting it, I can say that schools always need more money.
