Let me introduce myself
I am a native Georgian born in Atlanta. I have been married for 42 years to a beautiful and supportive wife, Kay Hardin Banks; have four children (2 girls and 2 boys) each educated by the Cobb County School system and 5 grandchildren. Three of my grandchildren live in Cobb County and are or will soon be attending Cobb County schools.
I have been a Republican most of my adult life and in 1992, I became actively involved in the Cobb County Republican Party and active in the political process by working in major campaigns such as Governor, State Representatives, Commissioners, and School Board members. I have held several support positions within the Cobb County Republican Party and have worked with several current and former Republican Board members, stressing to each one that they must have high standards that gains the trust and confidence of the stakeholders of this County and they must effectively communicate with the public and share a strong emphasis in improving the educational process.
One of the biggest attractions to potential homeowners in Cobb County has been the quality of our educational system. This quality must be preserved.
Elementary School years
I attended Tallapoosa Elementary from the 1st to the 6th grade. This was an old wooden building with wood floors and no central heat or air conditioning. Although not acceptable in today’s world, it was a good school and there must have been good and caring teachers since I credit them with laying the foundation of my education. Though I cannot remember their faces, I still remember who they were and the things we were taught. I must have been fairly smart since I made all A’s and never missed a day of school; rain, shine, or snow. I mostly walked to school and if I were lucky my mother would drive me if it was raining really hard and it was cold.
These were fond years growing up on a dirt farm where my father farmed during the day and worked in the thread mill at night. We were what you would call lower middle class, but to me it was a memorable time since this is where I caught my first fish on a hook made from a straight pin. From that moment on, I was hooked. I remember the days when I was nine years old working on a milk delivery truck before school and the cold windy mornings, but I was making 50 cents a day and getting rich. Later I was able to get a paper route which was much easier since it was after school. This was when I bought my first bike with a big basket for the papers and I paid the store an amount each week until I paid it off. The exciting thing was that it was new.
On the last day of school of the sixth grade, I road my bicycle home with my report card in hand and there were trucks in the yard loaded with all our possessions. They threw my bicycle on top of one of the trucks and told me to get in. So, off to Ben Hill, our new home.
The house in Ben Hill compared to our old house was like night and day. It had in-door water, a bathroom with a tub and sink. I never imagined that I would live in such luxury.
I attended Ben Hill Elementary (7th grade – no middle schools then) and my grades went down, but I don’t know if it was the dramatic change that I had been through in the move or that it was a much tougher school. At any rate I became interested in music and since I was able to get a job at Mundy’s Drug store, I was able to buy a used trumpet and join the school band. I also discovered girls during this time and began to understand the word “crush” also had another meaning. There were some beautiful girls in that 7th grade class.
I did pass the 7th grade so now I am going to high school in the fall with all of my new friends.
High School years
I was fortunate to begin my high school years at a new school in the Cascade Heights area called Southwest High School. The 8th grade was different from my elementary years in that we did not stay in the same room for each subject. This was new to me, besides there being a large number of people I did not know.
My high school years were some of the best years of my life. I even enjoyed going to school even though I did not make exceptional grades, but I did enjoy math especially Algebra and Trigonometry; hated English. I was in the band until the 11th grade when I switched to ROTC, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Since I continued to work at the drug store all though high school I was able to spend money on building and flying Control Line airplanes from which I had derived immense enjoyment, especially the building process.
At my senior year I had saved enough money to buy my first car for cash (no financing) a 1951 Chevrolet coupe. This was a major step in my life because with a car you were somebody and were able to date.
Higher education years
After graduating from high school I enrolled at Georgia Tech. What a shock, they really expected you to work and study. I lasted about two semesters and decided maybe Georgia State College might be a bit easier and they were on the quarter schedule. Again I let it fizzle away and my savings were running out so I decided I needed to get a job. I was lucky to get a job with Delta Airlines making a huge amount of money. I think it was about $351.00 a month. So I started saving my money again and bought a better car.
About the age of 23, I finally matured enough and had seen the value of a degree. I knew I did not want to be a mechanic all my life, so I decided to go back to Georgia State College at night. Also, Delta would pay a portion of the tuition. In 1968 I earned my BBA in Management and during this period I got married and had two kids.
Seeing the value having a degree, I decided that I would continue my education and earn a MBA. I received my MBA degree in 1971 and now had three kids and lived in East Cobb County (this was when it was still wilderness).
Working history
I began earning money working on a milk truck at the age of nine making 50 cents a day. Later I got a paper route making 50 cents a day seven days a week after school.
From the 7th grade and all thru high school I worked in Mundy’s Drug Store in Ben Hill.
