The Echo

http://blogs.delawareonline.com/delawareed/2010/05/17/a-new-face-on-christinas-school-board/

We caught up with Eric M. Anderson, who beat a nearly 30-year incumbent for a seat on the Christina school board.


When did you decided to run for school board and why?

I decided to run for the seat in December. I have been involved with the Christina Community for the past 20 years as a student, substitute, paraprofessional, teacher, and coach. When I left the district in June 2009 to take a job with the Charter School of Wilmington, I left with many sentiments. I moved to Wilmington in August of 2009, and happy with my new job, I still wanted to be a part of the Christina school district. I knew that the seat was up for grabs in 2010 and I made the decision to run. I knew that running for the seat would be a challenge since I was running against a 30 year incumbent, it wasn’t until I had started campaigning and talking to the community that I realized that change wasn’t just needed, but wanted.

You won by a huge margin against a nearly 30-year incumbent. What did you do when you heard the results?

Going into election day I felt good about the amount of support I had behind me in the Christina Community, but the only thing that matters on election day is if your supporters show up at the polls. When the polls closed at 8, I returned home with a group of my closest friends, my father and we waited for the results to come in. I just remember all of us shouting, jumping, and hugging in my living room and immediately our cell phones began to ring. I was truly surprised not only by the huge margin I won by, but also how many people actually came out to vote when compared to previous Christina elections.

You have more than 900 friends on your candidate Facebook page. What made you decide to use social media in your campaign? Do you think it was effective?

It was my plan to use the social media to generate support from the younger members of the Christina, such as former students. The younger generation relies so heavily on social networking, I knew that facebook would be effective in getting an awareness out there that I was running. It was difficult to for me to have the link, due to its length, printed on my personal palm cards, so in the future I think a regular webpage with a simple URL will be more effective social media tool to use.

A couple board members have blogs and twitter accounts that they use to share information with their constituents. Do you plan to do anything like that?

I plan to keep the Facebook page that I had through my campaign, and I also am looking into creating a blog as well, not only to communicate with constituents, but also to keep up-to-date on important community issues and how others feel about those issues.

Some people have noted that you were endorsed by the union. What did the endorsement mean to you?

I was a little disappointed in the direction the News Journal chose to take on reporting the role of the union’s support in the various campaigns. In my race all three candidates were contacted by the union and told if we wanted to be considered for the endorsement to fill out a questionnaire and attend an interview. We all opted to be considered and went through the process. During the process we were aware that the union endorsed candidate would have union support through their desired means in reaching out to their membership. I was fortunate enough to earn the endorsement of the union. I really was a surprised and grateful when I saw their expenses published in the News Journal and glad I won the endorsement. As a teacher myself, it was extremely important for me to earn the endorsement because I believe I wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on if I was not supported by teachers.

What is one of the biggest and/or most important issues facing Christina School District?

I believe the most important issue facing the Christina School District pertains to the retention of students and staff. I believe that once an environment is created where we see the district strongly competing with Charter, private, and other public schools to draw students and staff, that will be the evidence that the district is steering in the right direction.

What’s the biggest challenge in taking on that issue?

The challenges here are unlimited, but the most important are: the creation and retention of diversified learning programs, adequate funding and financial management to up keep these programs, and an on going effort in reaching out to the community to rebuild relationships and instill confidence that Christina schools will consistently, and effectively, provide the necessary resources to educate each student to meet their full potential