Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Steve Mensing: Travis, glad you could take time from your busy schedule with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and talk with the Rowan Free Press about your future candidacy for the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education. Could you tell us about yourself and your background?
Travis Allen: Sure thing Steve. Thanks for the opportunity. I guess we need to start from the beginning. I am a lifelong resident of Rowan County. I am 43 years young, and married to Michelle Deal Allen of China Grove. Born and raised in Woodleaf, over in the western portion of Rowan. Grew up picking tomatoes at Wetmore Farms, busing tables at Western Steer, and washing school buses during the summers at the Rowan-Salisbury School Bus Garage.
I have three children currently enrolled in our school system. Avery is a rising sophomore at West High. Bradley will be a 7th grader at West Middle, and Wesley will be a 1st grader at Mount Ulla. My daughter Kaitlyn graduated from West Rowan in 2013 and is currently an aviation student at Liberty University. My wife is also employed with the school system. She was an assistant teacher (TA) last year at Mt. Ulla Elementary, but due to the NC Senate cutting TA’s she will lose her job at Mt. Ulla and will have to move to Hanford Dole in the fall. We love the west end of the county and hate she has to leave our community school that we love and have supported for almost 17 years. My family represents every level of education in Rowan County. We have a child at every school level, and my wife is an employee. I was a substitute teacher myself a few years back. We just love the west side of the county. We bleed West Rowan Falcon Blue! It is all about the “U”, Steve. That’s University of Mt. Ulla for you Carson, East Rowan, and Salisbury folks!
Currently I’m a Criminal Detective with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office. Have been in full time law enforcement here in Rowan County for 20 years. I also teach several classes at RCCC. I have a Master’s Degree in Administration of Criminal Justice and Security.
I have walked the halls of every single school in this county because of my duties with the Sheriff’s Office. I have helped with lockdown security drills as well as talked with teachers and staff about school security. The school system invited me on several occasions to do presentations in front of hundreds of our teachers and staff.
Steve Mensing: What motivates you to run for a seat on the school board?
Travis Allen: That is an easy one, Steve. The education of my children motivates me first of all. We have a child that is a recent graduate and three boys currently in West district schools. For the last few years, I grumbled about things and have seen no real changes. I am dumbfounded at how we as a nation, state and community have abandoned traditional education for progressive, feel good hogwash. What we’ve been doing is obviously not working, but we just keep doing the same old things. I think we need a school board that is aggressive in making our local system the best in the state. In order to do this, we are going to have to go against the flow. As I have said before, the “flow” is broken. Just a few weeks ago, the Post reported our children are reading at about 34% grade level. The same article stated that the State of North Carolina was around 43% or so. Our national numbers also resemble some of these low percentages. What does that tell us? It tells me that what we are doing is broken. It does not work. It continues to get worse. Yet we keep right on walking down the same path.
Steve Mensing: The statistics certainly show we’re in trouble. To switch topics, What seat are you a candidate for?
Travis Allen: I will be running for the West District seat currently held by Kay Wright Norman.
Steve Mensing: What are your thoughts about the current Rowan-Salisbury School System? What would you want to see done to improve it?
Travis Allen: Steve, our system, like the majority of those across the nation, is broken. We have abandoned traditional education. What I mean by traditional education are the three basic areas of learning: reading, writing and arithmetic. Not a single veteran teacher or anyone for that matter over the age of 30 was educated the way we are now educating students. What we call progressive has actually brought about a glaring regression in public education.
I would like for our system to be the one that jumps out of the “go with the flow” trends in education. We need to go back to what made our nation the greatest on the face of the earth. We need to go back to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. We as a community, teachers, administrators and school board need to be on the forefront of change. Our teachers are our greatest asset. We need to develop a simple basic curriculum and let our teachers run with it. It can be done, Steve. I have a plan that would raise our reading test scores by leaps in the 3rd grade after only three years.
Steve Mensing: For you, what are the three largest issues the school system faces?
Travis Allen: First, our very poor reading scores at the elementary school level. K5 through the 3rd grade are the foundational years of learning for our students. If a low percentage of our 3rd graders are reading at grade level, This has to be fixed first of all.
