Candidate Q&A: Texico School Board Position 1

Texico School Board Position 1 is up for grabs this year and two candidates are running.

Sandymarie Pieratt and Derek “Kyle” Cain are both vying for the position. Jason Levi Queener was also in the initial running, but has since dropped out.

Early voting is under way. Election Day is Nov. 5.

The News sat down with both candidates for Position 1 to ask a few questions on why they think they’re qualified for the position.

Other candidate interviews will follow in upcoming editions of The News.

Sandymarie Pieratt

Why are you running?

I think everything that is done at the school has to be fair for all children, parents and teachers. No bias.

What experience do you have that best qualifies you for the job?

In the past I have spent a lot of volunteer hours at Texico. I was part of the Booster Club. I was on the board for the Booster Club for many years as their secretary and as their coordinator. I did all kinds of volunteering before that.

Currently, I work for the city of Clovis for senior service, learning how to work with parents, people and grandparents. The public is whom we work for and as a school board member that is whom I am going to be there to listen to and pass on their concerns.

Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime?

No I have not.

What is the best thing about your school system?

Really it’s the teachers. The teachers are what makes it the best. When your leadership—it starts with our high school and middle school principal Mrs. (Dee Rae) Timberlake—when leadership is wonderful your teachers are wonderful and then your students are wonderful.

What do you see as your biggest challenge, should you be elected?

That’s a hard one to answer. My biggest challenge will be to bring unity into Texico. I want to make sure it’s not seen that if you listen to one ethnic group others don’t feel as though they’re not listened to. I want to be able to bring a little bit of uniformity and unity so all those ethnic groups can become one so that Texico will be a great school.

Derek “Kyle” Cain

Why are you running?

I’ve got a long history with Texico schools. My parents went there, my sister and me grew up there and went there start to finish and my kids are going there.

I think Texico is a great school system and I want to do what I can to keep it that way and since my kids are there I want to do anything I can do to keep involved with them and keep the school headed in the right direction.

What experience do you have that best qualifies you for the job?

I’ve served on several boards and am currently on several at Central Baptist Church. I’m the chairman of deacons and have done several different committees there. I’ve been chairman of an organization through Clovis and served as chairman and director there for a year leading board meetings.

Then there’s the social aspect of things. I know all the people around here because I’ve lived here all my life, within eight miles of Texico and I haven’t been anywhere else. The people and the things around here mean a lot to me.

Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime?

No sir.

What is the best thing about your school system?

I don’t know how to narrow it down. There are several aspects of it I think. Our current administration and our current school board are good and we’ve got a good and diverse group of teachers and different programs going on, from two good agriculture teachers to several good coaches.

The teachers are good at keeping contact with students and parents. The whole thing overall is good. Texico has done well and I’ve been lucky enough to see all the changes as far as facilities and grounds go since I’ve been around there since I started kindergarten in ’87.

I can’t pick the best thing. There’s always room for improvement. If there’s not you’re probably just lying to yourself. There are good things in all areas.

What do you see as your biggest challenge, should you be elected?

Probably that there’s people who all have problems, but deal with them in different ways. Sometimes they’ll call board members just to vent and if you’re willing to be a board member you’ve got to put up with that.

The biggest challenge would be to be able to think through those kinds of situations when people are complaining and griping, but be able to listen to that and hear it out correctly with an open mind to have an answer about what’s best for the school rather than one person or a particular group.

I’ll need to listen that out and have an answer that’s reflective to the school, community and myself. You need to keep things going and have good relations with people as far as the ones with problems go. That’s the biggest obstacle I would say.

The school itself is headed the right direction.

— Compiled by Staff Writer Mathew Brock