Chris Branham

Several of the candidates for Cullman City School Board were able to share some goals they have if elected during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Cullman County Republican Women.

Four of the candidates for election, Chris Branham, Nick Dumas, Cheryl Harrison and Nathan Haynes were in attendance for the meeting. Candidates Jason Neal and Scott Sessions did not attend. 

Branham, who is the incumbent for Place 2 on the board, pointed to some of the accomplishments that the board has made in the four years since he was first elected. 

He said the system has established a Pre-K program, bought property near Cullman City Primary School to further future expansion, increased monthly financial balances from 2.1 months of cash on hand to 3 months and reduced staff and payroll at the Central Office while making sure jobs are still being done.

Branham said the board has spent the last few years developing a facilities plan to account for the system’s growth, and while it isn’t yet ready for release, it is one of his goals to see that through.

“My goal over these next four years is to roll that out and let the citizens in the city look at it and see what they think and make a decision if it’s right for our community,” he said. 

Dumas is running against Branham for Place 2, and pointed to his 11 years of experience in education, with six years as a college baseball coach and five years as a teacher and coach in Florida and at Mountain Brook, along with an administrative role at Georgia Military College. 

He said every coach or teacher is constantly trying to make their team or students better, and he presented three key points to improve the city system. 

Those three points are a change in culture to increase the communication between the board, teachers and parents; an increase in passion among the board’s members to make the schools better and an increase in unity between the board, city council and mayor. 

“I’m not satisfied with us being really good, I want us to be great,” he said. 

Harrison is running for Place 3 on the board against Sessions, and said she has spent the past 20 years as an interior designer, which she said gives her a good skill set to serve on the board. 

Interior design requires diligent planning and creativity, and communication is a key part of the job, she said. 

“Not only do you have a vision, you have to communicate that vision and you have to be able to break that vision down into action so you have a plan, and you have a goal to get to that plan to reach success,” she said. “I really hope that I have an opportunity to bring this skill set to the school board, because I think I can be a good addition to the men and women that serve.”

Haynes will be running against the incumbent Neal for Place 4 on the board, and he shared a short message to the meeting’s attendees. 

He said he is a 2016 graduate of West Point High School, which makes him quite a bit younger than everyone else on the ballot, but said that youth could lead to some changes on the board. 

“I think we need better representation of all the schools, I think we need to have younger ideas, new ideas, a new way of thinking,” he said. “I believe it’s time for change.”