Mark believes that Hall County Schools should be the safest place for students to learn and grow. Mark will support continued efforts to provide a safe learning and working environment for the children and staff of Hall County.
Each child should have access to a program of choice that best fits his or her individual talents. By expanding programs of choice and charter schools, Hall County will better equip students by providing families the opportunity to enroll their child in a unique program that best meets their needs and enables them to take control of their future.
Mark believes in a bottom up, rather than a top down approach to education. Too often our teachers’ hands are tied with mandatory standardized testing and other federal and state requirements which actually reduce their time teaching. Teachers and parents know best what works in the classrooms. Mark will always support increased parental involvement and teacher discretion in the classroom.
For too long we have pushed high school graduates into four-year colleges only to watch them struggle to find employment after completing their post-secondary education. Georgia is in dire need of skilled workers, and companies are willing to pay top dollar for skilled workers. Mark wants to create more career and technical pathways in Hall County’s high schools so that our area is a friendly labor climate for industry expansion and prosperity.
Hall County Schools serves 28,000 students each day. Community engagement is necessary no matter how large or small our system is. Mark wants to facilitate roundtable discussions to learn more from teachers, parents and students
Mark knows how to make the best use of our tax dollars and increase efficiency. As a former management person for a Fortune Fifty Company, and having served on the Hall County SPLOST Citizen Review Panel, Mark will take his business experience and use it to benefit the school system and taxpayers so that everyone enjoys an efficient, responsive and world class education.
Planning for smart growth and maximizing the efficiency of our current facilities will be paramount during the next decade. Mark has spent countless hours working with planning commissions and municipalities to anticipate growth. Additionally, he helped craft the School District's Ten Year Facility Plan which will provide the best educational experience possible for the students of Hall County.