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Address: 8112 Hunting Cog Road, Oak Ridge, NC 27310

Birthdate: February 13, 1961

Occupation: Manufacturing Manager

Website: www.stone4schools.com

Family: Wife, Sandy. Grown children - Son, Jason (married to Carrie) and Daughter, Amber

Past relevant experience: I've served on a variety of PTA committees and activities in schools that my children attended. Currently I serve on the Planning and Zoning Board for Oak Ridge and I also serve on the Oak Ridge 10th year Anniversary Committee. I do volunteer work with the various schools in our district and Oak Ridge Military Academy.

Why are you running for this position?

I was born, raised, and educated in Guilford County. I know the impact an excellent education has on an individual student and the community. I believe that our schools are "good", but we've become too comfortable and invested in things as they are and somewhat blind to what they can be. I have a passion for making our schools world class by addressing our challenges head-on. We have important issues that require serious and meaningful debate and actions in order to advance educational opportunities for all our students. Our teachers are exceptional and committed and deserve all the support and assistance that we can provide them.

What are the most pressing challenges facing the school system?

We must address drop out rates and discipline/security issues.
680 students dropped out of GCS last year alone. Over 1400 students dropped out in the past 2 years. 20% of our students do not complete their high school education. Programs have been added in an attempt to address this problem, but these efforts improved the drop out rate by less than one half of one percent. The economic impact on these young peoples' lives and the community cannot be understated.
Ask any parent or teacher and they'll tell you that our schools and campuses are not as safe and orderly as we'd want to believe. The numbers are scary... 24 sexual assaults or rapes, 8 bomb threats, 8 cases of arson, 12 assaults with a weapon, 18 robberies, and 58 assaults on school personnel last year alone. Most of these incidents were never reported to the DPI as required by law or to the school board. We simply cannot fix the problem until we face it. Hiding the problem borders on criminal behavior and every teacher, parent, and student deserves better.

For district candidates: Are there pressing issues in your district?

District 3 is in a unique situation. With the addition of Northern High School, our representative must now focus an equal amount of effort on 3 unique high schools and the middle and elementary schools that feed them. Northwest has traditionally received the greatest attention due to its size and location. With population growth in our district, Western (Guilford County's original high school) and Northern (our newest high school) are going to require equal support and attention to their growing needs and concerns while continuing to maintain NWGH's superior achievements in education. This is a brand new balancing act that the school board representative will have to deal with. As plans move forward for the new airport area school, this will become an even greater challenge.

What are you most proud of concerning Guilford Schools?

Our dedicated teaching staff. Teaching is not a job - it's a calling. These folks work some of the longest, hardest hours of any professional in any organization and deal with ever-changing issues and students in the pursuit of excellence. The improvements seen in our schools are due in most part to their efforts and commitment. I've had the pleasure of having teaching professionals as friends and acquaintances for many years. They are a rare breed and they have my utmost respect and appreciation.

Is there anything about the school system that you consider an embarrassment? If so, what is it? How would you attempt to change it?

Two issues: It's highly disturbing that GTCC reports that 65% of GCS graduates require remedial course work before beginning college studies. 36% need English remediation, and 39% require remedial course work in reading. Most disturbing is that 85% of graduates require remedial math work. It's hard to imagine that the majority of our students receive high school diplomas, yet aren't fully prepared for the next step in their education or employment careers. I think we may have lost focus on the basics (the old-fashioned three Rs). We have got to ensure that every student is getting the full benefits of a quality education before we add a lot of programs that do not address core issues. Basic core instruction must be a driving value in our decision-making process.

Second, a general lack of openness to the citizens has been an ongoing concern and issue for our citizens. Simple requests for information are met with delay and even ignored. Taxpayers should not have to repeatedly request responses for information and wait weeks for a response. In addition to difficulty in getting timely information, our under-reported safety issues are a serious concern. These two issues alone demonstrate that some within the administration are out of touch with the people of the county.
No employee would knowingly and willfully hide information if they were sure that doing so would jeopardize their career and/or employment status. Honest, accurate, and timely information and reporting should be clearly understood as the minimum acceptable performance. Time limits should be placed on information requests. At the very least, the courtesy of a call or email with an update on the progress of a request would go a long way towards addressing some of these concerns.

The John Locke Foundation gave the Guilford County Schools a C- in transparency. What should the system and school board do to make system information more accessible to the public?

Citizens ask about specific budget items at school board meetings because there's no line item budget posted on line where this information can be accessed. Why is that? Why is it so difficult to find past budgets for comparison? I cannot find a breakdown of per pupil costs, contracted services, or updates on bond projects (including projected costs and money spent) on the GCS web site.
If you go to the GCS web site you can find lots of "feel good" items, promotional brochures and information. There are links to reports and general information, such as the annual report or the budget recommendations if you're willing to work a little harder to locate the data. Unfortunately, that's about as in-depth as you can get. Shouldn't the GCS make the process of finding information as simple as possible? Shouldn't it be in the most user friendly format possible? While I'm sure GCS meets the legal reporting requirements, the citizens expect and deserve easy access to detailed and specific information. With just a little thought and effort this information could be provided. I think that's the reason for the John Locke grade.

How would you keep in touch with your constituents?

I've proposed to host town meetings in various locations in order to get direct feedback and two-way conversations going. In addition to PTA meetings, imagine the possibilities when we have quarterly meetings at town halls, or churches, or recreation centers where folks can stop by and have an opportunity to discuss their concerns. There's currently no opportunity for public discussions at the school board meetings. There's no system in place where regular citizens can sit down and have an open dialogue with their elected representative. I'm going to make myself available to all citizens.

