In a time of budgetary concerns, with an eye focused toward the future, voters will have to decide Tuesday from three candidates to fill two board seats on the Twin Rivers Board of Education.
Among the three candidates is one incumbent, Keith Parker, who is completing his first term on the board. Jerry Whitlow and Monica Woolem are also vying for seats, and each candidate feels they have something unique to bring to the position.
Each candidate received the same questions in an effort for the voting public to become better acquainted with them and to help inform their decisions at the polls on Tuesday. The response of each candidate to the questions will be presented in ballot order. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Woolem
Age: 36
Spouse: Robbie Woolem
Children: Elsie Woolem and Emmit Woolem
Occupation: Store Manager at The Home Depot
Education: Twin Rivers alumni
Current affiliations: Kiwanis, Twin Rivers Fisk PTO
Why are you running for the board? Robbie and I both care immensely for the school and the community. We volunteer and help whenever and however we can. I feel like it is crucial to have someone with true Twin Rivers pride serve our community. I hope to build the bridge between the campuses to make us a united Twin Rivers family.
What characteristics would make you a good board/council member? Serving my community in a management position for over 18 years now, I pride myself as being honest and a people person. I have the ability to communicate and build relationships with strangers while genuinely listening and working toward doing the right thing. I am familiar with a fast pace, multitasking work environment. In management I am responsible for the staff as well as the financials. Therefore, I fully understand what it takes to have a positive work environment while keeping the business profitable.
What do you hope to accomplish? In order to make a united “family,” changes will need to be made. There has been discussion regarding a junior high expansion. A building on the high school campus, and blending Qulin and Fisk junior high classes. I think this is not only a great idea but will be a long term necessity.
Are there any recent actions you agree or disagree with? Currently I believe that our school is headed in a good direction.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the district/city and how would you address them? As with any business, budget and staffing will be our biggest hurdles. As a district we have to take care of our teachers and provide them with the necessary tools to provide the best educational experience to our children.
Are there any needs you want to address? If I am provided the opportunity to support our community, the only thing I would like to improve effective immediately would be communication, communication to the staff as well as the community on events and basic information.
Whitlow
Age: 49
Spouse: Anna Whitlow
Children: Rylee (19), Addysen (16)
Occupation: Technology director
Education: Bachelor’s degree in electronics technology
Current affiliations: Member of Osborn General Baptist Church
Why are you running for the board? I am a proud Twin Rivers alumni and my heart is in developing students to realize their potential and grow into successful adults.
What characteristics would make you a good board/council member? I have had the opportunity to work in several fields including operations, leadership and education. I believe this diversity has taught me to see challenges from different perspectives and from different roles. I am solution-focused and this has helped me see solutions faster.
What do you hope to accomplish? I would like the chance to work with the board and leadership to ensure a long term plan for Twin Rivers to successfully navigate the ever-changing landscape of education and continue to provide the best opportunities for our kids.
Are there any recent actions you agree or disagree with? I appreciate how the board and school administration reviewed research and acquired feedback from our school community before making the decision to go to a four day school week.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the district/city and how would you address them? In order to provide excellent opportunities for our students, I believe we must focus on finding and retaining quality educators, administration, and staff. This is a major challenge for many school districts.
Are there any needs you want to address? I would like to continue to build upon the foundation that the board has set by helping to create a solution to issues such as working with the evolving salary schedule to stay competitive in the school marketplace.
Parker
Age: 46
Spouse: Stephanie Parker
Children: Jade (19), Will (15), Claire (13), Mila (6), Rip (3)
Occupation: Insurance agent/business owner
Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance, Missouri State University
Current affiliations:
Why are you running for the board? With three kids currently attending Twin Rivers and another to start in the fall, I have a long-term interest in the betterment of our district. I want our district to be one that parents want their kids to attend and also one that teachers and staff seek out for employment.
What characteristics would make you a good board/council member? With 15 plus years of operating a business, I have a good understanding of how to keep things moving forward. I like to keep an open mind when hearing the thoughts and concerns from parents, students and staff members.
What do you hope to accomplish? I’m finishing up my second term on the board and feel like we have made significant progress. Not long after being elected to my first term, we found ourselves in a deficit of over $800,000 due to funding cuts and other contributing factors. We were able to absorb a few positions due to retirement of staff and cut out some unnecessary expenses and we now have a healthy reserve in our cash flow statement.
There has also been recent talk of getting out junior high students moved to the Broseley campus. This would be great for our students as this would allow us to offer a wider variety of electives to those students. I feel this would help with their overall development and help them be more prepared to move onto the next chapter of their lives.
Increasing staff member pay is also a major objective. While our average pay is good for the area, our starting pay is lacking. Increasing this could result in an increase in job applicants for open positions.
Are there any recent actions you agree or disagree with? I was in support of the change to a four-day school week. I think overall this has been very beneficial to our district. I’m also very pleased that we approved over $600,000 to update our curriculum for all grades pre-kindergarten through 12th. This was crucial in assuring both our Fisk and Qulin campuses were learning the same materials, at the same time.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the district/city and how would you address them? I think budget constraints and funding will be a constant concern with smaller school districts. We will need to continue to be conservative with our decision making to make sure we’re prepared for what changes may come about. The larger cities like St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield seem to control so much of what goes on within the state even though what’s good for them, may be the complete opposite of what’s good for Twin Rivers. We will need to continue to make decisions that are best for our students and staff members.
Are there any needs you want to address? I would love to see us increase our curriculum in regards to our trade school students. We have a large number of students who will not be attending a traditional college, but they would greatly benefit from various trade schools opportunities.
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