Iredell-Statesville Schools School & Family Magazine February/March 2016 | Page 17

of the intricate nature of school operations.
Some of my former educators, as well as local
business representatives, encouraged me
to run for the local school board. After being
elected to the board in 2000 and becoming
chairman two years later, my ultimate goal has
been to instill the idea in our community that
our students are capable of and deserve the
best learning environment. With strong school
system and growing community support, we
accepted the challenge of a highly intense
and often controversial growth and quality
assurance process. With strong, aggressive
leadership, our school system ultimately earned
the national Baldrige Quality Assurance award
in 2008. Having achieved that recognition,
our community and school district developed
a higher self-esteem and became even
more engaged in providing more elaborate
educational opportunities for all our students.
While beginning to offer diverse
educational opportunities for students, including
the International Baccalaureate program,
Early College programs, alternative education
programs, and a virtual education program, to
name a few, we also were acutely faced with
the economic recession of 2008, so the second
half o