Frank Juarez, Jr. – District 5 Candidate, Challenger

What is your motivation to become a school board member?

In the time I've lived in the school district I've observed a number areas impacting student learning, teacher and educator academia; for example: Our school board needs to be more responsive, and receptive to the members of our diverse education community — parents, teachers, staff, administration and most important out students. Furthermore, we must focus on the needs of our children and encourage fairness in educational opportunity, unity, and open communication. To accomplish this, it takes leadership, education experience, and long term vision.

What particular skills or experience qualifies you to serve as a school board member?

I have over 20 years of education and teaching to include: Substitute teaching, paraprofessional certification in Special Education and General Education, Teaching Assistant, Spanish-Bilingual, Government, AVID, Academic Recovery Case Manager, Technology, CTE-Criminal Justice, Post-Secondary Education, Adult Continuing Education, Administration (Jr. College Coordinator-ACE), Military Science, and Educational Program Adviser. I've also served our education communities as County Charter Schools CTE Board Advisory Committee member, PTSA/PTA Campus Liaison, Industrial-Vocational and CTSO Advisory Boards, SkillsUSA Manager--Service, Trade, and Industry and Workforce Preparatory Programs, U.S. Army Education Officer, Instructor, and Higher Education Financial Aid Advisory Officer, and School Safety Officer-ERT Specialist and Supervisor.

How much time will you be able to give in service as a school board member?

Without impacting my own family's quality time, I will give whatever time it takes to help improve our education community while seeking improvement with the school board to include: rebuilding trust, harmony, good leadership, and effective communication. Furthermore, I would dedicate time and energy towards a common goal for school improvement, education quality, teacher benefits, with focus on our children.

What are the greatest challenges facing public education in Texas?

To include but not limited to classroom size, which impacts our student-teacher ratio, poverty, family factors, technology, school safety, student attitudes and behaviors, lack of parent involvement, student learning opportunity misalignment and funding.

What are the greatest challenges for Hays CISD?

Hays CISD student population continues to grow quickly, so the school board needs to improve its planning. The Board must plan for more new facilities, and improvement of existing buildings in a fiscally responsible manner while taking into consideration that classroom size impacts student-teacher ratio. It must also focus on reaching out to all district population to include poverty level areas. It must also consider improving other influences to include--technology, school safety, student attitudes and behaviors, lack of parent involvement, family factors, student learning opportunity misalignment and funding. The Board must also need to ensure it continues to retain and attract quality teachers, administrators and staff. It must also seek unity and improved communication.

What are your ideas to improve the future of Hays CISD? How would they help our students?

My top priorities are working for common goals in providing fair learning opportunities for our children. We will rebuild trust and unity among our stakeholders. Let's all increase safety for all students on every campus and continue to build up our bilingual programs, and seek an increase in education funding with minimal impact on the taxpayers.

If elected, you will represent a specific area of Hays CISD. How will you balance the needs of your specific constituents with the needs of the entire school district?

As a school board, we must focus on seeking effective ways to achieve a balanced representation of our educational community fair and unbiased representation. This can be achieved by the rebuilding of trust, unity, effective communication and vision for a common goal for children's education. An education community must provide a fair opportunity for all of our children.

Describe YOUR view of your role on the school board and the role of the superintendent. What is the ideal relationship between you and the senior administration of Hays CISD?

My role as a school board member is to be unbiased, fair, communicative, open to ideas and suggestions from board members, and the education community. I must focus on a common goal for meeting the needs of its schools, teachers, educators and most importantly our children. As a board member, it's vital that I work towards providing fair learning opportunities for students within our highly diversified cultural areas of the school district, while seeking improvements for all education programs to include but not limited to bilingual, learning disabilities programs, workforce preparation, and preparation for higher education.

The relationship between a school board member and superintendent must allow equal treatment and respect for each in regards to information provided. Neither the superintendent or the board member should over-communicate with the board president and under-communicate with other members. It’s my professional opinion, and perspective as a parent in the district’s education community that superintendents must communicate regularly with those they see and interact with frequently consistently.

Superintendents must always remember to express their appreciation for the school board members while assuring equal treatment. The board members and superintendent must establish a process that allows for adequate discussion, and processing time while clearly expressing what it needs to gain a level of understanding. The school board and superintendent must establish and maintain a relationship between them through ongoing and frequent communication. The superintendent and the school board must disallow private meetings to avoid bias planning and decisions. The school board must allow the schools to run under the leadership of their principal without interference or influence of any school board member.

What do you believe should be the goal and the role of the teachers and professional organizations in the school district?

Improvements with technology, school safety, student attitudes and behaviors, parental involvement, student learning opportunity, truancy, attendance, and school funding. The Board must also need to ensure it continues to retain and attract quality teachers, administrators and staff, assuring continued professional development while seeking unity, trust, and improved communication among the board.

Do you support a constitutional amendment requiring the state to pay at least 50 percent of the cost of maintaining and operating the public school system? Please explain your answer.

I could support such an amendment with the consideration that any increase in school funding through State funds would benefit our schools and avoid increasing taxes. However, we must understand it would require for school districts to establish more stringent truancy and attendance policies to assure student compliance, otherwise, schools would face losses in funding due to poor attendance. I also foresee that to support such a bill it would also require increased parental involvement to assure that students are influenced to attend school as required.

Other Comments:

For a school board to be effective it must develop good leadership while building upon loyalty to its education community, establishing trust, harmony and common goals with a focus on our stakeholders — our children.