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Source: The Eagle, Bryan, TexasOct.儲存 25--Q: What's the most important credential for a school board member to have?A: An open mind and long-range thinking. School board members have to have a long-term vision of the future and be willing to listen to all ideas and be open to new ways of doing things.Q: What kind of experience have you had in developing and balancing a budget outside your household? Be specific, including amount.A: Before I went back into academics, I worked for a company by the name of Baker Hughes, which was a big Fortune 500 oil and gas field services company in Houston, and I was responsible for various kinds of departmental budgets in human resources, I have been responsible for some budgetary things with our department of management, we have various programs in different areas, and so to that degree I've been responsible there, and certainly have overseen budgetary things with things like the MSC OPAS committee and different organizations that I've been on board with.Q: Track record working on behalf of schools and students?A: I sat on the College Station ISD rezoning committee in 2010, was asked by the principal of the school to do that, and then just various things in and out.Q: What are three of the problems the district faces, but more importantly, what do you think are the solutions?A: Number one is growth in the city. I honestly believe that our current board and administration has done a very good job of planning for that growth. Having sat on the rezoning committee, I was able to see the complications and myriad issues that go into when you have to make decisions long-term about where growth is going to happen and where schools need to get built. I think our second issue will almost always be funding. Again, I think the school board has done a pretty good job of maintaining our budget. For instance, the school district has run a deficit for the past couple years, but one of the reasons why we haven't seen tax rates fluctuating wildly as a result of that is the fact that that was something that was planned for and we have a surplus in the past years to handle that. I would say that the third major issue is probably accountability. To the citizens of College Station, how can we show that we're doing the right things in terms of educating our kids and preparing them to go back into society, whether that's in higher education or straight out of high school into the work force? I think, in the long run, we have to continue that push toward figuring out other ways where we can be accountable over and above state mandated kinds of things.Q: One of the main issues for a school board is to evaluate a superintendent: How is Dr. Coulson doing as the top administrator of the district? What does he need to work on? How would you measure his success?A: I think by any clear metric that Dr. Coulson has done a superlative job, I believe he has the respect of the people that work for him, I believe that we are known as one of the top school districts in the state of Texas, and I think that is partly due to him. I'm not sure 迷你倉here's anything that I would say that Eddie needs to change, except perhaps to the degree that I think that we could be more open about the positive things that we're doing in the school district, and I know he tries to do that, but I see that as one of the major goals of a school board member as well, which is be an advocate for the school district and sing the praises of what we're doing well, as well as try to look at the things that perhaps aren't working. But I'm a pretty big Eddie Coulson advocate to be real honest with you. I think he's focused on the right things, I think his focus on leadership and putting the right people in positions to do things is a good one.Q: What do you think the highest predictor of success is for a student?A: I would say we're finding more and more that determination is, from a research perspective, ... the largest driver of those people that are successful in school and once they get out of school ... the people that have the ability to do that, and I believe these things can be taught at an early age, have the ability to be successful, not only in school but outside as well.Q: Where do you land on teaching evolution in the schools? What about sex education (what grades, etc.)?A: I believe yes, both of those should be taught in the school district.Q: How do you think the district is handling growth and what can it be doing better?A: I think the district is handling growth extremely well, having sat on that committee. Sometimes the district is forced into making decisions that they know are coming down long-term, but when they make those decisions they create short-term issues that people that are closer to things at the moment are forced to deal with. So sometimes people have to be able to overcome those short-term dilemmas in order to achieve long-term objectives, and I think our school district has done a very good job of that.Q: Why should voters pick you over your opponents?A: The school board fits right into my wheelhouse, I believe that I look at things differently than the other school board members that are up there, I think we already have some business folks and small business owners, we've got accountants and lawyers, I have dedicated my entire career to education. I'm passionate about it, I believe in it, and although I have chosen to spend the majority of my time at the university level does not mean that I'm any less passionate about educating kids.Q: Thoughts on the different pieces of the bond package? Anything you'd change? Add?A: No, I don't think so. I've looked at everything that we're in the process of funding, I've also looked at all the things that we let go, and it seems to be a pretty good mix of things that we could have done and added to that bond package but chose not to do, I think that the school district in general has the right priorities, I thought some of the things that they let go were probably the right things to let go.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) Visit The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) at .theeagle.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