Chad Rollins sprints up a short hill after completing a lap around the track at Glendale High School during an early morning workout in below freezing weather. (Photo by Jym Wilson)

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Editor's note: Candidates for mayor of Springfield, City Council and school board were invited to submit a column in their own words explaining why they are seeking election April 4, or focusing on a topic of their choosing. School board candidate columns were published in ballot order. Links to other candidate's views may be found at the end of this column.

OPINION |

My name is Chad Rollins and I am a candidate on the April 4th ballot for the Board of Education for the Springfield R-12 public school district. I am 46 years old, a husband, a father to seven kids, a pharmacist and facility manager at Healthdirect Pharmacy in Ozark, where we serve hospice and long-term care facilities.

I graduated from Glendale High School in 1994. I then attended Missouri State University and received my bachelor of science degree in Chemistry. I then attended UMKC School of Pharmacy, where I received my Pharm D degree.

Besides moving to Kansas City for pharmacy school, I have lived in Springfield my entire life. I have made it a priority to give back to my community and specifically to kids through fitness over the last five years. At this point in my life, I wanted to do even more and felt offering my service on the Board of Education would be a good area to give back to my community in a different way.

I have seven kids, five of them still in the district (this gives me good access to students, parents, and staff), and I am committed to helping bring personal excellence to our students, teachers and administration to the best of my ability.

I have spent the last five years setting my standards high for myself in my own life so that in turn I can now inspire and help those around me do the same. In the past I have served on the UMKC School of Pharmacy admissions board, executive council for Sigma Pi at Missouri State, and Chapter director for Sigma Pi as well.

My focus will be on education, the ratio of textbook learning to computers, transparency and communication, fiscal responsibilities, and removing politics and social agendas.

With regards to education, I want to focus on academic achievement and address the environment in the classroom. When talking to teachers about issues and reasons why teacher retention is decreasing, all mention the classroom environment. We need to help these teachers with consequences for poor behavior and look at implementing a cell phone policy for our district.

With regards to technology, I am advocating for a higher ratio of pencil, paper and textbooks versus technology as tools to educate the students. This will help students learn more efficiently and help encourage parent participation as well as allow for more transparency for curriculum.

I will also promote transparency and communication between schools and parents. As a parent, when I see emails or receive calls from my kid’s teachers regarding how my kids are doing, it allows me to be informed. Also having assignments and graded papers come home on physical paper allows me as a parent to be more interactive and know what my kids are learning.

I will promise to be informed and work diligently to perform my duty to monitor budget spending, and other fund appropriation.

Lastly, I will support the removal of politics and social agendas from the classroom to further improve the learning environment and promote focusing on core curriculum.

Good leaders and elected officials need to listen to the stakeholders they represent and be a strong voice for them and this is exactly how I plan to serve the Springfield community. 

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