Area 19 - Meet your Candidates for Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees

Meet Scott Cline, Robert Hamilton, Dan Healy, and Amanda Stone, Area 19 candidates for Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees in the November general election. Area 19 generally covers Northwestern Greenville County to the state line, Travelers Rest, and Berea. In this episode, each candidate has 10 minutes to introduce themselves to the voters. Your vote is so important! Please take a listen and share with your neighbors.

Links:

Scott Cline

Robert Hamilton

Dan Healy - None provided

Amanda Stone

Sample Ballot

Transcript

Catherine Schumacher:
[0:00] This episode of Simple Civics: Greenville County is sponsored by Public Education Partners. Since 1985, Public Education Partners has served as an innovation partner for Greenville County Schools and a champion for public education. As an independent nonprofit organization, PEP fosters connections between the private sector and public schools to support the teachers and students in Greenville's classrooms. To learn more or become a public education partner, visit pepgc.org.

Katy Smith:
[0:28] When you go to the polls on November 5th or in early voting, you have the chance to vote not just for the president. About half of Greenville County voters will also cast a ballot for their representative on the Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees. The 12-person nonpartisan school board, as it's informally called, governs the public Greenville County School District, the largest in the state, by setting policy, approving the budget, and selecting and evaluating the superintendent. I'm Katy Smith with Greater Good Greenville, and on this episode of Simple Civics Greenville County, we feature your school board candidates for Area 19, Scott Cline, Robert Hamilton, Dan Healy, and Amanda Stone. Area 19 generally represents Northwestern Greenville County, including Slater Marietta, Traveler's Rest, and the Berea area, and has long been occupied by trustee Debbie Bush, who is not running for re-election. Here's how the interviews worked. All candidates received the same question at the time of their invitation to join us, and they were given 10 minutes for their interview. Candidates were allowed to bring along a companion, such as a campaign manager, family member, or friend, and to record our session themselves. There were no edits made to the interview. We've put links to the participating candidates' preferred internet presence on the episode page. Candidates are interviewed by Catherine Schumacher, President and CEO of Public Education Partners. First up is Scott Cline.

Catherine Schumacher:
[1:53] Well, I'm happy to be joined by Scott Cline, who's a candidate for Greenville County School Board in Area 19. Scott, thank you so much for joining us today.

Scott Cline:
[2:01] Well, Ms. Catherine, I certainly appreciate it. An honor to be here and looking forward to sharing today with my reasoning for running the county and the district and look forward to speaking with you.

Catherine Schumacher:
[2:10] Awesome. Well, thank you. Well, let's start with a little bit about yourself and your experience with public schools and how your background prepares you to serve as a Greenville County Schools trustee.

Scott Cline:
[2:18] Great question. So my background in Greenville County Schools is I grew up in Greenville County, so I've been through the school system through all of my life, as well as my family. My wife has been PTA president in the elementary stage, as well as the middle stage, as well as the high school stage. So I had the privilege of working with her, serving on PTA, being her counterpart and helping her. Even though I wasn't the president, I was sitting there working with her and would do many, many things. So that is kind of a foray in District 19. My boys, I have a son named Graham and a son named Parker that have both graduated Travelers Rest High School. So we've grown up in the district, raised our family in the district. So that's where our roots are.

Catherine Schumacher:
[2:54] Well, what do you consider to be the most critical issues for the district and the board of trustees to focus on in the next four years?

Scott Cline:
[3:01] Well, it's a loaded question, say the least. There's a lot of things that are going on right now that could certainly take high priority. I'm looking forward to digging in a little bit more and trying to find out more things from the teachers. And what I've always found from my background in business is hearing all sides, is hearing there's always a systematic problem most of the time. And you can figure out how do we bring both sides together. And so I'm looking forward to working with the board and seeing some issues that exist. I've already had multiple conversations with teachers and principals and a lot of other folks to say, this isn't working, how do we make this work? And so I'm looking forward to trying to bring my background of doing that in business that I've been successful in doing that and looking forward to trying to do the same thing as I work with other school board members and do my best to try to make sure everybody's happy. That way, the students, the teachers, the parents, and the stakeholders being the taxpayers that are out there, the four that I kind of filter everything through to make sure, how would I answer this and help this? And what does it mean for every one of these people? And how do I make sure it's the best answer for everybody involved?

