2. What experiences best prepared you for your job?

My association with loving, caring people has made me the person I am. I have had many mentors in life that have given of their time and love. Great role models who believed in me enabled me to grown spiritually and professionally. My family, as well as many special teachers, inspired me to set high goals. A strong work ethic, emotional maturity and integrity were attributes that made a lasting impression.

3. What do you think are the biggest needs for your school district?

Bryan, like most school districts, needs people to understand the value of educating children. If people, as a whole, really understood that education is the backbone and future of our country, we would never have a shortage of resources. Teaching should be a profession that is highly valued and compensated. There is so much talent in our community that could be shared with children by volunteering time as well as funding. People have big hearts and I believe that if they would visit our schools and see the children, they would be proud and supportive.

4. What is the one thing that you wish everyone knew about your school district?

Bryan is a school district that really celebrates its diversity. We are a reflection of what really makes America the greatest country in the world. The goodness and sweetness I see in the children, as well as the kindness and caring exhibited by the teachers, make Bryan the wonderful place it is. The Bryan community has deep roots, evidenced by involved parents and local businesses.

5. If you could make one change in the Texas educational system, what would it be and why?

The emphasis placed on standardized testing has been very frustrating. There are so many things that cannot be measured in a test that it is such a poor method of measuring future success and happiness in children. Schools should be places where children are made to feel safe, valued and challenged to learn in a positive environment. I have no doubt that this trend is already beginning to fade, as we move toward a more reasonable assessment of children and schools.

2. What experiences best prepared you for your job?

My experiences as a teacher and administrator best prepared me for being a superintendent. As superintendent, I am allowed to work on a variety of issues over the course of a day, and the multitude of decisions that teachers and administrators have to make everyday helped prepare me for the decisions I have to make now.

3. What do you think are the biggest needs for your school district?

The biggest need for CSISD is to help every child in our district be successful. Our driving purpose is to help students succeed, and since success is measured in a variety of ways, the Districts challenge is to find ways to help every child succeed.
CSISD continues to need new schools to accommodate student growth. Creek View Elementary will open at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, and we will have the need for more schools in the not too distant future. One of our big challenges will be to plan ahead so that we can accommodate our growing student population, while maintaining the financial integrity of the district.4.


4. What is the one thing that you wish everyone knew about your school district?

College Station ISD has been the 5A State Academic Champion for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years, and we were the runner up for the championship in the 2006-2007 school year. For two years in a row, CSISD has had seventeen National Merit Semifinalists, which is an amazing academic accomplishment for our school system.

5. If you could make one change in the Texas educational system, what would it be and why?

If I could make one change, I would simplify the Texas and federal academic accountability systems so that they could be easily understood by parents and the community. The current systems for evaluating schools are very complicated, and the Texas accountability system does not align with the federal system. Under the Texas accountability system there are approximately 35 different indicators under which schools and school districts are evaluated. If even one of those indicators is low, the school or school district is at risk of being identified as low performing. It makes sense to me to establish an accountability system that rewards districts for great performance and one that is easily understood by parents and the community.