By Taylor Boyd
Thomas Leigh Chaney is seeking the Dan River District seat on the Patrick County School Board in the November election.
Chaney, 41, is currently the only candidate seeking this position.
Incumbent Brandon Simmons said he will not seek reelection due to his bid for the Dan River District post on the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
Chaney said he’s had the desire to run since the last election cycle, but was unable to put in his application due to missing the application deadline.
“This time around, it wasn’t too late for me to do because I kept up with when it was going to be,” he said.
Chaney said he decided to run for the position after attending and watching Board of Supervisors meetings that involved the school division.
“One of the bigger things was the schools and teachers requesting improvements and they (Board of Supervisors) keep saying ‘well the budgeting just isn’t there yet.’ Where’s all the state funding for the school that was already given, and why is it not being budgeted to the school and not to different areas of the county,” he said.
Chaney said he also decided to run “due to the knowledge and capabilities of what can be done to help the school and the children within our district and hoping to get them the things that they will need to further their education.”
He said this starts with a better budget and management.
“As of now, times are turning and most things are going computerized, you know, digital, less textbooks. But, if they don’t have the new age, in-era equipment like other schools do, and they’re still trying to learn the traditional way, it takes longer for the children to grasp the concepts of what the world’s looking for nowadays, not like it was 20 years ago,” he said.
While Patrick County High School is doing more with technology, Chaney said the school system needs to do more for the younger children who “are growing up in this era where technology is advancing. They need to be there with it and not behind it, because most of the world nowadays is starting to work from home virtually,” and this requires an understanding of how to run different systems on the computer, he said.
“Children that’s not learning their computer systems that well until high school or starting in college, they’re having more issues and troubles versus the children that already have that education because their schools have been upgraded for the portion of life,” he added.
Chaney said it’s important to integrate technology to children as they progress through every grade and teach them the different areas of the computer, how they work, how to use them for research, how to look things up, and how computers can help.
“Because if they don’t know how to do it, then it’s just like ‘go over here and hit this app that’s already installed on here and do your schoolwork.’ I mean I’m not saying too low of an educational level, but as they start moving up until they get to, you know, seventh grade, they should know how to go in and start with a simple PowerPoint of three or four sides to do a project on. They have to be taught how these different things work so when they get into high school and have to actually use that, it’s not another learning curve that will slow them down,” he said.
If elected, Chaney said another priority is to help secure more funding for the school system.
“With the financial crisis that’s going on within the county, the schools don’t get but the bare minimum, and somebody needs to be able to stand up and say ‘No, this is what we need to be able to better the system within the school,’ and then be able to ask the questions you need to ask” regarding the funding, he said.
Chaney said his vision is to make the school system and the educational experiences of students better than they already are. He also is in favor of children returning to school because many are unable to properly learn under the virtual education model.
Chaney served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 14 and half years and attended classes for leadership, finance, management, and budgeting as he moved up through the areas of service. He is currently attending Liberty University.
