Board of Trustees Election: What you need to know about the candidates and CISD future
April 17, 2016
Update (April 20): This story has been updated to include additional responses from each candidate.
With each passing week, more and more campaign signs are popping up on Coppell lawns and street corners. With Board of Trustees elections rapidly approaching, 12 candidates are hoping to earn a place.
The candidates will have little time to settle into their position as on May 7th, the same day they are elected, they will cast their vote on a bond referendum.
The $249 million proposal recommends the district convert Coppell Middle School West into a freshman center, build a new CMS West in Cypress Waters, renovations CMS East, CMS West and Coppell High School, additions to CMS East and North, and earmark funds for a solution at the elementary level.
The Sidekick asked each candidate about their platform and position on the bond proposal.
Place 1
Leigh Walker
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“I’m a product of Coppell Schools. Coppell is my hometown, and I love community and I love this place, so I really believe in it. We moved back here when we started our family for the schools. My kids are getting the benefit of an amazing school system and I want to make sure our kid’s kids have the benefits of an amazing school system. The second reason is education is my passion but it’s also my profession. I taught in south oak cliff and DISD before I had my kids, as an elementary school teacher and then as a reading specialist for pre-k 6. All my graduate work is in education and reading instruction, so that’s kind of where my interest and my love is- in education. Thirdly, as soon as my oldest child started kindergarten, I started volunteering as a CISD school volunteer. It started with the PTO and I’ve moved up to become president of the Pinkerton PTO for several years. I’ve served on the facility committee, pinnacle 20/20 committee, I did the ILead CISD leadership course, and then most recently the bond steering committee. For all of those things I put in the hard work and the preparation of getting to know our district, so I’m ready to put that to work on the school board. The last reason that motivated me to run was that I have three children. No one on the current board has children in the schools. It’s really lacking that kind of parent perspective. Next year I’ll have a student at the elementary level, middle school level, and the high school level.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“Without a doubt it’s growth, That’s something, having grown up here in the 80s and 90s, I lived as a student through the first growth explosion of Coppell, when they were building new schools every year. When I graduated from CHS, we graduated with 150 kids, for the freshman class it was 350 and then for my sister’s class it was 750, the bubble was just behind us. We are kind of experiencing that same explosive growth growth today. We handled it well then, I’m confident we’ll handle it well now, but that’s definitely the biggest issue we’re facing.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“As a member of the bond steering committee, I know how hard that we worked to make sure that this was a no fluff proposal that felt with our pressing need of growth. Having sat on that committee for almost three months and putting all the hard work in and knowing how we agonized over what to put in, I stand behind it 100%.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“Obviously I have that unique perspective of being both an educator and a parent, of young and old kids at every level. There’s no educator currently on the board either, and I think that’s a missing perspective and a unique one that I bring. Also, I’ve been involved in the district as a parent volunteer for the past 9 years. I don’t think anyone else that’s running has really done that kind of prep work. I think those three things and the fact that I’m homegrown and from here. Coppell ISD is my past, my present, and my future.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“When I think about that, I think about communication. That is something that is really important to have that two way communication, that dialogue with the community. One of the five responsibilities of being a board member is communicating the district’s success and vision to the community. Me being plugged in at a different level, kind of having my eyes and ears on the ground, I have the ability to communicate the district’s success and also have that two way street, hearing back from the community about what they want our district to look like. I think an effective board member has that communication aspect of it. I think that parts’ really important.”
http://leighwalkerforplace1.com
Mary Duran
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“Education has had a really profound affect on my life, and even though I’m I sixth generation Texan- my family settled this area in 1718, one of the founding families that came over- I’m a first generation college graduate. I’m one of nine children, a huge big family which I really love. This just made a really big impact in my life. Without my education, I would not be a successful high school counselor. I am a credentialed teacher, credentialed counselor, and credentialed administrator. What that means is I have my masters in Education Leadership and I also have my administrative credential which enables me to be a school principal.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“The biggest strengths that I would bring to the position would be my credentials, my three credentials. I feel with that experience, because I’ve been a high school teacher and a high school counselor for 25 years, with that experience, i feel like I can really help the board develop and kind of implement different ideas and stay in tune with the creative schools in Coppell.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today? What is your position on the bond proposal?
