Five candidates have filed for two full three year terms on the Salado Independent School District Board of Trustees: Jim Reed, Sam Dowdy, Jr., Rick Marruffo, Amy McLane and Marlon Reed.

As a manner of introducing them to our readers, we asked the following questions. Their answers are below, in order of appearance on the Ballot for May 7 election.

Question 1: What is the greatest single challenge facing Salado school district as a whole in the next decade? (200 words)

Question 2: How can the District address the looming growth issues in terms of preparing for facility expansion or addition? (200 words)

Question 3: Do you support construction of a new HS football stadium at the Williams Road complex? Why or why not? (100 words)

Question 4: Do you support construction of a Performing Arts Center at the Williams Road complex? Why or why not? (100 words)

Jim Reed

Question 1: Our district is in the unique position as being not only one of the fastest growing districts in the region, but also has the most undeveloped land of any of those districts. It’s not a matter of if growth is coming but how will we deal effectively with that growth. 

Any plan for addressing growth must involve the engagement of residents in the development of that plan. In order to stay ahead of growing student populations, large class sizes and maintaining effective student/teacher ratios, our district must gain concurrence on a long range plan that deals with these and other related issues. 

Not everyone will agree on the ultimate details of the plan, but unless everyone is given the opportunity to provide input, public acceptance may not happen. If we cannot come together and all compromise to plan for our districts future, our district and our children’s education will suffer. If elected my commitment is that all planning efforts will include a comprehensive public involvement component which involves anyone who wishes to be involved, not just a hand-picked committee. 

Question 2: I have always loved the quote, “I am interested in the future because that is where I intend to spend the rest of my life.” My profession is as a certified planner. As such, I have extensive training in population forecasting and growth planning. My graduate thesis centered around projecting student populations and mapping out growth strategies. It was awarded as the Planning Project of the Year. 

Any effective plan must balance the adaptive reuse of our current facilities with the construction of new facilities. This requires an assessment of the functionality and condition of what exists today followed by planning for new facilities to fill the gaps and address shortage areas. 

Planning alone will only address the short term. Any plan for the future will involve funding and building new facilities. The rate of growth will require a long-term, phased approach over many years. This is the only way to plan in a cost effective manner. If we only focus on short-term solutions, we will pay more over time.

Question 3: No, I do not support the building of a new stadium. The district has made substantial improvements to the current stadium over the years. These improvements have extended the usable life, postponing the need for a new stadium. It is my belief that the districts funds are best used addressing new learning facilities at this time. Over time additional improvements will extend the usable life of the current stadium for the foreseeable future.

Question 4: Yes, but my support is dependent upon a plan that does not compromise future educational facilities. Salado has always considered itself an arts community. As such, I believe that any Performing Arts Center should be a partnership between the school district and other community partners. This could involve the Village, Tourism, and the Library District. It could also involve community focused grant agencies. 

With proper coordination and partnerships in place, we should be able to create the type of first class facility that our students and community deserve.

Sam Dowdy, Jr.

Question 1: Growth; not being prepared for the kids coming into our beautiful town. There are a lot of young families coming into the community. It’s important to me, to protect the common sense and moral values of this community was built on. The same values that were impressed upon me when I moved here 12 years ago. I’ll never forget, while unpacking my U-Haul, when the Mayor Stalcup pulled into my driveway and welcomed me into town. It’s also the same values that showed me love and support in 2012 when I lost my family in a tragic car accident. This town is full of amazing wonderful people with great values and a common sense approach to relationships. 

Question 2: Once elected I get a better understanding of the needs for the school and then help support in those areas. I have a background in commercial construction and spending the last 10 years in k-12 and higher education. I also manage million dollar budgets for multiple companies. Growth should be exciting and it will be, as long as we are prepared. 

Question 3: I will be in support of what the school needs to manage the growth. I understand that we are in the highest tax bracket with some of the lowest paid teachers in the county, I will put my focus here first. 

Question 4:  From what I see the Theater students have done a fantastic job qualifying for regionals. I think this is great and would support any student that has the work effort of this group. Again, once elected I get a better understanding the needs of the school and then help support those areas. Teachers pay is my focus.

Rick Marruffo

Question 1: One of the biggest challenges to come to Salado over the next ten years is definitely growth. Salado ISD has seen steady growth over the past several years, and by the amount of development that is still going on, this is going to continue. The best way to deal with this is by staying well ahead of the growth. Labor and material costs will continue to grow, so waiting around until we are behind is definitely not an option. 

