By Richard Tomlinson

"Joe" Faherty is the best candidate for school board (district 5) to get Citrus Schools back on track. His platform is based on an approach of mental health school safety in the wake of the many mass shootings. His degrees (B.S. Behavioral Science and M.S. Security Management) will be a great asset in getting more staffing to help these children with problem issues before it is too late. He has worked with these children and also youthful offenders in many programs in the last 32 years. He has served as a school resource officer . School safety and mental health go hand and hand. The school district has been working with Lifestream Child Services (Beverly Hills) which provides therapeutic intervention for emotional and behavioral disturbances in the home and school environment. This offers some support but Faherty feels that more adolescent counselors and clinical licensed therapists are needed in the schools. He also feels parenting courses might be needed to provide a better home environment. There are many programs and grants that could fund these plus revising the school district budget.

Teacher and staff shortages and retention is a major issue. At the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, there were 50 teacher vacancies and 27 support vacancies. In November 2021, the board increased minimum starting pay to $46,000. House Bill 641 allocated roughly $2.4 million to the school district to meet the state's $47,500 standard. Several surrounding counties offer higher salaries. Faherty wants to work with teachers to find what issues would promote job retention.

As a board member, Faherty wants to be involved in reviewing the new curriculum with emphasis on education and not any social agenda. He wants to find ways to have parental input and more involvement. Financial management and cursive writing courses are needed for life skills later as an adult.

His experience with at-risk children and management skills makes Faherty the best candidate (School Board District 5). Another candidate stresses her "relatively recent experience as a classroom teacher as well as her active participation in the local teacher union as strengths". It seems we need to put more emphasis on the children and not teacher unions. Many unions have taken over control of educational standards, prevent teacher accountability, and deny parental voice in their children’s education. Faherty is the candidate for the children and their future.