Kathie Rooker

Kathie Rooker

Education

Associate

Georgia Tech

Graduate

University of Texas

Personal

Profession

Manager, IT professional

Kathie Rooker was a candidate for the District 3 seat on the Huntsville City Board of Education in Alabama. She was defeated in the general election on August 26, 2014.

Biography

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Rooker lives in South Huntsville with her husband. She earned a B.S. in management from Georgia Tech and her MBA from the University of Texas. Rooker has 15 years of experience as a manager and IT professional working for IBM, Wyland Galleries, and Cingular Wireless. She also worked for five years on the Montessori School of Huntsville Non-Profit School Board; served four years on various local, city, and state PTA boards; and is a sign language teacher. Rooker has served as a math lab tutor, a member of the Huntsville Council of PTAs, an Alabama PTA board member, a Cub Scouts volunteer, an Education Celebration volunteer, an FCA volunteer, and a member of the Bailey Cove Estates Community Watch.

Elections

2014

See also: Huntsville City Schools elections (2014)

In the August 26, 2014 general election, Beth Wilder defeated Richard V. Buchanan for the District 2 seat and Walker McGinis defeated Kimberly Battle for the District 4 seat. Elisa Ferrell and Anson Knowles competed in a runoff election on October 7, 2014 for the District 3 seat. They defeated challengers Ellen Brusick, Kathie Rooker and Pat Sanders.

Results

Huntsville City Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Elisa Ferrell	30.3%	1,465
	Nonpartisan	Anson Knowles	24.5%	1,182
	Nonpartisan	Ellen Brusick	18.5%	895
	Nonpartisan	Kathie Rooker	17%	819
	Nonpartisan	Pat Sanders	9.7%	469
Total Votes				4,830
Source: AL.com, "Ferrell, Knowles headed for runoff in District 3 board race; Wilder, McGinnis clinch victory in Districts 2, 4," August 9, 2014 These election results are unofficial. They will be updated once certified election results are available.

Funding

Rooker did not file a campaign finance report with the Alabama Secretary of State.

Endorsements

Rooker did not receive any official endorsements in this election.

Campaign themes

Brusick's campaign website listed the following as her campaign themes for 2014:

“	Vision A leader has a vision and a plan to achieve that vision. Drawing on my analytical skills and innovative ideas, my vision includes pushing our school district forward by achieving academic excellence for all students. This endeavor cannot be accomplished alone; therefore, strengthening community relations, the school climate, and district communications is vital to our success. Plan As an active member of our school community, these are just a few of my objectives when elected. After conversations with you -- the community -- these may be modified or new objectives added. As your school board member, I will work for you, but more importantly, I will work for the kids of Huntsville. Build relationships through honest and transparent communications Trust is gained when leaders communicate with all stakeholders. I plan to rebuild this trust in our school district by: Candid conversations with parents, teachers, and students about their concerns with Huntsville City Schools Publishing a monthly District 3 newsletter about district news and highlights from Grissom feeder schools and other schools throughout HCS Hosting monthly meetings with PTA representatives -- encouraging new faces to come to the table Commiting to not spin, manipulate facts, or withhold sensitive information from the public Treating all with respect and raising expectations for our superintendent, central office, other school board members, and local school employees to do the same Re-engage parents and improve the school climate Parents are the 3rd pillar in the three pillars of school success -- prepared students, strong teachers, and engaged parents. It is time to re-engage our parents and improve the morale among our teachers in our schools. My plan includes: Bringing stability to our principal positions - leave principals in place for at least 3 yrs Making every educator feel valued by open communications, involving teachers in the decision making process, and allowing for more creativity of instruction Delivering a more seamless way for parents to check student progress, know homework assignments, and reach our teachers Bringing our neighborhoods back to our "neighborhood" schools through building stronger relations with our community associations and encouraging activities like students walking/biking to school Committing to not rubber stamp decisions without careful consideration for the short and long-term impacts to our students and community Make Huntsville the "go-to" community for families seeking academic excellence Getting back to our roots, Huntsville needs to refocus on its strengths, which are academically excellent schools and a high quality of life. We will achieve this together by:v Realigning the digital devices and digital curriculum to be a tool -- giving teachers more freedom to pull resources from various sources and become conduits to inspire learning Supporting and encouraging more Huntsville schools to become Blue Ribbon Schools and Schools of Excellence Building our brand as schools for "Academic Excellence" Keeping my eye on the ball - ensuring our schools are receiving the resources they need to become the top schools in Alabama and beyond Improve academic enrichment in elementary grades Much of the focus of the district has been on the high schools. We are losing students to home schools and private schools during the first few years of public school K - 2. Offering more enrichment activities in these years and grades 3 - 5 will keep the best and brightest in our schools and provide a foundation for academic strength through middle and high school. This vision will be achieved by: Aligning the superintendent yearly achievement objectives to the retention of students in our district Building a district wide repository of enrichment activities based on standards, grade, and/or topics Expanding academic teams to lower grades (Leveraging our retired teachers for tutoring, contract work, or special programs) Create partnerships among the feeder schools to leverage successful programs and academic teams All students in our district will follow organized feeder patterns so they matriculate to the same high school. This is an excellent opportunity to create a team environment among our schools to raise the bar for all. Developing an advisory team of parents, teachers, and administrative leaders to share program ideas that have proven to be successful within our feeder pattern Collaborating across schools to combine sports programs or academic teams	”
—Kathie Rooker's campaign website (2014)

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Kathie + Rooker + Huntsville + City + Schools"

Kathie Rooker News Feed

See also

• Huntsville City Schools, Alabama
• Huntsville City Schools elections (2014)

External links

Suggest a link

• Huntsville City Schools
• Campaign website (dead link)
• Campaign Facebook page