CHAPEL HILL – Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board candidate, Ignacio Tzoumas (pronounced JEW-mas), says equity will be his biggest focus if elected. He says the district has to adapt to serve the ever-changing landscape.
“About 20 years ago, our school system (had) about 4,000 students, and now we’re at 12,” Tzoumas says. “Soon we’ll be at 20. The prerogative now is to restructure and modernize our school system so that we can give the best education to all our students that’s a very diverse population.”
WCHL’s Ran Northam spoke with Tzoumas about his seeking election to the School Board and how he believes he’ll best serve the students and parents of the district.
***Listen to the Interview***
Four candidates are contending for three seats on the school board.
Tzoumas and Andrew Davidson are the newcomers in the election as Shell Brownstein and James Barrett are seeking re-electoin. The newcomers agree that—while they agree with a lot of what Superintendent Tom Forcella is doing—they want to be a voice coming from someone other than who helped in his hiring.
“I think everybody is behind a lot of his strategies,” Tzoumas says “But, as a board member, we’re expected to make sure that he is hitting all the points that he has put out as his roadmap.”
Between now and Election Day, we’ll be previewing each of the candidates one-on-one.
For more on Tzoumas, click here.
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