In a meet-and-greet session at the American Legion Hall beside Eatonton’s Jimmy Davis Park, McKenzie Cardwell, a nurse and executive director of Dublin Place Senior Living, outlined her candidacy Sep. 1, for the District 2 seat on the Putnam County Board of Education (BOE).
Cardwell said the impending start of her 4-year-old son’s school career prompted her to announce a run for the BOE seat this spring.
“I just wanted to be involved and know what was going on,” she said. “I read the statistics of our rankings within Georgia and to be honest, I wasn’t too satisfied. So, I thought, how can I make a difference? How can I learn? How can I encourage others to get involved, to motivate our kids and our families to come together, to promote our children and grow our community later down the road?
“My goal is just to be an open opportunity voice for District 2 and through the whole community, so we can find out where our shortcomings are, find out how we can fix them and then rally together to get those things changed. And then as an effort of that, move Eatonton forward and Putnam County forward as a whole.”
The daughter-in-law of Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell, who briefly stopped by to watch and listen to her speak, Cardwell lives near downtown Eatonton and has chaired the Eatonton Service League, as well as served on the advisory board for the Eatonton Main Street program. She will face longtime incumbent Simone Jones in November’s general election.
“I think having fresh voices and fresh blood and fresh questions is important to challenge what’s going on to create opportunity, to talk about differences and navigate through now versus what worked 20 years ago,” Cardwell stated.
“You tend to get complacent as the years go on, you check into the meetings, you check out to the meetings, and you know, you’re not as invested as you once were. I think having a child in the school system is also something that invests me a little bit more. I want to make sure that all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed.”
Specifically, Cardwell said she’s concerned about reports that Putnam County boasts a 99-percent graduation rate for its high school seniors. While that appears a tremendous success at face value, Cardwell questioned whether all those graduates are truly prepared for the next phase in their lives.
“If we’re graduating kids at a C level or a barely-there level, we’re just not preparing them to be successful at an entry-level opportunity at a business or an opportunity at any college. So how can we improve those scores to make sure that when your child leaves the school they’re prepared for whatever path they decide to take?” she asked.
“Now that takes time. That takes looking at the teachers, looking at how they’re equipped, how they’re prepared, and asking, where are we getting our teachers?”
Cardwell also questioned if all Putnam High students with joint enrollment in higher education are truly being done a service by the program—or if it just pads school board statistics. She wondered if a student enters an early education program with Georgia College, for instance, but they fail a prerequisite math test, should the school system get credit for placing them in joint enrollment, despite the student not truly being successful?
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I’d like to find out.”
Cardwell also claimed as a new face on the board, she would bring a fresh perspective, one not given to prior-held opinions or personal or business- related preferences.
“I have no allegiance to anybody that is complacent in their position when they’re elected by their people. So, if I’m elected by my district, it is my district that tells me what I do. What McKenzie’s personal opinion is about is pretty irrelevant,” she declared.
“If I’m faced with a challenge, I’m not gonna’ sit there and Google how to do it. I’m gonna’ call you. I’m gonna’ put a Facebook poll out. I’m gonna say, how do y’all think that I should respond to this concern?
“But I don’t know what the disadvantages of different parts of anywhere are, so I have to depend on the people in my district and the people of my town to communicate those things to me so I can address them,” Cardwell added, acknowledging that where she was speaking and where she lives may physically be less than a mile apart, but they’re widely separated in terms of educational service and opportunity for the children in each.
And as with anything in close proximity to the beleaguered Jimmy Davis Park, the facility’s neglect came up as an issue to be addressed.
“District 2 is very much divided into two communities and that’s unfortunate. I think all of District 2 and all of Putnam County needs to be more cohesive as a whole, across income levels, across race, ethnicity, religion, all that needs to be one cohesive thing to move Putnam County forward together,” Cardwell said in front of about 40 concerned parents.
“It is disappointing that there’s not more involvement from other parts of the community in a meeting like this, because Jimmy Davis Park is for all of us. I live just three blocks that way,” she added, gesturing north. “So this is actually closer for my son to come play. When he gets older, he could ride a bike here. So, I mean, everybody should be invested in something that can move the county forward.”