The candidates’ responses are presented without edits (except for formatting).
Below are the responses from Democratic candidate Judy Justice (who previously served on the school board from 2018 to 2022).
The legislature has recently moved to fund vouchers for private schools, which provide public money for private schools. Do you support this voucher system?
No I do not!
How would you support the district’s diverse population, including minority, LGBTQ, and multi-language families?
We need to convince the county commissioners to release the money they have access to through the hospital sale, which was promised to the public schools at the time of the sale, to hire more guidance counselors, ESL teachers, interpreters, and tutors to assist our diverse populations across the district. Our EC kids especially need more resources in our schools and we can also use that funding to support the hiring of the proper staff and supplies for this large group of students. We also need to establish a successful HR program to hire more minority teachers and other diverse staff.
If elected, how would you handle dissenting viewpoints from fellow board members, staff, and the public?
Listen to them, acknowledge their concerns then explain why I agree or don't agree with their viewpoint. Since I have been on the board before I know it is next to impossible at times, due to the volume of correspondence we recieved to do this with the public via messages or email. But I tried to respond to the public's concerns as much as was humanly possible. I really do like to hear from the staff since they have unique and useful information when it comes to what is going on inside our schools. It is rare that I don't agree with their viewpoint due to my decades long professional experience as an educator. When I work with other board members it is best to reach some kind of compromise when we don't agree although there are some areas where compromise is impossible due to the nature of the subject. For example, there can be no compromise when it comes to the safety of our children. When I was on the board previously the six other board members did not want to investigate the sexual assaults of our students. I refused to compromise on this area. I would not long the other way and pretend like it didn't happen. As a result it became very difficult at times to work with those board members because of their anger at me for not going along with what I considered a "coverup". As time passed though, and the public started to hold them accountable for their actions, we began to work more effectively as a board since there were a lot of other areas that we needed to address in our role as school board members.
Do you believe teachers and staff are indoctrinating students with partisan ideologies? If so, what evidence can you share to support that concern?
No I do not.
That is one of the most ridiculous accusations against our public school staff that I have ever heard. This false information is spread as propaganda by the extreme right wing political party who are trying to undermine our public schools. If teachers were indoctrinating students they would indoctrinate them to listen in class, do their homework and study for tests or complete projects. In my many decades in public education, working with thousands of students and staff, the only "indoctrination" I have heard of in the classroom was during the 2016 Presidential election when I ran an after school program in a nearby rural area. Some of my students continually complained that one of their teachers kept promoting and talking about D. Trump in class. It really bothered them. But since I was not employed by the school district myself I was not able to speak to the teacher and explain to her that promoting politics in class was unprofessional and harmful to our students. Instead I told the kids to try and not let her get them upset and that what she was doing was wrong and really not what teachers should be doing in the classroom. I also told them that they needed to tell their parents what was going on and have them contact the school's administration and have her stop.
In fact an in-depth study on this topic just came out "A recent study by the American Historical Association (AHA) found little evidence of widespread "indoctrination" by history teachers, with most educators focusing on developing critical thinking skills and presenting multiple perspectives rather than pushing a specific political agenda; the study surveyed thousands of middle and high school teachers across the US and reviewed state curriculum standards, concluding that teachers largely prioritize teaching students "how to think" rather than "what to think."
Do you support the banning of books in libraries or classrooms? If so, are there any that currently concern you?
No I do not.
How do you plan to support the district’s low-performing schools? Do you have broader concerns about or plans to address academic achievement?
By working to provide all students with a quality education so that they can live productive and happy lives. That means looking at the individual circumstances for every student and addressing the challenges they are facing which makes it difficult for them to reach that goal. We also have a problem with inequity among various schools across the district which results in lower scores for the high poverty/low socio economic schools. We need to provide real magnetic schools and targeted districting to change those schools socio economic makeup. All education research points out that high poverty schools make it almost impossible for their students to succeed even if they are given more resources than schools with middle or high socio-economic student populations. Until we do that we need to make sure that the high poverty schools have the resources and expert staff to help their students succeed.
When and how would you like to start reviewing the district’s budget? What are your priorities in terms of positions, curriculum, and/or programs?
Normally we would have a superintendent who is an experienced and competent leader when it comes to the budget but we have not had that for several years. If we did, the board could leave a lot of the process to take place by the education finance professionals and superintendent until the last six months or so of the process. This is why it is so important to choose a new superintendent who has a track record of successfully navigating the budget process in a district. We as a board need to communicate year long with the county commissioners about the ongoing needs of the school system so that when the budget process begins we can know that they are informed of our budgetary concerns. We also need to look at the leadership of the finance department. I am concerned that, due to the weaknesses of the previous superintendent, that our finance officer, who he hired from a much smaller district when he started, might not be as knowledgeable as she would have been had she worked for a more effective superintendent. This is another reason to pick an experienced effective superintendent. So first we need a new superintendent and then we have to prioritize that he focus ASAP on the budget for 2025-26. As far as the priorities of the budget itself are concerned, staff and facilities should be our number one priority. Curriculum is an ongoing process that is actually directed by the state and training does need to be addressed once the superintendent, his staff and school administrators determine what is needed.