It’s the past versus the present for the 6th District School Board seat.
Scott Holmes, the incumbent, is looking to fend off the challenge of David Sneed, who held the seat for eight years. The two met during a political forum Monday night at WCHS.
In seeking re-election, Holmes says the Warren County School System is clearly pointed in the right direction and making positive strides.
“We have created an environment that lets our children know we want them to be educated,” said Holmes. “We can’t take every child and put them in one mold. We have to give each one an opportunity to shine in their own way.”
Sneed said every student needs a quality education, whether they plan to attend college or learn a trade. He says the results have been favorable.
“It goes to show what our school system can do because if you look around you can find a lot of Warren County people in high places,” said Sneed. “My eight years on the board have given me good experience. It’s tough sometimes to make decisions that affect policy.”
With 1,800 students at WCHS, both candidates were asked their thoughts on the possibility of two high schools instead of one.
“That’s been a question put to the School Board for eight or nine years,” said Sneed. “If we want to go back to two high schools with about 900 students each, we do have the middle school to use. And we just built two new schools and I know Dibrell has four classrooms that aren’t being used right now.”
Holmes said his goal is to first develop a long-term plan and work on implementing that plan. He said there have been several proposals about lowering the enrollment at WCHS such as magnet schools or having a ninth grade academy that’s located on a different campus.
“We are developing a strategic plan and that’s looking at the next 20 years, not the next two,” said Holmes. “We have a large building here we need to use and we have to use it properly before we start doing anything else.”
The candidates were asked about the educational time at the end of the school year after TCAP testing is complete. Both candidates said they don’t consider the time to be “wasted time,” but rather a chance to explore different opportunities.
“State and federal have pushed the schools to teach to a test, but at the end of the year we have the opportunity to take things out of a book and make it real for them,” said Holmes.
Added Sneed, “It may be said there’s a lot of playing and watching movies, but that gives them a chance at a different type of interaction.”