1.  What has been your involvement with the community and school district? Describe your leadership and volunteerism in the community. Did you or your children attend school in the district? Have you volunteered in or been employed by the school district?

Active member and past president of the Retired Educational Personnel Chapter in Franklin County.

Past president and member of local Delta Kappa Gamma Educational Society.

Volunteer for local Homochitto River Festival held each year in Franklin County.

My husband and I graduated from Franklin High School and my grandchildren currently attend Franklin Middle and Franklin County High School.

After 36 years in education, I retired and moved to back to Franklin County.  I was a substitute teacher in the schools, tutor, and dual credit instructor in the Franklin County School System before serving on the school board.

2.  Why do you want to serve on your school board?  

To provide the best possible educational opportunities for all students in our school system in a safe environment conducive to learning.

3.  Students from low-income households often need additional resources to achieve academic success. What should your school district do to ensure that all students are successful?

Identify and provide students with additional resources to assist in their success. Our district has an after-school program that provides services for students.  Remediation, tutoring, and enrichment activities are provided.

4.  What strategies would you support to create a safer school environment?  What can your school district do to address cyberbullying, mental health, and physical safety?

Dissemination of information and in-depth training for all personnel to ensure safe school practices are followed.

Board policies that address up-to-date issues in safe school practices.

A continuous effort by the administration to make safe school practices a requirement in all educational settings.

5.  What do you see as the most pressing infrastructure needs facing your district?

Maintaining and upgrading aging facilities in the district is an expensive and difficult goal to accomplish.

6.  Mississippi school districts are funded by a mix of federal, state, and local funds. The state contributes to local school districts through the new Mississippi Student Funding Formula (MSFF). The MSFF is intended to fund teacher salaries, retirement and benefits, transportation costs, facility maintenance, utilities, special education, and other programs. What role will you play in advocating for full funding of MSFF for your district?

– Advocating and meeting with local and state legislators to fully fund MSFF

– Explaining to legislators and stakeholders that approximately 30 percent of our county is forest land and does not produce revenue for our school district

7.  Vouchers for private school tuition divert public funds away from public schools and toward unaccountable private schools. Do you agree that tax dollars should be used for only public schools and not for non-public schools? Why or why not?

I agree that tax dollars should be used to support public schools.  Strong public education is an investment in public good. I am opposed to the use of tax dollars to support private schools as they are basically unaccountable for such funds.

8. In Mississippi, academic standards are set by the Mississippi Department of Education and local districts choose curricula from an MDE-approved list. Do you trust educators in your district to teach using their professional judgment and training or should teaching be further regulated by school board policy or law? If you believe teaching should be further regulated, how so?

Educators in my district have the professional expertise and training to teach their subject matter without board policies or state laws dictating how or what they should teach.  Educators are experts, not board members or legislators.

9. Mississippi is experiencing a severe teacher shortage. What strategies will you support to recruit and retain high-quality educators?  

-Offering competitive salaries and supplements

-Providing opportunities for teachers to contribute to their professional development and to increase job satisfaction

-Provide additional support and mentoring programs for new teachers

-Provide support for seasoned teachers