Wendy Lowe announces her candidacy for re-election for School Board Post 2.I am pleased to announce my candidacy for re-election to the Pickens County School Board Post 2 in the Republican Primary to be held May 20, 2014. It has been such an honor to serve the community in this capacity and as the board chair for the past three years. I was humbled by the outpouring of community support in the last election.

I have been a resident of Pickens County for the past fourteen years, and am married to Steve Lowe who is a lifetime resident. We have three children, a fifth grader and a second grader who are both students at Jasper Elementary, and an “adopted” son who is married and has two daughters that we consider our grandchildren. I grew up in rural Cherokee County, graduated from Etowah High School, and studied business and accounting in college. Before moving to Jasper, I was employed as a paralegal at Cutler & Schulman, P.C. My husband and I co-founded the Joy House, a local ministry serving teens and families, in 2001. I am presently self-employed and am a bookkeeper for several ministries and local businesses. I currently serve on the Pickens County Young Life Committee, Bent Tree Tennis Committee, and I am the treasurer for the Mountain Tennis Association. In my youth I was very involved in scouting and earned the highest award, the Gold Award; and as an adult, I have continued to be very involved with the youth and the church throughout the years.

During my service on the Board of Education, I feel we have made much progress to better an already wonderful school system that we can be proud to present to our children and grandchildren. We have been proactive in working together for the good of our students and our community. To that end, we have implemented changes to all the system websites, revamped the technology infrastructure and improved communication with stakeholders, just to name a few things. In addition, the Board has continued to work toward self improvement and earned the 2013 GSBA Quality Board Award in December. The Board has been actively involved in developing a strong strategic plan, improving and updating local policies, and recently participated in the successful AdvancEd (SACS) review of our schools and received accolades from the review committee. We have also continued to be fiscally responsible and have worked hard to meet the needs of all our students while helping to keep taxes to a minimum for our constituents. While we have made many strides to improve the quality of education in Pickens County, there is still more to do. We face the challenges of tight budgets and a 21st century economy that demands graduates who are not only proficient in technical areas, but also creative and capable of thinking critically. We need to meet the needs of all Pickens County students by putting more solutions on the table, and I look forward to continuing to work with leadership to help our system meet the highest standards.

I have always made decisions with the students at the forefront and will continue to do so. I will continue to maintain honest, open communication and be easily accessible to all stakeholders. I will continue to make fiscally responsible decisions for our stakeholders. I look forward to serving Pickens County and humbly ask for your vote on May 20th.