Since early voting started last Friday, July 17, it’s important for Hamilton County residents, especially parents with school-aged kids, to carefully consider who best represents their interests, as well as those of taxpayers, on the Hamilton County School Board.

In District 6, Republican Cindy Fain is running against incumbent Democrat Ben Connor to represent the interests of parents, students, teachers and taxpayers to school administrators and the Hamilton County Commission through its annual budget.

(District 6 includes Red Bank, North Chattanooga, Lupton City, Stuart Heights, Riverview and Hill City neighborhoods.)

The question before voters is whether or not they are satisfied with the quality of education our kids are getting in Hamilton County Schools. When barely over one-third of students proficiently read and solve math problems at their grade level, that doesn’t bode well for our young people seeking work and vocational opportunities after school, particularly in an ever more complex and technically demanding economy. We can’t remain satisfied with nearly two out of every three kids in our public schools failing to meet basic standards of learning.

Moreover, are we best preparing our youth to take on the civic and social challenges of bringing unity to our increasingly diverse nation while schools keep emphasizing the superficial outward differences between groups of students, leading to resentment? Or instead, shouldn’t we challenge students to strive to reach their potential, no matter who they are, through more individual attention and a greater orientation towards achievement that serves to raise standards for all while improving unity?

I’ve known Cindy for years, as a business owner and an active citizen concerned about building stronger connections between people in our community and working with others to improve the quality of public education. She leads an American Heritage Girls troop and served as treasurer for Moms for Liberty Hamilton County. Her focus has been on rebalancing limited county resources more towards the classroom and students, and away from the central office. 

As a mother with her younger daughter in Hamilton County Schools, she’s personally invested in improving the school system. An experienced business owner and manager, Cindy will focus on providing greater budget and curriculum transparency, so that parents are better informed about what their children are learning and how much of each school dollar goes to the classroom. She’ll emphasize better maintaining our school infrastructure before students and teachers are forced to pay the price for a broken learning environment. And most particularly, Cindy wants to refocus school priorities to guarantee each studentcan access the most rigorous courses to best prepare them for a future of opportunity, rather than a DEIsocial engineering experiment that bores students towards mediocrity. 

As early voting continues and we head toward the Thursday, Aug. 6 election, I urge voters in Hamilton County District 6 to refocus our schools towards students by voting for Cindy Fain for the Hamilton County School Board.

Brendan Jennings