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Willie McCaskill Jr.Candidate for Hoke County Board of Education 1. Please tell the public a little about yourself – your background, education, and relevant experience. I Willie McCaskill Jr. am a proud native of Hoke County and a product of the Hoke County School System. I graduated high school in 1991 and immediately joined the U.S. Army. While in the Army I worked as an Air Traffic Controller at various places around the country, and served overseas in the Republic of South Korea. I served on active duty for 8 years, earned several awards and citations, and was Honorably Discharged in 1999. Upon being Honorably Discharged, I was hired by the Federal Government as an Air Traffic Controller. I have worked for both the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration as a controller for almost 15 years. In 2013 I changed career paths and became an Occupational Safety and Health Specialist on Fort Bragg working for the Department of Defense. I presently serve the Fort Bragg Installation Safety office working as Safety Program Manager for Department of Defense Schools and Child Youth School Services. I serve 9 Schools, 22 child care facilities and 3 Youth Activity Centers. I am considered the Installation’s Subject Matter Expert in School and Youth Services Safety. I am also currently serving as Pastor of two churches, Freedom East Presbyterian Church in Raeford and Panthersford Presbyterian Church in Red Springs. My wife and I own DaddyMac’s Mini Mart and Daddy Mac’s Seafood and Country Kitchen in the West Hoke Community. My previous service to county government includes serving as a member, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Hoke County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for 5 years. While on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board we were able to implement a strategic plan to build 2 Parks in the Rockfish Community and on NC 211 Hwy. My Education and training includes a Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts Degree from Athens State University with Concentrated Studies in both Management of Technology and Aviation Management, and a Masters of Aeronautical Science Degree from what is nick-named the “Harvard of Aviation,” Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. While studying at Embry Riddle I earned minors in both Aviation Management and Aviation Safety Systems. I also have extensive training and certifications in the area of safety, which includes specialized training in Occupational Health & Safety, Explosives Safety, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Safety, Environmental Safety and Public Sector Safety. I am a Certified Elementary School and Youth Community Playground Inspector and an OSHA Certified Trainer in Occupational Safety and Health Safety and Health Fundamentals. I am married to my lovely wife Lornette and we have 4 awesome Children Gideon 27, Akil 23, Jabarius 20, and my only daughter Nyla 18. 2. Why are you running for the Board of Education? 3. If elected (or re-elected), what do you hope to accomplish? When elected to the school board, I will work to increase transparency and improve accountability in our school system. It is my firm belief that citizens of Hoke County should know exactly how honest and trustworthy their school board is. I will work to earn public trust by providing pertinent and timely information on how and why the school board arrived at our respective decisions. It is understandable that not all news is favorable but the community must be made aware. I will be the board member that delivers it honestly, and with conviction. I believe that the community will appreciate the fact that they have someone that represents them who is straight and truthful. When there are scenarios or situations that I do not know, I will not fake as if I have all the answers. I will find responses and solutions through investigation and research; thus insuring a reasonable outcome is provided that is in the best interest of the student, teacher, school system, and county. I want and desire for the community to hold the school board accountable to the citizens. The school board represents the citizens of Hoke County. As a board member I will ensure the board accepts responsibility and accountability for what happens and what fails to happen. Accepting responsibility and accountability allows room for improvement and growth; which will yield a stronger school system and a stronger community. The School Board will provide oversight of the County’s School System and will ensure the public has a voice on the board that serves in the best interest of all Hoke County citizens.
