Brown, Scott

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
School Board
District:
Cave Creek Unified School District
Phone:
(480) 221-4526
Age:
61
Occupation:
retired, after 36 years in retail grocery and drug store business
Education:
high school diploma, some college classes
Biographical Info:

I was born and raised in central Illinois, my father, after he served in the Navy became a police officer and my Mother a hospital nurse, then an Instructor of Nursing at the local community college. As the oldest of three boys, my parents instilled several life traits of hard work, academic excellence, and community service to us as we were growing up. To this I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout at the age of 13, worked in the community with different non-profit organizations and began my employment career as soon as I turned 16, to be able to help and support myself.

My professional career took me and my family to several cities in the central Illinois area, then to Dallas Texas, where I married my wife of 32 years, back to Springfield, Illinois where my son was born, to Kansas City Missouri, where my daughter was born, to the Boston / New Hampshire area and finally to Cave Creek Arizona in the spring of 2002.

In my time in Cave Creek, I have been active with the school community with my children in the roles of PTO officer, volunteer in the classroom, volunteer in the lunch room and school library. I have served on several school district committees. I also have been active in the Cave Creek Youth Football and Cheerleading since it was founded in 2002 up to today, serving as board president for the first six years, as deputy commissioner for eight years and currently serving again as board president for the 2022 season.
I’m also a member of the local Kiwanis Club and have served on the Scholarship Committee for the past four years. In May, our committee awarded 32 high school seniors over $340,000 in scholarships.

Statement:

One of the most important responsibilities of any community is the education of our youth. The number one priority of a school district governing board is this student education and a detailed plan to achieve this goal.

Three key points to achieve this goal is to establish a balanced budget, retain and support qualified staff and educators and to efficiently and timely review curriculum to be used to prepare our students for the ever changing society that we now live in.

As a current Cave Creek Governing Board member, I am running for reelection this term as I want to continue to serve my community as a Governing Board member as my family has lived in the Cave Creek community for 21 years and our children attended the Cave Creek schools , both graduates of Cactus Shadows High School.

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSupports
  • OOpposes
  • *Comment
  • −Declined to respond
  • †Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Requiring school officials, including teachers, to inform parents about their child’s social, mental, emotional, or physical health S* Parents are the "first educators" and communication to them about their children is important as they do need to know how their children are doing.
2. Allowing parents to opt their children out of activities or lessons they find offensive to their personal, moral, or religious beliefs S* Yes, currently there are several subject areas that Parents must have the decision on if they wish their children to participate in learning at the public school level.These reasons could be religious, or personal by the Parent must have that choice.
3. Increasing state and local taxes to provide more funding for schools and school facility projects S* The current state funding for public schools , using a procedure based from 1980 must be reviewed and overhauled to improve the funding, thus improve the Arizona public school system. We must pull Arizona out of the bottom of the funding list and do all we can for our children education.
4. Requiring signed permission from a parent before a student may participate in any sexuality related instruction, activities, or clubs. S* Yes, I feel that the Parents must be aware of any unique curriculum that may be taught, as well as to know exactly what extra curriculum activities that their children may be participating in.
5. Allowing all parents to use tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts to enable children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy S* With the new state budget, vouchers have become a hot topic. If public monies will be used for vouchers, then lets level the playing field and place all these avenues of education with the same state assessment testing and guidelines for students.
6. Requiring full-day kindergarten for all students S* Yes, Pre-K and Kindergarten for all children is the best way to begin their learning habits and will begin to establish good learning habits and develop them into great elementary students.
7. Mandating sex education classes for 5th-12th grade students S* As this is not required by the State, public school districts have he option to teach or not teach any sex education classes, If the district does wish then full transparency with curriculum and allowing parents to Opt-In is a must.
8. Allocating teacher pay raises based upon merit rather than providing uniform salary schedule increases based upon years of teaching or additional credentialing (e.g. masters degrees) O* Teacher salary must be a combination of both, a basic salary structure for new or beginning teachers but then stipends or bonuses for teachers that do continue their education and work on becoming better in their craft.
9. Implementing policies to allow students and faculty to use the restroom, locker room, and shower room that aligns with their gender identity O* Putting local school district employees on the front line of the current gender identity issues is a difficult situation. Public school districts must have the resources in counselors and social workers to be able to work with students dealing with gender issues.
10. Teaching what is known as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); social, emotional learning (SEL); or critical race theory (CRT) in public schools. O* These subject areas, for years have been in specific college courses, does not need to be something that K-12 students need to be taught.
11. Increasing academic (curriculum) transparency by requiring each public school to post online for parents and the public a list of all instructional materials being used in the classroom. S* Yes, Parents are the primary educator for their children and they must be given the chance to review all the public school district curriculum that their children will be given access to.