Please list your occupation: Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, former business manager, and licensed North Carolina teacher. Currently a candidate for CMS School Board District 1.
Please list your connections to or involvement with CMS (children in the district, PTO experience, etc.): Over the past two years, I’ve regularly spoken at CMS board and town meetings across District 1—Davidson, Cornelius, and Huntersville—about academic performance and discipline policies. I’ve also met with the principals of Hough, Hopewell, North Mecklenburg, and Mallard Creek high schools and attended PTO meetings at Hough and Hopewell. Additionally, I serve as a Civil Air Patrol pilot, flying orientation flights for cadets ages 12–18, including UNCC AFROTC students.
Please list your political experience and any education or political advocacy groups you’re affiliated with: I ran for CMS School Board District 1 in 2022 and for an at-large seat in 2023. I held a North Carolina teaching license earned through UNCC and taught for ten years at two CMS schools and a Catholic high school. My state certifications included mathematics, business and IT, earth science, social studies, and marketing. I’m also an FAA-certified flight instructor who has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Navy Annapolis Flying Club, and with the North Carolina Civil Air Patrol.
Please list any other relevant professional experience: I am a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Air Force fighter pilot and defense planner. I successfully managed two $100 million programs and served as a marketing manager in a Fortune 101 company. These experiences gave me a strong background in leadership, accountability, and strategic planning.
Why do you want to serve on the school board?: For too long, CMS has put social and political agendas ahead of academic excellence, leaving about two-thirds of students not meeting the state standard. Their agenda undermines family values, tolerates the code of student conduct violations, and steers children toward a victimhood mindset. It's time to focus on what works, better behavior, strong character formation, and the basics: reading, writing, and math and not ideological agenda. Families deserve schools that reflect their values and prepare students for life.
Name one thing you feel CMS currently does well and one thing you would push the district to improve: Strength: CMS magnet programs show what’s possible when innovation and parental choice are encouraged. These models should be expanded.
Improve: CMS must strengthen its Social Emotional Learning framework by centering it on character virtues—integrity, resilience, self-control, and kindness. These qualities make classrooms safer, help teachers teach, and prepare students for life. The current emphasis on feelings and identity should be replaced with lessons that develop reasoning, responsibility, and respect for others, so students become self-sufficient, caring, and patriotic citizens.
In your opinion, what is the CMS school board’s most important function?: The board’s most important job is to represent community values by setting clear academic and operational goals for the superintendent. Taxpayers deserve accountability for results. With 44% of students below grade-level proficiency, CMS must refocus on its core mission — educating students in safe, supportive, and academically rigorous schools.
What do you think should be CMS’ biggest funding priority? Where should that funding come from?: Teachers are CMS’s greatest asset. Competitive teacher pay, followed by safe and clean classrooms, should be the top funding priorities. Funding for larger pay supplements can come from reducing central-office growth, which has outpaced teacher and student increases. More dollars should reach classrooms, not bureaucracy.
There has recently been uncertainty around school funding from both the state and federal levels. What actions, if any, should the school board take to navigate this uncertainty?: The board should safeguard core academic functions and minimize mission creep. CMS’s expanding role as a social safety net —including proposed housing programs —stretches resources thin. By narrowing focus to teaching and learning, CMS can better navigate fluctuations in state or federal funding.
How can the board support the closing of performance gaps between high- and low-performing students?: First, revise the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) framework so it centers on character and virtues—integrity, resilience, self-control, and kindness. Virtue-based SEL creates safer classrooms, supports teachers, and prepares students for life. The current emphasis on feelings and identity should be replaced with lessons that develop reasoning, responsibility, and respect for others, so students become self-sufficient, caring, and patriotic citizens.
Second, end social promotion and restore merit-based accountability. In 2024, about 2,100 of some 9,700 CMS graduates had a GPA below 2.0, leaving many unprepared for work, college, or service. True equity rewards effort and responsibility, not lowered standards via leveling outcomes. Meritocracy is vital in business, sports, the military, and education because it fosters excellence, trust, and fairness. Students thrive when rewarded for effort and achievement—regardless of race, gender, or background. Clear expectations and transparent grading build confidence among families, teachers, and students alike.
The share of students enrolled in public schools is shrinking while private schools and charters have grown in recent years. How should CMS react?: CMS should compete by delivering the highest-quality education possible. That means focusing on proven fundamentals —strong academics, disciplined classrooms, and character formation — while removing distractions from the classroom. Parents are choosing alternatives because they want results and/or schools that uphold family values; CMS must earn their confidence back by putting students first and politics aside. When politics and distractions are removed, teachers can teach, and students can learn. Our goal should be simple but profound: build citizens ready to serve their families, communities, and nation with knowledge, virtue, and pride.