Three candidates are seeking two seats on the Mitchell County Board of Education.
Incumbents Brenda Sparks and Sam Blevins hope to regain their seats on the board. Chad Greene is new to the political arena. The Mitchell News-Journal sent each of the candidates a questionnaire regarding their desire to serve on the board. Chad Greene did not respond.
Brenda Sparks
I am a lifelong resident of Mitchell County and was lucky enough to attend Mitchell County Schools. After graduating from Harris High School, I graduated from college with a BA in Music Education. I received a Master of Music from ASU with a concentration in music education and choral music, and an Educational Specialist degree in choral music and Music Education. My career has been as a music teacher in the Mitchell County School System.
Some challenges concerning our schools are increasing funding from our county for our children and recruiting qualified teachers. I hope to reestablish and expand educational programs that had to be abandoned such as choral music, expanded band program, foreign language classes and more technical career training.
I am currently a member of the Mitchell County School Board and am seeking reelection to continue and finish the projects we have started. I have been instrumental in procuring the land for the new middle school, planning and implementing the new school plans, as well as working with the county commissioners for the benefit of Mitchell County Schools. I feel I have served Mitchell County citizens well as a representative for our children.
Sam Blevins
Before retiring, I was President of Blevins Oil Company for 20 years. I was in collection, delivery and maintenance at Blevins Oil Company after graduating college up to becoming president. I have an Associates Degree at Lees McRae College and BS in Business Management at Appalachian State University.
I have been a Board of Education Member for the past 16 years. As a Board Member I have seen our school system make many improvements and give our students many more opportunities. I want to continue to see the improvement of our school system and see the opening of the new school that is 100% Grant funded. We worked hard to provide a nice, new school that did not cost the taxpayers any money. The most important reason I am running for the Board of Education is that I love children. I want all our students to be successful and be prepared for life!
The greatest challenge is to secure funding to continue to add opportunities for our students. We want to work with the Commissioners to increase funding for our school system so our children can have the same opportunities as our neighboring school systems. We still have buildings in need of remodel and repair in Gouge, MHS, and Greenlee. We want to apply for another Needs Based Lottery Grant to fund remodeling those schools. We want our kids to be in safe, nice, up to date schools. We want to do this without asking for tax payers money as I know it’s hard for a lot of our citizens to pay their taxes today. Our enrollment has dropped due to the birth rate in our county but our kids are our future and need all the opportunities possible to be successful.
The two greatest needs for our students are funding and providing more opportunities for students to be ready for college or the workforce. We need to seek grants and work with state and local government officials to make our children a priority, as they are our future. We also want to work with businesses to see the need for the workforce and train our students to be job ready.