Larry Dix
Larry C. Dix lives in West Jefferson. He is retired in March 2009 and relocated to Ashe County in July 2009 and most recently served as a substitute teacher for Ashe County Schools in elementary, middle and high schools from September 2009 to June 2010.
From July 2006 to February 2009, he served as deputy secretary for Program Services – West for the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This position provided executive oversight for all program services for the western half of the state, which included court services, youth development centers, prevention programs, supervision of all detention facilities, interstate compact, and transportation system of juveniles. From May 2002 to July 2006 he served as deputy secretary for administration for the DJJDP. In this position he was responsible for developing this new department. From February 1992 to July 1999, he served as area administrator of Juvenile Services Division, Administrative Office of the Courts, and from July 1999 to May 2000 as special assistant to the secretary of the DJJDP. He was also responsible for managing an urban juvenile court district in Raleigh and served as a juvenile court counselor in Virginia. He is a frequent presenter, trainer and speaker on juvenile justice, human service, organization and related issues, and served as a commissioner on the Governor’s Crime Commission.
Dix received an AA degree from Louisburg College and a BA degree from North Carolina State University. He received a Certified Public Manager (CPM) – North Carolina Public Manager Program in 1989.
He is married to Michelle Halsey Dix and father of four children: Ashley, Tiffany, Hunter and Savannah, and foster parent to Terry Thompson.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
First of all this is also a question that I would like to ask the citizens of Ashe County who pay taxes that support the school system and who are concerned about education of one of Ashe County’s most prized resources—our young people. I am going to be honest and say that I don’t exactly know what changes I would like to see right now other than changes on the Ashe County Board of Education. I think that new faces on the board will bring new ideas and perspectives. Change is good—when it is needed. The Board of Education needs to be able to discern when and what changes are needed. I think again that new faces will enhance the ability of the board to be open and creative to the issues that face the school system such as funding, school repair and maintenance, new construction, technology, curriculum and test demands on teacher and students, keeping staff morale high and holding on to our best teachers.
I am currently gathering information about what the good people of Ashe County think about the school system, but if elected, will need to hear from many others in the community. I have some ideas, but, if elected, my job will be to listen to the people of Ashe County and then make the very best decision I can keeping in the front of my mind how every decision impacts the classroom and the successful education experience of every student. We cannot expect teachers to teach and students to learn if the classrooms do not provide a learning environment. Teachers will need strong administrative and community support in their expectations for students to be well behaved, respectful, and focused on learning. Along with that we will need to help the teachers be the very best teacher they can to every student.
We all agree these are very trying times for all of us. Because of that, the Ashe County Board of Education must work even more effectively to provide the very best education possible to all of our students and support educators. I would like to be a part of the budgetary process that must establish good stewardship in these difficult times that will allow our school system to move forward, while at the same time enhancing those areas that we already know work.
Polly Jones
I attended school at Lansing, Jefferson and Ashe Central. My husband, Ralph C. Jones, Sr, is the retired postmaster at Crumpler where we have lived since our marriage.
We have three children: Sarah Jones Tugman, a graduate of N.C. State, teaching science and forensics at ACHS; CDR Charles Jones, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, now the Executive Officer serving on the USS Green Bay in San Diego, CA, and has served two tours of duty in Iraq; Phillip Jones, a graduate of NC State, working for Raytheon in Tewksbury, MA, and lives with his wife, Hannah, in Boston. I have three grandchildren.
My educational journey began after I became a wife and mother of three. My journey began at WCC where I earned an Associate of Arts degree. After transferring to ASU, I earned a BS in English, taught two years in Grayson County, Va. while working on my Masters Degree. I taught English at Beaver Creek High School from 1984-1999 and at ACHS from 1999-2010. During my 28 years of teaching, I have taught a wide range of subjects: Language Arts, English I through English IV, AP English Literature, AP Composition, SAT Prep, journalism and drama. For 15 years I have also been an adjunct faculty member at WCC, teaching English 111,112 and 114.
During my teaching career, my colleagues have three times honored me with the Teacher of Year Award and once as Ashe County Teacher of the Year. For 26 years, I helped sponsor the National Beta Club, encouraging students to participate in academic, artistic, and talent competition at the District and State levels.
