1.

Background

I am 43 years old and have served in education in

some form my entire adult life. I graduated from
Clemson University with a degree in Secondary
Education and Immediately started teaching High
School social studies. While living in Effingham the
last 15 years, I have served on several support
organizations, most notably as PTO President at
Marlow Elementary School. There I worked with a
team to raise over $100,000 that went directly back
into the school for technology improvements and
countless activities for students and staff. I am the
Director of Development for Junior Achievement for
the Coastal Region of Georgia. JA is a global
organization that is 100 years old and serves
millions of students annually with Financial Literacy
programs. In my role at JA I have the opportunity to
partner with school systems around the state and it
gives me valuable insight that I'm able to bring back
to the table for our School System. I have two
children, my son is a Senior at South Effingham
High School who will going to Clemson's Honors
College next year and my daughter is a Freshman at
the STEM academy. Both are involved in band and
athletics. Having two children in the system keeps
me going to countless events and meetings in the
schools. I have served in many different community
leadership roles in Effingham. Formerly, I was on
the founding board for the Effingham YMCA, and
currently I serve on the board for Effingham Family
Connections and work closely supporting Backpack
Buddies.I also partner with the Coastal Georgia
Indicators Coalition, serve on a work force
development task force in Savannah, I am a
Rotarian, and am a graduate of the Georgia
Academy of Economic Development, Leadership
Effingham and Leadership South East Georgia. You
can also find me every Sunday playing with the
praise and worship team at Goshen UMC.

2. Accomplishments

Accomplishments have been innumerable for

Effingham County Schools in the last 4 years. We
have focused greatly on safety, added security
vestibules at all Elementary schools and have them
in the works for the Middle and High Schools. We
have stewarded our great working relationship with
GEMA, EEMA and the Effingham County Sheriff's
Office. We have been quick to respond to threats
and the Sheriff's Office and our School Resource
Officers have been integral to the success of
responding to threats. We created a STEM
program, built a STEM Academy, built a new Rincon
Elementary, installed Air Conditioning on buses,
created our own alternative school, resurfaced the
tracks at both High Schools, procured the Honey
Ridge Plantation as a major investment in our Ag
programs, increased our workforce development
initiative by partnering with local industries to
improve our CTAE programs. These are just a few
of the many great things that have happened in the
last four years which have catapulted us into the top
10% of schools in the State of Georgia! Another
great accomplishment of our board is the fact of how
well we work together. You can look around the
state and see examples of dysfunctional boards, but
we realize that even though we may not always
agree with each other, that we are all still neighbors
and we treat each other with great respect. In fact,
our board was one of only 20 boards in the state to
be recognized by the Georgia School Board
Association as a "Quality Board of
Distinction." Another personal accomplishment for
me is that I feel like I have been very open and
approachable to my constituents, as always, my
personal cell number and email address are on the
school web page and I am diligent about fielding
concerns from stakeholders.

3. Important matters facing the school board in

the next four years
I see the most important matters to continue to be a
major focus on Safety. We will continue to work on
process improvements and add safety measures to
our schools. The new safety vestibules in the
Middle and High Schools are one example and we
are looking at ways to increase our number of our
highly qualified School Resource Officers, work to
reduce class sizes, and increase focus on mental
wellness. I think we definitely need to work with
other county agencies and our stakeholders to look
at ways to manage the rapid growth in the
county. In my four year term, we have almost grown
by a 1,000 students and we expect that trend to
continue. Discussing where we will build new
schools and managing growth should be a major
focus for the entire county so we do not have to
redistrict again. An increase in investment and focus
on our Career and Technical pathways should also
be a major goal to increase work force development.