PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS QUESTIONNAIRE WILL BE PUBLISHED.

The News-Herald
Election Questionnaire
Date questionnaire completed: October 4, 2011 Office sought: Cardinal Local School District, Board Member Political party: Independent Gender: Male

Name: Alan Preston Age: 64

Home address: 16040 Nash Road, Middlefield, Ohio 44062 Length of residence in that community: 21 years Occupation: Retired Marital status: Campaign Web site: None

Employer: U.S. Department of Justice Name of spouse: Kathleen

Political office held Municipality Cardinal Local School District Years served 2 Elected or appointed? Appointed

Married

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Board Member

School/city/state Name and age of any children: Hillary 29 and Colin 24

Years

Degree-Subject or

Public office experience:

Current Board Member, Cardinal Local School District Parkman Tree Commission

Non-elected experience (committees, boards, etc.): Education:

Political office held 1. 2. 3. 4. Board Member

Municipality Cardinal Local School District

Years served 2

Elected or appointed? Appointed

5 (Note: Only list schools from which youve graduated and/or earned degrees. Please indicate if currently attending.) (Note: If youve completed a certificate program, please list in Other row and indicate certificate obtained.)

Should you be elected, what are three specific areas youd like to change, address, improve or further research, and how specifically would you go about it? The first issue that faces our district is funding existing school programs during difficult economic times. Managing a school district is no different from managing a home; our income must pay for all expenses and sometimes purchases must be delayed. In order to balance a school budget, we must increase revenues and/or decrease expenses. I believe that a balanced approach is needed to manage our school districts finances. We must seek new sources of revenues such as through greater participation with the local chamber of commerce and local businesses, applying for grants, continuing to reduce salary and benefit costs through shared sacrifice, and keeping a sharp eye on purchases while maintaining safe and clean schools for our children. The second issue is how to maintain high academic standards at a time when financial resources are being stretched to the limit. If elected, I will accept no less than excellent performance and hard work from our administrators, teachers and students to ensure that academic standards are met and exceeded. At the board level, I will approve the hiring of the best teachers possible and vote to approve those documents that are grammatically correct, easily understood and a benefit to the district. The third issue is one of improving communications. I believe that effective clear communications by board members to students, teachers, and the general public is essential in creating strong and dedicated partnerships in order to achieve a valued education in the district. This means that as a board member, I will listen more than I speak and only after careful deliberations will a decision be made. Whether for past accomplishments or future goals, why should voters elect you? I am a person of integrity, honesty and a high degree of responsibility that believes dreams can come true when you work hard, keep goals in front of you and pay attention to details. My wife and I have lived in Geauga County, Parkman Ohio for over 20 years, during which time we were involved in our childrens education as they moved from elementary school to being high school graduates in the Cardinal School system. What this means for voters is that you will get a person with deep roots in the school district, a person that understands that stability is very important to growth, and a person that reflects the communitys values that are critical to getting things done. As a retiree, I understand the concerns of those citizens that have limited or fixed incomes. While working in the government, I oversaw a budget that was shrinking, which meant not hiring employees, reducing purchases, and limiting expenditures whenever possible while maintaining the core mission of the office. This work was

difficult and change was required from all employees. This experience has proven valuable to me as our district seeks to reduce costs while striving for academic excellence. During my tenure as a Board Member of the Cardinal Local School District, I carefully scrutinized the districts budgets to ensure tax payers tax dollars were spent wisely and examined expenses that were questionable. In addition to approving savings of over $1 million dollars during my time on the Board, improvement has been seen in our academic test scores. I believe that the district has shown good education value, keeping costs low while at the same time increasing academic standards. If voters choose to elect me, I will continue to pay close attention to finances, saving taxpayer money whenever I can while at the same time insisting on academic excellence.