News-Record.com

Erik Huey!

I'm announcing my filing Friday morning at 11:45am in front of the Old County Court House. All of my supporters and well-wishers and curious onlookers are welcome to attend, as well as interested press.

See this link for more:

http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/media-advisory-huey-to-file-friday/

Although I haven't completely made up my mind, I like Erik Huey. He is a GCS parent so his decisions on the Board will affect his own child as well as mine. I like what he has to say on discipline and arts education. He's also spent time in the classroom...a huge plus in my book! He speaks out on the issues, answers questions and posts his opinions on his website. In my communications with the Board, I have received very cordial responses only from Alan Duncan who never answered my questions or fully addressed the issue. I hope that Erik's openness and connection to the public will continue if he's elected.

After reading complaints in N&R blogs about how Dorothy Kearns' association with a real estate firm may have affected her judgment, I'm a little leary of Michael McKinney's participation on TRIBEC. However, I will wait to hear from him and others on the issues before I make my final decision.

Sounds like Mike K might be handpicked by Dot. If this is the case, I would never vote for him. We don't need another politician with business connections concerned about the declining real estate values in old High Point.

I found Dot's comments about why she did continued to run in the last two elections quite distasteful. It was an arrogant comment IMO when she said she wanted to wait until someone else was concerned about the schools like she was (something like that.) That was an insult to Kirkpatrick, Garth, Debbie Maines, Gwen Cartright. All of these candidates would have made EXCELLENT school baord members and one of them is an excellent school board member.

Morgan, I hope you will do some investigative research on all of the candidates and see what their ties are in the business community. FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL. It's oftentimes rarely about education in High Point and more into personal agendas.

VOTE FOR ERIK HUEY!

I can honestly say that I currently have no ties, nor have I ever had any ties to developers or realtors. I don't hold a real estate license nor do I have a license to sell insurance. I'm not under contract with anyone at present. And the only involvement I have in the business community is my desire to see more professional opportunities in this county so our young professionals can stay here and raise a family.

Erik,

That is an excellent goal. We are losing so many of our young professionals to Raleigh and many other areas. Many young people believe this area doesn't have much to offer them and are also tired of the local politics (i.e. watch any commissioners' meeting on TV). There are the downtown clubs and then what?

I think Mr. Stone needs to realize Darlene is only 1 of 11 votes on the BOE. She cannot make changes if the 6 votes aren't there. If anyone has followed the school board meetings and trends over the last several years as I and many others have, they know that Darlene is often the "Lone Ranger" on many issues. She is one of the most sensible and caring individuals on the BOE. She speaks up and asks questions regarding costs and other matters. You can only ask so many times for information - what you receive is another discussion.

Recently, I was glad to read in the paper that Darlene is on the Contruction Review Committee (think that's what it's called) and is visiting schools in Charlotte and another area in NC to compare costs.

Darlene has not only watched out for her district, but has always lent an ear to other concerned parents in many other districts. She shown concern for many children's needs other than in her own district - the needs at Eastern after the fire, safety issues, teacher morale, just to name a few.

This will be a tough fight for anyone running against her.

Last post starting "Erik this is an excellent goal" was made by me. Just forgot to type my name - sorry.

Regarding Darlene:
We do not agree on some issues, this is good and healthy and causes no problems in my strongly endorsing her. Her passion in serving our community and our kids cannot be questioned. She is without a doubt the best advocate for our children, teachers and parents which has often brought her in the minority on many issues, but I believe it is the healthiest thing that could happen. She is neither ultra conservative nor liberal in her thinking, she is truly representative of her greatest charge, our children!

If she were representing my district I never would have run against her. Risking loosing her representation on the Board will be a loss to our community, she has made it a much better place.

I am still investigating the at large race and offer only advice I can now, study the candidates and question the mentality of any crazy enough to run for school board.

Garth,
How would you change the way the school board is set up so that more people would be willing to run?

Anon: I've proposed bold solutions to some bold problems we have inside GCS...and here's another example of that: I would not object to a discussion of term limits for Board members. This way, you're constantly having fresh faces and fresh perspectives on issues affecting our children. I know it is probably a long-shot in this county, but I'd be willing to initiate this discussion.

What a loaded question...
Caveat
If a person is possibly sane before they run for office and they loose, they may still be sane. If they win, sanity will be a casualty of faulty decision making. Thankfully running for office either requires egotistical bent close to maniacal which is defiantly not sane, an ability to deceive oneself into believing they can serve the public better than anyone else crazy enough to run to the point that sanity has also left.

As good as my problem solving skills are I am no longer sane enough to offer a solution to the fear a good, qualified person would have to loosing their sanity. Catch 22 at it’s finest.

Now, assuming a slightly insane person that is still qualified wants to serve, there is the amount of time required to supervise and stick nose where it does not belong. In business, finding a manager or leader qualified to supervise employees and know when they should allow employees to make and fix their own mistakes is almost impossible. To find such a person willing to sacrifice time and energy is almost impossible anyways, but to do it for gas money, good luck.

Last hope is someone who has common sense, is well educated, loves kids and wants the best for them and has the ability to learn and solve problems at a prodigious rate and has no personal axe to grind. A true SAINT!

I do not see an institutional solution and frankly have to say look at those running for president, not one of our 3 are qualified by any intelligent yardstick, (none have managed a large organization, have strong economics backgrounds, have any real foreign policy experience…)therefore I am left with, we do the best with what we have…Our great country has survived this long not because our form of government is the perfect, but rather it is just better than any other flawed system.

Thanks for your thoughtful answers. I was just curious what could be done to encourage more people to run for school board. I think it's one of the toughest gigs in town. The pay is so low, it borders on being volunteer work. It is public service in every sense of the word.

Well as for my vote on the school board i am going to vote for dave crawford, out of the 5 in the run he was the only one to goto iraq and as a iraq vet myself that gets my vote!

I was looking at the puple hart in daves office last week when we was working on the yard sings, that shows me i also am in the wright place! david criss also gets my vote but i was no in iraq! when i was state side the total time in.

I've spoken with Michael McKinney and read his website, and have not been impressed thus far. There seems to be more surface than substance, and he often seems to be working from a well-memorized script. I'm not convinced that he really understands the issues or has the know-how to deal with more complex issues.

Education is not business (although it would probably run better if it were!). I would love to hear more about his accomplishments, not just the positions he has held. Has he actually done anything?