Elections 2024: Eddie Mattison, School Dist. 5, Area 3
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Eddie D. Mattison is a candidate for Anderson School Dist. 5, Area 3.
Mattison earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film/Video and is retired.
He lists his community activities as service to Meals on Wheels, the United Way Homeless/Housing Project, and Hope Missions of the Upstate.
Mattison has attended school board meetings.
Here are his answers to the Anderson Observer’s questions:
1. What is the most important responsibility of public schools? Education of our students. Education includes innovation: teaching them how to think as well as teaching them reading, writing, math. It includes flexibility when it comes to innovation in education and learning, and the capacity to change, as needed, with the times. Education also includes communication with parents and the school board. It also includes the Safety of each student, which is a given. Support of our teachers and faculty to provide the education of our students.
2. What are the three most important duties of a public-school board member?
1) set policy for the schools via voted on matters, and innovate where possible, when possible.
2) work with the other school board members, and oversee the work of the superintendent.
3) listen and be open to ideas, suggestions, problems, concerns and successes from the schools, teachers, administration, and parents of the students.
3. How is your combination of education and experience relevant to serving the duties identified in question one? I believe that I have experience having been in school for many years to know some things that work and some that don't. My degree in Communication fosters a desire/need for communication within the board and within the schools. I am retired, which brings more time to give to the needs of the "job". I am good at research, I am older, so have more time to listen and be patient with concerns around me. I am an excellent team player and know how to get things done. To give back, I run a Facebook page called “Eye on Anderson”. Running this page requires/demands that I be professional.
4. Is there a particular issue that motivates you to run for a seat on the board of education? Yes, I believe that we need to see kids graduating with the ability to think, and not just be good citizens getting a job. We are very much past the days of the textile mills, but I see the train of thinking continuing, vs innovation. (We have just changed from textiles to super technology, but the resulting thinking is the same. I believe that we need to "break some eggs", that we need to borrow from Charter Monticello, and home teaching to create a different type of learning. We need to "copy, steal, borrow" from the successes of successful schools.
5. Please explain your understanding of how school board millage works and what you see as the top priorities for using this money. My understanding is that school millage is based on taxes on property and the value calculated from property. "Tax rates are expressed in mills, which is equal to $1 of tax per $1,000 in assessed value of the property. In recent years, the state's average total mill rate has been between 300 and 350 mills."
My understanding of how this money is being used now is that it is used for infrastructure/buildings/grounds maintenance and building. The question from your question is, can this money be used for other things than infrastructure. That may have to be a state law change.
6. Given all the issues that arise, how can the board stay focused on student achievement? THAT is the question. Prayer each and every day. The individual school board member must learn how to work within the system, but stay guarded against becoming a PART of, or conditioned, by the system. There MUST also be continual communication with students, teachers, principals, the other board members, superintendent, updates from the state, and federal legislatures, and continual striving to create innovations and/or copy the successes of other schools.
7. How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden? 1) By doing a forensic (deep) audit of the budget by (possibly) an independent company, 2) knowing/identifying all sources of revenue and being transparent about that with each other, 3) writing down the priorities/goals for the students and teachers, teaching system, and infrastructure. 4) exercising discipline (or maybe having an oversight-board) to keep the school board on track. 5) identifying what is vitally important for student education vs what is commonly accepted. Learning from other schools, businesses. 6) possibly distributing a survey of what is important to teachers, parents, and even students.
8. What are your thoughts on the current and the proposed budget for your school district? Thanks for the question, but that one will take time. I can get back to you on it.
9. As a board member, where would you look to make budget cuts? I'd start with Staffing (especially administration and clerical. Not teachers.). I realize that's a hard place to start, but as in some companies, staffing can be "bloated". From there, we'd have to look at it in more depth. We may need a deep audit from an independent company.
10. Are there any areas you would not consider cutting? Neither security or transportation (as long as we verify there is no "bloat"), and school lunch and extra feeding of student programs (i.e., breakfast, snack bags) need to stay.
