Board of Ed. Candidate Q&A – Patrick Dicus

News

Thursday, 25 July 2024 09:17

Each candidate running for public office was asked to answer a set of questions for publication.
Below are answers from candidates running for Scottsboro Board of Education.

1. Why did you decide to run for the school board?
I decided to run for Board of Education because I feel like I can bring a fresh and new perspective to the board. I’m a lifelong resident of Scottsboro and have served the citizens at the Scottsboro Fire Department for the last 20 years. I am currently a Lieutenant and have been the president of the firefighter’s union for the past 15 years as well as the organizer for the Muscular Dystrophy boot drive. I am a member of First Baptist Church of Scottsboro, where I serve on the security team. Public service is important to me, and the city of Scottsboro is important to me. Having two children in the school system, I see the importance of being involved in my community. I will work hard to be an equal voice for others involved. I would love the opportunity to share my time and talents to benefit this community. I believe in quality public education for current and future students. I want to have a good working relationship with the Mayor, City Council and Superintendent. I want to help create stronger ties with the Board, administrators, students, parents and the Scottsboro citizens. I’m ready to share my ideas and thoughts and make Scottsboro Schools the best!

2. What do you see as the biggest issue facing the Scottsboro BOE and how do you intend to solve that issue?
I believe the biggest issue facing the Scottsboro BOE is transparency. I think the board needs to make the effort to ensure every person involved is in the know; students, employees and parents of SCS kids. I believe
that a lot of misconceptions could be eliminated to the public by making board meetings available by either live streaming meetings or recording them and placing them on the internet where anyone could view them.

3. Do you support the Public Comments Policy enacted by the BOE in March 2024? Why or why not?
After reviewing several neighboring school systems’ policies, I feel like our policy is in line with their policies. However, I feel like everyone’s voice should be heard if they have went through the chain of command and still aren’t satisfied with the answers that they have gotten.

4. Do you support the proposed SRO agreement between the City of Scottsboro and the BOE? Rather than having 5 part-time officers (2 paid by the City), the BOE will reimburse the City $100,000 per year in salaries/benefits for 2 full-time, city-employed officers instead, in addition to the BOE’s 3 part-time retired officers.
No, I do not support the current SRO agreement. I feel that the City of Scottsboro should fund the two full time officer’s salaries only if they are reassigned to the Scottsboro Police Department’s full time staff. It is my opinion that all SRO staff should be converted to part time. Not only would this change save money, but it would also allow the BOE to provide more services to the students and teachers.
Currently, only full time SRO’s and full time police officers are used to cover special events, such as home and away sporting events. If all SRO’s were converted to part time this would eliminate the issue of a school not being manned by an SRO due to him or her using the comp time they built for working special events.