Adam Hammond, who serves as the Post 4 representative on the Oconee County Board of Education, is the executive director of the Georgia 4-H Foundation and is a three-time Emmy Award winner in journalism.
Q: What inspired you to run for the Oconee School Board?
A: I grew up in Oconee County. I was able to pursue the dreams and aspirations that I had for my life because of my experience growing up in Oconee. I think it’s important for people to give back and invest because we can preserve those opportunities for the next generation. I want to be an advocate for our teachers and for our community and do that through my service on the school board.
Q: How does your background with Georgia 4-H shape your work as a board member?
A: My work is really focused on cultivating resources in support of positive youth development. That’s essentially what a school system is doing as well. We have to be good stewards of the resources that we get for our students. So there’s a lot of overlap when it comes to cultivating resources for young people, but then making sure that we have systems in place that lead to positive youth development.
Q: What do you see as the primary responsibility of a school board member?
A: The governance of the school system is our top priority. I want to be a representative for the community on the board and ensure that their voice is heard and ensure that there’s responsiveness from the board to the community as well.
Q: If you had federal funding, what would you do with it?
A: Well, I’m an advocate for CTAE (Career, Technical and Agricultural Education). I think every young person should be able to explore different areas they have interests in and determine what path they may want to take after high school. You don’t know if you don’t dabble in different areas and experience different things. So I’m a big fan of CTAE opportunities, and I think that’s an area where we can always innovate.
Q: How does the school board work to maintain transparency with parents?
A: We have two meetings a month that are open to the public, and I encourage them to come and participate. The schools do a great job through social media and newsletters and different things like that to get the word out. One of the things that I would like to see in the coming year is a town hall format where people can come with questions and they can ask us about different topics directly.
Q: How does the school board decide budget priorities each year?
A: The biggest chunk of our budget is personnel. It’s somewhere between 80% and 90%. We have great teachers, we have great support staff, and we want to invest in them. We collaborate closely with the people on the ground for them to identify areas where they have a need. Our experts and professionals at the central office then take all that information and you know, boil that down into a priority list.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity.
Madison Hawthorne is a journalism major in Reporting I covering city-county government in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
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