Piers Heriz-Smith
Running for school board in Kent County
How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 5)?
55
Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?
U.S. Air Force Medical Service, retired.
What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?
High school, Christina School District, Delaware; U.S. Air Force professional non-commissioned officer development schools.
Why are you running for the school board?
I am running for Kent County Board of Education because I believe in public service, and I see a large degree of misunderstanding and confusion surrounding basic facts regarding the district.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
My work experience as a headquarters’s logistician, balancing resources with requirements, and fulfilling the responsibility for the professional education of two career fields within the command, leaves me well qualified for the task.
Philosophically, I am a good candidate as I believe all children deserve a good state-provided education. A good education allows the recipient to compete on a level playing field for quality jobs. In that regard, education undoes the cycle of generational poverty. Perhaps equally important, the future of the republic depends upon a well-educated constituency, familiar with reason, logic, ethics and morality, and capable of critical thought.
What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?
The most important issue facing our school district is the combination of limited resources and anti-school bias. I live in a county that has a historic issue with managing its school district adequately. We are not a poor county; however, our middle school is decrepit. By some surveys it is beyond economic repair. The middle school could stand as a testament regarding the district at large. A sizable portion of our school-aged demographic is homeschooled or attends private school, at least partly due to Kent County Public Schools’ reputation. A small student body means the administrative overhead is higher than it otherwise would be when calculating per capita student costs. Each of our schools meet the threshold for designation as a Title 1 school. Title 1 students require more resources, further raising the per capita cost of educating our students, which in turn feeds negative bias and grows a positive feedback loop.
I would counter these influences with advocacy and propagating reliable information. I also strongly believe an independent audit of the county and its various departments would allow us to move forward with a clean slate.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
U.S. Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, former commander of the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, who became a public figure when his love of the crew was so great, and his professional ethic so robust, that he sacrificed his career for the health of the crew and the good of the mission. His actions embodied sacrifice, devotion, bravery, ethics and morality.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased education funding to support early childhood education, increased teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it will affect your school district.
The Blueprint is law. We should make every effort to meet its requirements. If there are instances in which it is impossible to meet those requirements, we should coordinate with the state to find interim solutions.
The Blueprint will help Kent County be competitive when recruiting staff. It also makes available resources to assist the more vulnerable demographics in the county. Overall, the Blueprint is a positive.
Some school districts nationwide are placing new limits on the use of cellphones in middle and high schools. What do you think should be the policy on student use of cellphones in your district, and why do you support that policy?
I believe we should look to subject matter experts for specific guidance on how technology impacts young minds and the educational process. That being said, we are now aware that many of the apps, particularly social media, are driven by algorithms that are addictive and/or harmful to minors. With exceptions for instances where phones are linked to medical devices, as an example, they should only be available outside of instruction and study activity.
Are you satisfied with your school district's efforts to ensure the safety of its students? What, if anything, should be done to improve school safety in your district?
I am satisfied with the use of entry control points and the pre-positioning of medical trauma kits within the schools. i think that we could expand the use of medical trauma response training for both employees and the student body. Asking schools to be the primary responsible organization for making society safe for the children under their care relieves the state and federal legislatures of a great responsibility that they seem most reluctant to address.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?
I have a hard time imagining what books might be wholly devoid of educational use. Even “Mein Kampf” offers an insight into the mind of a monster and the arguments such a person would use to reshape society. I could see limiting access as an alternative to bans, which are distasteful by nature. Education often involves discomfort, and an education system that protects students from discomfort also insulates the student from learning.
If bans are absolutely necessary, again I would defer to subject matter experts such as child physiologists and experts on educational theory.
Some school districts enact policies allowing transgender and gender nonconforming students to use their preferred pronouns while at the same time not informing those students' parents about that decision. What is your opinion of such policies?
I think that whatever policy is enacted, it must be done with the safety of the student in mind. That is paramount. I am neither an educator, nor a trained mental health provider, but it is my strong belief that the core moral pillars upon which our American ideals rest are liberty, equality and justice. Under that framework, all people have the right to exist in public places and be afforded the dignity that goes along with that right. That includes the right to not feel unsafe because of who they are. We as Americans are equals first and foremost.
