As a current member of the Natchitoches Parish School Board, I would like to announce publicly my bid for re-election to District 9. I’ve worked in public education for 47 years as a teacher and administrator and have 30+ years as a school board member. I’m qualified as a superintendent, principal and teacher. I was principal at Martin High School in Red River Parish for five years prior to its closing. I then applied for and was selected as principal of Florien High School in Sabine Parish where I retired in 2003. After staying out of education for one year, I returned to Red River Parish and was over the alternative school and detention center for three years.
I then became the principal of Red River High School and stayed in that position for 11 years. My children, Briana, Cecilia and Carolyn attended schools in Natchitoches Parish including Marthaville Elem./Jr. High, Natchitoches Central High School and Northwestern State University. I currently have one grandson, Noah, in the third grade at Marthaville, and another grandson, Tucker, who is a senior at NCHS. I also have a granddaughter, Nicole, who is a sophomore at NSU and a member of softball team. My wife, Shasta, and I both received our Bachelor’s and Master’s (+30) degrees from NSU. I have been fortunate over the years to see how the system works both as a teacher and school board member. In my tenure, I wrote and presented a bill before the La. School Board Association (LSBA) which called for the suspension of LaTip/LaTap. As a result, LaTip/LaTap was defeated. I also served on the High School Re-Design committee and have been a voting member of the La. High School Athletic Association (LHSAA).
One conference that I attended in Washington D.C. as part of the Federal Relations Network, gave me the opportunity to discuss concerns relating to violence in the public schools with the former National Secretary of Education, Richard Riley. All of these things were in direct support of strengthening Natchitoches Parish Schools. We have many critical challenges in public education and I hope to work with other school board members and the superintendent in addressing the many issues and concerns. Hopefully, we can continue to receive additional training in becoming more effective board members as we work together to help build and strengthen our school system. We must provide safe schools for our children. We must be good stewards and be transparent in how we use the taxpayers’ funds. We need to offer additional training for teachers in implementing better teaching strategies which will help students perform better and improve test scores.
It is my hope that you will allow me to use my experience to serve you and work toward improving the services we provide for our students.