We can repair this by first developing a very simple curriculum in grades k5 through the 2rd grade. We focus on three things: reading, writing and arithmetic – and that is all. No science, no history, nothing else. We pound phonics and numeric tables. We teach 2 + 2= 4. We teach “A” says “a” as in apple. “A” says “a”, “a”, “a”.
We untie the hands of our teachers. Steve, our teachers can and will do the job if we free them form the hours of bureaucratic paperwork, abstract learning strategies and all the other nonsense they go through. The only thing a teacher should have to worry about is teaching.
We keep classroom size around 20 or so, and put a teacher’s assistant in every class k5 through 2nd grade. (And yes I can pay for it). With a simple curriculum, small class and an assistant our teachers will have plenty of time to help the ones struggling. No one can tell me that if we give our teachers the time, the freedom and help in the classroom we can’t see our numbers skyrocket!
Secondly, the state and condition of our buildings is a major concern. We have several that are over 50 years old and more. Yes, some of them may be sound, but what happens in 10 years? We need a major push for several more new schools. If we wait much longer, we are going to be in real trouble in 15 years.
Environment is very important to the learning experience. If elected, I will ask the Rowan County Board of Commissioners to assist us in placing a tax increase for new school facilities on the ballot. I don’t want the school board or the county commissioners to decide. I would like to present a plan to the tax payers. I would like at least four more new schools and a special needs facility for children with special needs. With what we waist on a movie and eating out, we can make drastic improvements.
If the voters approve of the tax increase, the Board of Commissioners and the School Board work together to begin the building process right away. We build basic buildings with no wasted space. We do not need massive open areas and atriums. I believe we pay way too much for new buildings. We will be responsible and thrifty with taxpayer money.
Steve the third area goes along with the second. We need a massive restructuring of our operating budget and administrative expenses. I believe that we have a major issue with wasted resources. I want the school board to be active in restructuring our staff and administrative positions. I would like to see a 10% across-the-board cut in operations costs. We waste much more than that. If a department head can’t identify at least 10% of wasted resources in his or her department, they do not need to be running it. I want to run the administrative offices on “bare bones” and the school buildings on full throttle. I would like to cut principal positions in the high schools down to no more than three. The 10% reduction in operating costs and the $300,000 we would save by eliminating one assistant principle in each high school would more than cover our plan to put teacher’s assistants in every k5- through 2nd grade classroom. I would also like to increase our teacher incentives in order to keep and attract good teachers. We could easily do this with a little bit of slashing and adding here and there.
If we show the taxpayers of Rowan County that we can cut our waste and make wise decisions with their tax dollars, they will vote to give us new buildings. First, we as a school board must become wise stewards of their money. Right now we are not. We can’t ask the taxpayers for a dime until we show them we can use it wisely.
Steve Mensing: What are some of the actions you would like to accomplish if elected?
Travis Allen: 1) Close Henderson Independent School and use the funds to build a new Technology High School. This would be a high school that could be combined with our early college program. This high school would offer state-of-the-art elective courses in advanced computer and technology skills as well as robotics. This would be a new campus centrally located in Salisbury. (Talk about attracting companies and families to Rowan County and Salisbury. This would do it.) Henderson has an average daily attendance in the low 30s. It is not worth the millions it costs to operate. On some days, the student to staff ratio is 1 staff for every 2 students.
2) Build a new Knox Middle School instead of renovating the old one. Renovating an old land-locked building makes no sense to me. If we are going to be spending 10 million or more, why are we renovating instead of building a new one? Steve, it is like this: Say an individual wants to remodel their $150,000 dollar 50 year-old house. The cost of the renovations is going to be $135,000. Would it not be better to just build a new one?
The school board talks so much about having the best interests of our children in mind. Well that’s hogwash. I say instead of building a Salisbury Central Office, we build a state-of-the-art Knox Middle School with new athletic fields and facilities. We build it on the West End of Salisbury and give the children of that community a place to rally around. The community there is suffering. A new technology high school and a new middle school in Salisbury could greatly help that community.
