
6 minute read
School board
need to ensure we have pay parity comparative to other AAA districts in Grayson County or other counties within driving distance While our schools are doing a great job, we should always strive to be better I hope to bring fresh ideas and perspectives that will help continue Howe ISD’s great history of success
Hayes - I want to serve the community and give back a little of what's been given to me I went through the Howe School system from 1st through 12th grade graduating in 1982
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Leakey - I would like to serve the students and taxpayers in Howe ISD I have personal and professional experiences that can add a valuable perspective to many of the decisions that come before the board
Brockelman - It’s quite simple really I have a strong desire to serve our community And being that I care deeply about the success of our community’s children, am extremely passionate about education and care deeply about our community's future, serving as a board member seems like a natural fit to me! I would consider it a privilege to help guide the decisions that will impact our children, families, and community as a whole today, and into the future.
Question: What particular skills or experiences qualify you to serve as a school board member?
Shadden - After 32 years of teaching in Howe, I retired in 2016. While teaching I was a mentor to teachers and served on our Campus and District Improvement Committees I have 3 children who attended Howe Schools, Kindergarten through graduation Currently, I substitute at our Elementary Campus and do after school tutoring
Doty - My 25-year career has been in various finance managerial roles at many companies These range from small companies with 300 employees with $20 million in annual revenues to ones with over 100,000 employees with over $10 billion in revenues I’ve learned to adapt to each unique situation and how businesses are properly managed through budgeting and monitoring revenue and expenses Without proper oversight in both the budgeting and monitoring processes, funds entrusted to your care have a chance of being mishandled My career has focused on finding ways to use funds in the most efficient manner.
Being on school board also requires evaluation and leadership
A board member must look past all the cheering, smiles, and handshakes to make a fair and honest determination of how the district is performing through evaluations and feedback Through my leadership experiences both as a professional and as a volunteer, I have learned how to work with cross-functional teams to find creative, effective solutions for complex challenges I plan to use those experiences to help strengthen our district.
Hayes - I hold four degrees, Marketing, Business Administration, Computer Networking and Theology I spent
Continued from page 1 seven years on a church board dealing not only with people issues but financial issues as well I am a former business owner I spent 26 years working with kids in various ministry positions such as camp counselor and teacher I graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma University number one in the school of business in December 1996, I am a retired Design Engineer with AT&T This job included dealing with people and solving problems on a daily basis
Leakey - I have been an engineer and project manager for more than 10 years, managing projects exceeding a million dollars The work experience can bring a different outlook into the board’s decision-making process I don’t know everything about education, but I do know a good deal about projects, facilities, energy efficiency, and numbers I have served in leadership positions in various organizations from high school until now Some of these include:
1. Serving on city council in my hometown 2 Managing an Engineering department 3 Commanding and training nationally ranked drill teams in my high school JROTC unit 4 Serving as a volunteer, consultant, and member of the board of directors for a local soup kitchen
Brockelman - As a person who has owned and operated a small business for most of my adult life, I know first-hand the challenges that come with planning for now and into the future, how attention to detail can make or break you, how failure to plan can leave you in the dust and how a bad decision can have lasting consequences But, also how good decisions today can lead to lasting positive effects for years to come
I’ve started a trucking business, making one hundred percent of the day to day decisions, growing that business into profitability and being recognized as a superior service provider in my field. I later followed that success into an additional career path as a financial planner, planning and managing investments for individuals and families, while also managing dayto-day operations of the firm
Throughout all of my experiences, I recognize that having a strong educational background in business and finance, never settling for the status quo and having a curiosity for the way the things work has certainly contributed to my abilities and helped guide my decision making
I believe these experiences have prepared me well to serve as a school board member
Question: How long have you lived in this school district?
Shadden - I have lived in Howe for 58 years
Doty - I have lived in the Howe school district since 1995
Hayes - 32 years
Leakey - 6 5 years
Brockelman - While my wife, Tela has lived in the Howe School district since she first came to this country as a seven-year-old, as a page 5
Originally published in Vol. 52, Edition 14 of the Howe Enterprise on August 25, 2014.



In 1964, Howe recruited a 24-yearold coach that was at Mesquite High School to come in and bring stability to the athletic program. 50 years later, he's still a Howe Bulldog.
Norman Dickey was born and raised in Gunter, Texas and played football, basketball, and baseball for the Tigers in blue. While in high school, Dickey reached then end of competition on numerous occasions in multiple sports. Back then, there were no state championships for small schools. They played to the bi-district or regional levels and then had to stop. Dickey was noted as an outstanding end on both sides of the ball for the Gunter Tigers, who were a six-man team at the time. He graduated in the spring of 1958 and the Howe Bulldogs started the football program back up in the fall of 1958, so he never played the Bulldogs.
After graduating high school in 1958, Dickey went to Cisco Junior College for two years and playing football as a linebacker and baseball. After receiving his associate's degree at Cisco, he transferred to nearby Austin College, where he also played defensive end in football and baseball.
"I graduated four years after I graduated high school. That's pretty good for a dumb guy," said Dickey.
After graduating from Austin College, he went to work as a coach in the one high school town of Mesquite, Texas for two years. He coached eighth-grade football his first year and the junior varsity football coach and head varsity baseball coach. It was then, in 1964 that school board member Grady Lankford came to Norman Dickey and said that Howe needed a football coach and asked him to apply.
"I was single at the time and I said, sure. I didn't check in to it. They came after me so I took it." said Dickey.
Thankfully, Dickey didn't do any
Continued from page checking on the program because it was in bad shape when he arrived. The Bulldogs had won one game in each of the two previous seasons before Dickey's arrival. page 6
"I talked to every boy in high school in the fall of '64," said Dickey. "I raked and scraped and got 24 high school kids out for football and 12 of them were in the ninth grade. A couple of seniors came out that had never played football before."

With that young and inexperienced group, the Bulldogs went 0-9-1 in Dickey's first year as head coach. That team scored only 49 points which were the second lowest in school history at the time while giving up a then-school record 221. "We dressed in the old school on Highway 5 (under the stage), said Dickey. "We did that for two years until they built the field house (which was just torn down).
Dickey started to turn things around in 1966 when they won the first five games of the season before getting beat at Leonard. "At that time, you had to win district or you didn't make the playoffs," said Dickey. "Celina dominated everything and we ended up 6-3-1."