As much as I hate to admit it at times, I am a life long Republican. However, that being said, I don’t necessarily vote the “party line”.  I vote based on the issues and for which candidate I believe will address them.  I’ve been hearing a lot of babble around town about the District 2 School Board race. I guess there are those in the community who feel that actually having a choice about who sits on the School Board is a bad idea. I’m grateful that anyone would even consider running for it when they are not retired but actually have a career and a young family.

What I’m hearing….. “ Mr. D’Andrea has only been a republican for a month”….. What I know….  Mr. D’Andrea is a very accessible candidate and returned my phone call promptly.  He explained to me that he had been a life long “Blue Dog Democrat” until last August.  After meeting Mike Huckabee, he changed his party affiliation to Republican.   This is a free country; you are allowed to align yourself with the people you choose. On that note, the School Board position is by partisan. Why is the community placing such an emphasis on a candidate’s political party? The children in our school system are growing up in homes that are Republican, Democrat, Independent or have no political interest at all.  We need people on our school board who are going to give their attention to what matters in educating our children, not serving politics.