In the New Hanover County Republican Primary, Frank Christopher Meares is hoping to win a spot on the November ballot for the Board of Education. The current County Soil and Water Conservation Board Member says, if elected, he’d give up his unexpired term but would hope to retain a non-voting position.
Meares, who works as a courier for LabCorp in Wilmington, says he has a message for teachers:
"They are working for an excellent school system that has a fantastic graduation rate right now."
But there are stressors on teachers that, he says, need to be addressed.
"I want to bring more interactiveness into the classroom. I want to be able to see kids that – they don’t necessarily learn when you throw a worksheet in front of them or when the teachers [happen] to be stressed out to the point where they don’t feel like they’re really being heard… I really want us to kind of move back down to cutting down those classroom sizes, getting more teachers in, making sure the schools are built to last and that they actually have room to grow."
Meares also says security is a new issue for schools but an important one. He’d like to see retired law enforcement officers take up an increased presence in the schools to function as overseers and even mentors. And smaller classroom sizes, says Meares, would also help with prevention for at-risk kids.