On Thursday, April 26, 2012, the North Forney High School Theater was host to the candidates running for the FISD Schol Board, as well as three of the candidates running for a spot on the Forney City Council. A crowd of over 100 people showed up to hear the thoughts and opinions of each person running for office.
On Thursday, April 26, 2012, the North Forney High School Theater was host to the candidates running for the FISD Schol Board, as well as three of the candidates running for a spot on the Forney City Council. A crowd of over 100 people showed up to hear the thoughts and opinions of each person running for office.
The candidates vying for the two open seats on the Forney Independent School Board were eager to get their messages out to the voters. Judge Michael Chitty of the 422nd District Court opened the event as a guest speaker. Judge Bruce Wood acted as the moderator for the school board candidates and allowed each man a three minute slot for opening remarks. Wood reminded everyone that those running for election had to be brave to open theirselves up to being criticized and placed under a microscope. No personal attacks or attack type questions were allowed.
Candidate Heath Carroll explained that he moved to Forney in 2004, that he has three children attending FISD, and another that will start kindergarten next school year. He has managed multi-million dollar companies and would like to continue his family tradition of serving on school boards.
Scott Reagan has three children and he also moved to Forney in 2004. He has 15 years in management and gave his reason for running in this election, “What spurned my passion was the issue and challenges we face currently and up ahead.”
Mike White grew up in Forney and graduated from Forney High School. He has two children and discussed his background in working for the Sunnyvale ISD and the Canton ISD as a business manager. His most recent job is Chief Budget Manager of Dallas County Schools. He said, “I'm running because I know how much I can help this district.”
Incumbent Bruce Benedict has served six years on the school board and has lived in Forney since 1977. Benedict said, “As Forney ISD goes, so will our community go.” He also acknowledged the major budget issues FISD is facing due to a miscalculation in how many students attended FISD. He said, “Everyone knows we've had some financial issues...but those are just short term problems.”
Incumbent Charles Treadway moved to Forney in 1994 and has served three years on the school board. He made reference to being a staff member at the First Baptist Church and said he would like to continue serving on the school board.
The moderator explained that questions were chosen from the audience, though the first question brought about the same answer from each candidate. Question one related to how the city and school district could continue to work together sharing sports facilities. The key theme in all the answers was “work together” and have a willingness to compromise.
The next question regarded how the FISD can continue to provide high quality education with all of the cutbacks they have faced. Again there was some agreement between the candidates. They spoke of making effective sacrifices and tough decisions. Mike White said we need to continue recruiting top teachers and make people want to come here. “If you're not growing, you're dying”, said White. Bruce Benedict pointed out that our academic prowess of being a “Recognized” school district or an “Exemplary” school district will keep the students coming to Forney.
The third and final question to the school board candidates was, “The school district has faced difficulties...what would you have done differently to avoid the current problems?” Heath Carroll said board members need better education to understand school finances and said that he knows being on the school board is a difficult and thankless job. In fact, school board members are not paid at all.
Scott Reagan told the audience, “There was trust and faith that the right thing was being done, when in fact it was proven otherwise.” He said the school district dropped the ball and we are going to pay the price for years to come.
Mike White said that it is hard to say for sure what anyone would have done differently because no one knows exactly what happened to cause the problem in the first place. He acknowledged that people are upset over the budget issues and he called it “avoidable and preventable”. Moving forward he believes the school board needs to delve into our "Summary of Finance" and learn more about it. He feels he is extremely qualified to help the board understand the financial issues because he already oversees a 100 million dollar budget for Dallas County Schools.
Bruce Benedict said something that may not be very popular, “I don't believe there was anything that could have been done to prevent us from being where we are today.” He explained that growth plans were made and that in 2008 the schools switched to “no-growth mode”. He said that there is a previous employee or two that quit before they had the opportunity to fire them for misleading the school board. “There were some people who just weren't honest with the board,” said Benedict.
Charles Treadway kept his answer short, saying in hindsight he would have had more budget education like the board is currently going through. Judge Wood skipped the one minute closing remarks for each candidate due to the time constraints.
Election day is on Saturday, May 12. Early voting starts on Monday, April 30 and ends on May 8.
See the follow-up article on inForney.com to read about the city council candidates who showed up for the “Meet the Candidate Night” at NFHS.
