On Thursday, April 25, those living within the boundaries of the Forney Independent School District had the opportunity to meet the FISD Board of Trustees' candidates at Forney High School. The Meet the Candidate Night allowed Keith Bell, Dr. John Taylor, and Kathy Hall to share their backgrounds and why they feel they are the right person to be an FISD Board of Trustees member.
Incumbent David Walker
Though school board incumbent David Walker was unable to attend the event due to being out of town on a business trip, he asked the moderator, Judge Bruce Wood, to read a statement for him. Walker has lived in Forney since 1985 and he is a Senior Principal Engineer. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a Master's Degree in Management and Contract Acquisitions. He has served on the Forney ISD School Board since 1998 and has two children who attended Forney schools and are now currently in college.
Walker's statement said, “I truly believe we have great days ahead of us.” He spoke of accomplishments FISD has made and about the “challenging financial time” they are in currently. He stressed that his experience and the “continuity of leadership” on the board should not be underestimated. Walker said they have made “great progress” in dealing with their financial issues and have been able to approve a raise for FISD staff next year.
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Challenger Kathy Hall
Kathy Hall moved to Forney with her family 6 years ago. She has a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree in Accounting from the University of Mississippi and she is a licensed CPA in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She has worked in four different law firms as the Controller or Director of Finance and has “managed and developed budgets ranging from $25 million to $200 million.” Hall is a PTO member and said she has attended the FISD board meetings for the last year. She said she has “a number of questions as a citizen, as a parent...I have concerns.” She also has a child currently attending a Forney ISD school.
Hall acknowledged the concerns of many parents and FISD staff who are worried about teacher retention, salaries, and the debt the district has accumulated. She praised Superintendent Michael Holland and his administration for doing “a great job” in trying to fix the problems left by the previous superintendent. She would like to see the school district grow and get even better and said, “I would like to be a part of that.”
She was asked what she would do to make sure what happened to the school district in 2011 would never happen again. Hall said, “I would ask questions.” She noted that, in 2008, voters elected to approve a bond to spend nearly $12 million which went for technology infrastructure and e-books and laptops for FISD students. The bond has will take 30 years to pay off — but the e-books will need to be replaced soon. She feels they should have leased the technology so that the e-books and laptops could have been replaced or upgraded every three years. Another example she says, of needing to ask questions before making decisions.
Hall also answered an audience question about whether the school district should be separated into precincts so that the board represents all areas of students in Forney. She said, “Because we've split the district north and south, it would be well worth the time...to have people divided into precincts.”
Incumbent Dr. John Taylor
Dr. John Taylor is a Forney dentist who started his dental practice here in 1987. He is a Texas Tech undergraduate and he graduated from the Baylor Dental College in 1985. He is a member of the Lions Club and a past president of the Forney Chamber of Commerce. He has five children, two of whom still attend Forney schools. Taylor has been a member of the Forney ISD Board of Trustees since 2004 and is currently the Board's vice president.
Taylor said that his vision for education inside the Forney community is, “We continue on a progression that will grow the student body and also give the student body the best way to get an education...We want to develop a real broad student.”
He referred to the financial mix-up at FISD in 2011 as a “tragedy” that no one on the board wanted to happen. He said, “We have developed steps to be more transparent and we have more budget meetings and budget disclosures. We have put more measures in place to keep those plans.”
Taylor was asked an audience question about whether Forney ISD should move the sixth grade students to the middle schools. He said that Forney changed over to the K-6 program so that the subdivisions could have neighborhood schools. He feels that the curriculum FISD is on now “appears to be in line with the K-6” and that it would take an entire “school of thought change” to move the sixth graders into the middle schools.
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Incumbent Keith Bell
Keith Bell missed the first part of the event due to being inducted into the International Business Honor Society that same evening. He and his family moved to Forney in 1986 and have seen two children go through the Forney schools and graduate. Bell owns local Forney company Intex Electric. He has served on the FISD Board of Trustees for 15 years and is currently the president of the Forney ISD Board of Trustees. Bell was recognized earlier this year as Forney's Citizen of the Year.
Bell made it to the event in time to answer an audience question and he apologized for being late. He said he has gone back to college “at 48 years old” and will graduate from Dallas Baptist College in May. He was asked what his experience is with the e-books program. Bell said that they have been able to put some of the Forney ISD curriculum into the e-books and they are working to get all of the curriculum in the e-books.
Bell spoke to the fact that the FISD recently made their third installment payment towards paying off the debt from 2011, and they have only two payments left. The board received the State Comptroller's Gold Leadership Circle award “for financial transparency in 2013.” Bell believes it is “imperative” for him to finish the race and see Forney ISD get where it used to be financially. He praised Superintendent Holland and the current board for their hard work and leadership. He noted that the school district was recognized as Exemplary in 2010 and was Recognized in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
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