By John Pilati
The candidates for Franklin County Board of Education District Four bring different skill sets that would give them a unique voice on the board.
Tuesday's (May 24th's ) Republican Primary will decide whether Heath McKee or Carol Murphree will be their party nominee who will face Democratic incumbent Shannon Oliver in the November general election.
McKee is a 1996 Red Bay High School graduate who earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Alabama in Industrial Management in 2001. After graduation, he went to work in logistics for Walmart. That preceded a career move into the oil and gas industry, before he moved his family back home to Franklin County five years ago.
McKee and his wife Imelda have one daughter, a third-grade student at Belgreen School. He's employed as General Manager at Alabama Stone.
Murphree is a retired educator whose long teaching career spanned three school systems, including Russellville City Schools. She retired 10 years ago, but was driven to run for office as she saw the direction the country was moving in at the national level.
“In order to be a good citizen, I needed to do more than monitor elections at the poll (Murphree and her husband Jimmy have worked as Rockwood poll workers for more than a decade). I felt a calling to serve on the local level for the community I love,” Murphree said.
“I'm not running against anyone. I'm running for the children of Franklin County, Alabama. I have no agenda. I will work hard for them and that's why I got involved,” she added.
Murphree believes her experience as an educator gives her a unique perspective for the Board of Education. This is her first venture into running for office.
McKee said he decided to run to serve the school system he's known his entire life and to bring a different mindset to the board.
“My business experience is something I'll bring with me to the job on the Board of Education,” McKee said. “I have 20 years in operations efficiency. That was my specialty and my degree program was all about efficiency in business.”
McKee said a school system is a business, one with the important challenge of preparing children to enter their adult lives with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. But there still exists the importance of good fiscal management, he explained.
“How is the (federal and state) funding being allocated? The board decides how that money is going to be spent in the best way to benefit students as much as possible,” McKee said.
“I'm not a teacher or educator but I have been in a few different industries and that gives me a different perspective on the board,” he added.
Both McKee and his wife come from smaller, rural school districts. That was a driving force in his leaving a successful career in Texas to come home to Franklin County.
“We wanted our daughter to attend school where she was not just a number. It's good and bad for everyone to know everyone, but there are more benefits to it,” McKee said. “You don't have all these large student-teacher ratios in Franklin County. And even though we're a public school system, we're still in a conservative area. We still pray before sporting events and that's important to us.”
Murphree and her husband Jimmy live in the Spruce Pine community. Her experience as a mother of two, grandmother of three and a teacher would give her a fresh perspective on the Franklin County Board of Education, she believes.
“My plan is to work as a team and ensure every student has the opportunity to achieve academic success,” Murphree said. “I will always keep children first and will be a strong, positive voice on our school board who recognizes the many strengths of Franklin County to better serve our students and families.”
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