Question 2: I will address this by school. First off, Thomas Arnold Elementary is over capacity at 1000+ students. The facilities are over 40 years old. Our middle school is brand new, and was built with future expansion in mind. Our high school is over 14 years old, and is already near full capacity. Unfortunately, the high school was not built with practical expansion in mind. There are currently extra classroom trailers behind the high school, and the possibility of adding more exists. In the next few years there will definitely need to be an increase in student capacity within our district. Temporary measures can work, however they are temporary and tend to delay more permanent measures. Sometimes this can develop into serious problems.

Question 3 and 4: I have chosen to answer both of these questions together, as my answers will be extremely similar. Personally, I would support the building of a football facility, as well as a performing arts center. However, these cannot be rushed through, as both would be extremely expensive. My stand is I would support a well-planned project with majority support from our community. Support of the community is very important to me. I believe that if either or both projects were to happen, it would be important to include them together with any type of school expansion. In addition, the projects should be able to serve more than one purpose. For example, a football stadium that can also serve as a soccer venue, drill field, marching bands, etc. Concessions would not be enough to pay back the cost of the facilities. But the more events that can be held, the more concessions and other fundraising opportunities will exist.

Amy McLane

Question 1: The single greatest challenge for SISD is the rapid growth. New homes are being built each day in our district and many of those homes will have children under the rooftops. As a public school, we are responsible for the education of each child within our district. Having enough classroom space, room in the hallways to safely move about, extracurricular facilities to accommodate those that wish to participate, and keeping and growing the teaching staff for additional students are just some issues we will face as a district with this influx of children. This school district will look quite different by the end of the decade and we need to have a clear vision of what the district needs for the upcoming years.

Question 2. As a district, we need to have a clear plan and focus for expansion. In the fall of 2017, our district put together a Long Range Planning Committee, composed of 50 community members, district parents, teachers and others who worked together to create a plan for the future of our district. I served as co-chair of that committee which helped plan the location of the current middle school and the development of the district sports complex on Williams Road. During this planning, Templeton Demographics gave long-range growth forecasts that have helped determine the district growth direction. Those numbers are still being accurately used today as the district projects forward. I do believe the district will have to build an additional school in the future to keep up with the growth. The district purchased 54 acres off Williams Road in 2021 to prepare for such expansion.

Question 3: Yes, I support construction of both a football stadium and a performing arts center for our district. I would like to see the football stadium at the Williams Road site, settled in between the current high school and the middle school. This will create a facility easier to use for both junior high and high school athletic teams, keeping the district from having to bus participants to the current football stadium for practice each day, as they do now. Without these daily trips, the wear and tear on our buses will drop, saving in fuel costs and keeping our students safer. This stadium will host football, soccer and track as well as other events such as field day, band marching contests and Special Olympics. A stadium on the Williams Road site makes the most sense for our district.

Question 4: Our district needs a performing arts center. Right now, our fine arts programs use cafeterias in both the middle school and the high school. These spaces cannot fully showcase the talent our programs have. Our One-Act Play will be performing at the regional contest next week and the program has won the state title three times. In addition to theater, our band and our choir also need a venue to perform concerts and host contests. Those programs often use outside venues to have concerts because the cafeteria is too small to hold the guests. It is time for a performing arts center to host the talent we have within our district. As for the location of the center, it will need to be near the high school. The future expansion of our district facilities will determine the exact prime location for the performing arts center.

Marlon Reed

Question 1: Growth and how we handle that growth is a very important issue within the community. Residents are concerned about their taxes going up, as the cost-of-living increases. We need to ensure that whatever we do is fiscally responsible and pragmatic.  

Question 2: We need to look at our current facilities and ensure we are using our current space safely and efficiently. I believe remodeling and re-purposing current spaces in existing buildings could be an option depending on the cost. The ultimate goal is to not incur any more bonds that would increase taxes on citizens. 

  Question 3 and 4: I support both of these projects. We have outgrown the current stadium in regard to seating and parking. This problem will persist as we continue to grow. The parking issues are a safety concern, as people are walking out of the stadium while cars and buses are trying to leave the game. People walking down the roadway toward the elementary or other areas they may have parked. Patrons park in all the elementary campus lots, down the side of the road, and even as far as the soccer fields. We have to find a way to fund these projects that do not put a financial burden on our citizens. We need to be creative in our solution to these endeavors; is there a building in town that we can remodel for the Performing Arts Center? Can we apply for grants, or get private funding to build a Performing Arts Center or New Stadium to offset the cost to the taxpayers?