SHERRY LYNN CAVES
Tri-County School District
What promoted you to run for school board?
My family and friends encouraged me to run based on my skills and my passion for educational excellence, and I decided to listen to them. During my career, I have created and managed multi-million dollar projects, managed risks, and stakeholders, and worked as a teacher, teaching diverse groups of students in the United States and abroad. I will use my experience and my drive towards improvement to work towards making things better.
What do you believe are the important issues facing your school district?
I believe school districts across the state, including Tri-County, are faced with the continuing challenges of safety, mental health, enrollment, absenteeism, providing equal access to quality education, and balancing the school budget.
If elected - during your term what do you hope to accomplish?
It is naive to think I can accomplish anything alone. If elected, I will work collectively to continually address the issues previously mentioned.
I also hope to see a continued increase in reading proficiency scores for our kindergarten through third grade students. It is in grades kindergarten through third grade that students “learn to read” so in fourth grade and beyond these students can “read to learn.” A collective effort has been underway for several years at Tri-County to improve the reading proficiency of our kindergarten through third grade students. As a previous substitute teacher at Tri-County, I saw first-hand how these efforts are paying off. I plan to support efforts focusing on increased reading proficiency as well as other efforts related to increasing the percentage of our students who are on-track for graduation.
What makes you a great candidate for school board?
I am a graduate of Tri-County High School. I know the school and the community and am grateful for the educational opportunities and lifelong skills I learned at Tri-County. I want the same for every current Tri-County student and more - I want them to have more opportunities and experiences than I did.
CODY SMILEY
Tri-County School District
What prompted you to run for school board?
The desire to make a positive impact in my community, for too long many have sat idle while our schools are left to shape the next generation. It is time we take charge and shape the next generation directly, the way to do that is through policy change directly from the people.
What do you believe are the important issues facing your school district?
The same issues facing school districts across the country; budgetary issues, the vaping trend, a backlog of disciplinary incidents, and a genuine lack of responsibility by both sides.
If elected – during your term what do you hope to accomplish?
A greater connection with our school and the community, a sense of pride for our school district through various community events, a tougher disciplinary system for repeat offenders.
What makes you a great candidate for school board?
I bring a differing approach and views from other candidates. I am a small business owner in the community, and I also work full time in law enforcement. Having a varied background will help bring a perspective that has yet to be utilized. I graduated from Tri-County, and it used to be something people were proud of. Now it seems like students and parents could care less, that needs to change. We need the Pride to be back in Tri-County.