Catherine Schumacher:
[3:55] Well, great. Well, what do you think is the greatest strength of Greenville County Schools? And how would you, as a trustee, work to enhance it?

Scott Cline:
[4:00] Well, one of the things that I've certainly learned, you know, when I started, I was asked to come and run for the school board. It was kind of a new thing for me. Political role was not for me. And so I don't know a lot of the details of everything that goes into the school board. But the big thing of knowing that Greenville County is the largest school district in the state, Greenville County has a lot of great things that are going. Just like everything, there's always places that we can improve. And, you know, I would love for it to be the, everybody comes to look to Greenville County. I love it when people would come and try to interview people in the county, the district, say, hey, what are y'all doing well? Because we're not having the same success in our counties. And I'd love to be able to do that, not necessarily just for the state, but for the Southeast region. There should be no reason that Greenville County should not be the bell that everybody's coming to ring because they've done such a fantastic job. And so that is something that I would say is one of the great things that I've heard about Greenville County. The size of the county definitely gives us some advantages. I think that we can, economies of scale on a lot of things that will help us out. And some things that may be a detriment to it as well. But those are things we need to look at and try to determine what the best. And having Burke Royster as the superintendent, he's been fantastic in the job he's done. The board members are fantastic. You know, I'm just love to be a part of listening to some of these people and their intellect of what they've done. Because again, like I said, I'm kind of new to this. So this will be kind of a learning experience for me, but certainly looking forward to it.

Catherine Schumacher:
[5:15] Well, great. Well, we have a little bit of time left. So is there anything else you'd like to talk about or share with our listeners today?

Scott Cline:
[5:21] No, you know, just I'd certainly have the honor and love the honor to be able to be in District 19. You know, like I said, we've we've had our family up there for many, many years, have a lot of great friends, a lot of great memories. Looking forward to being able to serve. That's one of the things, you know, God has called us to serve, not to be served. And that's the reason why I've put my name in the hat, because I prayed about it, and God gave me a great comfort of doing this. And this is my reasoning and running. I don't have a political stint of what I'm trying to do or an agenda that I'm trying to mark off. I like it and everything. I try to make things better. God has put us here to make things better than what it was when we found it. And so that's something I hopefully I'll be able to do. And I mean, you know, we'll certainly try to use the skill set I've been given and try to honor God and everything that I do. but more importantly, try to honor everybody. Like I said, all the stakeholders that are involved, the parents, the teachers, staff, and stakeholders as far as the taxpayers. So that's my role and what I want to try to do in District 19.

Catherine Schumacher:
[6:11] Great. Well, Scott, thank you so much for joining us today. And thanks again for raising your hand and your willingness to serve the children of Greenville County Schools.

Scott Cline:
[6:17] Absolutely, Ms. Catherine. I'm honored again and privileged and appreciate you having me here for a few minutes.

Catherine Schumacher:
[6:21] Thank you. Thank you.

Katy Smith:
[6:22] Next up is Robert Hamilton.

Catherine Schumacher:
[6:25] Well, I'm happy to be joined by Robert Hamilton, who is a candidate for Greenville County Schools trustee in Area 19. Robert, thank you so much for joining me today.

Robert Hamilton:
[6:33] It's great to be here.

Catherine Schumacher:
[6:34] Great, thank you. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience with public schools and how your background prepares you to serve as a Greenville County Schools trustee.

Robert Hamilton:
[6:44] Thank you for the chance to answer these questions. So my experience with the public school system really starts with actually my wife. We met in college, and she became a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years in Title I schools. So I watched her journey, and I watched her struggles. We're originally from North Carolina, so she did some teaching up there and one year down here with Greenville County Schools. And watching that effect on her, her struggles to make a difference to the point where she actually ended up leaving public education, really is one of the first inspirations for me to run. And I have a lot of experience working on committees. It starts all the way back in college where I met her. The commencement speaker committee was one of the first ones I was on and the person I wanted to get chosen actually did and that was kind of my first start on that path. Currently I serve on a federal advisory committee for the Secretary of Veteran Affairs so I have a lot of years experience working within committees and kind of round all this out I have I have a master's in public administration, so I'm trying to learn how government works, how it functions.

