As of Wednesday, July 18, 2012
© Copyright 2013
Rockdale Citizen
CONYERS -- The four candidates vying for the Post 5 school board seat want to make Rockdale County schools a better place for their families and other students to ensure they are successful in the future.
Cornell Brown, William "Tony" Dowdy, Rodney Fanner and Willie Washington are facing off for the Rockdale County Board of Education's nonpartisan Post 5 seat, which is currently held by Don McKinney, who isn't seeking re-election.
When asked by the Citizen about what is the biggest problem facing Rockdale County Public Schools, Brown said it's the overall value that society places on education.
"The tools are there," he said. "(Former RCPS Superintendent Samuel King and current Superintendent Rich Autry) set forth a plan."
However, he said even with successful programs like the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology, education is at the top of the budget cuts.
He said being on the board would help him be one of the biggest promoters of learning and education.
"Presence alone can make a big difference," said Brown, a father of one student at the Magnet School and one at C.J. Hicks Elementary School. Brown's wife also is a teacher at C.J. Hicks.
Dowdy agreed that money was an issue -- he said the biggest problem was the ability of the system to continue to provide a high quality education to its students in hard economic times. He has six children who graduated from RCPS schools and three grandchildren.
Fanner also was concerned about students' futures.
"I think ensuring our students are prepared to successfully enter the work force or enter college is a major issue," said Fanner, who decided to run for office because he has a nephew in RCPS that allowed him to see a need to help better transition students. "The current industries want our students to understand highly technical concepts, and they may not necessarily be getting this level of training in our schools."
Washington feels that parent involvement needs to increase in the schools.
"It takes more than one or two people educating our children," said the father of a Magnet School student and a C.J. Hicks students, as well as a nearly 2-year-old child. "Collectively, I feel we can come up with an adequate way of making something happen, even though I know the budget is always a concern for everybody."
When asked by the Citizen for their ideas for balancing the budget without dipping into reserve funds, as the current school board has done for the past couple of years, Washington said he would want to look at the history of cuts and the items included and decide what would benefit the children most. Washington is retired from the Navy, where he was in law enforcement and now is a business owner but wouldn't say what type of business.
Fanner said that public-private partnerships are the key to helping the budget more and aiding the students at the same time.
"Doing so enables the school system to possibly reduce some of the budgetary items, get consistent feedback on the class material and the students become interested in potential careers," said Fanner, who is an engineer for the federal government and served in the Navy.
Dowdy said he would like to analyze current expenditures to determine what is necessary to achieve "the most efficient operations."
"I am willing to make the tough decisions," said Dowdy, who has been a sales representative for Ernst Concrete for 23 years.
Brown said he would like to come up with "more creative ways" to better balance the budget and look at eliminating "non-value added services."
"Generating revenue is always a challenge," said Brown, a contract negotiator for the state.
More like this story
- Father, salesman elected to school board ( August 21, 2012 )
- Three school board races decided, one headed to runoff ( July 31, 2012 )
- BOE candidates face off at forum ( July 16, 2012 )
- School board candidate yet to file campaign reports ( August 16, 2012 )
- Warm welcome ( May 30, 2009 )
Comments
ctownslimm 11 months, 1 week ago
"He said being on the board would help him be one of the biggest promoters of learning and education."
Great work Cornell but we already figured you were interested in education because you are running. Is that all you got?
ctownslimm 11 months, 1 week ago
"Brown said he would like to come up with "more creative ways" to better balance the budget "
WHat ideas? are we supposed to just trust that you will get creative once you are in the seat? If you are creative, you already have some ideas and we want to hear them.
johndoemo_ 11 months, 1 week ago
"Asked what the biggest problem facing RCPS, Brown said it's the overall value that society places on education."
Any one of these candidates that is not going to push for cleaning up the poor management of the schools or at least fixing the discipline issues should not be voted in. I think every school board member should be required to be a substitute teacher 3 or 4 times per year under false names. They should have to sub at all the middle and high schools not just RCA and Magnet. Is anyone asking Autry what he is doing to inspire and motivate the principals and teachers? What are the principals doing to make their schools great? If your main platform is something as silly as "the overall value that society places on education", please step down from the race.
Sundance 11 months ago
I hear you. If I am reading between the lines correctly, I think he is saying he wants to spend more money on education. But, I disagree with that policy because management, not money is our biggest problem with this system. If you give a bad manager more money, it is a total waste. You either change out the management or train them to get the most out of what they have. This system is clearly not getting the biggest possible bang for their buck.
thatguy 11 months ago
Not looking forward to the future if this is the best these candidates can come up with. They used plenty of words, but did not manage to say anything. The people of Rockdale deserve candidates with a plan, not a handful of buzzwords. Get it together, gentlemen!
AWOL 11 months ago
I know right? WHat if your mechanic said " sir, the main problem with your car is the overal value that you put on your engine." ? I would tell him to suck eggs and go find someone who knew how to fix it.
Elmo 11 months ago
More lollipops, rainbows and unicorns...political-speak at its finest. Maybe office seekers think that to be "specific", is to visit that ocean west of California.
The term "creative ways" and "budgets" are seemingly at odds with each other. Budgets are generally based on the exact science of Mathmatics, while "creative" doesn't have to "balance", or "add up".
Back in my corporate days the management staff were required to do quarterly "self-evaluations", which were little more than "brag sheets" denoting our individual achievements during the period. Another term for preparing these reports was "an exercise in creative writing", implying that certain liberties of embellishment was understood.
I don't think, however, that there are "creative ways" to balance a budget. There are tough choices, for those brave enough to make them.
Being a candidate is a lot easier nowadays, no longer do they have to "guess" what the people want, as there are hundreds of sources available -including this board - to get a handle on the mood of the people. But, even that is a two-edged sword. The info can be used to better serve the people, or, just to tell them what they want to hear, for election purposes.
Ambiguous oxymorons like "creative budgets" are akin to the Pelosi mantra, "...you'll have to pass it to see what's in it"...possibly the stupidest remark in recorded human history.
We should elect anyone to see what they will do, the need to tell the people -specifically-what they will do, then if they are elected, walk their talk.
It's not "American Idol", it's our children and our schools at stake. It's a job, and if we don't use caution in the hiring process, we'll all be sorry.
heresyafacts 11 months ago
"Washington is retired from the Navy, where he was in law enforcement and now is a business owner but wouldn't say what type of business." Was he asked what business and refused to answer? Or did he simply say he was a business owner without indentifying the type? There is a difference. I agree with other comments: I would like to see more specifics from candidates regarding financial oversight and a clearly stated dedication to improving discipline issues in the system. We are losing teachers due to conditions in the schools and lack of support from administration in addressing those frontline issues; it's time for strong leadership both from the Superintendent and from the Board.
Sundance 11 months ago
This community is hurting and it needs to be attractive to financially secure families that raise good children. Every good family I know flinches about sending their kids to RCPS schools. this is the truth and it needs to be fixed. Mr Barksdale and the board, you need to do something strong here. Autry needs to toe the line and not just on scores. you guys need to get your finger on the pulses of these schools. I agree with Johndoe above that the board should pull substitute duty a few times per year to see whats going on. Wake up and get passionate about this. The town will die if you don’t.
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