Tina Dennard
Tina Dennard was a candidate for District 2 representative on the Bibb County Board of Education in Georgia. She lost in the general election on May 24, 2016.[1]
Biography
Dennard is the executive director of Adopt-A-Role Model.[2]
Elections
2016
Six of the eight seats on the Bibb County Board of Education were up for general election on May 24, 2016. A runoff election was held on July 26, 2016, in Districts 5 and 6. Sundra Woodford and James Timley defeated Jerome Collins but neither candidate received a majority in the District 5 general election. Woodford defeated Timley in the runoff. Bob Easter defeated fellow challenger Valerie Wynn for the District 6 seat in the runoff. Incumbent Jason Downey placed second to Easter in the general election but withdrew prior to the runoff.[1]
In District 2, incumbent Thelma Dillard defeated challenger Tina Dennard. District 4 incumbent Lester Miller won re-election against Jeff Moody. District 1 incumbent Ella Styles Carter and District 3 incumbent Susan Sipe were unopposed in the election.[1]
Results
| Bibb County School District, District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Thelma Dillard Incumbent |
64.77% | 1,780 |
| Tina Dennard | 35.23% | 968 |
| Total Votes | 2,748 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Tina Dennard participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on April 22, 2016:
| “ | I’m running because • The #1 job of a school board is to give every student his or her "Golden Ticket" to opportunity: a High School Diploma. • To provide safe and supportive environments for our students and faculties. • To produce a kid-friendly budget that personalizes the education experience for ALL children. • To open communication channels with the faith, business, and non-profit communities to foster more community investment and involvement with our schools. • To produce policies and procedures that work for our students, parental involvement, our faculties, and central office staff. District Two is the largest district in the Bibb County School system which comprises four elementary schools, two magnet elementary schools, Miller Magnet Middle School, Central High School and four specialized programs: Elam at Burke, Northwoods Pre-K academy, the IB program, and Hutching College and Career Academy. District Two is critical to the school system’s success. It is time out for career politicians, personal agendas, favoritism, and living in the past. Our kids can’t wait---it’s time for a new day and a new way. I’m Tina Dennard and I’m ready to win for our kids on Day One.[3][4] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Georgia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| “ | No additional comments.[4] | ” |
| —Tina Dennard (April 22, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. The Bibb County School board has already approved two charter schools in the Macon-Bibb area. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. Standardized tests are reliable and objective measures of student achievement, however, they are not the only method for accurately measuring student achievement and efficacy. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| We have to have standards so our children are competitive nationwide and worldwide. The Common Core State Standards were the first with the business community's input. Since our students are our next workforce, the skills they need to be successful in the workplace are embedded in the standards. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I would like to understand more about the most effective or the best practices for merit pay, however, I do believe our front line employees, teachers deserve to be paid a competitive wage. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. For Special Needs students. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| As long as a school district has a strong "Due Process" policy as well as good behavior intervention strategies, expulsions should be avoided only as a last resort or an extremely severe cases. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Highly qualified and energized teachers help students to overcome all types of challenges; the teacher is the most important factor for success in the classroom. |
Additional themes
Dennard's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Tina Dennard (2016), [2] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Tina Dennard' 'Bibb County Board of Education'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed April 18, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tina Dennard, "Home," accessed May 9, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Tina Dennard's responses," April 22, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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