Andy Webb and Scott Stribling

Andy Webb and Scott Stribling were elected to the Georgetown ISD board of trustees place 3 and 1 seats, respectively, May 11.

Both trustees took over seats from two longstanding members of the board—Arthur Dela Cruz and Sheila Carter—who both decided not to seek re-election.

Stribling, a broker and owner at Century 21 HSK in Georgetown, has three children and comes from a family of educators.

Webb is a partner at Watkins Insurance Group and volunteers with various community groups in and throughout Georgetown. He has two children in the district.

What drew you to want to be on the board of trustees?

Andy Webb: As we've grown and developed as a family and grown our businesses, I started looking for ways to get involved in the community.

That's what led me to public service, wanting to get involved and wanting to give back. Having children, you're in your schools seeing what's going on and seeing the great things that are happening there.

Scott Stribling: I am in real estate, and that's what drew me in, actually, to serve on the school board—seeing on a daily basis families that are moving into this area, and how they make decisions where they locate their family was in large part due to schools. Being able to see that on a daily basis really showed me the importance of why great schools matter.

How do you plan to handle your priorities or achieve your goals?

Webb: I think that the challenges that we perceived those are very much on the radar screen of the board. It's not like we are bringing some radical new idea that [is] going to shock the board or come out of left field. That's good; that gives us a chance to develop some different takes on [those challenges] and a chance to fill in our own knowledge gaps and see what [other trustees'] thought processes are.

Stribling: The best way you go about implementing anything is getting people to agree with you. And getting a consensus on what the board needs or wants and what's best for the district and collaborating together is far more important than me beating my own drum by myself out there.

What are the district's challenges?

Stribling: I see the issue of growth in our district as one that we will be faced with in the relatively short-term future. Being in real estate, I get to see all of the development coming in, where it's going, how fast the district might or might not grow and for us to keep our personable nature that we all love about GISD—I think it's important how we manage that growth.

Webb: I think doing that in the context of [knowing Georgetown] is a very conservative area, and [we should manage growth] in a reasonable tax environment.

Georgetown is incredibly supportive of our schools, but there is only so much tolerance people are going to have if you come back asking for more [tax dollars].