Two positions on the Madisonville CISD School Board are being contested in the May 1 election, early voting for which is already underway. Position 2, currently held by Jason Cleere, is being contested by Etta Spivey while Position 4, held by Dale Hurst, is being contested by Lance Byrd.

Dennis McWhorter (Position 1) and Greg McBee (Position 3) appear unopposed on the ballot and will continue their service to the board.

JASON CLEERE (POSITION 2 INCUMBENT)

Jason Cleere is looking to retain Position 2 on the school board he has now served for eight years. As an Associate Professor and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at Texas A&M University, education has always played a critical role in his life.

“My dad served on the school board in Anderson when I was growing up and it was just kind of instilled in me,” said Cleere on what inspired him to originally run. “You need to have a sense of civic duty and give back to the community. I felt the calling to serve and contribute to our local district by being on the school board. I have enjoyed it thoroughly the last eight years and have continued to learn a lot about the public school system.”

Cleere has children in the district as well as three degrees, earning his undergraduate degree in education from A&M, his graduate degree in animal science from A&M and his PhD from Texas Tech University.

“I am an educator that grew up in the public school system, I have made a career out of educating kids,” said Cleere. “I see the tremendous value (the public education system) does for kids of all ages, all ethnic backgrounds and all economic backgrounds. I am very proud of the district we have, but we still have work to do and changing times create new challenges.”

Cleere highlighted a handful of areas in which he is most proud of participating in regarding his time on the board, including the renovation of the high school.

“It made more economic sense, because we had good bones in the existing high school, to go in and do some upgrades and make some expansions to it,” said Cleere. “It was more economical for the taxpayer.”

He also touched on the district’s expansion of technical programs for students who may be interested in joining certain fields after graduation in lieu of college.

“While I am very passionate about educating kids at the collegiate level, I also know that there are many jobs out there for our skilled labor force,” said Cleere. “College is not for every kid. There are many professions out there that can serve students well.”

He also mentioned the school’s tendency to rank extremely high in educational areas such as graduation rates, test performance and college and career readiness in a district with diverse demographics.

Cleere labeled finances as a continuous challenge for all public schools, especially in modern times.

“We’ve got great people in place,” said Cleere. “But I think school finance continues to be a challenge. We’ve had some economic challenges here in the state because of (the COVID-19 pandemic), so being able to continue to operate at a high level and provide for our students is going to be critical.

“We’ve got to make sure we are taking advantage of anything coming down from the state in terms of financial support, but it is going to be important for us to manage the resources we have in a very effective way. My experience over the last eight years in seeing those things will continue to help guide us in the future, as well.”

Expanding on the fallout from the pandemic, Cleere elaborated on the importance of ensuring kids continue the catching up process after school was let out early last spring.

“We have done a good job catching them up this past year, but I still think there is going to be work to be done,” said Cleere. “If you look at our head start program and pre-K, the numbers aren’t there compared to what they’ve been in the past. We are going to have to work hard to ensure that, when those kids come into the school system, we catch them up.”

Cleere reiterated the importance of the district’s students and how they motivate every decision he makes as a member of the board.

“Whenever I walk into a board meeting every month, there is one thing on my mind, and that is the students and what is best for the kids of this district,” said Cleere. “The things we do in that board meeting in guiding the district, the kids always come first for me.”

ETTA SPIVEY (POSITION 2 CHALLENGER)

Etta Spivey is looking to join the Madisonville CISD School Board after many years of experience working for Dallas ISD as well as in the banking field. She is a 1978 graduate of Madisonville High School and currently runs her own home daycare business.

“I just enjoy working with young people and seeing them get the most from their education and ensuring they are ready for each level,” said Spivey on what inspired her to run this year. “After working in education, helping the teachers and seeing the struggles that parents and teachers can go through, I like to see the kids get the best they can get.”

Spivey spent 20 years in the banking field before transitioning to education. She began working as a substitute teacher at Dallas ISD and was a teacher’s assistant before becoming an office manager for their elementary campus. She has owned and operated her daycare center since 2015.

“I like being there for the kids,” said Spivey. “I would like to help parents through the process because, having my kids in school, I did not know certain things before getting into (education), where I learned a lot. I want parents to be able to help their kids the same way I helped my kids.”

Spivey also highlighted the importance of community and encouraging individuals to work together and get involved. Some of the main challenges she highlighted for the district include testing and finances.

“The public always has concerns about testing,” said Spivey. “So we need to look at the pros and cons of testing. Everyone wants to know if it is beneficial or not, so we need to hear everybody’s side, come together and, whatever decision is made, promote that and show the good and the bad.

“Schools need to make sure they are using their budget to have a quality public education. While I have never really thought about it on the board side, we as community members need to start looking a little closer at how it is put together. That way, everyone can feel comfortable knowing their children are being educated properly.”

Spivey stressed the need for community involvement and her desire to serve her hometown.

“I am originally from Madisonville, I have been gone for awhile, but I am here now and I want to be involved in the community,” said Spivey. I want to encourage everybody to be involved and to help in every area that we can. I want (the voters) to know that I am here to help in any way I can to support the teachers as well as the students.”

DALE HURST (POSITION 4 INCUMBENT)

Dale Hurst has served on the Madisonville CISD School Board since 2010 and has been active in a slew of other local organizations since moving to the city with his family in 2000. Along with opening the Edward Jones investment office on the Square, Hurst has held presidential terms with the Madison County Fair Association (2002-06) and Lions Club (2003), as well as board positions with said organizations.

