Campaign email: tes87gn@yahoo.com
Website: https://toddfortalbot.com/
Age: 45
Employment: Centreville Police Department – Corporal
Education: 1 year of college. six-month Anne Arundel County Police Academy
Why are you running for the school board?
I have two teenage boys in the Talbot County School System. One in Easton High School and the other in Easton Middle School. During the past few years I have directly observed the results of poor leadership by our current BOE and the previous superintendent (She is no longer in this position). As a police officer, I value order and safety. Over the past several years, student behavior has become increasingly noncompliant and violent. I want to create a safe environment for students who want to learn and for those who want to be disruptive, a proactive discipline process to change negative behavior. This is one of many areas I am focused on, but I am limited in my response to 150 words.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
Having two children in the school system gives me a good way to observe how things are going in our schools. As a police officer, I interact with many adolescents in and out of school. I am quite aware of the leading issues facing students, teachers, administrators and parents.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
I am very impressed with (Florida Gov.) Ron DeSantis. Just recently he took a very active role in promoting several conservative school board candidates. The result was many boards in Florida counties now have a conservative majority. He has a very no-nonsense approach to common sense initiatives with his state. He uses logic and biblical guidance in many, if not all, of his decisions for the residents of Florida. I find his approach to political and hot-button public topics refreshing and encouraging. He presents a strong endorsement for Faith, Family and Freedom.
What is the most important issue facing your school board, and what would you do about it if elected?
I feel school safety is a paramount issue here in Talbot County. I have been in law enforcement for 16 years and I have the experience and knowledge to make our schools safe from external and internal threats. I also feel our school curriculum needs a major overhaul. There is no place in our academics for political, ideological or social agendas to be pushed on our children. CRT (Critical Race Theory) and gender-focused topics should be completely removed from the classroom. Our children go to school to learn the fundamentals in subjects like mathematics, reading, writing, CORRECT U.S. and world history, sciences and fine arts. We need to prepare our children to be valued citizens and respectable individuals.
How concerned are you about school safety, and what if anything should be done to improve it?
Our schools need to be made hard targets from exterior threats. More police and security presence around the perimeters of all school facilities. Additionally, we need a disciplinary structure and trained staff to observe and, if necessary, take preventative measures to reduce the potential for student injury resulting from attacks from other students.
Do you have any concerns about the way history is taught in your district’s schools, and if so, what are they?
To my knowledge history in our school is being taught in a somewhat correct way. Though the injection of liberal or socialist leaders are often presented in a more positive light, while conservative white Republicans through history are vilified as evil. History needs to be taught from a neutral point. Not all history is pretty and neat. Some is ugly and regrettable. History should not be sugar-coated or vilified. It should be taught as a matter of fact and how as a nation we have been moving forward to correct the mistakes of the past.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries, and if so, what kind of books should be removed?
Any book containing ANY level of pornographic pictures or dialog should be removed. Books promoting any type of sexual lifestyle, to include straight or LGBT material should be removed. Our children are in school to learn and prepare for college, military or the workforce. Books that contain sexual material only cause confusion and a distraction to our children. Not to mention, distributing sexually explicit material to a minor is a crime. Any teacher or staff providing this material to any student should be charged with said crime accordingly .
This does not include books that cover the biological anatomy and reproductive organs of male and female from a purely scientific point of view.
