This is the last in a series of questions asked of Higley USD Governing Board candidates. Voters will decide among these four candidates for the two open four-year seats on the board.
As the Arizona Legislature continues to reform education through open enrollment, charter schools, and empowerment scholarship accounts, how would you define your role as a school board member?
Brooke Garrett, homemaker, volunteer
In regard to the Arizona Legislature and what my role as a school board member would be – I recognize that I am beholden to the processes and laws that they pass. I feel that my role would be to advocate for the public schools in the areas they represent and work to build relationships with our legislators so they might have a greater understanding of what is happening in their communities and hopefully pass laws that work with us and for our community. I also feel that communicating to our district parents what is happening at the state levels of Legislature is an important part of my role as a school board member.
Roy Morales, operations support manager
Many school districts think like a government agency, where their source of income is almost infinite and guaranteed. Government agencies do not appreciate the hard work and innovation it takes to generate income. Instead, with a perpetual tax base, the mindset is a tax-and-spend mentality, with very little regard to their customer base. Over time, such agencies take their tax base for granted and often are out of touch with community expectations and pocketbooks.
Open enrollment, charter schools and ESAs are blessings in disguise. These blessings should fire up public school boards to think like an enterprise rather than a governmental agency. It should also fire up the taxpayers in demanding for a better product. The taxpayers should support school board candidates with various experience and background outside of the educational discipline. They should also understand the value in a candidate who brings in business acumen and an understanding the need for a better product to ensure survival.
As a board member, I would be the first to accept the truth that competition is a heathy and a necessary element in driving efficiency, transparency and excellence. Without competition, organizations become complacent and will eventually lose to the competition. We see this every day in business. Entities who want to survive need to be a step ahead of their competitors. I would be the cheerleader that accepts the challenge and encourage our district partners to think and act as an enterprise rather than the loss leader and deliver the best product in the marketplace.
Anna Van Hoek, financial and accounting analyst
As a school board member, I define my role as developing HUSD as the schools of choice. I want to create an educational environment that attracts and retains students. We will compete with the alternatives and parents will choose our schools because we will deliver the best education for their children.
Amanda Wade, stay-at-home mom, applying to school
My role as a board member is to make decisions that are for the benefit and betterment of all Higley schools and students. Working within state guidelines each board member should make informed decisions that impact their district in as positive a way as possible. The board members weigh decisions with the input of all aspects of the community, parents, staff, students alike while honoring state legislative policies. The role of the board member is to connect all these aspects and serve to create the best educational system available to our community.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here