I am a North Carolina English Teacher of the Year, United States English Teacher of Excellence and a National Board Certified Teacher. I have served on numerous school and state committees, especially on writing curricula.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
Ashe County has an excellent school system, excellent teachers, and wonderful students. Due to my work, along with other Ashe teachers, at the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh, I know Ashe County is well known across the state for "Excellence" in academics. As a school board member, some things I would like to evaluate and to work on are discipline, attendance, bullying, and the dropout rates. I am most interested in programs that affect these areas and programs that bridge the gaps among elementary school classes, middle school, and high school expectations, and programs that allow our students to prepare for 21st Century careers and colleges. Every school should have a safe, clean, and pleasant environment for both students and staff. My goal is to offer opportunities for each student and staff member to achieve to their highest potential.
Charles King
I was born in Ashe County, on a small hillside farm near Lansing. I attended Lansing elementary and high school. After high school I attended Lees McRae, a junior college at that time, upon completing my two years there I then attended North Carolina State University. I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Education in 1958.
I worked my first year after college for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During this year I married Donna Hardin, my wife of 51 years. I then was able to return to Ashe County to accept a vocational agriculture teaching position at Beaver Creek High School. During my tenure at Beaver Creek, two children were added to our family, Linda Charlene King and James Dale King. They have completed their secondary school and college work. Linda attended Appalachian State University and James attended North Carolina State University. After 33 years in the classroom, I retired from teaching. During my years in the classroom I received several awards from both the State FFA and the National Association for work in the FFA.
In 1994 I was elected to my first term on the Ashe County Board of Education. I have served on the board for four terms and was voted chairman each year. This year I am a candidate for a fifth term on the Ashe County School Board.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
Many changes have been made in our schools in the past five years. With each change, student performance has improved and extra work has been added to our teachers work load. Our teachers are well trained; they know the state course of study and are outstanding in their field. I would like to see less state and standard tests and let our teachers teach.
Roger Newton
I live in Fleetwood. In addition to a number of diplomas, I have advanced degrees from New Mexico State University, Baylor University, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I served In the US Air Force during the Vietnam Era.
Among other jobs, I have been a crew chief on F4 fighter planes, organic chemist tech with NASA with awards from the Mars Viking, and Apollo-Soyuz, chaplain with the military, Hospice, WMH, Cannon and Crossnore Children’s Home and Charter School Bible teacher. I have been a licensed and ordained minister for over 30 years. I was a substitute teacher mainly with the academic gifted. We served eight years as SBC missionaries to Norway in Europe. Presently, I am the executive director of the Ashe Pregnancy Care Center.
My wife of over 37 years, Debbie Newton, is a third grade teacher at Mountain View; she is a Nationally Certified Teacher with a Masters degree in Administration.
Three sons: Ben is a graduate of ASU and Cornell University. He is married and lives in Silver Springs MD. Joshua is a graduate of UNC Charlotte. After serving as a bio-engineer at NASA, he returned to UNC Charlotte to set up their Bioinfomatics Lab. He is married and completing the physicians’ assistant program at Wake Forest University. Our youngest son is a graduate of ASU, Appalachian School of Law, The University of Stockholm, the US Patent Office, Centro University in Italy and is at Harvard University School of Management.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
We must be more responsive and connected to the needs and concerns of the people of Ashe County by being available and listening to their input. We have excellent teachers and staff as well as hundreds of concerned parents, families and citizens. We need their participation in training the next generation. Raleigh and Washington may or may not have right motives but Ashe County always has the greatest stake in educating our children.
Terry Williams
I am a lifelong resident of Ashe County. I currently reside in West Jefferson and have been happily married to my wife Debbie for 33 years. We have three children that graduated from the Ashe County school system.
I am a graduate of Appalachian State and have recently retired from the Ashe County school system after 32 years of service. I was the social studies department chair for the past 11 years at Ashe County High School. I was selected as the North Carolina Social Studies Teacher of the Year for the 2008-2009 school year.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
We have one of the finest school systems in the state. Out of the 115 school systems Ashe County ranks in the top 20. The high school is ranked in the top 15 percent. It is time that Ashe County was recognized as one of the leading school systems in education in the state. It is also time that other systems began to copy us rather than the other way around. We should never change just for the sake of changing. What works for Forsyth County may not be best for Ashe. However, we must continue to keep an open mind toward any changes that would truly be beneficial to our students.