Robert Hamilton:
[7:57] A little bit of a note in that aspect, because I tracked down a book from the 60s that's out of print called Inside Bureaucracy, just because I read a small portion of it, and I was just like, that's amazing. I want to read more of this. And all of this has kind of pushed me towards this path of I like helping people cut through red tape, finding where the problems are, where the inefficiencies are.

Robert Hamilton:
[8:25] And this is kind of what's attracted me to the school system. I feel there's lots of problems to be working towards addressing, and the current climate's making that even funner. Stuff's gotten a lot more tense recently, and sometimes I feel like I'm very good at listening to people, and sometimes I feel like that's what we need, is just being willing to listen to everybody, hear what they're saying, take it under consideration and try to move forward as a group.

Catherine Schumacher:
[8:56] Well, great. Well, what do you consider to be the most critical issues for the district and the Board of Trustees to focus on in the next four years?

Robert Hamilton:
[9:03] I think one of the most, I'm sorry, the most important issue for us to focus on, I think, is the funding. We have, I think, gone a little off the rails. So straight out from the beginning, I'm not for tax increases. We have been on track to, I think, within the next year or two, doubled the budget from 10 years ago. And we've only been increasing students at an annualized rate of around 1% per year. Had about 70,000 students in 2013. The last numbers from the 108th day attendance records for 2023 was 77. And we're seeing this massive increase in funding. I'm not seeing a large increase in students, and I'm not seeing a large increase in student performance. I'm not seeing large increases there in how well the children are doing. So to me, if we can't spend the money we have in a way that's creating a better education, we need to figure out where we're at before I can go to the taxpayers and say, I need even more money. And to me, that is the most important issue. We need to make sure our funds are going to where they make the biggest difference. And I do not see us at that point right now.

Catherine Schumacher:
[10:15] Well, what do you think is the greatest strength of Greenville County Schools? And how would you as a trustee work to enhance it? Thank you.

Robert Hamilton:
[10:22] For me, the greatest strength is the passion of this community. It really takes a special type of person to wake up, go to a classroom full of children who all have their own learning challenges, whether that's a special need, they're just a little bit behind their peers, or maybe sometimes they were like me as a kid, a little bit too smart for some of the classes where you got so bored, you ended up just playing around and fidgeting, and then you ended up behind yourself there. And trying to deal with all those different challenges is something you can only do with passion. And the teachers, they bring that. But I've also noticed teachers, like my wife, where that passion is just slowly, slowly drained out. As time goes on, as the years pass, it disappears. We're not, to use the question here, enhancing that. And that's kind of where I want to bring my focus. Focus. Parents are becoming a lot more passionate about education, which is good. We need to find ways to harness that, work with them, involve them in ways as best we can. Raising a kid, challenging work. Don't have a kid myself yet. My wife wanted to finish her master's first. She's finished that recently, so that's the next stage for us. I know it's going to be a heck of a challenge.

Robert Hamilton:
[11:41] And you got to have that passion for your kids doing what's best for them and the good parents do so the passion the parents are bringing passion the teachers are bringing all of that is going to lead to better educational outcomes and for me how i'm going to enhance it my passion, is i like trying to find where the problems are where where are parents hitting a roadblock where are teachers hitting problems, and how can we solve them?

Robert Hamilton:
[12:10] Because how are teachers losing this passion? Well, a lot of times it's because they have to do tasks that's not related to teaching, or they're having to follow rules, policies, procedures, whatever word we're trying to use at the moment, laws even too. And whatever it is, we need to have them doing that in the quickest, most efficient way possible, because really teachers should be mainly focused. on teaching. The amount of times teachers have to not have their work time to go to a choir training during the day. The amount of times they can't plan their curriculums. They can't figure out how they can break through with this kid because they're too drownded in paperwork. Or they have to refer them to this person, to this person, to that person, and talk to the parents to try to get the parents to navigate. gate. Streamlining, finding ways to do this in as few steps as possible.

