Sarah Smith Murry School Board Candidate Zone 5

by Compiled by Dawn Teer

Sarah Smith Murry School Board Candidate Zone 5

1) Please list your name and ward you are running for. My name is Sarah Smith Murry and I am running for the Zone 5 school board position.

2) What made you want to throw your hat in? I feel that I could be an asset to the school district. I am a long-term active community member and I have a lot of experience with the schools in Stuttgart. I feel I could provide an open, rational mindset to the issues at hand.

3) How do you feel you can move our school board forward? I feel as though I could move our school board forward by being open to ideas, and listening to proposals that have been brought forward by a new administration. I feel that I could help move the board forward by being a new face and just generally being someone who hasn’t served on an advisory board in the past and is ready to take on a new task.

4) What do you feel are issues facing the school district? How do you propose to help solve them? I think one of the major issues we face as a school district is teacher retention. I feel like our teachers sometimes feel like they aren’t heard, and they have the mobility to move to other districts where they might be heard louder than they are here. I feel that student advancement is an issue that we have. The statistic has been discussed of how few students we have who score well on AP exams and I feel as though the content could be approached in different ways so that our students might score better and thus improve their higher education.

5) What do you feel is the responsibility of the school board? I feel that the responsibility of the school board is to be fiscally responsible with the budget of the taxpayers money. I feel the school board is an oversight board, overseeing the things that go on in the district at a very high level. The things which are brought before the school board are things that have not gotten resolution at a lower level and have been escalated to the school board. These issues are very deserving of the school board’s time and attention because they have not been resolved through other channels. I feel it is the responsibility of the school board to make the district the best place for our children and for our teachers. I feel the district is an important place for the students and the teachers because they are in turn training the workers of tomorrow. It is important that we have strong well-rounded students who have capabilities to go into any job profession they want to excel in.

6) Do you have children in the district? If so, where do they attend? I do still have a child in Stuttgart School District. I have had three children graduate from the district and are in college now. I have a son who is a rising junior at the high school.

7) Can you be fair to all children? Absolutely. Every child deserves fair and equitable treatment and the same chance as the next student is given. I have four children of my own and I know you can’t play favorites and when a situation arises, you have to listen to both sides. You have to give equal weight to the evidence that is given to you and then you have to make a decision that best benefits both parties in the case of a conflict.

8 ) What strengths will you bring to the board, if elected? I have been an accountant for over 20 years. I am the Director of Accounting for Riceland Foods currently. I understand budgeting and fiscal responsibility, and I understand that sometimes the best choice isn’t the most feasible simply due to funding. I think I can bring a reasonable, equitable frame of mine to the board and most certainly to expenditures.

9) Can you set personal feelings aside and work for the district as a whole? Having had four children in the school district, as well as being a student of the district myself, I can easily say I don’t have any negative feelings toward any school or any member of the district, in any way. I want Stuttgart to be a better place and that starts with our students and our teachers. The only way we are going to get better is to grow together. It is vitally important that our students are safe. It is important that our students know that they are cared for and that our school is a place where they can learn and grow and prepare for their futures.

10) Why should voters elect you? I feel like voters should give me a chance to be on the board. To have their voices heard. I am more than willing to listen to ideas people have, to bring those ideas forward to the administration of the school district. I feel that I am an asset to the community itself. I am a lifelong resident of Stuttgart; my family has been here for many years. I want to see Stuttgart grow, flourish and be a place we can all be proud to live in.



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