“The biggest issue facing Coppell ISD is the growth, and the bond that we have for 249$ million. I am for the bond and I am on the Pac bond committee too. I really am for the bond because I believe that students and teachers need to have low ratios in the classroom and the reason I like low ratios is because research indicates that low ratios correlate very high to student achievement. Being a school teacher for 25 years in the classroom, I don’t want to burn out our best teachers with a lot of students in the classroom.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“It means being an educational leader in Coppell ISD, it means being able to voice my opinion and right now there’s currently no educator and the board. I feel like an educator on the board would really balance all the careers that everybody’s on right now in the board. We have a CPA, we have an attorney, we have a lot of really good career representation, but there’s no educators on there. I worked for 25 years but I don’t work anymore, so I would spend a lot of hours making sure the policies are followed and making sure to participate in school activities. One of my favorite things to do for the board if I were to get elected was to be able to go to student activities and see the kids perform, in choir, orchestra, and just kind of cheer the kids on. That would be a lot of fun and I’m used to that as a high school counselor.”
http://Duranforcisdtrustee.com
Place 2
Bac Cao Nguyen
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“My sons’ a Coppell ISD student, he’s a 7th grader in Coppell MIddle School West. I talk to him all the time about being involved in school activities, taking leadership for his peers, so doing that with him as an example. Every kid I interview I tell them ‘what do elite colleges look for?’ They look for leadership, they look for substantive involvement in the community, and they also look for students who demonstrate they have potential beyond what they are today. If I’m not doing the same things, taking leadership in my community, how can I tell those students and my son how to do it.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“I have a background in banking and finance and commercial real estate, and I also have a law degree from SMU. The business executive experience that I have applies directly to some of the issues a board member would face on a regular basis. For example, our existing bond involves construction of schools and issuing debt that someone with banking and finance experience would be helpful to have. Also having that commercial real estate experience, I would understand when we are getting proposals and suggestions from consultants. It’s easier for me to understand what is going on, I’ll have benchmarks on what other commercial builders are doing, instead of just taking what consultants give us or what contractors give us, I can look at it critically.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“Growth is the obvious answer, but it leads to other issues. Demographically, we are changing a lot. We are becoming so large that, are we meeting the needs of all the students? I think I understand the reasoning behind being a one high school town essentially is so we have the best pool of athletes and students to feed into the top teams and academics. With the one high school, that means we have one student council president, one class president, fewer office positions for a lot of qualified students. When you have multiple schools, there are more opportunities for other students to look good on their resume. That’s what’s important, our job as a district is to position those students to look good in front of a college so they can possibly get into the school they want to get into.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“I recognize the need to address a lot of the growth issues that we have. We know the high school is packed, we know the middle schools are packed, so there’s a need to build new schools. I do have concerns about how they’re allocating funds to build these schools. The cost jump is significant, I’d like to understand that. Being a parent, and I went through Texas public schools myself, I know the building doesn’t teach you anything, it’s what goes on inside the building, what the teachers are doing, you’re also learning a lot from your classmates. I don’t think we need the fanciest buildings to learn, we just need to have more than adequate facilities. Another thing, one of the things I saw on the cut list was $200 thousand towards new instruments for the orchestra. We can spend all the money on this bond, while things like instruments that will directly impact students today, we’re going to cut it. I didn’t really understand some of the decisions that were made.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“At a candidate forum I had one of the people in the audience ask me, ‘What does education mean to you,’ and I thought about it. What it all boils down to is why am I throwing my hat in a ring for this commitment, this commitment to the district and to education. It’s because I care. I care how my son is educated, I care how the community is represented. The reason why I live in Coppell is because the brand is the school district. How can I improve upon that brand? As a board member, that’s probably the best way for me to do it, as a private citizen. I care about how others perceive what I’m saying, it doesn’t carry as much weight if I’m not practicing what I’m preaching.”
