Whether they made a career inside or outside the local school system, candidates for the District 8 school board seat are campaigning on their experience.
In the three-way race to succeed Hamilton County Commission hopeful and current school board Chairman Kenny Smith, voters in East Ridge will choose among:
* Dean Arnold, a local author and former public policy and communication director for the nonprofit Chattanooga Resource Foundation
* Andrew Mullins, a former Chattanooga police officer who now works as an employee benefits consultant for Aflac, as well as a high school and college sports official
* David Testerman, who retired from Hamilton County Schools after more than 30 years as a teacher and administrator
While Mr. Testerman says his years in the classroom give him a leg up, Mr. Arnold and Mr. Mullins say constituents have a chance to bring new blood to the Hamilton County Board of Education.
“I think the spirit of the day does not call for someone who’s been inside the system,” Mr. Arnold said. “We need drastic changes.”
One change Mr. Mullins wants would give more managing capability to principals. When it comes to violence in schools, one of his central campaign issues, he said principals’ hands are tied and they’re not allowed enough authority to discipline students.
“Kick ’em out, call the cops and have them put in jail, send them to alternative school,” he said. “My fear is that, in another five years, we’re going to end up with metal detectors in every school.”
Mr. Testerman said he doesn’t see anything wrong with the school system as it is. After working with vocational education students, he said he’d like to see the county build a career and technical high school.
“This will help with some of the issues we see with unemployment and dropouts,” he said.
Mr. Arnold said he likes to think of himself as a visionary thinker. He believes the private sector needs to be more involved in public education in Chattanooga, and that improving the quality of life of the city’s bottom 20 percent is the only way to ever fix the schools.
“We need to fix the mission statement. What is public education system supposed to do?” he said. “We need to get the whole community involved. It’s a little unfair to point to principals and teachers and say, ‘Look at that bottom 20 percent of these students – why are they failing?'”
All three candidates say they are ready to see new leadership at the top and would consider replacing Superintendent Jim Scales either now or as soon as his contract expires next year.
“I think Dr. Scales’ performance as superintendent is not what it should be,” said Mr. Testerman, who favors a local candidate for the job.
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