Q&A — School Board Zone 2 candidates

Brad Edwards

1. Tell me about your personal background and your family.

I was born and raised in Greeley, Colo., which is about an hour north of Denver. I went to school (there) and my parents are still in the house I grew up in. I spent birth through high school graduation in Greeley. I graduated from Greeley West High School and then found JBU and came to JBU for college.

I was a youth ministry major, so I spent four years at JBU and met my wife Jen here. We got married after graduation and moved to Wyoming, where I helped start a church there in Laramie, Wyo. We lived there three years and then moved to Denver, Colo., where I went to seminary. We lived in the Denver area for four years and then we have been back here since July of 2009.

We came back here because my wife got a job teaching in the music department (at JBU) and I got hired at First Presbyterian Church as the youth pastor, where I served for seven years. So I worked there for seven years and then I have been the director of alumni at JBU for the last 14 months, just over a year. We have two boys. My oldest is Reece, he’s 13 and in eighth grade, and then Mason is 10 and is in fourth grade.

2. What do you feel qualifies you to serve on the school board and what strengths can you offer the community?

I think the thing that qualifies me most for the school board is that I have kids in the district. I’m a current parent, and as a former youth pastor, I love kids, I care about kids, I care about their well being — certainly as a pastor their spiritual development — but also their educational, intellectual, emotional, relational development. I do care about the holistic development of children.

I think the biggest thing that qualifies me is I’m a dad of kids in the school district, but I’m also the product of a public school educator. My dad is retired now, but he was a special ed teacher for 10 years and then was a public school elementary principal for 20 years, so my whole childhood, I mean all my childhood memories and experiences were very much tied to public education or a product of public education, other than JBU and grad school.

So I believe in public education and my mother-in-law is actually a teacher as well. My wife and I are firm believers in public education.

You know, as a dad, for the last eight years we’ve lived here, we have experienced the quality of education in Siloam Springs. I believe in what the district is about and I believe serving in my community wherever I might live, so this seems like a natural fit and a way to serve and give back to my community.

I’ve always gravitated to and looked for leadership opportunities, from elementary school on, so this seems like another sort of progression in leadership opportunities to use my gifts in leadership. My masters has an emphasis in leadership, and so I love serving and leading people and I think giving my background as a public school kid, and the product of a public school educator, it seems like a natural fit for those skills and abilities. 3. Why do you want to serve on the school board?

I want to serve because my kids are in the district. I’ve also, for the entire time we’ve lived here, for the last eight or nine years, I’ve been involved in youth sports in the area, so I’ve gotten to know a lot of the kids. I have coached basketball, and football, and soccer, and baseball, and so I know a lot of the kids and I’ve built a lot of relationships with kids and families, and I care about them — many of which I would treat as my own child. So it’s a way for me to serve them outside of athletics.

Athletics are important and I love sports and I love competition, but first and foremost is education and their development academically, and so that’s why I want to serve. And I love Siloam Springs and I love this community. I want to give back. 4. What do you feel are the school district’s strengths, and what do you think needs improvement?

I think one of the strengths of the school district is they really do live out their value of doing what’s best for children, even thinking through the initiative of the career technical education, the CTE at the high school, the video that’s gone somewhat viral locally about that education. I think they are addressing very much a felt need, not just in our community but with kids as a whole.

Not everyone is wired to go to college, not everyone sees that desire or has that drive, but they’re driven to use their hands as welders, or to be filmmakers, or to be nurses and teachers — and some of those require a college education — but there are a lot of skills I think they are addressing the need of kids that don’t want to go to college or don’t have the resources to go to college, and that’s from kindergarten through graduation, they put the needs of kids first. I think that’s a real strength of the school district. And I think they hire quality teachers and sports staff.

Every teacher that I’ve interacted with as a parent, as a coach, as a youth pastor, are some of the highest quality individuals in our community, and so whether it’s teachers, or support staff, or cafeteria cooks, it’s the best of the best in our community, and I think that’s a strength of the district. I think Superintendent Ramey, the little bit of the time I’ve had to spend with him, he’s the best of the best as well. His leadership is a real strength. What about improvements?

I honesty can’t think of anything right now, mostly because we’ve had such a good experience as parents with our own boys. There’s no perfect institution and there’s no perfect organization, and so I certainly don’t think the school district is perfect. Everything I’ve experienced has been very strong, and so I think until I’m able to be involved outside of being a dad in the district, I don’t know that I can give a super-informed answer, because what I’ve experienced has been so positive. 5.What are your concerns with K-12 education in Siloam Springs?

I think continuing to meet the needs of kids, and the diverse needs of kids. Every kid is different, even siblings are different, and so if the district is going to continue to be putting the needs of kids first and as the district continues to grow its just going to continually continue to be difficult to provide education that meets every need of every kid. That’s not a concern, that’s just making sure that we continue to do the very best job that we can with limited resources, with the growing population, with the diversity of kids, and I don’t mean diversity in terms of ethnic diversity, I mean diversity in every possible way — socioeconomic, background, where they’re coming from, where their family background is, I mean there are so many variables.

Continuing to provide the highest quality of education that we can with the mandates from the state and federal level. I think the district is doing it well, but I think the demand is high and so I’m concerned that we continue to do that. 6. What changes would you like to see made?

I think making sure, not necessarily a change, but making sure we continue to provide a holistic, wellrounded education. Athletics is a big draw and I value athletics, but I also value arts and STEM education, and so making sure we continue to provide the holistic educational experience, and arts would be a big part of that for me.

And also making sure we have enough resources to provide for the challenges kids face, especially those with special needs, whether its across the spectrum of special needs, those who need just a little help to those that need a lot of assistance, that there needs are being met, through staffing through programming, whatever that looks at. That we’re giving every child, regardless of level of skill or background, that they’re getting our very best effort, and I think that’s happening, that’s not a criticism, I think that’s happening, but (we need to make sure) that continues to be the case. 7. What do you feel should be the school board’s priorities over the next term?

I think the priorities continue to be proactive in thinking about the future, both in the growth of the economy and the potential to try to plan for any economic downturn, you know we can’t predict that, to be fiscally responsible in that kind of way.

I think that Bright Futures is a great example of a program that the district is implementing and using to meet the needs of all kids, and so I think continuing to pursue opportunities like that, to provide a holistic education.

And as the community grows, how do we address that growth and the challenges that come with a growing population of kids. What does that mean for facilities, what does that mean for the arts, what does that mean for music and athletics, and making sure we have the best facilities across all grade levels? And then just being as prepared as we can be for leadership changes at all levels of the district. 8. Is there anything you would like to add?

I would consider it an honor and a privilege to serve our community and our kids if I were to be elected.