Steve, if I as a parent saw that my child was hungry or need clothing yet spent money on new clothing and food for myself, I would be a terrible parent. Yet this is exactly what our school board has done. They have neglected the poor children of Salisbury and Rowan County by putting them in trailers and schools over 60 years old in order for them to have a new $10 million plus school administration office. They tell our inner city children that you get a new paint job, and we get a new office. There is no other way of looking at this.
Build more schools and put the administrative staff in buildings that we already own. I say we move every single administrative staff into a mobile trailer office until all of our children are out of them.
3) Allow our veteran teachers and staff to develop a basic and simple k-5 through 2nd grade curriculum to implement into our schools. This would be custom-made for the children of our community. We need to be the school system that sets the trends not goes along with the ones that do not work.
4) Have our tax payers vote for and approve of a tax increase for new schools.
Steve Mensing: What are your impressions about school safety, transparency, excessive closed sessions, and a lack of video-recording of meetings?
I think our system made great strides in safety. There is always room for improvement, but we are on the right track. I would like to see our system develop a more stringent policy on violent or disruptive students, especially in our high schools. If they can’t act right they do not need to be there.
Our school board needs to be more transparent. We can greatly improve in that area. Steve, at the School Board meeting this morning you saw firsthand how the board went into closed session before the public comment portion of the meeting. They came back in and voted on the land exchange for the new central office before letting the people voice their opinions. They then strutted around like proud roosters with a press conference before the public was allowed to give their point of view. Steve, I knew they were not going to change their minds, but I really thought they would at least have the common decency to listen to the people before they did business. I was actually kind of shocked at that behavior. It was downright disrespectful. If I am elected to the school board, I may not change my mind. I not may not even agree with a citizen or a group, but I will be respectful and honor their right to bring their concerns and opinions before a vote is taken.
Steve Mensing: What are the upsides and downsides of the new digital initiative?
Travis Allen: That is a big one. I was not a big fan of $12 million or so going to new technology. It bothered me that we could all of a sudden find that much money when my kids have not had text books in the last two years. If my kid’s text books and assignments are not on these new iPads in the fall, and they come home with more copies and no books we are going to have a big issue.
I do not think the technology is going to do what they want it to do. Let’s look a little at what they are saying the technology is for. First it is supposed to help with literacy. Okay, we read at 33% grade level in the third grade and under, right? Well K-5 through 3rd grade will not even get the new technology to take home, so right away it will not raise our scores in those grade levels. So now that we have established that 67% of our 3rd through 8th graders can’t read at grade level, and on top of that they will then be given iPads to learn to operate. If you can’t read, how can you go through and understand apps on an iPad? Computer technology is a headache for those of us who can read. Can you imagine what it is like for a 4th grader who can’t read? I have talked to numerous teachers. They did not use the technology they already had. One of them told me to go try and get 24 3rd graders on the same program doing the same thing and see how it worked out. It takes so long to get everyone on board that by the time you do, the time to use the technology is gone. Many believe that it will actually take away from classroom instruction. Did you see the well-rehearsed group of children that gave the sample demonstration to the board? Go pick three or four off the street and see how it goes.
Our school system wants to do away with the very one thing that can turn us around. They want to do away with single teacher and one-on-one classroom instruction. The newspaper said they were going to do more group-based learning and problem-solving. Okay, Steve, you are now the teacher again. How in the wide world are you going to expect five 5th grade boys to get in a group and learn to solve algebra together? You are going to have more goofing off than anything. One kid will wind up doing the work and everyone else will just copy his answers. Will the bad student bring the group down, or will the one good student bring the group up? Any teacher that has been around the block knows that this is “pie in the sky thinking”. All this is only feel good gibberish. Again, we chase after the progressive philosophy while abandoning what made our nation great. Reading, writing and arithmetic, folks. It is just that simple. It is really just common sense. We can’t read. We don’t need to gather around an iPad in the classroom.
We need to simplify our curriculum in K-5 through 3rd grade and empower our teachers with time to teach as well as an assistant to help them. Take them off the hectic pace they are forced to work under. Let them slow down and do what they do best. They can do it if we give them the tools, time and help. In three years, our 3rd graders will be reading better that anyone in the state. Once they can read and do basic math, we will have eight more years to teach them the world.
