CLEVELAND, Ga. — Kendyl Brock-Hunter has been at the helm of an award-winning school system the past 12 years and would like to serve for four more, which is why she is running for a fourth term as White County School Board Chair.

She is a healthcare professional, a successful business owner who has worked in school systems as an occupational therapist, and she once served in a governor-appointed position as a member of the licensing board for occupational therapists.

“We’ve done some great things,” she said. For example when the state of Georgia College and Career Readiness Performance Index Scores (CCRPI) were released last week. White County schools were ranked #1 in the region in elementary schools performance, #1 in high school performance and the school system ranked #11 overall in the state. In addition, Mossy Creek Elementary School was named a “2016 National Beta School of Merit.”.
Hunter points out that communication between schools and parents has improved.

“We’ve implemented things that weren’t in place 12 years ago, things like email and the phone tree. We send out texts now. You know what’s going on with your kids. You can track your kid. I love the fact that middle schools post what they’re dong this week on the phone tree. Can we improve? Certainly. But that starts with parents saying I’m not getting the information I need. We can’t fix it if we don’t know it’s broken.”

Hunter said the transition from Mom to school board member is very difficult.

“You’re no longer the day to day,” she said. “It’s not that you don’t appreciate the day to day or understand it, but you’re there to govern and to lead. “We are there to listen to the administrators, listen to the parents, listen to the students, listen to our community and to govern.”

On whether there is too much testing, she said, “Of course there is. We all know there is too much testing.” But much of the testing, she pointed out, is mandated by the state and federal government.

“One of the great things about being a charter system is something we’re moving forward with right now which is to do away with the day to day milestones. We’re looking at using some measures we already have in place that are nationally normed to gauge our kids. That will take away some of the unnecessary testing.”