School Board Election Questions

Archer Lodge MS - Meet the candidates

Some observations from last night's meeting:

1. School Board meetings: All seemed to agree that the board meetings should be held in the evening so public can attend. Some suggested splitting it into 2 meetings - Awards and Old/New business. Some wanted to rotate the meetings to schools in the district. All seemed to want to provide more opportunity for public input.

2. When asked if their party affiliation would drive their decisions, all said they would make best decisions for the children. Some described themselves as fiscally conservative. All seemed to want to get the most out of taxpayer's dollars.

3. Three candidates seemed to feel that the Superintendent had too much power that should be the School Board's job. They did not support the Superintendent's recent salary supplement. They were Lynn Neiverth, Peggy Smith, and Donna White.

4. Four candidates bring business experience: Keith Branch, Landis Bullock, and Greg Evans. (I'm assuming Mike Wooten would as well based on his bio. He was not able to attend the meeting)

Couple of bullet items on each candidate:

1. Keith Branch
* Accounting/Auditing experience
* Wants to improve long range planning
* Wants to look into better security for schools

2. Landis Bullock
* Fiscally conservative
* Wants to look at each line item on the budget to trim expenses
* Works for the children

3. Amy Devereaux
* Suggests e-mailing parents with new business items for board meetings to give notice
* Wants to encourage teacher certification; more mentors/tutors
* Wants to look at hiring bus drivers instead of having teachers drive

4. Greg Evans
* Cost effective; fiscally conservative; used to trimming budgets
* Wants to have afterschool programs for those at-risk
* Wants to invite local police officers to board meetings to provide input on safety

5. Lynn Neiverth
* Wants board to have all facts for their decisions; need transparency
* Suggests multi-level school buildings or building with potential for multi-floors
* Wants School Board to have more control of $; Superintendent to have less

6. Peggy Smith
* Fiscally conservative
* Creatively raise/save money (ex: competition to save electricity)
* Wants to cut Superintendent's supplement

7. Donna White (incumbent)
* Fiscally conservative; too much $ wasted on color ads, road signs
* Voted against Superintendent's supplement and raise/contract extension w/o evaluation
* Wants to look at early college program

8. Mike Wooten
* Unable to attend

 

^^^^^^^^^ +1!!!

 

JustMe,

Thank you so much.

Sherry

 

Looks as though we may vote for a few the same. How strange is that, P?

Tee hee,
Sherry

 

I'm glad I looked at this this AM. I just got back from voting and hadn't realized that we were voting for school board members this time around also.....so this helped alot! Thanks! :lol:

 

They got my vote already.

 

Was the idea of year round schools brought up? How about their take on the AIG program/building and what's been going on with there? Those are two issues I'd like to know where the candidates stand as well.

 

Mine too, along with #1.

Good to see them willing to meet with the public like this though. Transparency is important.

 

Year Round and AIG

From what I recall, Lynn Neiverth and Donna White mentioned AIG. I don't recall any specific recommendations. They did state that they felt decisions including the AIG changes were made too quickly with little input and communication from parents.

Peggy Smith mentioned year-round schools and that they were not helpful academically or financially. The Clayton-News rep said that they had a big write-up last week on each candidates position on year-round.

 

i voted early and these received my votes

 

BOE candidates

JustMe, I saw the Clayton News Star article. It was really informative. Lynn Neiverth has a link to the article on her web site. Click on the link at the top of the page. http://www.LynnForOurSchools.com . Lynn is a fiscal conservative, has a bunch of business background, was a teacher, and was on a school board elsewhere before. Tons of experience. Super nice too. Momtofive, As far as AIG, Lynn is the mother of Lori Key who was fighting so hard against the AIG changes this summer (splitting the building, etc). Donna White definitely deserves a vote too. She has proven herself time and time again in being only one of two on the board that actually listens to parents and cares (The other being Larry Strickland). Her heart is definitely in the right place. Peggy Smith is awesome too and a very smart lady. I personally voted for Lynn, Donna, and Peggy. All three are the only candidates who are not fans of Dr. Parker which is a huge plus for me! :mrgreen:

 

Voters elected two women and two men to the Johnston County Board of Education on Tuesday. Eight candidates were seeking the four seats. The top vote getters were Mike Wooten, Incumbent Donna White, Keith Branch, and Peggy D. Smith. Wooten, a senior vice president with Four Oaks Bank & Trust, garnered the most votes with 28,725. White, a one term incumbent, finished a close second with 28,298. Branch, a Clayton insurance agent, received 28,190. Taking the fourth seat was Peggy Smith of McGee’s Crossroads, a retired educator who most recently served as principal at East Clayton Elementary. Greg Evans, Lynn Neiverth, W. Landis Bullock, and Amy E. Devereaux were unsuccessful in their bid to win a four year term on the school board.

http://www.wtsbradio.com/

:hurray: :hurray: I hope they'll whip Tony Parker into shape.

 

Hey I picked all of them!! Whahoo :hurray::hurray: (It appears, these are the only winners I picked at all yesterday :neutral

 

Strickland Named New School Board Chairman
Larry Strickland of Pine Level has been named the new chairman of the Johnston County Board of Education. Four board members who recently won election, including incumbent Donna White for her second term, held their first meeting of the new term on Tuesday. The 7 member board unanimously elected Strickland as the chair and Dorothy Johnson of Clayton as vice-chair. Both have been members of the school board since 1998. Strickland said some of the main priorities of the board are to make prudent and wise decisions with citizen’s tax dollars, strengthen their relationship with county commissioners, municipal leaders, and state legislators, and to intensify the focus on children in the classroom and work with professional educators in a team effort. “We are a united board and have put politics aside,” Strickland told WTSB. Mike Wooten, Peggy Smith, and Keith Branch are the newest members to the school board.

 

I'm excited about the future of the Johnston County school system!