Ashe County is blessed to have many highly qualified professionals available to help prepare our children for the 21st century workplace. I feel that it is important that we hire from within Ashe County whenever there is a need and only search outside of the county when no one meets the expected standard for qualification.
With a weak economy it is more important than ever that our children receive the necessary guidance to insure that they are preparing for the jobs that are available.
Dorothy Miller Witherspoon
I was born in Jefferson where I currently reside with my husband, Steve Witherspoon. We have two children, Kimberly Witherspoon-Friesland and grandson, Luke, a 3rd grade student at Mountain View Elementary School; John Witherspoon and granddaughter, Maggie, an 8th grade student at Ashe County Middle School.
I attended Lansing Elementary and Ashe Central High School, St. Mary’s University and Seminary and Southern Seminary.
I served as a Naval Officer’s wife for 23 years, traveling and living around the U.S. and the world. During our naval career I became a professional volunteer. I chose to work with: American Red Cross, Navy Relief Society, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Military Chapel, served on a team in Bristol, RI to start a new church, served on a team on Terceira Island, Azores to establish a new church, worked on staff as Religious Education (RE) director at churches where we lived, worked on RE staff at the MD/Delaware State Baptist Convention
Since moving back to Ashe County in 1992 I have [among other activities] worked to establish Project Graduation and served as co-chair for the first five years; completed Blue Ridge Leadership Challenge and my project was the founding of the Ashe County Community Foundation; collaborated with local communities to establish the Ashe Pregnancy Care Center and serving as the first director and a board member; served on the Ashe County Board of Education for the past 12 years; served on the North Carolina School Boards’ Association Board of Directors for 10 years, as president in 2009 and currently Immediate Past President on the executive committee.
What changes, if any, would you like to see in the Ashe County school system?
Ashe County Schools are some of the greatest public schools in NC and in our nation. We are doing a lot of things right. I believe for board members, ongoing professional development is not a luxury, but a must. Fast-moving developments in public education means ongoing training is important for all school board members—regardless of experience. It is our job to know the business of public schools in our district so that all children have the same access to an excellent education. It is our job not to “mess up a child’s education”, but to be aware and well trained in all facets of school board work. As we face the challenge of doing more with less, we need the tools and insights to make the most of limited resources, to understand key education issues being decided in federal courts and Congress and to share innovative best practices to engage students and close the achievement gap. I would like to make whatever changes necessary to close the achievement gap in our Ashe County Schools.
We live in exciting times—times of rapid change and it is critical that Ashe County maintain an atmosphere of “change” because it is inevitably going to occur. I would like to see us open up Web 2.0 to our classrooms and immerse our students in these technological tools as they learn because they are already using the technology outside of school. I believe not to do this is holding our students back and not preparing them for the 21st Century global economy.
When Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the winners of the 2nd Round “Race to the Top” (RttT) winners, he called RttT part of a ‘quiet revolution’ under way in education reform. “He continued, “This minor provision in the {stimulus package} has unleashed an avalanche of pent-up educational reform activity at the state and at the local level.” Governor Perdue in making application for RttT Funds and accepting those funds has committed to major reforms for NC. An area that will affect us locally is making “data driven” decisions. NC has put in place the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) that puts at the finger tips of our administrators and teachers individual data on each student. Instructional planning using current data will be a large contributor to lowering the achievement gap. I would like to see this information being utilized immediately and make our decisions based on current data on the needs of our students.
The Ashe County Board of Education is extremely grateful for the support that our communities give our schools. Ashe County Schools need partners in assuring that every student gets their constitutional right—a free and excellent education. I would like to see us step up efforts to build a coalition between our business partners (and recruit more business partners); to build relationships with the faith community and encourage churches in Ashe County to join us in this endeavor. Churches are a critical part of this alliance and I hope they will step up when approached with our “Communities in Schools” efforts.
I have served on the “North Carolina Teaching Fellows” selection committee for several years as we chose the best candidate for this program from Ashe County. I also serve on the regional Screening Committee for “NC Teaching Fellows.” These are rigorous interviews and students selected represent the best of the best. I would like to see us make a greater effort to recruit and hire these local candidates when they graduate and mentor them until they become great teachers. I would like to give our local applicants top priority when filling positions.
General Election
Early voting ends Saturday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. at the Board of Elections office on second floor of the county courthouse. The polls will be open Tuesday, Nov. 2 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for the General Election Day. For more information, contact the Board of Elections office at 846-5570.
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