The recent election left Cedarville with no declared winner in the race for School Board – no candidate received 51% of the votes (I told ya’ll this would be a tough one!) So a run-off between Jeff Cluck and Zach Miller is set for Tuesday, December 4, 2018. Please make plans to VOTE!
Jeff Cluck
ML: Tell me about yourself.
JCluck: My name is Jeff Cluck. I am a proud lifelong resident of Cedarville. As a kid growing up, it was difficult to answer someone when they would ask, “Where are you from”? We had a Natural Dam telephone number, a Rudy address and went to Cedarville schools, but regardless they were all home. I attended Cedarville Schools kindergarten through 12th grade and graduated salutatorian of my class. From there, I went to Arkansas State University and received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering.
Some people say that Cedarville’s education is lacking when compared to larger districts, to them I reply you are slightly misinformed. I know several engineers, a pharmacist, and a doctor that all came from Cedarville and that’s just in my graduating class. There is one thing that didn’t come from Cedarville though, and that is my high school sweetheart, who still puts up with me to this day. Brandi and I have two boys, one in elementary and one in middle school. We attend Grandview Assembly of God in Natural Dam, and volunteer with their community outreaches as much as possible. We are the third generation to live on my family’s farm and some of our property goes back five generations. We are a cow/calf operation and also run several head of feeder calves. Along with the farm, we also have a small feed mill and a construction contracting company. In addition to the farm related business, I am the Project manager for an out of state recycling company, where I oversee the installation of material handling equipment.
I was the President of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers- ASU chapter for several years and am current Vice President of the Crawford County Cattleman’s Association. Over the years I have served on many boards and committees throughout the county and state. Living where you work doesn’t leave much free time for hobbies, but when we do have some my boys and I like the classics, hunting and fishing. We have several stocked ponds on our farm, so good fishing is only a few steps away and we’re not catch and release kind of people…. We catch it, we eat it. Enough about me though, let’s look at some of the questions Mrs. Mavis Lawson has brought up.
ML: Why do you want to be a school board member?
JCluck: Contrary to what some people have said, my reason is not because both Grandpa’s and Dad served multiple terms on the board. Rather it is because I want to have an active role in my child’s education. Not saying if you aren’t on school board that you don’t have an active role, but rather if I can take my hometown approach and use my experience to present to the administration ideas or concerns that you as parent have, then we have both taken an active role in our kids’ education.
ML: What do you see as the school board’s roles and responsibilities?
JCluck: The way I see it is there are two categories, students and faculty/staff. Every idea, issues, or concern that comes in front of the board can be placed in one of these two categories. The sub-set to these categories is where everything gets messy. Every person has a different set of priorities… Education over athletics, flashy vs. practical. The board is the voice of the parents, so they need to take feedback from them and coupled with their own personal convictions make decisions that are the best interest for our children’s education.
ML: What is your vision for education in our community?
JCluck: The educational system as a whole needs some work. We no longer teach certain parts of history because it may offend someone and math is so messed up that parents can’t even help their kids if they have questions. Here locally though we need to stop trying to be like everyone else. We aren’t Van Buren, Alma or the school that you came from. We are Cedarville and proud of it. Small class size and caring teachers is what has always set us apart. Somewhere along the way though things changed and the image became more important than our kids. Critics will say, I’m resisting change and just because we’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean we should have. To them I reply,” if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Not to mention that if we are as reluctant to change as implied then we would still be in the Old Rock School Building. Adapting to the times is one thing, but steam-rolling over things that could benefit our kids is wrong. Everyday life skills are no longer part of everyday education. Even the simplest of things like signing your name have been lost along the way and had to be found again.
ML: If you could have any super power for a day, what would you like to have?
JCluck: The ability to clone myself, because let’s face it as a parent how often do you need to be in two places at once. Besides having two Jeff Clucks would make the world twice as nice.
Thank you to Mrs. Mavis Lawson for putting the candidates front and center. I would appreciate your votes on November 6th, 2018. Please don’t forget to vote.
Thank you for reading,
Jeff Cluck
Zach Miller
ML: Tell me about yourself.
ZM: I have two amazing kids and a beautiful wife. As many know my wife is the secretary at the high school, my oldest child just started kindergarten, and I also have a nine month old son. I work for Daniel Armer Electric in where I hold a journeyman electrical license and am currently working towards my electrical master’s license. I have worked for Daniel Armer since I was a sophomore in high school at Cedarville.
My hobbies include hunting, fishing, camping, riding horses with my little girl, and just about anything else I can do with my family. Family is a huge part of my life, believe me I have a big family that I love to spend time with.
ML: Why do you want to be a school board member?
ZM: As a 13 year alumni and student athlete of Cedarville Schools, I want what is best for our school and our community that many of us have grown up in or moved in to. We have a great Community and School that many of us pour our heart and time into on a weekly, if not daily basis.
ML: What do you see as the school board’s roles and responsibilities?
ZM: A school board is set up all in all to keep the superintendent in check. Make sure he is making the proper financial and personnel decisions. I want to be a part of the Cedarville School board to help make sure our school is always headed in the right direction. To help keep making improvements as the present school board has done a great job at.
ML: What is your vision for education in our community?
ZM: As far as education goes, I believe Cedarville produces students ready for the next level. Whether that is college, military, trade school, or directly into the work force. Yes, there is always room for improvement. With talking to a couple of the principals and a handful of teachers I believe that we are headed in the right direction for improvement. On the school website or if you happened to make it to the stakeholders meeting we were shown graphs on where the Cedarville students have improved from year to year and how our school was compared to the state averages and we did excellent. Again everyone and everywhere always can improve, but I believe Cedarville schools staff is one of the best around and really push our students for improvement and to be the best individual they can be.
ML: If you could have any super power for a day, what would you like to have?
ZM: If I could have any superpower it would be to slow time down for a day. To be able to smell the flowers and spend real quality time with my wife and kids. We all get so wrapped up in day to day activities that we forget to do this even for five minutes, and I’ll be the first to admit that I do.
Again, as a 13 year student athlete of Cedarville Schools I will do what’s best for our kids, faculty, and school as a whole. This community and School is where I have grown up and now I want to help make the impact on others that I had. I appreciate any and all votes.