Jonathan Kirby
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“I’m interested in our community and I have children and I want to make sure that kids go to Coppell to get the best education they can. We’ve got a culture of excellence here in this town with our school board, with our administration, and I want to make sure we keep that going. Coppell is fixing to experience some growth that is very significant and it’s going to bring a ton of students in here over the next 10 years, so I want to be a resource to the community about how to mitigate that growth. I also have a vested interest in making sure our schools stay the top in the state and our property values stay up. When you put all that stuff together, it was the right time.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“I am an entrepreneur. I’ve owned my own business pretty much since I’ve been out of college and it’s been very successful. I bring that skill set. I come from a family of educators. I have been on hundreds and hundreds of public school campuses all around DFW, so I understand the inner workings of what goes on on a campus more than any of my opponents do. I also understand school finance. When you consider that I support the direction this school district has been going, I think that it’s a good fit.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today? What is your position on the bond proposal?
“The growth. This election is very important, there is a very large bond that is being proposed. There were a lot of members of the community and the school board and the administration, there was a lot that went into that and in order to mitigate our growth that’s coming up, getting that bond done and getting it implemented successfully is going to be totally necessary.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“It would mean that I’m able to serve my community in a capacity that I feel I have the unique skill set in. I feel that I could bring a lot to the community, a lot to the school board, so it would very much be an honor to be a part of all of that. I feel that we’ve got a very good thing going and I feel Coppell is one of the best kept secrets in the metroplex, if not the state, so I’d love to be apart of that.”
http://facebook.com/electjonathankirby
Jill Popelka
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“I want to prepare the children of this community for the future. Part of preparing them for the future is loving them, part of it holding them to a high moral standard, and part of it is providing them with a great education, and we do that through our schools. I’m really passionate about getting the education system right. We have a great school district; I want to start to improve on some of the great things that we do.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“I’m really passionate. I have a lot of energy and I’m willing to work. I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I want to create a conversation with our community because schools can’t do these things alone. We have to listen to our entire community and understand what they think is best for our school. We have to listen to our teachers, our students, so that we take into account all of those important perspectives as we make changes and transform our school district. We have to continue to transform in order to stay ahead and provide the best education of our students.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“The biggest issue is obviously the growth. We have to be able to handle that, we have to have the right facilities to accommodate our students and provide the right learning environment. It’s the most urgent issue that we have facing us, but there are other issues as well, such as the ability to prepare students for what the future presents them as far as job opportunities, in terms of the technology challenges we have in the future, and just to allow each of our kids to come out of school having built on their individual strengths. Those are all really important things that we have to face as a district.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“I support the bond. We have done a lot of work. A lot of study and diligence has gone into preparing this proposal and looking at the costs that will be incurred as we complete what we need to do to keep our students safe. If the citizens of Coppell approve the bond, then [Coppell ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip] will have an oversight committee that ensures that we allocate those funds appropriately, that we are very transparent about how we use them, and that we use them efficiently and effectively towards our growth problems.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“It would be a huge honor to serve on the board of trustees because we have such an excellent district and this community holds in such high regard our civic and community leaders. I believe I would have a real responsibility to all those constituencies, to represent well. We want what’s best for our kids, and to be able to make those things a reality would just be a huge honor for me to serve.”