Discipline/safety - What would you do to improve it? Are school uniforms the answer? Part of the solution?

Yes, school uniforms (SMOD) are part of the solution. Another part of the solution is the parents themselves. Parents of disciplinary students must be more involved in addressing their child's behavior issues. Perhaps parents should be required to report to school to discuss the behavior issue before the student is permitted back into the classroom. That may seem somewhat heavy-handed and unmanageable, but until we do something different we will not improve. Teachers will tell anyone willing to listen that in-school suspension does not work. This is an example of GCS trying to do the right thing, but the program did not yield the desired results. Unfortunately, GCS is not good at ending programs, and kids are simply being shuffled off to a non-value added program rather than removing them from the school for a period of time or addressing the root cause of the problem. It may not be the most popular idea, but serious behavior and disciplinary problems need to be handled with after-school detention or out-of-school suspension.

Transportation - What ways can the district cut down on fuel costs?

What if we established specific neighborhood pick up locations for middle and high school students? The idea would be for the busses to make fewer stops and take less time to run their routes. Kids can walk a few blocks to a central gathering point to catch the bus. Exceptions would be needed for special circumstances (disabled or handicapped), but in general the route would have less stops. We need to take a serious look at why we bus kids away from neighborhood schools. Isn't part of the idea of a neighborhood school the close proximity for students and parents? That would mean less transportation costs. Another idea is for magnet or non-traditional school students (outside their assigned attendance zone) to provide their own transportation to a designated central stop, which may be another school campus, library, etc., and then the student is transported to their choice school. Wake County uses this plan. Charlotte students apply to any magnet school they want, but transportation will only be provided if the school is within the student's feeder area. Their system has 14 feeder areas. GCS could adopt and implement either of these plans with some forethought and advanced planning.

What things should the system do to contain costs?

It's time for GCS to have an efficiency study conducted by an outside firm. Consultants are used by the school system, so this isn't anything new. We need an audit of all departments and all levels of our administration to identify and reduce waste in all its forms. We should be looking to eliminate duplicated services, cut overhead by evaluating departmental activities, and even look at facilities management as ways to minimize costs.
According to GCS, there are 682 non-school based administrators working in the Guilford County School system within 10 separate administrative facilities. Is it remotely possible that there's the slightest amount of waste and duplicated work and services in such an organization?
The saved money from improved efficiency would be poured back into the classrooms in the form of teacher support, assistants, and solutions.

Academics - What changes need to be made, if any? Are there programs you would like to see eliminated or expanded?

According to the US Census Bureau, 35% of graduating seniors do not go on to college, and only 28% of all graduates complete a college degree, yet all students deserve to receive a quality education that prepares them for life after high school. There was a time when those that opted for the work/military path took technical courses and career classes in their high school that prepared them for employment in business and industry. Why isn't that an option readily available today? We have small scale programs at some high schools, but I believe that we should place more emphasis on the majority of our student population. I believe we'll retain a lot more kids (lower drop out rates) if they have the opportunity to learn valuable trades, skills, and crafts that they can use to get good jobs. Our non-college bound students deserve this opportunity. We should form an alliance with GTCC to help students achieve their goals and compete in a global economy by providing options and opportunities to complete technical courses at the various GTCC campuses across the county.
Scale and in-school suspension are examples of programs that do not work and need to be eliminated. I have concerns and questions about how NovaNET is used and administered.

No Child Left Behind - is it a help or a hindrance to GCS?

Like it or not, NCLB is here to stay. Guilford County cannot afford to forfeit the federal dollars attached to the program. I do believe that there are elements that have helped raise performance, driven accountability, and identified needed improvements, but there are negatives to the program as well. For all its drawbacks, NCLB is an accountability tool that helps ensure all students receive a quality education, and it does provide parents with options if schools fall below identified performance targets.

What characteristics are you looking for in the new school superintendent?

Why is it in a school system this large that there's not a single person developed and prepared to assume this position? That's a management failure and short-sighted. The reality is that there are highly qualified and dedicated people ready and willing to serve that won't get the chance. We need a superintendent that's "home grown" and understands school operations - not administration. Give me our best principal, and he/she will be a better Supt. than anyone you can find outside our system.
If we are not going to look within our own school system, then we must open our selection process to educators rather than administrators, or we should look in the business field for someone that has demonstrated abilities to run large organizations and achieve measurable positive results.
We simply cannot afford a repeat of the Jerry Weast or Terry Grier administrative methods. Our next school superintendent needs to be someone that listens, seeks solutions outside of the administration, spends enormous amounts of time in the schools and classrooms, fully supports our teachers, and communicates freely and frequently with the county residents.

What would YOU bring to the school board that your opponent does not?

I think it's more something I don't bring that sets me apart. I am absolutely opposed to the concept of the Guilford County Board of Education having taxing authority upon the citizens of this county. Our current economic situation shows a dire need to reign in spending and act in the most fiscally conservative manner possible. My opponent has repeated over and over her perception that funding (a lack of) is the cause of all manner of problems within the school system. She has voted in favor of having the ability to directly tax the citizens of this county. It is apparent that if given the opportunity, my opponent will vote to directly tax citizens without regard for any other taxes already being levied. Citizens of Guilford County cannot afford to have another taxing authority.

I bring passion, common sense, and energy that's needed from our school board representative. I see the same issues and problems as my opponent, but I'll offer some common sense approaches and ideas on how to address them. I won't criticize unless I can offer an option or alternative that we can try.

Finally, I'll offer opportunities for our district citizens to plug in and get involved in the education process. Our best opportunity to achieve excellence is to tap into the knowledge and abilities of all of our concerned citizens.