After high school, I worked that summer for a construction company and knew right away that is not the type of work I wanted to do.
Later I worked for a cotton broker, Anderson Clayton, for about two years.
In 1959, I was fortunate to get a job at Delta Airlines where I worked for eight years before going with Lockheed. The job at Lockheed led me to move the East Cobb County. At Lockheed I was able to get into a computer programming training program which was the foundation of what I would do the rest of my career.
After Lockheed, I worked for Georgia State University where I received my MBA.
In 1974 I went to work at Southern Company Services as a programmer and eventually became a Supervisor.
In 1982, I decided to work for myself, so I formed a Company that supported software and sold computer hardware. As my boys got older they worked for my Company doing much the same functions as I had done over the years except at this time networking was coming into play so they were able to branch out into other disciplines.
In 2000 I worked for Accenture and retired in 2002.
Deciding that retirement was to foreign for me, I went back to work at McKesson Corporation as a Systems Analyst in 2004 and I am still in that capacity.
Republican Party activities
My first real touch of politics was on a day that Barry Goldwater flew into Atlanta Airport. Working for Delta, I was able to go out onto the ramp at will and along with a lot of other people I got to shake hands with Barry Goldwater.
In 1992, I got involved with the Republican Party in Cobb County. Cobb was a Republican county and the Republican Party was a power. As a member, I began working on campaigns, particularly former Representative Mitchell Kaye, and later as Chairman for Cobb County in the John Know for Governor campaign. I was able to build a large base of volunteers who worked hard and devoted many hours. It was a great learning experience by getting signs out, distributing calling lists for phone banks, raising money for the campaign, and getting out the vote.
Over the years I have held several support offices within the Party such as Membership Chairman, Precinct Chairman, District Chairman, and Count Convention Credentials Chairman. I have always stressed the Republican philosophy.
I have worked on several state and Congressional campaigns which always provided a new learning experience.
I am still an active member of the Cobb County Republican Party.
Influences on my life
My mother was the greatest influence in my younger life in that she insisted I go to church each week, that I go to school everyday the doors were open and that I make good grades, and that I join the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Scouting was a period of my life, that was very important to me and something I thoroughly enjoyed. Setting the foundation at an early stage has carried me to where I am today.
The second great influencer in my life is my wife, who has a keen insight on many things that I fail to notice. Through her insistence that I attend church with her and that our children attend church in our early marriage made a major difference in my spiritual faith today and that of our children.
My wife has always been the encourager for me to achieve greater goals in my career and endeavors during our years of marriage. She has stood by me when I have stumbled and disappointed and continues to be the solid rock I can depend on.
The third great influence on my life has been the people I have worked with and worked for. From some I learned management skills, thru others I learned to be a listener and to be just in my decisions. From my many clients over the years I learned the attitude that if the Customer is happy then you will prosper.
Why I should be elected a Cobb County School Board member
Having come from humble beginnings and being the first ever in my family to obtain a college degree and for many years the only one to have a MBA degree, I have seen the need to provide to all students the best in education and that it be meaningful, challenging, and fun. In order to meet these criteria requires having the best in Teachers and Administrators.
In this 21st century, education must transform itself in order to meet the coming needs, but also to utilize the technologies, which is an array of tools that can be used to enhance the teaching and learning process. We must look beyond what we have done in the past and are doing currently, with vision for the future.
A problem we have today is where students oftentimes are better trained and more experienced in technology than their teachers. We must change this trend by evolving into ways of using technology in order to present and have the student absorb a much greater amount of knowledge, which continues to expand at a rapid rate. For instance in my technology world who had ever heard the work computer, disk drive, video card, CRT, core memory, megabit, network, shared memory, fiber optic, broadband, routers, network hubs, copiers, digital, and many others 50 years ago. We were in the stages of typewriters, carbon paper, tape recorders, and 78 & 45-rpm records and little TV screens with 2 –3 channels.
Today we are talking in gigabytes and terabytes, world wide internet, email, genetics, organ replacements and growth, amazing new drugs, routine heart and other organ transplants, teleconferencing, cell phones with cameras, flash cards holding gigabytes of data that you can put in your pocket, and the list goes on.
Our country has produced in the last few decades’ technologies that are of a tremendous use to the learning process if only we learn to use them effectively. And we can only imagine what is to come. This is why I see the need to transform the learning process, not through experimentation, but using the tools that can logically be envisioned that would enhance the learning process. We must be willing to transform the learning process, the classroom environment and structure, and re-train our teachers so that our graduates are ready to face the challenges that they will face in the real world.
We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.