Candidate Q&A: Texico Municipal Schools

The Clovis News-Journal has contacted candidates in contested school board races in Curry County with a series of questions on their qualifications, goals and challenges for the four-year terms they seek.

Chad Davis and Clifford Franklin are each running in the Position 2 race for the Texico Municipal Schools board. Both candidates were asked the same questions.

Chad Davis

Q: Why do you want to serve on the school board?

A: I have lived in the Texico School District since 1991 and have two sons attending Texico Schools, one in High School and one in Junior High. Because of my involvement in school activities over the last 10 years I know virtually every employee of the school. Texico Schools have been great for my boys, and when a seat on the board became vacant I felt compelled to run for the position.

Q: What do you think you bring that is unique to the board, whether it's experience, education or perspective?

A: My background is Agribusiness, and I have experience in managing multiple employees and large budgets. I am a partner and manager of Davis Ranches, and have served on the statewide boards of the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau (20 years), and New Mexico Beef Council (six years). I was a Roosevelt County commissioner (2000-2004) and was selected by the Dean as the Most Outstanding Graduate of the NMSU College of Agriculture 1991.

Q: What is the best thing about the school district, in your mind?

A: The best thing about Texico Schools is the overall quality of the educational experience. There are no glaring weaknesses. That begins with good kids, with good home support, and good educators who care about student success.

Q: What needs to improve in the district?

A: The Texico School District is already one of the best and I want to focus on keeping the district’s high expectations and ever improving standards moving forward.

Q: Do you think New Mexico is moving in the right direction with Common Core? Why or why not?

A: The most common complaint that I hear about Common Core is that the implementation schedule was too fast and now students are being tested on curriculum they were not taught in lower grades. Many social and economic factors contribute to the success or failure of a student that are not easily determined by a test score. I am not an educator and would defer to those who teach as to the effectiveness of Common Core.

Clifford Franklin

Q: Why do you want to serve on the school board?

A: I want to serve on the School Board because I believe that Texico has one of the best schools in the state. When one of the board members decided not to run, I wanted to be a part of the continued success of the school by learning from the current and previous members and listening to the community and teachers.

Q: What do you think you bring that is unique to the board, whether it's experience, education or perspective?

A: Both my parents where teachers, coaches and administrators in small schools in Eastern New Mexico for 40 years. I saw first hand how the community and a school can work together to create a great environment for kids to learn. However I have also seen how poor communication and gossip within those two groups can tear a community apart. Texico has been very positive in this respect for a long time and I definitely want to continue that tradition.

Q: What’s the best thing about the school district, in your mind?

A: I think we have some of the best teachers in the state.

Q: What needs to improve in the district?

A: Because enrollment continues to increase, the infrastructure continually needs to be upgraded.

Q: Do you think New Mexico is moving in the right direction with Common Core? Why or why not?

A: I believe that decisions in most cases should be made by those who are closer to situation. They usually have a better command of the facts and an understanding of whats really going on. Common Core is not about improving the education of children, it is about evaluating our teachers. Teaching is an art, and we can all name the good ones that we had growing up. We have to trust our administrators who see how kids respond to teachers on a day in and day out basis, that is the measure of teacher, will that kid remember the lessons they learn not only on the upcoming test but 20 years from now. This cookie-cutter process also restricts how a teacher can teach but also in the way different kids can learn. I know from experience that my 7-year-old child with Autism will never test well because of his communication problem. It doesn't mean that he is not learning and it wouldn’t truly show the progress the teachers have made with him in the past two years if he was evaluated strictly on a standardized test. But I know because I see it.