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I want you
to vote for...Those of you who read my column regularly
know my criteria for endorsing school board candidates.
Okay, since I don't realistically expect you to remember it,
here it is again.
I like school
board members who have lived in the district several years,
have children in the Fort Bend ISD schools, not be a teacher
or administrator or married to a teacher or administrator,
at least have a college degree, and have attended more than
one school board meeting.
I consider
these attributes pretty basic so if a candidate exhibits a
lack of even one of these attributes, I'm not interested. It
was with these basic requirements that I interviewed most of
the school board candidates running in Position 7.
Please
remember that the "positions" simply means that the
candidate must live in a certain area; however every voter
all over Fort Bend ISD gets to vote for every candidate in
each position. I've interviewed most of the candidates and
subjected them to my criteria. Here are the results of my
interviews: All of the candidates are better educated and
have college degrees so we can put that aside.
Here's how
long they have lived in Fort Bend ISD (in ballot order):
Laurie Caldwell, 4 years; Walter Gerlach, 18 years; Noel
Pinnock, 2 years, Cynthia Lenton-Gray, 23 years; and Ken
Bryant, unknown as I was unable to reach him by press time.
By the way,
here are their ages if that means anything to you. Laurie
Caldwell, 39 years; Walter Gerlach, 63 years; Noel Pinnock,
30 years, Cynthia Lenton-Gray, 45 years; and Ken Bryant,
unknown. This is how many children each candidate has in the
district: Laurie Caldwell, 3 children; Walter Gerlach, 0
children; Noel Pinnock, 1 child, Cynthia Lenton-Gray, 2
children; and Ken Bryant, unknown.
As far as
being a teacher or administrator or married to one, here's
how they stand: Laurie Caldwell taught school in another
state for several years, substituted in Fort Bend for a few
more, and is now a crossing guard at her children's school;
Walter Gerlach is married to a retired schoolteacher
(retired last year) who substitutes; Noel Pinnock, taught
for five years in another district and is in administration
at Houston ISD; Cynthia Lenton-Gray, a sociology professor
at a small local college; and Ken Bryant is an attorney in
private practice.
Most of the
candidates have attended more than one school board meeting:
Laurie Caldwell, at least three; Walter Gerlach, three; Noel
Pinnock, maybe three, but watches it on MC-TV; Cynthia
Lenton-Gray, "several"; and Ken Bryant, unknown.
I have to
mention that most of the candidates have been active in
school volunteerism. Laurie Caldwell, PTA president; Walter
Gerlach, served on several committees, like the bond
advisory committee; Noel Pinnock, not been here long enough
but is a public servant in another district; Cynthia Lenton-Gray,
PTA board member several times, mentor, band booster; and
Ken Bryant, unknown. I know that many of you are concerned
about high taxes and are interested in seeing candidates
with more business background.
Of course,
all of them claimed some business expertise at some level.
Caldwell said her minor in college was business, but I have
to point out that Gerlach and Bryant are in business for
themselves. Gerlach is a retired registered engineer who has
started a small, one-man business.
However, all
in all, I have to say that I am going to endorse Laurie
Caldwell. She meets or exceeds all of my criteria and
furthermore, she "gets it," as another school board member
said. |
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