Cedarville will be voting in a new school board member on Election Day – School Board President Kallie Goines has reached the end of her current five year term and is not running for re-election. Kallie has been a tremendous asset to the School Board and will be dearly missed. There are four candidates vying for the soon to be vacant position and they agreed to answer some questions for me (Mavis Lawson, creator and editor of this website) so that I could share the results with you. We have some impressive individuals in this race!
Jeff Clayborn
ML: Tell me about yourself.
JClayborn: Hello, my name is Jeff Clayborn and I am a candidate for Cedarville school board this year. I’ve been an electrician since 1998 and an employee of Sparks hospital for 12 years. I have two kids that have attended Cedarville schools since kindergarten, a son who is a Junior this year and a daughter who is in 7th grade.
ML: Why do you want to be a school board member?
JClayborn: I would like to be a member of our school board for numerous reasons. First, I feel as though we have an excellent school system. From the teachers, coaches, and administrators who all go beyond what is expected of normal job duties. We also have and have had great students as seen by the scholarships awarded over the past years. Second, I have been involved with either coaching or helping run all of the youth sports that my kids have been involved in as well as many many kids that I have close relationships with. Third, I feel as though it is all of our responsibilities to be as involved with as much as possible as parents, grandparents, and as a community as a whole not just for the now but for the future.
ML: What do you see as the school board’s roles and responsibilities?
JClayborn: I feel that the roles and responsibilities of the school board are to be a checks and balance figure for the school, the students, and all the faculty. You also are a role model, helper, cheerleader, and anything else you are personally capable of doing. The safety of each student as well as any person who steps foot on our campuses is one of the most important things but it takes everyone working together to prevent or stop any dangers physically, mentally, or emotionally that occur.
ML: What is your vision for education in our community?
JClayborn: My vision for the education at the school is to help produce the most well rounded self sufficient young adults that we can turn out. We have great programs available to our students right now but not every single student is going to go to college it’s just a fact. I would love to see more technical and agricultural programs available for those students because they are the backbone of our community. It takes everyone working together school board, staff, and parents but there are numerous programs available academically, athletically, and the arts.
ML: If you could have any super power for a day, what would you like to have?
JClayborn: If I could have one super power for one day, I’m not really sure what it would be but I would love for everyone suffering from any disease to have the chance to be healed from whatever it might be.
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
——————————————————————————————————————————
Clint Henslee
ML: Tell me about yourself.
CH: I am a Christian first and everything I do in my life is supported by my faith. I graduated from Harding a Christian University. I graduated from Arkansas State with honors. I hold a masters in Educational leadership and have taught for 19 yrs. I am a director and teacher of the ALE at Mulberry High school. I received the United Way teacher award in 2018 for the work I have been a part of with HeartBridge and the Opioid crisis in our county.I preach at Chastain Church and enjoy being a servant. I have lived here about 10 years. I own a few homes in our district and about 50 acres north of the reservoir on Lee Creek where my family live. We call it the Rockin’ H. I have been married for over 20 years to a great Christian wife named Michelle Henslee. She is an instructional facilitator at Euper Lane Elementary. We have four boys. Three of which go to school at Cedarville. My two oldest play football for Cedarville and one is in the East program. Two of my sons have dyslexia so I understand the hardships a student has to go through to be successful. We have a 3 year old that will be there soon. I play guitar and like to work on old cars. I just sold a 1967 SS396 Chevelle and recently purchased a 1954 Ford Mainline and I enjoy working on older style motorcycles.
ML: Why do you want to be a school board member?
CH: I want to be on the school board to serve the students of Cedarville first. I also want to serve the parents and community. I am all about doing what is best for all of our kids. I want to bring ideas that I have learned that focus on the issues that face our schools and students today and in the future. We have to focus on student safety, physical, social and emotional needs so that they are prepared to learn from cutting edge teachers that are trained in the best practices of education. I want to help Cedarville become a world class institution.
ML: What do you see as the school board’s roles and responsibilities?
CH: The school board has to have the best Superintendent in the job possible. We as a school board allow him to recommend and hire the best Principals and they in turn hire the best teachers. We need to compensate all of these people and build a culture that they want to stay for the long term. With more stability it will trickle down to every student. We need to work on retention of our finest teachers. We need to listen to the recommendations of our superintendent and vote for what is best for kids. I will always vote or propose with the students in mind above all else.
ML: What is your vision for education in our community?
CH: I want to see Cedarville in the news for being one of the best schools in the state, the south and in the country. My vision is a heck of a vision.
ML: If you could have any super power for a day, what would you like to have?
CH: My super power for the day would be that all children and adults could realize their fullest potential and work hard to be the very best they could be. I would use my superpower to encourage them to continue into the future.
——————————————————————————————————————————
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.