The district will canvass the election results in May, and Lannen is expected to take his seat on the board in June, officials said.
Community Impact Newspaper sent the candidates a series of questions about their campaign priorities for the district. Their answers are listed below. Minor edits have been made for formatting.
Eric Lannen
Occupation/Experience: Chief human resources officer for Basic Energy ServicesWebsite: www.ericlannen-4-carroll-isd.com
How long have you lived in the school district? 5 ½ years
What are previous positions that you have held that are relevant to the office that you are running for?
- Two years serving on the CISD District Advisory Committee working on new CISD policies and programs
- Currently serving on the Carroll Education Foundation Board raising money to supplement the CISD budget for teachers
- Currently serving my first year on the CISD Budget & Finance Committee
- Currently serving my second year on the CISD Health Committee
- Currently serving on the Crime Control & Prevention Board for the city of Southlake, accountable for the SRO program
- Currently serving my third year as president of my local neighborhood homeowners association here in Southlake
- 2018 graduate of the Carroll Leadership Academy, CISD’s community education program for district operations
- 2019 graduate of the Southlake Citizens Academy, sponsored by the city of Southlake
- Volunteer and supporter of Young Life Ministries for 30 years; creator and chair of the Southlake Young Life chapter
- Member of 121 Community Church; currently serving on the outreach team as well as leading a men’s Bible study
There are many reasons, but the most important reason is that I feel led to give back to my local community. I can’t imagine a better way to give back than by offering the only meaningful thing I have to offer the school district: my experience and expertise. I believe my 28 years of professional experience and executive leadership in human resources, consulting, communications, real estate and security will bring a unique perspective and expertise to the CISD board of trustees.
What are the biggest challenges facing students in the district? How do you plan to address these issues?
Carroll ISD does many things well, but there is always room for improvement. In my view, honesty, integrity and humility are the most important values any person or school organization can aspire to and are qualities that we should make a priority to develop in our children. Carroll is known for "winning" and achieving; however, excellence in academics, arts or athletics is not mutually exclusive from character. The best and most successful programs can be built through putting character and child safety first, while still developing mental/physical toughness. I believe our coaches, teachers and leaders at Carroll exhibit these qualities. I’ve seen in my own son how team-building through instilling integrity and humility go hand-in-hand with tough physical training and a winning attitude. Winning for winning’s sake will be forgotten over time. It’s the true teacher-coach who draws people to the process because they produce individuals of championship character.
If elected, what would be your top priorities?
The most important thing for me is that all our students and staff feel cared for, included and equipped to grow, whether their choice of activities or career is academic, sports, music, arts, STEM, debate or in a leadership capacity, like student council or in the school administration. In the larger scheme of things, there are many options students have in which to participate, grow, thrive and flourish and all must be managed in a healthy and dynamic way. My primary goal is that students’ character, safety, resiliency and academic needs would be cultivated and nurtured in the Carroll ISD school system.
What are some new ideas or programs you would like the school district to explore?
- Caring for students through more education on diversity and inclusion and stronger policies to deal with bullying
- Caring for staff by implementing creative ideas to ensure CISD continues attracting and retaining the best talent
- Caring for the taxpayers by being a responsible steward of the money and assets entrusted to board and identifying new ways of generating more income for CISD or by reducing expenses
- Caring for the community through more engagement surveys and public forums to address issues or concerns
Sheri Mills
Occupation: Vice president of program development at Neuroscience Education InstituteHow long have you lived in the school district? 22 years
Campaign website: n/a
What are previous positions that you have held that are relevant to the office that you are running for?
I have served two terms as CISD trustee. I’m currently on my third year as board president, and prior to that, I was vice president of the board for three years.
Why are you running for office?
I am running for re-election because I care about the students in our school district, and I believe that Carroll is the best place in the State of Texas to get a great education. I believe it is good to give back to the community where you live, so I give back with my time as a trustee. It’s a volunteer, non-paid position, and I spend a lot of time preparing for our meetings [and] visiting with students and parents in our community, and I bring back their wants, needs, ideas, criticisms and compliments to our decision-makers at the administration level. I’m proud of Carroll and proud to have been a small part in its success.
What are the biggest challenges facing students in the school district? How do you plan to address these issues?
Making sure our kids are safe and feel safe in their schools is a primary focus for me. Safety includes a variety of aspects—not only from threats, but also from severe weather, and on an individual level, like bullying.
I’m proud to have been a part of the Safety Task Force, and worked jointly with the city to implement a tactical safety plan, which is already meeting all of the new requirements from the governor’s safety plan. These efforts include more SROs and counselors in our schools, safety glass, more secured entrances and dozens of additional cameras on each campus. Beyond that, we have been implementing storm shelters as we build out the growth plan from the 2017 bond, and I continue to support our administrators in their efforts to create a new student code of conduct in tandem with the success of Resiliency Committee in their efforts to address bullying.
