Newcomers Sandy Jennings and Amanda Woods will compete for a seat in Jackson County’s only contested Board of Education race: District 5 (Cashiers), which encompasses Blue Ridge School and Blue Ridge Early College. Jennings did not respond to The Smoky Mountain News’ multiple requests for comment.
Amanda Woods
Amanda Woods has lived in Cashiers for more than 20 years, though she grew up in Highlands. Her two oldest children are Blue Ridge Early College graduates, and her three youngest attend Blue Ridge School. They’re all boys, and all adopted, a decision she’d make 10 times again over.
“They are full siblings, and they were not in the same home prior to us getting them. We were foster parents for three and a half years and got full guardianship of these three boys. So, I have a heart for kids, obviously,” she said.
In addition to her involvement in external Blue Ridge School and Big Brothers Big Sisters fundraisers, Woods serves on Blue Ridge’s parent-teacher organization board and said she’s proud of securing previously unfulfilled wish list items for teachers and graduation caps for kids whose families couldn’t afford them. She also works with the Boys and Girls Clubs, which have served each of her children — especially her youngest, whose reading improved with a personal tutor.
“I’ve also been volunteering at Blue Ridge School for about a month to six weeks, just wherever needed. I’ve been in the kindergarten class, and I’ve also worked in the cafeteria,” she said.
She sees teacher pay amid Cashiers’ steep cost of living as District 5’s largest problem, especially since it’s been challenging to keep the school fully staffed.
“Last year, I know for a fact we had three teachers that lived in campers, and I just feel that that’s unacceptable,” she said, adding that if elected, she’ll immediately work toward better pay or a hiring incentive. She said this could include mileage reimbursement for teachers commuting from outside the district, admitting that housing is more than half of the issue.
“It’s either too expensive or you can’t find it,” she said.
Another of Woods’ main concerns was Blue Ridge School-specific: infrastructure issues. The school doesn’t have a cafeteria, so students are served in the hallway, surrounded by foot traffic.
“I just feel like it’s not even adequate if there were a fire. It’s a safety issue,” she said.
Along those lines, the school also desperately needs a new gym so practices don’t run into the night. When both the middle and high school players have practice, the latter group ends at 10 p.m. She didn’t explain how either capital improvements or teacher incentives would be funded.
Woods is satisfied with academic student outcomes but wants more trade offerings for high schoolers who don’t plan to continue their education past senior year.
However, she thinks students with disabilities need more attention. For example, she said someone recently told her a student couldn’t get a hearing aid because the only one available district-wide was broken.
She posited that tutoring could help mitigate achievement gaps among different student groups and called for the district to curb unnecessary spending, pointing to the proposed Smoky Mountain Middle School, whose rocky site commissioners approved unanimously after a 13-month selection process.
“Now they need so much more money because of the rock situation. I just think that that could have been avoided had we had the right resources in that to begin with,” she said.
Woods said the key to garnering feedback and direct communication is sustained participation and presence — and it’s what she plans to do.
“I feel like if you’re seen, if you’re there, if you’re present, you’re on the premises, you are readily available for anybody that has concerns, (then) they can voice that to you,” she said.
She wasn’t aware of the Leandro litigation. When SMN explained what Opportunity Scholarships entailed, she said, “I feel like [the state] should support that if that’s the choice that [parents] make.”
She felt similarly about the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
“I do absolutely think the parents should have a say so in what curriculum is used and what should not be used,” she said.