Steve Mensing: How do you think about the school board’s past history of seeking to buy turf inside of Salisbury for Central Office projects of questionable merit?
Travis Allen: I think the main focus of the board should be to help our children and teachers. I think that putting the new central office at the top of their “to do list” is bad business no matter where it is. I say we build the new Technology High School I am proposing in “Downtown” Salisbury. That would add a spark to the community! It would add a bit of young life and energy to the place. The same people could then donate the land to the school children instead of the administrative staff.
I just can’t see having our children in mobile units with no text books while we build a new central office. It just seems out of order. I am not against upgrading or moving office staff. I am just against making it our #1 priority. Steve, could you imagine a multi-story brand new technology-focused high school in the downtown area? The life and energy it would create would be amazing. Local business would get a great boost and the property values would increase. It is a win for the school system and a win for Salisbury. It is a practical central location in the county as well. Steve, think of the draw it would create for business. Not many school systems can offer parents the choice of giving their child an advanced computer technology and robotic-centered high school experience. What a great business recruiting tool for Rowan County.
Steve Mensing: In closing, is there anything you would care to add?
Travis Allen: Two things.
I have had numerous people ask about my opinion of Dr. Moody. You may be the best way for me to reach a good many that may want to know my opinion. Well, first I haven’t meet her yet. I would love to. I did not want to bother her at the end of the school year. I knew things would be very busy for her. I hope to be able to sit and talk with her this summer. There are several things I really like about her. One thing is that I believe she really listens to people when they voice their opinion. Every time I have seen her be addressed by the public, whether it be at a board meeting like today or just out and about at events, she seems to always take the time to simply make eye contact and listen. When I spoke before the board this morning I felt that she had focused 100% of her concentration on what I was saying. She may not agree, but she is professional and listens. I recall hearing about her response to a parent who was upset and grieving over the death of a child that went to Erwin. The grieving parent was understandably upset and in the face of Dr. Moody. Dr. Moody had only been on the job for a few days. Yet she stood there with a tear in her eye and listened. She didn’t even have to walk out in the parking lot with them, but she did. She wanted them to know she was listening to them and hurting with them. That took a great deal of character and true passion for a school system she had only been in charge of for a short while. That tells me she is not in it for herself but to truly make a difference.
Second, she gets things done outside the box. For instance, though I may not agree 100% with the technology program, this lady took the budget she had and moved things around, cut things, cut people and positions to reach her goal. She did not go to anyone asking for extra. She took what she had and got it done. She then went to the Board of Commissioners and got approval from a board that doesn’t like spending money. Her moves made a lot of people unhappy. She went against the grain. She got what she wanted done. I really like that aspect of her ability to lead and make things her own. I really believe that a lady with this kind of ability can turn a school system around. I want to help her cut our budget further. I do not want to take away from Rowan-Salisbury Schools but rather to give Dr. Moody the savings and say now take this money and put it in the classroom and turn us around. I want her to know that I don’t want to go with the “broken flow”. I want her to have the freedom and resources to show the state how it is done. I just hope she realizes that the federal and state system of education is broken. I think the election this fall can be a very special one. If we can have a school board majority that is ready for significant change, I believe we have the superintendent that can get it done. Like I said, I hope to talk to her soon about her vision for our schools.
I have a vision to make our system work. I want us to have the courage to break away from what is obviously not working and return to what made US schools the best in the world. The minds produced and nurtured by our nation’s public schools put the first man on the moon. They won the space race and the Cold War. They have advanced medicine and technology by huge strides. We have fed, clothed and educated the world because of our educational foundation. Why have we turned away from this? America is what it is today because of the blessings of God and an educated work force that was the best in the world. Our educated work force fueled capitalism. Now I am afraid we have become educated beyond our intelligence. We have abandoned common sense. Change in public education will not come from Washington. It will not come from Raleigh. It will come from small communities and school systems like ours that are willing to go against the “broken flow” and return to what has made us so great. I hope to be a part of that.