Robert Hamilton:
[13:08] Is what I really want to dig into. The more I've dug into the school system's budget, trying to figure out how stuff operates from the outside, it only makes me even more wanting to get on the inside to start trying to make those types of changes, those types of differences. To me, the best example of this is actually one of the schools in my district, Berea Middle School. So they are one of the schools that's not performing to standard. So we have a lot of money pouring in from federal, state dollars, some local as well to help improve this school help turn it around so i look at the school report card and what do i see is the teacher working conditions is rated a 1 out of 10 okay so let's see what the school improvement plan is doing to get these teachers to like that working condition, it's not mentioned that there's nothing on there we're talking about how to go to curriculum things to teach better, where you have different programs coming in. But if someone's, if I have between, don't hold me to these numbers exactly, I think it was 50-something teachers completed this survey, they all collectively rated it as one, the working conditions of that school. It's really hard to be passionate about it if you feel a one out of 10 for that every day getting up and going to it. so finding ways to help them.

Robert Hamilton:
[14:33] Get back their passion, get back to what they want to get to. To me, that is critical. It's something we have to address. There's clearly something wrong here. And this school is not unique in this. So for me, it's passion. And I have lots of ways I want to enhance it. And I think it's possible.

Catherine Schumacher:
[14:53] Great. Well, we have a little bit of extra time. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners today?

Robert Hamilton:
[14:58] So if you want, you're happy to always check out my Facebook page. Of course, I have launched one of those. And I've also launched a campaign website as well. I am trying to do my best because for all data, right, you're looking at budget numbers, you're looking at all this information you can compile from report cards or state records, or like right now, I'm looking at teacher retention records. Doesn't always appeal to people the best. Just giving, here's an Excel sheet. Trust me, there's good stuff here. So I'm trying to turn this into something people can look at and digest. Something you can understand. And by going to both those places, you're going to find that information. For example, one of the things I'm currently going to be working on here in the near future is I'm looking at teacher retention rates as best I can find that information. And despite the fact we've been increasing teacher pay, teacher retention rates have been staying the same or getting worse. There's very few schools I've been able to find where it's actually improving. So I always hear about wanting to keep good teachers. And one of the first things that and the only things that get said is we need to pay them better. Well, clearly that's not the only thing that's fixing this problem because we're paying them more. Pay's been going up, but they're not staying. Why? Why are we not talking about why they're not wanting to stay? We're paying them better, but they're not staying. And this is what I'm digging into. This is what I'm trying to find numbers on and turn into something you can read and research and understand simpler and what I'm running for to bring forth to people.

Robert Hamilton:
[16:25] Win. I make it on that board of trustees. Thank you for your time.

Catherine Schumacher:
[16:29] Absolutely. Well, thank you, Robert, for joining us today. And thanks again for your willingness to serve the children of Greenville County Schools.

Robert Hamilton:
[16:33] Thank you.

Katy Smith:
[16:34] Next up is Dan Healy.

Catherine Schumacher:
[16:36] Well, I'm happy to be here with Dan Healy, who is running for Greenville County Schools trustee in District 19. Dan, thanks so much for being with us today.

Dan Healy:
[16:43] Thank you for having me.

Catherine Schumacher:
[16:44] Absolutely. Well, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience with public schools and how your background prepares you to serve as a Greenville County Schools trustee.

Dan Healy:
[16:52] I knew about two years ago that I was going to run I have a nine-year-old son that is currently in the Greenville County School District system School system, I'm self-employed I have my own landscape maintenance and landscaping business, For the last four years I've been the executive committeeman for my precinct for the Greenville County GOP. I've also been the sergeant at arms for the Greenville County Republican Party. What would qualify me? I don't think anything qualifies someone more to be on the school board than being passionate about their child's education. So, I see things that are happening in Greenville County schools that my son is exposed to, and I can gripe all I want, but the only thing that's going to change that is for me to get involved, and this is the highest level to get involved with at the schools.

Catherine Schumacher:
[18:10] What do you consider to be the most critical issues for the district and board of trustees to focus on in the next four years?

Dan Healy:
[18:21] So there's a lot of issues that need to be focused on. But if we look at it on a national level, and we are not isolated from anything that happens nationally, there's an uptick in school safety. School safety needs to be addressed. There's an uptick in school shootings, just like we had one in Georgia just the other day, unfortunately.