“I see it as a privilege to be able to go and sit in that board room and advocate for our children, community and our tax base,” said Hurst. “That is something I take seriously and I have a passion for it. Not only do I have a family here that we chose to raise in this district, but we have lots of vested interest in our school system to be successful.”

Hurst pointed to the district’s continued successes in terms of state accountability as one of the things he has been most proud to be a part of during his time on the board.

“When you look at how hard we work to support our administration and, most of all, our teachers, we have seen our district perform and excel in academic ratings regardless of what scoring system we have been under in that period,” said Hurst. “Any time you are leading in not only your area, but in school districts that look like us, because we have so many demographic groups, that is a testament to the community supporting our school and, most of all, how much passion and dedication our employees have.”

As a financial adviser, he also pointed to the district’s financial stewardship and the fact that the district has maintained a superior rating in that category each year he has served. He also tied this in with school improvements over the same period of time.

“We have done in the neighborhood of $40 million worth of facility improvements and upgrades and we have only had to take out right under a $20 million bond,” said Hurst. “Just being able to do so much with every dollar we have and still being able to lower the tax rate. Obviously price values have gone up over that period of time, but we were able to, just last year, reduce (the tax rate) by a couple of pennies.”

He focused on the recent improvements made to the high school and the amount of money saved in remodeling the facility rather than constructing a whole new building in its place.

“When we did (the high school makeover) for approximately $10 million versus scrapping a 50-yearold building and spending $70 million on a new one, that is pretty impressive with the leadership of the board and district,” said Hurst.

He mentioned a number of challenges the district will need to navigate in the coming years, including the constant rule changes from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and standardized testing.

“I am not a complacent person, you have to keep growing or you are going backwards,” said Hurst. “When you talk about how successful our students are across the board, to continue to gain traction and move, that takes a lot more effort and a lot of deliberate, intentional focus.”

He also pinpointed school finance, which becomes increasingly difficult to navigate in the age of COVID-19.

“We are all expecting some lean numbers to come out of Austin this year with COVID and the economic droughts we went through last year,” said Hurst. “But we are financially sound. We are always saving for a rainy day, so we have those provisions, but until that (state legislative) session adjourns, we do not know completely what we’ll have to be dealing with. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

Thirdly, Hurst highlighted the importance of maintaining the district’s personnel, which he equated to the best in the state from the faculty up to the administrative ranks.

“We have very little turnover,” said Hurst. “People want to be here, the cream of the crop in the education field want to be here. We have done everything we can to incentivize them to be here and take care of providing the best instruction for our kids.”

Hurst also touched on the importance of building a community the youth want to help grow and, if they leave, come back to someday. He said this has been a focal point of his while serving on all of the youth boards he has participate in.

LANCE BYRD (POSITION 4 CHALLENGER)

Lance Byrd, who has spent time coaching and teaching at Madisonville High School, is hoping to serve the district in a new capacity as a member of the school board. The 2002 MHS graduate majored in kinesiology and minored in business management at Rice University before earning his Master’s Degree in student counseling at Wayland Baptist University last year.

He also works as an academic advisor and counselor for Lee College, serves on the board of Crime Stoppers and has served the community as a loan officer and credit analyst for Capital Farm Credit in Madisonville.

“I think I am the best person for the position because I have taught special education at the school, I am now a certified counselor, I have worked for a college and learned a lot as far as grants, dual credit and associates degrees that these students can earn while in high school to cut down on their cost of living and debt as far as college goes,” said Byrd.

Byrd contemplated a run for the school board a few years ago and was partly inspired this time around by Madisonville resident Steven Green, who called him and encouraged him to throw his hat in the ring.

“You go back-and-forth on whether you should or shouldn’t run, but sometimes people call and ask you to do something and it sort of gives you that extra push,” said Byrd. “It was motivation for me that someone else in the community wanted me to run.

“I think I would be a great candidate and a voice for students and teachers because I have worked on both sides and in the community.”

With an innate sense of the inner workings of how schools operate firsthand, Byrd focused on the students and teachers as the main aspect of the job and pegged continuing to hire proper personnel as the most important challenge moving forward.

“It is all about the students, so being able to hire those professional teachers, people the students feel comfortable being around, would be the most important thing,” said Byrd. “Also, being able to teach these students and keep up the good work the teachers have been doing.”

He also highlighted the importance of keeping up with new technical courses and ensuring students learn about all the opportunities that are out there, including the opportunities that are available locally.

“We have three Henson Dealerships in town that can correlate and work with our automotive shop,” said Byrd. “We have one of the largest trailer supply companies in the nation in (Texas Pride Trailers) that need welders, and we have a great welding and Ag department at the high school. It is just about being able to point these kids in the right direction and let them know what opportunities they have.”

Byrd also emphasized the importance of unity in the district and community as Madisonville moves forward into the future.

“We need to get behind each other and support each other, it will benefit everyone in the end,” said Byrd. “It is about the board, the community, the teachers, the students and everybody coming together and backing each other. We are in a perfect position next door to Texas A&M, Sam Houston State and Blinn College. We are just up the road from I-45 between Houston and Dallas, we are centrally located and Madisonville is growing.”

Editor’s Note: Each of the opposed candidates were asked roughly the same questions during the interview process for this story; the lone exception being that the incumbents were asked to describe what they felt their biggest accomplishments were in the time they have already served on the school board. The Meteor strives to be completely transparent and provide a fair platform for all individuals seeking public office.

Candidates also participated in a public forum hosted by the Madison County Republican and Democrat Parties at the Truman Kimbro Center in Madisonville April 13. Since not all candidates were able to attend, the content of this story is based solely on our own interview process. However, the forum can be viewed in its entirety on Facebook.