Will Dunn, BOE district 4 candidate

Career/occupation:
Self Employed government contractor and independent sales representative for Pre-Paid Legal. I recently returned to college to work towards my Master’s degree in Psychology.

Describe your background:
I have worked in sales, finance, marketing and I have ten years in law enforcement and private government security operations experience. I have experience in researching federal grants that would help aide the county in receiving more funding than they do currently. I have worked with schools in implementing anti-gang, narcotic and to help reduce high school dropout rates. I have served as President of Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) and Vice President of Phi- Beta Lambda in college and volunteered at local schools to encourage students to seek higher education, vocational training or other means of post-high school education. I have been a member of First Baptist of Winder for 10 yrs and have been a Sunday school teacher for the past several years. I am a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association, Barrow GOP and I assist my daughter in her volunteer activities through her duties as Miss Dacula.

•If the E-SPLOST referendum fails, will you vote for a property tax increase to service the school system’s debt?
If the E-SPLOST fails, I will not vote for a property tax increase as I know there are several alternative funding measures available. Most of the funding I have found is through federal grants, private business scholarships and by looking at our current ad-valorem requirements, there are legal means to raise funds without raising taxes. With the support of the public, I will show how we can implement a fair and easy way of paying for the county’s schools without making taxes being the answer.

•What are your plans to deal with budget constraints in a way that will preserve quality instruction for Barrow students?
The hardest part of budget constraints is for everyone to understand what the priorities, needs and principle goals are for the school system. The main objective is to continue to provide students with quality education, no matter what happens within the budget, we need the teachers, parents and students to work together and help each other through this tough economical time. No one wants to cut budgets, teacher’s salaries/benefits, school programs and other fixtures at schools. However, these are tough times and I plan on introducing several measures to help take the burden off of our tax payers.

•What are the three biggest issues that Barrow County Schools must address over the next five years?
During the next few years, there will be several key issues coming up. I feel that the land deal off of Hwy 81 and Hwy 53 to incorporate a vocational/community center with Lanier Tech is one of the most pressing. The other issues that are at the top of the agenda are obviously the budget and the performance of the county’s schools. It is no secret that several of our schools are having issues with student performance on testing and have failed to meet several guidelines. I will do whatever I can to come up with solutions to our budgetary, testing, dropout rate and not take away from our dedicated teachers and staff members who make sure our students come first.