Dan Healy:
[18:56] And the people that control the purse strings in South Carolina, they're never going to let us, you know, fully protect the schools like I've had people, other parents talk to me about. I've had some people talk to me, oh, we want to put bulletproof glasses on the first floor, metal detectors at every entrance. But let's be honest, there's no politician that's going to come off with the money to do any of that. But if we go to a Greenville County building or a state building or anything, but this is Greenville County, so let's keep it Greenville County. If we go to the Greenville County, the Glass Palace across the street, everyone in there is highly protected. To get in there, we have to walk through metal detectors, armed guards.

Dan Healy:
[19:55] Are those people more important than our children? that are behind those doors. So my child is the absolute highest value quote-unquote asset that I have. So why should my son not be protected when the people that are calling all the shots and taking our money are? That doesn't seem right to me. So since we already know that there's not going to be, any money allocated for anything like that, because it's just not going to happen. I think the clearest way to protect our children at the schools, would be to set up some type of program where willing teachers were…

Dan Healy:
[20:53] Given the opportunity to take an approved course to be able to, uh, concealed carry in the school. And it would instantly stop any active shooter at any school in Greenville County. It, in, in a active shooter situation in Greenville County would be non-existent if that were in place in Greenville County right now. Uh, I know there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of parents that they hear, oh, there's a threat at my son's school and, you know, there's one school resource officer. What's he going to do, you know, if he's taken out? The kids are then fair game for whoever wants to come in that building. But if there was teachers there that were armed, you know, it would pretty much be stopped immediately. I think that needs to be addressed immediately Because all we do is have knee-jerk reactions every time there's a shooter, a school shooting, and nothing ever gets fixed. All we do is try and say, oh, it's the gun, it's the gun, it's the gun. It's not the gun. It's the person with a very warped mental image on life using an inanimate object to take another human's life.

Dan Healy:
[22:09] Uh, what else? I think we need to, uh, the school board needs to do everything it can in its power to keep CRT out of our schools, as well as any form of DEI, uh…

Dan Healy:
[22:27] With these schools, my experience with my son, I've gone into his classrooms, and especially in elementary school, kids are like a sponge. They see everything. They absorb everything. Even when we don't think they're looking, they're looking. They're learning everything. They're the most attentive human beings on earth. They will notice things before stuff that you and I have literally just ignored because it's an everyday occurrence. These kids will see it.

Dan Healy:
[23:07] So I don't view it as ironic that my son just entered fourth grade, And every classroom he has been in, with the exception of one, has been riddled with rainbow colors. It's not a coincidence. It is desensitizing these children at a young age. So when they get to a older age, when they're questioning things, when they're going through puberty, they are now more acceptant to any type of outside influence. When I say outside, I mean outside of their home.

Dan Healy:
[23:58] They then can be indoctrinated. We need to get all of that out of the classrooms. We need to focus on education and education only, not indoctrination. So Greenville County, last I looked at it, there's a 2020 study on Greenville County religious-wise. 60% of Greenville County identifies as Christian. So Christian, we believe in creation. So if 60% of Greenville County believes in creation, why are we teaching our kids evolution? Why are we teaching them that they come from.

Dan Healy:
[24:44] Monkeys? And then we act shocked when our child decides he wants to change his gender. I mean, We didn't even take the beginning of his life seriously. We're telling him he came from a monkey when 60% of our population in Greenville is Christian. Why are we indoctrinating our children against our beliefs? We're paying to destroy our own children. This needs to stop. So I will advocate, if I'm elected school board, I will advocate to protect our children's innocence, to protect their minds, their bodies. Because once their mind is corrupted, they themselves will willingly, after being indoctrinated, destroy their own body. And we cannot have that in Greenville County. That's what I would work for in the next four years.

Catherine Schumacher:
[25:36] Well, so what do you think is the greatest strength of Greenville County schools and how would you as a trustee work to enhance it?