Place 3
Anthony Hill
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“There for four reasons. It’s a time commitment, for the past 9 years I’ve been on the board, for four years I was president, so I definitely understand the time commitment that is required to be a trustee. I spend on average just under 2000 hours a year doing this. This includes meetings, going to conferences, and also participating on committees. Above all of that I participate on the Coppell Education Foundation and District Education Improvement Council. The second one is that we have a pinnacle 20/20 plan in place. It’s very important to have a strategic plan in place. When you have a plan like that it allows to you be a lot more successful and intentional about the things that you do. I have a lot of expertise as well because I am participating in venues outside of the district as well as in the district. I serve as the Vice President for the North Texas Area Association of School Boards, and I also participate on the Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund Board. The last part is advocacy, advocating for schools. KCBY is one that I’ve advocated for to get out in the community and they’ve done videos for Mobility Credit Union as well as Metrocrest Services. I’ve also done some work with IBM and partnering with them, I’ve coordinated the 5th graders having presentations, I’ve also partnered with the YMCA and their Youth and Government program.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“The strengths I bring to the position on is advocacy, the ability to reach out and build relationships with people is extremely important in this role. If you are able to build relationships with people, what that allows you to do is to expand the level of support that you have and also allows you to use their network, because it they like what you do, you do it will fidelity, they are willing to share their resources and network with you. That brings more opportunities, for students as well as for instructors. In addition to that is leadership skills, the ability to work with diverse people with diverse backgrounds and thought processes. It’s very important to be able to build those relationships because those diverse groups represent the schools. If you’re able to bring other people into the fold, then we allow them to understand that we have a purpose, then people are willing to participate and get involved. The purpose of a school board trustee is to have vision, get involved in the day to day operations.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“The biggest issue is maintaining the level of success that we have. The way you do that is having a pinnacle 20/20, a strategic vision. Also, looking for future opportunities, you don’t lessen your morals when you have successes, because even when you have successes, there is room for improvement in areas. The way you do that is you want to bring along all the people that are a part of that process, we want to make sure they buy into the process that had been laid out, and you want to get the necessary support, not only upfront but throughout the process to allow that to be successful. Change is required because if something that may be external to something in the district happens, you may be able to adapt to that change and be flexible enough to be successful and move forward.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“I am in favor of the bond proposal. When you look at the proposal, there were two sets of groups that were actively put together for the purpose of looking at the bond. Each of those groups consisted of not only staff members, but parents and community members and business people in the community. They agreed that those needs, which are the most urgent needs over the next 3-5 years and beyond, were identified in that proposal. The other thing is infrastructure and technology. You have to have the capacity so that the instructional technology works adequately and effectively. One of the things that we have to do is that we have to enhance that facility, currently that facility does not have the capacity for the number of devices that come on campus.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“Being a member of the board of trustees is being a part of a team. You have a superintendent that’s a part of that team, and then you have the trustees and we have to operate and concentrate on the same vision. If we operate on the same vision, you don’t have an issue of disruption. We sit down and we set the goals for the superintendent, and his formative assessment, and then we’ll come back later and just do the evaluative aspect of that assessment. It’s being a team member. It’s also working together when we’re out and having conversations in the public eye, that we’re saying the things that we have concurred and agreed with as far as setting goals. It’s a continuous process, being a member. It’s also an understanding of chain in command. The superintendent is over operations and he has complete authority. If we have a disagreement or difference of opinion on how to execute that, that we sit down and work through that.”
https://hillcampaign2016.wordpress.com/why/
Pankaj Jain
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“My two kids are in Coppell schools. My older one is in 10th grade at Coppell High School, a sophomore, and my younger one is in third grade at Mockingbird Elementary. I’m also a professor of philosophy, religion, and anthropology at UNT. As a professor I receive graduates from across the state and beyond and I would like to see Coppell ISD high school graduates and Coppell ISD students in general, I think they are destined to achieve higher, but they seem to be lagging behind Plano ISD and Southlake ISD. So as a professor and a parent, I would like to bring a fresh perspective to the board, which seems to be missing.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“My undergrad is in computer science, my doctorate is in religion, so I think I would bring a unique perspective of STEM, humanities, and social sciences to the board. I realize that we live in the 21st century, we need both of these skills equally balanced, equally developed in all of our students, and if we don’t do that, then we are lagging behind. I also bring an international perspective, having lived and traveled across Asia and North America. I think we need a much more holistic, comprehensive, and wider perspective to the board, and I think I bring all of those perspectives to the table.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“The biggest issue is that, even with our great strengths, great community, almost no poverty in our Coppell ISD boundaries, still we are barely making the top 10 in Dallas-Fort Worth area schools. I feel that our students are not prepared enough for the global economy of the 21st century. The students are not only competing with local ISDs, but they are competing with students in India and China and I see several loop holes and blind spots as I’ve been talking to hundreds of parents in the last few weeks in my campaigning, and that’s what I want to cover if I get elected. I would also like to have a better balance between traditional teaching and technology. I see that the balance is getting disturbed. My own kids, I have to really monitor them to keep them from using iPads and instant chatting, I think those distractions and temptations are having an effect on their reading skills, writing skills, math skills, and critical skills.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“Everybody whom I’ve talked to in the past few weeks has been taken by surprise. What is this bond? Why is it $249 million dollars,’ such a huge, gigantic amount, ‘why property tax must rise again,’ they are already at a record high and they are going to increase again. As a parent, as a professor, I personally don’t mind paying more, because I would love for my kids to get the best possible education, but what I see is that the standards are not improving and we keep spending more money on technology. I’m not against the needs of the students of course, as a parent and a teacher, but I would like to see this in question with the bond. Our priority has to be more about academic standards and less about flashy things. Secondly, the entire process of bond committee, I don’t know how the members were chosen. I would have loved to give my inputs so that process could have been more collaborative. Because of the above reasons, I’m seriously questioning this bond.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“Being a member of the board of trustees means to bring the representation of the entire community of Coppell ISD. I see so far that the board has not had a voice for the concerns of the asian students, I see that some Coppell ISD schools have 35-50% of asian kids. I see that the perspectives of the parents and the kids are missing from the board. Most of the people I’ve talked to have no clue about what decisions are being taken on their behalf. I feel that I can be a better voice and better ears for the community at large.”
