PH: In moving to Collin County, our family specifically chose the city of McKinney because of its incredible schools. My decision to run for McKinney ISD Board of Trustees is to serve as a voice for McKinney parents to ensure our children continue to receive an excellent education.

PH: Serving on the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees for this past year has given me a front row seat to: 1) Listening and understanding the needs of MISD students, parents and teachers; 2) Making decisions affecting our school district’s finances; and 3) Working with community leaders and stakeholders to better our district. The combination of my finance and law degrees paired with my practical experience leading a small business has equipped me for evaluating MISD’s budgetary expenditures, ensuring MISD’s compliance with the ever-changing laws surrounding education, and evaluating the day-to-day processes and procedures needed to ensure consistency and excellence. Perhaps most importantly, being the father of two students receiving an education from MISD schools allows me to view all these decisions through the lens of a parent and its impact on our students.

PH: Approval of the McKinney ISD bond measures will provide funding for classrooms and facilities while lowering our tax rate by at least 3 cents, putting on average an annual $112.27 back into the pockets of McKinney property taxpayers. I fully support these bond measures based on McKinney ISD's track record of putting the needs of our students and teachers first while being a good steward of our tax dollars.

PH: 1. Meeting the needs of our students and teachers in both a COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world.

So many McKinney students and teachers have experienced unprecedented challenges and difficulties through this past year. It is important that we invest the time, concern and resources to ensure our district supports the academic and mental health needs of our McKinney ISD family. While the COVID-19 pandemic has provided many new and unforeseen challenges to education, it also provides an exciting opportunity for school districts to re-evaluate the methods and techniques used for teaching and creating community.

2. Enhancing our district's communication with parents and the community.

Busy parents have to juggle so much information coming at them in addition to knowing how to handle numerous school-related technologies. I intend to evaluate ways communication can be streamlined and delivered in effective yet simpler ways for parents.

PH: My two children have significantly benefited from the instruction and care of numerous McKinney ISD teachers, staff and administrators since moving to McKinney. MISD has been a gift to our family, and I want the opportunity to continue serving the district that has benefited our family so much.

AC: I came about deciding to run for MISD when my neighbors and I were talking about how we have been held out of anything from the school, and we really didn't have much of any voice in the system, and all of us have kids in the system.

AC: My experience in many different fields helped me in many ways. When I was a radio broadcaster, it taught me how to prepare and respond to questions on the fly as well as how to control conversations. When I drove for a living, it taught me to press through the tough times and how to dedicate myself to something regardless of the outcome. Working in the car business, I learned being a part of a team and developing something that helps you grow as a person as well as business. Trading stocks and options helped me learn about risk and rewards and probably more importantly when the risk doesn't work out how to recover regroup and repair yourself. The most important thing is with the many lanes of my life, it taught me when things didn't all work out to get up and keep going.

AC: I am not aware of all the bonds issues at this time, but I do believe we need to be conservative with our money and resources, that in the good time you don't just rubber stamp everything. You have to watch everything that comes in and goes out.

AC: Our challengers include improving our school rating and scholarships opportunities to the best schools, but on top of that, we can't forget the kids that perhaps college isn't in their future. We need to teach them how to grow and develop. We need to improve our mentorship to help develop kids going to college, and we also have to develop better apprenticeship programs and reach out to local small businesses to help kids develop their own interest and careers. We also have to remind kids today the police are their friend and someone to respect and count on.

AC: I am a dedicated father with three kids in our school system who works hard for his family, friends and neighbors. I suffered through being dyslexic and not knowing what to do after high school until my mentor pulled me aside and explained to me there are many ways to succeed and work hard, but it's easier to fail. Don't take the easy way out. We need to help our kids who are the tops of our schools to continue to develop and guide our kids who may need a little help to not feel lost when they may not have the most popular outcome.