Dan Healy:
[25:42] The greatest strength I would say is we already have a lot of good teachers in Greenville County, but I think they need to be let to teach, take the chains off them. You know, there's a lot of good teachers out there and their way of teaching, you know, may not be acceptable or in the approved policy of teaching. And we have such a large number of children that want to learn. We need to let them learn not be indoctrinated let them learn and children naturally do want to learn so we need to take all politics out of it all ideologies out of it and uh just let them learn the basics uh.

Catherine Schumacher:
[26:37] Well, thank you, Dan. Thank you for being with us today. And thank you for your willingness to serve the children and teachers of Greenville County Schools.

Dan Healy:
[26:42] Thank you for having me.

Katy Smith:
[26:43] Last up is Amanda Stone.

Catherine Schumacher:
[26:45] Well, I'm happy to be here with Amanda Stone, who is running for Greenville County School Board in District 19. Amanda, thanks for joining me today.

Amanda Stone:
[26:52] Thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here.

Catherine Schumacher:
[26:54] Great. Well, please tell us a little bit about yourself, your experience with public schools, and how your background prepares you to serve as a Greenville County Schools trustee.

Amanda Stone:
[27:01] Most definitely. My name is Amanda Stone. I graduated from Anderson University in 2010 with a degree in early childhood elementary education. At the time I graduated, there was a hiring freeze due to too many teachers and not enough jobs. Ironically, that is the opposite now. I got a job teaching third grade in Anderson at a small private school, making around $25,000 a year, but I felt very grateful just to be teaching. After six years, I knew it was time to move on to a better paying teaching position. I knew Greenville County Schools was an amazing school district. After a push from my husband, who I was dating at the time, I interviewed and got a job at a Title I school in Greenville County. Teaching, I will say, at a Title I school is very challenging at times, but it's also very rewarding. Fast forward, I'm now married, living in traveler's rest and doing something that I've always wanted to do ever since I was in third grade and had Ms. Harrison as my third grade teacher at Palmetto Elementary, and that was be a teacher.

Amanda Stone:
[28:04] I taught before, during, and after COVID and witnessed firsthand how the system, although they do try their best, is failing teachers more and more each year.

Amanda Stone:
[28:15] Especially after COVID. I resigned from my teaching position in October of 2022. I knew doing that meant that I broke my contract with Greenville County, but going home every night to my then two young daughters, I had nothing left to give them as a teacher. I poured myself out so much during the day, trying to meet unreasonable expectations, heavy workloads, not feeling valued for what I was doing as a teacher and what I was giving up to do the best job I could be being a teacher. I was empty for my own family. When I got home, it made me very sad. So with prayerful consideration, I resigned from my teaching job. And you can't run for school board and also be employed by Greenville County. So now I'm back fighting for those who feel the same way I did, and they're choosing to stay. And I truly do miss being a teacher, and I know that teachers do deserve better who are staying. I was in the trenches every day, just like teachers are now as we're speaking, and know the struggles students face from homelessness, food insecurity, and so on.

Amanda Stone:
[29:19] I now have three children under seven, two of which who are in the Greenville County school system. I know the struggles parents are facing. I feel like myself, having been a recent teacher in Greenville County school system, along with being a parent of students in the system and knowing what struggles students are dealing with from a teaching perspective, make me extremely prepared to serve effectively as a Greenville County school board trustee if I were to be elected.

Catherine Schumacher:
[29:47] Well, what do you consider to be the most critical issues for the district and board of trustees to focus on in the next four years?

Amanda Stone:
[29:52] That is an excellent question, Catherine. The big thing I think is teacher retention. It's crucial for the district and the board of trustees to focus on in the next four years. Some reasons I have teachers are leaving, one of them is burnout. There are high levels of stress, long hours. Teaching is more than 730 to three o'clock every day. Heavy workloads can lead to teacher burnout. out. This includes dealing with large class sizes, excess paperwork, and the emotional demands. Most teachers are very empathetic and anything their students are going through, they feel. There's also an adequate compensation. Many teachers feel that their salaries do not match the demands of their job. Insufficient pay can be a major factor, especially when teachers feel undervalued and want to leave. The work-life balance does not exist, in my opinion. The demands of teaching can encroach which on personal time almost always do, making it difficult for teachers to achieve a healthy work-life balance. This can lead to eventual departure from their profession and choosing another job, much like I did. Administration and policy changes. Frequent changes in educational practices, curriculum, administrative procedures can create instability and frustration for teachers who may feel like they're not being consulted or involved in decisions that impact their work.

