CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board candidates discussed the issues recently in the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce political forums.
They will be on the ballot in August, with early voting starting in July. To find your district, check your Voter ID card.
Not every candidate took part in the forums, and in races where only one candidate was participating, the forum wasn’t held. Clarksville Now reached out to all candidates who didn’t appear and offered them an opportunity to respond to key questions.
Here are the candidates, links to their profiles, video of the political forums, and any written responses.
School Board, District 1
- John Crespo, R
- Carol A. Berry, D, incumbent
School Board, District 3
- Janet M. Peterson, R
- Herbert A. Nelson, D, incumbent
- Ambar Marquis, I
The District 3 forum was not held because Janet Peterson and Herbert Nelson declined to attend. Here are written responses from Ambar Marquis.
What is your stand on getting our community caught up on school construction funding?
Marquis: We need to have someone or a team dedicated to grant writing. If the district can bring in extra funds for different programs, we can keep them running and fully funded while diverting current tax revenues to the construction of new schools. We need to be building ahead of the growth, and we need to be building up. Land is a finite resource, especially in our area with our current growth rate.
Where do you stand on charter schools and the school board’s role in regulating them?
Marquis: … Charter schools can help alleviate some of that while giving families a choice in the type of schooling they want for their children. The district has a great opportunity to maintain control and be the chartering authority. If we deny, them they will appeal to the state where they will more than likely be approved and we lose are ability to have a say on their operations. It is better for our board to be the chartering authority and have a say on their existence in our county, than the state. As long as they are meeting the standards, we should afford parents the opportunity to alternative education for their children. …
What can or should be done to address problems of school violence?
Marquis: To start, the code of conduct needs to be enforced at all levels. There is a standard and administrators need to be following it. Families of bullied children feel powerless. We need to bridge the communication gap between families and the district. We need more social workers and counselors to get down and find the root cause of the problem for those children with severe behavioral issues. We need to have resources available for families in need and make sure that they know that resources are available.
School Board, District 5
- Brad Morrow, R
- Jimmie M. Garland, D, incumbent
The District 3 forum was not held because Jimmie Garland declined for a prior commitment. Here are written responses from Brad Morrow and Garland.
What is your stand on getting our community caught up on school construction funding?
Morrow: For more than two decades, on average we have added a full middle-school’s-worth of new students to the district every single year! In order to accommodate this level of sustained growth, we must use every tool at our disposal to provide a proper educational environment for our students. Some of these tools include: working in a cooperative fashion with county government to create long-term building plans, adding onto schools and beginning to build up, increasing resources for homeschool, developing solid guidance and policies for the public stewardship of charter schools, and developing a more robust virtual schooling program.
Garland: Clarksville-Montgomery County is one of the fastest growing cities/areas in the state. … Being such, it is a challenge for the district to anticipate when schools will actually be needed, however; it is reasonable to expect us to have plans in place to address such actions when construction of facilities are required. We do this by collaborating with our local funding base to pre-acquire properties to be used to construct facilities when required. Rather than build buildings, it is our policy to utilize our current facilities to maximum capacities by rezoning, when and where possible, to meet state and local standards in providing our students and teachers with proper space in which to be educated.
Where do you stand on charter schools and the school board’s role in regulating them?
Morrow: On charter schools generally, they are one tool among many at our disposal to be used fulfilling our mandate: to provide a free and appropriate public education to all students. Even the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights recognizes charter schools as an integral part of the public education ecosphere. The board needs mechanisms in place to ensure primary objectives are met: charter schools must teach the appropriate, state-approved curriculum in the appropriate manner; and opportunity to attend a charter school must be equally available to every child in the district, whether by lottery or other equitable method.
Garland: The operative words are “public charter school.” The word “public” denotes that the local funding base will be required to finance their operation at some point. I am against getting our community caught up in financing public charter school. Our taxes should not be used to build or support public charter schools. Lastly, the regulating of public charter schools will not be the total responsibility of the local education authority (LEA). Our state legislators have passed laws that will/can override decisions of the LEA. Being such, who will really be in charge of those facilities if sanctioned for this community?
What can or should be done to address problems of school violence?
Morrow: Some violence originates within our hallways, and some comes from outside threats. Outside threats require increased physical security and better access to mental health resources in the community. These will come from cooperation with the MCSO, additional School Resource Officers, a districtwide review of security protocols, and emphasis on mental health resources from our local and state governments. Internal violence (bullying, assaulting students or faculty, etc.) is a violation of the Code of Conduct. I will support administrators as they strictly enforce the Code of Conduct, uniformly and completely, at every school, to maintain standards of conduct necessary for learning.
Garland: CMCSS is in constant dialogue with local law enforcement, city and county mayors and other organizations discussing and evaluating ways to provide a safe and healthy environment to educate our children. Yet, there are many areas that need improvement. Areas such as student discipline, constant threat of an active shooter situation, peer pressures and the social/emotional state of our students as it relates to authority. As a board, we must review our policy to make sure they are sufficient to support our teachers and staff as they work to provide a quality educational program throughout the district.
For more
The Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce debates were sponsored also by Leadership Clarksville. They were filmed by Goodwin Productions and hosted at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center.
The voter registration deadline is July 5.
Early voting will be July 15-30 at the Election Commission Office, 350 Pageant Lane, and July 18-30 at the Clarksville Regional Airport, 200A Outlaw Field Road.
Voting on Aug. 4 will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the neighborhood voting precincts.
Because of the state primary, you will be asked whether you want a Republican or Democratic ballot. You will have to show your driver’s license or other state or federal photo ID.
For more information, go to the Montgomery County Election Commission website.