Polk runs for special election FISD school board race

Former FISD board member for Place 4, Brenda Polk will once again join the school board after the May 12 elections.

Polk is running unopposed for the Place 1 seat after FISD Board Secretary Laura Ellison stepped down from the position. The district is holding a special election for the one year term along with the general election.

Polk said she decided to run because she knew the open position would draw in a less experienced board member.

"I served six years on the Frisco school board already and when I served on that time, a lot of the board members had quite a bit of experience," Polk said. "Last year when I opted to not seek reelection with Richard Beaver, they gained two new board members and then this year there will also be a third new board member, so this seat, if there was another new one, four out of the seven would have a year less experience."

She also added that n the city the "learning curve" is difficult due to the growth in the city and state funding.

"Basically I decided to run to keep some stability on the board," Polk said. "A year from now, I'm not sure at this point if I would run for that seat again, but I just thought I would offer my services for that year."

Polk said Ellison contacted her to inform her of open position.

"Laura Ellison who resigned that seat, had contacted me and said that she was going to resign and it would be open," she said, "I had thought about it for a few weeks ... it's just something that I feel like I can pick up the ball and run with it fairly quickly."

Polk decided, during the last election, not seek reelection because of her children, who now attend Texas A&M, were seniors at FISD.

"I decided not to run voluntarily," she said. "[In] spring of the year there are a lot of senior activities and senior banquet and things like that, and also the election cycle is always on the mayoral cycle in Frisco, which is just a lot more intense. You pretty much need to be out working on the election pretty much every day and I really felt like I needed to donate the time to my kids."

The new position does not "officially start" she said until June 18. She also added that she feels this term will be different than the last two she has served because she is no longer a school board novice.

"I come into it with six years of the cycle experience of going through resolving six times, and the budget process six times," she said. "The generalness of it is like second nature because I've done it for six years so it doesn't feel as overwhelming I think this time, as when you're a brand new board member."

There are several current education issues that face the district, and the state, including the new implementation of the STAAR program, which she said; she feels she will need to be brought-up to speed on.

"Two big issues are the test taking, coming about from STAAR and what that looks like," she said. "Every time they change the testing format, it's hard to know what it target looks like, and you just have to trust the administrators. They're in charge to bring that information down to the trenches for the students and be supportive of that."

The district also faces the challenges of a financial battle with state education funding.

"There wasn't the money for fast growth districts," she said. "With Frisco, we continue to grow, but we still have an extra issue that we need to deal with, not just funding the students that we currently have, but then the 3,000 or so students that we gain typically over the summer time every year, to try and figure out that funding and financing -- getting the kids educated with the money we have."

Though it is unclear if she will run again at the end of the year-long term, she is not resolute on running, but she is open to the possibility. This will also be the first election that Polk will face unopposed, which she added she is grateful to have a "free pass" for one year.

"At one point I was the only sitting board member that always had an opponent, which is fine, you just have to earn your spot," she said. "I feel like there are only seven people that get to do this job, so if you earn it you should do it to the best of your abilities."

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