On May 8th, Lake Highlands will head to the polls to participate in the election of representatives to the Richardson Independent School District Board of Trustees.

The board is charged with a vision statement of "providing each student an education in an academically excellent and individually responsive learning community."

In an effort to inform local voters, Lake Highlands Today has spent time with each of the three candidates running for the Place 3 seat.

Today, we're visiting with Darryl Smyers.

Smyers is a Lake Highlands resident and veteran teacher. Together with his wife, Stephanie, they have two children in RISD schools.

With a background in public education, and classroom experience ranging from Korea all the way to Richland College, Smyers believes it's time to see a teacher represented on the board.

"Recently I started looking at all the school board members to see if could find some who have taught," says Smyers. "I know you need business people on the board because of the massive budget."

"I know you need legal people on the school board because you have chances of lawsuits, but I thought there could be at least one person who's on the front lines, so to speak, teaching."

In 2002, while working for the Dallas Independent School District, Smyers was awarded the Teacher of the Year at Thomas Edison Middle School. Selected as a district semi-finalist, Smyers remarked in his essay that "teacher accountability is a hot potato tossed among people who know nothing about public education."

"Let's be honest here," says Smyers. "Every single study of education success comes down to teacher-studio ratio and class size."

Currently teaching in the Garland Independent School District, Smyers is an ESL (English as Second Language) Facilitator at Sam Houston Middle School. In terms of budget issues, he argues that excess at mid-level management and administrative levels should be cut before any teaching positions.

"There should never be more people working in a central, downtown office than are assigned to any high school."

Another reason he cites for running? His common background with many in the Lake Highlands community.

"I have the same socio-economic demographic as most of the parents in RISD. I'm making $50,000 a year, struggling and worrying about things like my son's braces. It translates to people understanding my passion for this."

"I want to bring a perspective to the board that includes my background as a teacher, in addition to my life experiences," says Smyers.

Changing demographics in our school district and the impact is has on RISD are other important issues that he's looking to address.

"Richardson right now is a recognized school district," he explains. "If we don't match the hiring practices of Dallas ISD and Irving ISD, which both pay more money to new teachers, RISD will not be prepared for the constant influx of second-language learners."

Smyers argues that the board of trustees needs to be aware of these issues from a teacher's perspective.

"If you don't deal with these issues effectively, the district will suffer."

Another reason to run? "As a community, Lake Highlands definitely needs some representation on the board."

Other issues Smyers covers in his platform include more student integration with the local community colleges and more direct contact with businesses and non-profit organizations.

To read more about Darryl Smyers and his campaign, click here to visit his website.

Watch for more interviews coming this week, as we visit with Kris Oliver and Elaine Johnson, who are also vying for the Place 3 seat for the RISD Board of Trustees.