BY LINDSAY VANHULLE
Editor's Note: First in a series of profiles of Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education candidates. Read the entire series as articles are published in our election section at record-eagle.com/election.
WILLIAMSBURG -- Julie Puckett didn't want to be a "single-issue candidate."
So she waited for nearly two years, until the sting of closing three elementary schools in 2007 subsided, before deciding to run for Traverse City's school board.
Now, Puckett -- once a vocal opponent of shutting Bertha Vos Elementary, her daughters' school -- wants to use her experience from that time and her teaching background to help guide the district.
She is one of five candidates vying Nov. 3 for two, four-year terms on the school board, a field that includes incumbent Suzann Brooke and challengers Julie Davis, Kelly Hall and Mary Ufford Manner.
Puckett, 40, of Williamsburg, was runner-up in January to fill a board vacancy created when 2008 member-elect Amy Sutherland resigned.
"I look at things a different way than most people," she said, citing her background in math and science. "I think I look at things more critically. I'm more skeptical of data."
Puckett grew up in Cheboygan and moved to the region from the Detroit suburb of Allen Park, where she taught high school, in 1999. She has worked as an adjunct math instructor at Northwestern Michigan College for about eight years.
Declining enrollment trends in public schools have made it necessary for districts to offer what parents want, she said, because if dissatisfied they are more likely today to leave for another school.
Puckett saw it when Bertha Vos closed. Thirty students left the district for other local school systems or private schools, 20 of them choosing neighboring Elk Rapids. Students also left when Glenn Loomis and Norris schools closed.
Public education is a logical option because parents aren't required to transport their students to schools outside their neighborhood, Puckett said.
"Why are people making that hard choice?" she said, adding that a population will leave if it believes it's being ignored. "It's exactly what happened at Bertha Vos."
The challenge is budgetary: In order to offset looming financial cuts and to provide more student programs, Puckett said, the district has to rely less on state aid for revenue and seek alternative funding sources.
And the board has to hold administrators accountable, she added, not only for spending but also for managing relationships in and outside the district.
She describes herself as an independent thinker who would welcome outside input so community members consider themselves engaged.
"When there's questions out there, it's your duty to ask them publicly," she said of the board. "The transparency thing has always been an issue."
About the candidate
Name: Julie Puckett
Age: 40
Residence: Williamsburg
Education: Graduated from Cheboygan Area High School in 1987; bachelor's degree in math with a minor in physics and master's degree in educational administration and policy from the University of Michigan
Work: Adjunct math instructor at Northwestern Michigan College; former high school teacher in Allen Park
Family: Husband Tim, 39; daughter Megan, 11, sixth-grader at Traverse City East Middle School; daughter Abby, 9, fourth-grader in Talented and Gifted program at Central Grade School
Web site: www.puckettfortcaps.com
