Navarro ISD Candidates

Kristen Green

“The talents and skills that I have really come down to: I have a very analytical brain. I love to deep-dive into issues, research, and things like that. And so I think that is very beneficial, especially with a lot of the things that come to the school board. So we get the agenda ahead of time. You’d have an opportunity to deep-dive into those issues and make sure I’m making the right decisions.,” said Green.

Hilarie Forester

“I’m willing to work with others. I can listen to other sides. I love hearing other perspectives and points of view to piggyback ideas off of each other. I think many of the candidates running right now, along with the current board, have the ability to work together to seek a resolution. And I think we all bring different perspectives, our own backgrounds to the table that will allow us to do that. I’ve been attending the board meetings. I see how that team works together in managing not only their own actions, but how they work and represent Navarro externally. I have the ability to work well with others and to ask the questions and to get into it and to research and not just base things off of emotion. I’m not using this for a political gain to go anywhere else. My heart is here in this community and I want to give back to it,” said Forester.

Noah Webster

“I spent the last 20 years as an infantry officer serving across the globe. The last eight of that, in particular, were spent redesigning the future of the Army. So what does the Army look like in 2040? How do you make organizational and structural decisions and resourcing those decisions over the next nearly two decades? I spent a lot of time reading policies, a lot of time reading budgets. Our local policy manual is long, 650,000 pages if you printed single-sided. We preserve papers, and we’ll print double-sided. But it’s mostly model language, and there’s real mismatches between what it says and what the district actually does. That’s a problem. How can parents depend on transparent policy when the policies are in conflict themselves? Our enrollment doesn’t change. We’re still growing about seven students per day on average. These are the constraints we have to work within, and the board has to show up and figure solutions to that. I believe in supporting our teachers and keeping the clutter out of the classroom. We don’t need more policy. We need streamlined policy that is transparent and easily accessible to parents who are busy, who are working, moms and dads, who don’t have time to do that policy and what does it say? So I think those are the two biggest strengths that I bring to the candidates available: a clear understanding of policy and its long-term implications,” said Webster.

Jared Gallini

“For me personally, what I’m bringing is education mixed with real world experience, mixed with an understanding of the community in which I live in. I went to school, received a master’s in public administration. So, I studied a little bit of school administration. I understand public finance. From there, I became a government contractor. I currently work for one of the big four consultancies in the world where I work in the state, local, and higher education group. And that has put me in the room with many upper levels of administrators for the government. Previously, I was working with the federal government. And like I said, bringing that mix of education and real world expertise I think would be helpful, especially in this time of hyper growth. And then also with any type of growth, you see that your culture and traditions can slip away. And I would love to be the champion in the room, making sure that every decision we make is  considering our culture, our traditions,” said Gallini.

Dan Reinhard

Seguin City Council District 5 seat

Forrest Fletcher

“I believe I’m the best choice because I bring practical experience. I’ve developed community relationships and have years of preparation for this responsibility. I also graduated from Seguin Citizens University, where I met the city department heads, learned about their responsibilities, their processes, and how their teams operate. That helped me better understand the work behind the services that residents depend on. I also bring more than 20 years of experience in HVAC and construction. The Nolte project, again, is a major investment project in the heart of District 5. And it’s an example of where my background can be useful. You know, I can stand on my principles while listening carefully, understanding another person’s perspective, and then working together towards common ground. And I’ll do my part to make information easier for residents to find and understand. I think people deserve to know what’s happening in their city and in their district,” said Fletcher.

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Chris Aviles

“I’ve been in that seat before. I know the challenges: as I mentioned earlier, the infrastructure part, the budget part, which is a big part of it because that’s the taxpayer’s dollar, and then the actual aspect of the people. So the infrastructure, the budget, and the people. But largely, what I learned within those four years in city council is the experience of already being there, the experience of being a public servant already not only as a city councilman but also as a police officer in law enforcement, because I see people every day in my job. I saw people every day as a city councilman, and I see people every day now as a law enforcement representative and a member of the public. So I see the community’s needs firsthand. So I not only do that. I understand those needs, but when people talk to me and bring up those concerns, I can relate to them because now that I live in District 5 and I see some of the roads, particularly the road in front of my house, I can relate. So, my experience in service –– Of course, I’m a veteran as well. I’ve served our nation, so I bring maturity. I bring experience,” said Aviles.

Texas House District 44, State

Eric Norman

“I think that would boil down, for me, to my community involvement and my commitment to statesmanship, which is community service, not political games, not serving a party, definitely not serving some obscure agenda of people who are donating money to me. I have mentioned before that I encourage people to look at campaign finance reports and see where the money is coming from that’s going to our elected officials. For me, it’s community service. That’s the root of why I got involved in politics and my connection to what’s happening: talking to people and seeing what they’re dealing with. I feel like my platform is rooted in reality. I think undecided people who haven’t cast their ballot yet should look at our platforms, see our priorities, and ask themselves which candidate addresses them most realistically. I think it’s a disservice to all of us, to all voters and just citizens and participants in this community, to vote straight party line just because. I think parties will start to take advantage of that if they realize that voters aren’t going to hold them accountable. And I think Alan Schoolcroft had the opportunity to get active and get involved locally, but a lot of people haven’t seen him around. And I am proud that even before I got into politics, I was already active in volunteering and community service. So that will continue for sure,” said. Norman.

Alan Schoolcraft