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Michael Dzik
Michael Dzik serves on the parent-teacher association at his daughters’ elementary school, and he hopes soon to represent his PTA colleagues as their school board member.
Mr. Dzik, executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga, announced his candidacy Thursday for the District 7 seat of the Hamilton County Board of Education. He joins 23-year-old Kevin Burke in competing for the East Brainerd district now occupied by Joe Conner, who will not seek re-election.
“I care about the schools, and I am a product of the schools,” he said. “I have a lot of enthusiasm and drive, and I think I can make a good change for the school system.”
Mr. Dzik, 36, is a 1990 graduate of Tyner Academy. His wife, Jennifer, is a substitute teacher in Hamilton County, and his daughters, Rachel, 8, and Rebecca, 6, attend Westview Elementary School.
As director of the federation, Mr. Dzik said he has been involved in running the organization’s preschool and creating its budget. He’s had experience as the president of his neighborhood association and is active in Westview’s PTA, which he said would help him in communicating with school officials and the residents he represents.
“I feel like I have a good bit of life experience and a good perspective of what’s going on,” he said.
Poor school discipline is an issue Mr. Dzik said he wants to tackle through increased parent and PTA involvement. He also said he wants to support teachers by finding ways to get them more classroom supplies and bigger salaries.
“Let’s help them turn out better young adults,” he said. “These kids are going to be our work force. They’re going to take care of us when we get older.”
He said he would take a common-sense approach to showing the public how school funds are used and involve a diverse group of people in the county’s public schools.
“I want something better not just for my children, but for all children,” he said.
Jennifer Weaver, Mr. Dzik’s next-door neighbor and treasurer of the neighborhood association, said it is this vested interest in the quality of local public education that will make him work hard for improvements.
“I’ve seen the value his family places on education,” she said. “He’s already a leader in the community, and he loves kids. He’s just a kind heart and would look out for children.”
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