11. How would you determine your budget priorities? That's a great question. We have a budget surplus now. That has been stated. So, we are operating like a successful business. But are we operating with the priorities of our students and teachers in mind? Are our teachers able to teach each student, and are our students learning how to think as well as produce good grades? Are they maturing in the many hours they spend in school each week? Are they adding to our community? Is our money being spent to educate students, or is it being spent to get them through 12 years of schooling, by law? Do we need to do more to encourage parents and teachers to come to the monthly board meetings with questions that they may have, with suggestions for improving what we are focusing on, as a community, what we deem important for our kids to learn based on our economic landscape/industry/movement in the area/colleges, blue-collar jobs, and our vision of our community for the future, and how we want to grow in comparison to and cooperation with our neighboring communities/states. With our budget in mind, we need to ask ourselves, "Is our educational system, our methods of teaching, are they up-to-date? Are we using outdated methods in teaching our students?
12. What changes should be made on the state and local level regarding public education? 1) When the state gives us mandatory policy changes that cost, they need to at least supplement those costs. 2) We need to look at our evolution for the last 20 years, see where we've come and what our vision is for the future. 3) Are our kids learning, growing, are our classes too large to afford learning, are our kids learning how to think? Are we remaining status quo, or are we evolving? Is the state supporting our district schools well enough? Are we communicating/are we able to influence positive changes needed at the state level to help us.
13. Do you favor renewing the penny sales tax for schools when the current law expires? Yes, after an audit of what was done with the money is completed, and an inventory of what we accomplished is completed, and this information is made public so that our constituents can hold us responsible for how we used the money, and we are satisfied with its use.
14. How important are athletics and extracurricular activities and should the school board support such endeavors for students? They are important and the school board should support them. They promote teamwork, they promote socialization and maturation among our students, and they promote our state.
15. What is your understanding of separation of church and state when it comes to public schools in Anderson County? My understanding of church and state as referenced by Thomas Jefferson is that Jefferson meant that the church should not overshadow, or RUN, the state. I believe the schools should have standards and our Constitution has a certain amount of religion/spiritual foundation, so there is a relevance there. That "grounded-ness" is needed in our schools. This is a discussion that is needed to be had between the board, parents, teachers, principals and superintendent.
16. Are you familiar with Moms for Liberty and/or Stop Moms for Liberty groups and how do you view their activities (positively/negatively and why)? I believe that they are trying to get back to the basics/principles of what our students need to be molded/influence/taught by in our schools. I believe they are seen as "extreme," but then we have to take into account our cultural/political climate right now. We seem to have gone so off-center that anything involving conservative basics (not Republican basics) is considered extreme. I believe that Moms for Liberty is made up of concerned parents. I am not aware of Stop Moms for Liberty. I can read up on them and get back in touch with you, if you'd like.
17. How would you work to find common ground with other school board members and the superintendent on issues of disagreement? I would suggest that respect is first, I believe sometimes one has to take a breath. I believe communication is key, with respect, and trying to gain understanding of the other's opinion - listening. There are 8 other members, and one superintendent (who has a PHD). I believe her (superintendent) opinion is important, but not above the board. She is administrator of the boards' decisions. I believe one has to look at the facts (and history) to make (some) decisions. And I believe some decisions have to be looked at, and taken, one step at a time.
18. Could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of? Why or why not? Yes, because 1) There must be order and respect. (We are in the public eye, and we are modeling correct/professional, or incorrect/unprofessional, behavior.) 2) Sometimes we are not going to agree, but later on I may see the efficacy of their decision. 3) There are 9 of us. That's enough for a vote/decision. And 4) The disagreed-on issue may come up again, especially when we have more facts, and the vote may swing the other way - patience, humility.
19. What is your opinion of current teachers in the district and what would you do as a board member to support them? I believe that they are doing their best with what they have. I believe we need to consider teachers' pay a priority - better pay, better vetting ==> hopefully this yields better teachers. And I believe they need a "safe- place"/way to be able to vent their issues/concerns without fear of reciprocity.
20. How can a school board know if its goals are being accomplished and its policies are being implemented? 1) by the results/growth, yes, even our "report card" in the community/state reporting/comparisons with other schools in the state. Also, by talking with students, seeing how they feel about their schooling, but talking to the teachers and getting their input about how things are going, by talking to parents about the same.