If elected, what would be your top priorities?
The top priorities this year is to ensure that the bond which was approved in 2017 stays within budget. The administration has been making a lot of progress on improving our facilities, including updates to most of the elementary schools, which included storm shelters, and this summer, we will make tremendous strides to the fine arts building. These are facilities that will be used for generations to come.
What are some new ideas or programs you would like the school district to explore?
The board of trustees continually challenges the administration for new ideas and programs. From a brain-storming perspective, there are some emerging concepts for greater STEM/STEAM programs, more dual-credit offerings and consideration of making some AP classes pass/fail to encourage students to take subjects which are interesting to them without the consequence of harming their GPA. These ideas are certainly creative ideas at the moment, and they need to be properly vetted, as they could impact various parts of the student body.
Michelle Moore
Occupation: Nonprofit fundraiser in education; vice president of Carroll ISD board of trusteesHow long have you lived in the school district? 14 ½ years
Campaign website: N/A
What are previous positions that you have held that are relevant to the office that you are running for?
I have served on the Carroll ISD board of trustees for nearly five years. For the last two years, I have been vice president of the board, and prior to that, I held the role of secretary. I earned the designation of master trustee in 2017 upon completion of Leadership TASB. I am CISD’s second graduate of that prestigious leadership program and the only current board member [to have done so].
Prior to my school board experience, I was a Carroll Education Foundation board member and held executive PTO officer roles on three campuses in the district. I have also held leadership roles in Southlake Association of Gifted and Talented as well as CMA Boosters, benefiting Carroll Medical Academy, and am a 2014 graduate of [the] Carroll Leadership Academy for Supporting Success.
I have twice been honored as the Campus Volunteer of the Year at Carroll Elementary and Eubanks Intermediate, and in 2017, I was selected as the Southlake Volunteer of the Year through the Chamber of Commerce.
Professionally, education has been my focus for more than 17 years. I have helped to raise more than $300 million to help minority students get to and through college. I was the first person in my family to earn a college degree, as are the overwhelming majority of the students I support. Access to a great education changed my life, and it is my professional goal to positively impact as many lives as possible through education.
Why are you running for office?
I am running for re-election because I want to continue to help Carroll ISD be one of the top-performing districts in our nation. Like many Southlake residents, one of the most important factors in choosing to live here was the quality of the schools. Preserving that legacy of high-quality education for children in our community and for future residents is paramount. I also seek to be a strong advocate for the needs of Carroll ISD and K-12 students across the state during the next legislative session.
What are the biggest challenges facing students in the school district? How do you plan to address these issues?
I believe the biggest challenge facing our students is their mental wellness. Students at all grade levels are experiencing varying levels of stress and anxiety due to the academic pressure to perform, bullying, feeling excluded, loss of a loved one—and the list goes on. I believe the district has implemented some remarkable programs, such as The Resiliency Project, Hope Squad, Rachel’s Challenge and others, to build stronger and more resilient students. And we added intervention counselors to our secondary campuses to ensure another trusted adult was available to engage one-on-one with students. I would like to keep a close eye on these programs and services to ensure they have the resources available to achieve the desired outcomes as well as continue to identify other ways to further support students in their social and emotional well-being. I want each Carroll student to graduate from our district as a resilient, adaptable and confident young man or woman.
If elected, what would be your top priorities?
I seek to preserve the amazing tradition that previous board members, administrators, teachers, students, parents and others have worked so hard to build. Carroll ISD is truly something unique, and while it has opportunities to improve, it is already doing so many things right for so many students. Other priorities that are important to me include:
- Support the mental wellness of students and teachers;
- Successfully complete the 2017 bond;
- Identify and advocate for our 2021 legislative priorities;
- Implement the Cultural Competency Action Plan; and
- Maintain a strong partnership with city of Southlake.
I would like to see the school district scale the very successful Carroll Medical Academy model and offer additional pipeline programs, like a Carroll Business Academy or a Carroll Entrepreneurship Academy, to meet the broad career interests of our students. Of course, this will require additional staff and resources as any new program would, so this would require careful thought and consideration.
Frankly, during my time on the board, I have heard many great ideas from parents and teachers that we would love to implement, but as with so much in our district, it comes down to scarcity of resources. “Robin Hood” payments are a significant and growing percentage of our budget, and that is unlikely to change in the near future. Creative ways to find resources that are not subject to recapture, like what the Carroll Education Foundation is doing with "Fund a Teacher," are critical to the district’s ability to implement new programs.
