Sharon Bell – Place 6

Q: So what makes you want to run for the school board?

A: My daughter came to Leander in 1992 and graduated. The school is awesome. In fact, we were told – we came from Houston, so when we were looking for areas, we wanted a good school and we were told this was the place to go, the top one. So I enrolled her. I was happy with everything. Everything that was going on was great. And she was a Blue Belle at Leander High School. Good times. Then my grandson, who is now 24 and lives with me, went to Rouse and there were some issues, nothing that I didn’t think I could work out, but mostly with the athletic department and some of the studies that he came home and talked to me about. We had long talks about that and he graduated and everything was great and he now has two college degrees, one from ACC and one from Texas State. And is going to be a game warden, hopefully.

And then, now, my 8-year-old grandson is going to Faubion. Faubion is a wonderful school, I love the teachers there, but I don’t like some of the academic – the social-emotional culture that is developing in the school. I don’t think that political statements such as BLM flags should be in the classroom. And I also don’t like the way that the sexual education is going. The sexual, what we call – I almost said it, indoctrination is going. I think that it’s being taught way too early. It’s being introduced way too early. And we’re basically taking their innocence away. So here I am.

Q: And what is your past experience that makes you qualified to be a board member?

A: Mother and grandmother. No, I’m kidding. I have worked since I was 14 years old. First, I was a paramedic in the Houston area. Then, I went to work for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and I educated inmates and staff. That was probably my best, my favorite job because I realized how these people get into trouble, how they get caught up in the system. And so I thought that would be a good avenue to pursue. Then I came to Austin and for the school district, and my career took off so fast that I was able to – from one position that I had – create my own business. And so I was in medical billing and office consultation for medical offices for 25 years. So I ran that company, as well as working a day job, for 25 years. So I know a lot about budgets, I know a lot about staff, I know a lot about taking care of people who are your major resource, such as teachers. And I also am not ready to retire. I’ve retired four times, it didn’t work out, so this is an unpaid position but it will give me a lot of satisfaction to be able to lend my talents to helping improve.

Q: So what would you say that your stance is on Proposition A and why?

A: Proposition A, I don’t – I have a stance against Proposition A because I think that this is going to create more taxes for the community. And I believe in this day and time, and this era of inflation, I don’t think there are going to be a lot of people that are going to be able to survive that.

Q: And what would you say your stance is on Proposition B and why?

A: Proposition B, I don’t like because it threatens our teachers. If you go – if you have a budget problem, you don’t cut off the source. You figure something else out and I think that saying that we’re going to eliminate 458 teacher positions, I believe it is, when we were 600 teachers short going into this hiring process, that’s not reasonable.

Q: So in the event that Prop B doesn’t pass and the district has to cut over $32 million from the budget next school year, where would you say the cuts should come from?

A: Administration. We have heavily over-focused in administration. We don’t need all the assistance to the superintendent that we have, basically. And I think that DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) was a grand thought, but I don’t see the necessity for it, and he gets a six-figure income which would help cut the budget tremendously.

Q: Are you satisfied with Dr. Gearing’s job as superintendent?

A: No. 

Q: Why do you say that?

A: I say that because of what I just spoke about. I think he’s added on assistants. Why can’t he do the job? Why do we have to have six assistants, I think last time I counted? And I don’t like the DEI and I don’t like the pornographic literature that’s in the school.

Q: Could you expand on that?

A: In the way of the books? “The Lawn Boy” is one that I can think of. That should never be in the hands of a 10-year-old. Mothers and fathers can take care of sexual education very well and should take care of sexual education. Very well. That can confuse a child so much when they read something like that. It’s like mind-blowing to them. And I just think that we need to get the pornographic books out – and we were headed that way. But somehow, it stalled when the COVID monies was dangled in front of our faces at the courthouse, at the Williamson County courthouse, and we really had dug in and said “No, until you get these books out, you’re not getting that money,” and then somewhere along December 22nd, it was a done deal and nobody knows how it got to that point.

Q: So one of the situations we hear a lot of our community is, you know, why our district is actually in this financial situation to begin with. So how would you respond to being asked that by, say, a voter?

A: Why? I don’t think we’re sticking to the curriculum that I have been asked by the voters, and I don’t think we’re sticking to a basic curriculum. I think we also spend a tremendous amount of money on software, DreamBox, when free software, Khan Academy, will do the same job and be a little bit simpler and easier for people to grasp. I think that we just decided to spend so much money in the establishment part of the school that we’re not able to pay the best teachers. We’re searching for teachers. We have teachers walk out and we have teachers – I’ve talked to several teachers – that are not coming back next year. So we’re going to find ourselves, at best, in the same situation that we were in this year. We can’t keep going this way. There’s got to be a change. And wouldn’t you say the change should come at the top? So that is what I talked about to my voters and my people that I talk with.

Q: And you kind of already answer this, but do you have any children of your own that have been students? And how is their experience in the district?

A: I do. I have my daughter, who was here in ‘92. I have my grandson who’s 24 and graduated from here. And my daughter was National Honor Society, by the way, which I’m very sad that we don’t have more National Honor Society students turning out. I think there’s been 21 identified, when all the districts around us have three times that much. So there is another clue as to what’s going on here, or not going on. And I have an 8-year-old grandson who goes to Faubion, and right now we are in a struggle with him because some one-and-a-half years of remote learning didn’t work for him, and he’s having a very difficult time.

Q: Over the last two years, election integrity has become a hot topic in politics. Would you say – do you believe that there are issues with our election system, either locally or nationally?

A: Both.

Q: Would you mind elaborating?

A: I think we need to have – well, we do have voter I.D. We had mail-in ballots, but I still think there are ways to manipulate the software and ways to manipulate the mail-in ballots.

Q: And would you accept the outcome of this election if you lost?

A: Oh, of course. No doubt.

Q: Is there anything else you wanted to mention?

A: I appreciate your time, and I think it’s wonderful that you gave us this opportunity.