Amanda Stone:
[31:15] Lack of respect and recognition is also something that leads teachers to leave. They feel like their hard work and dedication aren't sufficiently recognized or respected, sometimes by the public, parents, or policymakers. For a school board, focusing on teacher retention means investing in strategies that support teachers' professional growth, help them work with a work-life balance, compensation, recognizing the critical role that teachers play in shaping students' futures. teachers. This investment not only benefits the teachers, but it will ultimately enhance the quality of education provided to the students in Greenville County. If the Greenville County Board of Trustees focuses, in my opinion, on addressing these issues, I just stated, but only good things will come from it. This investment not only benefits teachers, but ultimately it will enhance the quality of education provided to the students within the county.

Catherine Schumacher:
[32:08] Great. Well, what do you think is the greatest strength of Greenville County schools? And how would you as a trustee work to enhance it?

Amanda Stone:
[32:14] I have two strengths that I think Greenville County has. And I'm going to reference some of the mission statement in my answer because it is a good mission statement. So they have a mission to ensure students are inspired, supported, and prepared for their futures. They offer a program called Graduation Plus. This program offers college credit or industry certification to go along with a high school diploma.

Amanda Stone:
[32:42] And college isn't for everyone, especially with the average student loan debt being around $41,000 and the average borrower taking 20 years to pay off those debts. So I feel like this program is very important, especially in supporting the students who choose not to go to college or university, and it helps them get involved in some type of trade program.

Amanda Stone:
[33:04] So I know not all schools have a high graduation rate. In total, they do if you take an average. But if you look on the South Carolina report card, it'll say the graduation rate of individual schools, and not all of them are high. If I was elected, I would see what I could do, especially for Area 19, to help raise the graduation rate and support students who choose not to go to college or universities, and then along with supporting those who do choose to go to a college or university. The second strength I believe Greenville County has, they have positive relationships within their communities with PTAs and local businesses that are active and involved. They provide hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours each year and millions of dollars in financial support. If elected, I would grow those relationships with PTAs along with local businesses by creating specific opportunities for businesses and PTAs to get involved. This might include some sponsorships for events, mentorship programs, internships, or even volunteering. I know that businesses often do appreciate concrete ways they can contribute. I would also share examples of successful collaborations between schools, PTAs, and businesses. This can serve, in my opinion, as inspiration and proof of how effective such partnerships can be with Greenville County school system.

Catherine Schumacher:
[34:27] Great. Well, we have a little bit of extra time. So is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?

Amanda Stone:
[34:32] Yes. So I can be reached on Facebook at Amanda Stone, Greenville. It's Amanda Stone for GCS Board Area 19, if you want to search that on Facebook. Email is VoteAmandaStone19 at gmail.com. And then the schools within Area 19 that I would be elected to serve are Armstrong Elementary, Berea Elementary, Duncan Chapel, Gateway Elementary, Heritage, Slater Marietta, Berea Middle, Northwest Middle, Berea High, Traveler's Rest, and then the Career Center also. In addition, some portions of the attendance areas of the following schools are also in Area 19. That's Paris Elementary, Westcliff Elementary, Blue Ridge Middle, Lakeview Middle, Severe Middle, Blue Ridge High, and Wade Hampton High. So anybody can reach out if they have any questions or want to give their input.

Catherine Schumacher:
[35:28] Great. Well, thank you, Amanda. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve the children of Greenville County Schools.

Amanda Stone:
[35:32] Thank you so much for the opportunity to come.

Katy Smith:
[35:35] Simple Civics Greenville County is a project of Greater Good Greenville. Greater Good Greenville was catalyzed by the merger of the Nonprofit Alliance and the Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy. You can learn more on our website at greatergoodgreenville.org.

Catherine Puckett:
Simple Civics: Greenville County is a project of Greater Good Greenville. Greater Good Greenville was catalyzed by the merger of the Nonprofit Alliance and the Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy. You can learn more on our website at greatergoodgreenville.org.