Perhaps it's my southern roots but I just love hard work. I like to face a challenge head on and work at it until it's fixed.

To be an effective school board member you have to embrace hard work and be willing to pour countless hours into subjects like rezoning. Is there a perfect solution? No. But if all board members give 110% we can come up with a solution that creates as little disruption as possible.

Last summer we had a board member resign. His reasons were family related but he also said at a meeting prior that he expected the school board job to be a few hours a month. He was not expecting to pour 10 hours, 20 hours, plus more hours into meetings each month.

Attending the meetings is only a small portion of the time it takes to be a good board member.

On top of the time necessary to attend the meetings, there is also time invested into proper training. There is the time it takes to build partnerships with our educators and meet with them. The time needed to engage the community which could involve newsletters, hosting open meetings, answering the onslaught of emails I've heard board members sometimes get, especially during rezoning.

Ask your candidates how much time they are willing to give to get things done. I hope that my involvement the last few years has proven that I am willing and able to make that sacrifice.