Ron Hansen
What motivated you to apply for the position?
“I’ve been involved in many aspects of the community for 23 years, we’ve raised for kids here. All of my kids have only gone to Coppell Schools. I’ve been involved in all kinds of groups, clubs, associations and my youngest son is graduating from high school. It just seemed like the timing was perfect for me. My skills are such that are probably needed by the ISD now. I think I have a lot to offer with what I do.”
What are the biggest strengths you bring to the position?
“Mostly financial, analytical type matters. A board takes all kinds of people. We need to have people who are representative of your community, people who know about education, financial people. It takes a whole variety of people to represent the community. I am a consultant, I do a lot of financial analysis and large company healthcare plans.”
What is the biggest issue facing Coppell ISD today?
“It’s interesting because you got a couple of issues for the kids and then there’s a couple of community issues. The biggest issue in the community right now is the big bond that they want to pass. It’s three times bigger than anything that’s ever been attempted in the city. There’s not a lot of details about the of the bond and a lot of people want to know more details. We have to address the growth, we must address the growth, the question is ‘how do we do it?’ I would prefer if there was a lot more detail that came out on the bond, some of the pricing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, we have debt ratios of how we’re measuring against other school districts and some of our debt goes up very high. Our student debt goes up 104%. That’s tough. We’ve become one of the top per student debtors in the state. That’s not a good designation to have.”
What is your position on the bond proposal?
“We must address the growth. I don’t like all or none propositions, and I also don’t like saying ‘you’re either against the kids or for the kids’ absolutely not. I love Coppell ISD and want the best for it. We have one page that describes that bond and there’s some stuff on the internet. We have less information than if we were to buy a $20,000 automobile. We should have done a better job there. I understand, it is a complicated process, there are a lot of moving pieces, issues, unexpected costs and things like that, but for 249$ million dollars, I want to do it right. If we get it wrong, it could be disastrous for our community. Absolutely for the kids, absolutely for taking care of the responsibilities that we have to educate them, I’m not sure that putting that out there right now was the best option. The second issue is what is the appropriate use of technology in our schools. It seems like we’ve gone IPad crazy. Part of the bond proceeds go to pay for ipads. Basically we are taking some short term obsolete technologies and paying for them with long term money. It’s nifty it’s cool, I get it, but is it really what we should be doing to educate our children? I haven’t seen a lot of data on it.”
What does being a member of the board of trustees mean to you?
“It means that I have to represent the voters and my community and doing the very best thing for the students of the Coppell Independent School District. My youngest is graduating, so it’s a little easier to be objective, it’s a little easier to listen to parents, hear what they have to say. You have to get along with people, and you have to be able to come together as a group, as a committee to kind of help decide what kind of direction you want to go in. I will tell you that Coppell is not great by accident, there were a lot of great people that were here before I got here that did a really good job of figuring things out financially, academically, hiring the right people. We need to make it so it’s a school district that attracts the best teachers, the best families, and then when we put it together with the academic programs taking place- that’s what makes Coppell great. It’s difficult to keep it going, but it would be really easy to mess things up, so you need to make sure if you are going to make a change, it needs to be positive.”