4. Do you think Hoke County needs a new high school? Why or why not? Would you support building a new high school, and if so, where should it go? I absolutely do believe that Hoke County needs a new High School. To the best of my knowledge the High School was originally built in the ‘60s when the County’s population was around 16,500. We now have a population that exceeds 54,000 people with new subdivisions popping up everywhere. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out we need to strategically plan the building of a new high school. This is not an overnight venture, but planning must begin now and will begin when I am elected. It would take a lot of planning by the School Board and the County Commissioners, with substantial input from the community to make a new high school happen, but I believe it should happen within the next 5 years. If the community decides to stay with a one High School in the county system, the new High School should be located in a central area to be determined after research and study. The old Hoke High would be a great site to strengthen our prospering vocational and technical programs that are already thriving. If the community desires to have more than one high school, a second high school should be located in the Rockfish Area, an area that is busting at the seams. I do not want our high school to lose its sports 4A status, so how our athletic programs will be rated will also be taken in consideration when considering our options for a new High School. 5. What are your thoughts on other school facilities needs (elementary, middle, etc.)? The current administration has done a great job in maintaining our schools, some of which are dated. I applaud the current leadership for doing that. I would like to see improved forecasting for growth taking place, we have schools that were recently built now have to add temporary buildings. How often does the current School Board meet with the Zoning and Planning board to talk about future growth and how to strategically plan for the future. Because I work with the schools in the fifth largest city in North Carolina (Fort Bragg), I can tell you there are always the need to make improvements but I believe the current board has done so much with these facilities to keep them serviceable and useful with limited resources. When elected to the board I will examine current building projects on the basis of what has been done and what needs to be done to make our facilities feasible and useful for learning. 6. What efforts would you support to help make Hoke County Schools safe for students and staff? Enhancing School Safety is the most important issue facing any Board of Education. In these trying and demanding times in which we live the safety, security and emergency preparedness of our school system must be paramount. Hoke County Schools should be the safest place in town for the students and employees alike. When elected, I will work diligently with the County Sheriff, Chief of Police, and Principals to support the existing plan to provide a safe learning environment for the schools in Hoke County. While simultaneously maintaining the safety plans already in place, we will work to ensure Hoke County is using the most modern technologies available to mitigate risks. I will strongly encourage a budget is implemented to support the hiring and maintaining of highly-trained and well equipped School Resources Officers and they are placed at every school in the county, and I do mean every school! I will work to implement a strategic plan to reduce gang activity, improve student morale, pride, and self-confidence, which will serve to make our schools safer and reduce the school suspension rate. 7. What are your thoughts on charter schools? I am not against charter schools for very often they serve as valuable alternatives to traditional public schools and very often provide an alternative to low-performing traditional public schools. Several reviews on charter schools show that they are able to give a student more personal attention and close the achievement gap that very often hinders under-privileged children of color. Additionally, charter schools often serve to best help children with special needs. It was presented to me by a parent of a child with special needs that Hoke Schools System were not able to serve her child because of inadequate facilities and under-trained teachers. Some of Hoke County Schools are over-crowded now, can one imagine what the student population would be if there were no Chart Schools? I believe common ground can be found on the need for both. 8. Are there any areas of education or school system administration in Hoke County Schools that are of particular concern for you? I see a need to improve expectations for student achievement with focus on technical education. According to a 2009 report by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Career Technical Education (CTE) has been proven to give students the technical and professional skills demanded in today’s society. When elected on the Hoke County school board, I will work to expand and invigorate the CTE programs that are already in place. This can be accomplished by pairing students who are training in these programs with industry leaders, mentors, and institutions of higher learning. When students are paired with experts in a particular field, technical pathways are created which serves to motivate a student’s desire to achieve greatness and success. Additionally, as students are trained in technical fields, a friendly labor climate is created for industry, business development, and entrepreneurship. With Hoke County being one of the fastest growing counties in the state, I believe that it is the inherent duty of the school board to plan extensively and efficiently to provide the best educational experience possible for the students of Hoke County; which not only enhances the student, but serves to meet the demand of this global economy and shrinking labor market. 9. What would you do to help the school system recruit and retain qualified teachers? The number one answer that most will give when answering the question about how to recruit and retain qualified teachers is give them money. Of course teachers want more money, but there are other issues that affect the hiring and keeping of good qualified teachers. Teachers also need to feel valued, heard, and respected. A culture of respect, collaborative learning, and a sense of serving something greater than oneself is what helps keep teachers. 10. What efforts would you support to improve the high school graduation rate and test scores across all grade levels? Research confirms that the involvement of parents and families in their children’s education is critical to a students’ academic success. The truth is so many children are reared without an encouraging support group at home. It is my hope to provide families with tools to assist with positively reinforcing discipline, structure, and accountability in our students, which as a result would improve the high school graduation rate and test scores across all grade level. There is only so much that a school system can do. When you elect me as a member of the Hoke County School Board, I will work to make sure that the school system does its part and does it well. I want to ensure we all work together to ensure the success of our students, so part of my platform is to increase parental and family advocacy. Working to increase parental and family advocacy involves such things as: Provide training and materials for parents on how to improve children’s study skills or learning in various academic subjects, Offer workshops to inform families of the high expectations and standards children are expected to meet in each grade level. Provide ways for families to support the expectations and learning at home, Engage families in opportunities to work with their children in setting their annual academic, college, and career goals.
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