Coleman
With eight kids of his own, Steve Coleman has a lot of experience navigating children through Cherokee County Schools. The Republican candidate now hopes to help do the same for all of the county’s children as the at-large representative on the board of education.
“I want to be that person that stuff has to come through before it gets to our kids,” Coleman said. “I’ll gladly take on whatever it is. I don’t care as long as they don’t have to deal with it.”
Coleman is a general contractor who has lived in Cherokee County since 1999. He also has spent time in a variety of roles ranging from school resource officer to head coach for a variety of youth and high school sports teams. His wife is a longtime teacher at Macon County and his oldest son teaches in Andrews, while another of his sons attends Murphy Elementary.
With a wide variety of family members at area schools, Coleman believes he has a well-rounded view of the issues students are facing. Coleman said he is a regular contributor to conservative talk radio in Atlanta and he is particularly focused on any and all issues associated with Critical Race Theory.
Coleman said he is not convinced that elements of CRT are not already taught in local schools. He would like to create a detailed policy from the school board outlining what cannot be taught in classrooms.
“It has to be from the administration, ‘This will not be taught at this school in this county or you will lose your job,’ ” Coleman said. “Ninety percent of the kids in Cherokee County have been through some crap in their lives, because we have huge parental issues in this county.
“Kids have it rough enough as it is. They need a place where you go to school and you learn, you have recess and you play sports and you go home, because home may be terrible, and we don’t need to make it where school is also terrible.”
Coleman contends that he might be the most opinionated human on the planet. However, he said his own opinions are not the most important thing when it comes to school board decisions.
“It’s the people who vote in November, the people who stop me on the side of the road and say, ‘What about this?’ ” Coleman said. “That’s what matters to me.”
One of the most controversial issues in Cherokee County is the high school consolidation plan that was approved by both a majority of Cherokee County school board members and commissioners. That school is set to be built in Peachtree near the School of Innovation & Technology that is already under construction.
Coleman said he does not believe there is a good answer to the consolidation issue, and he is not sure what role the board of education will play in the high school merger by the time newly elected members take their seats at the end of the year.
“Does that liquefy me from that decision process from here on out?” Coleman said. “No, my biggest thing with consolidation is, if that thing that is built is 110 percent everything that it needs to be for the students and faculty in this county, I’m OK with that. Anything short of that, I’m not.”
Coleman said he thinks it might makes sense to combine schools like Martins Creek and Ranger into other schools in order to cut costs and pool resources.
“Consolidation is a big thing, but to me there are bigger (issues),” he said. “You’ve got to deal with now and the future.”
Coleman said he would like to create incentives that help the school system to address its shortage of bus drivers. He would also like to promote an environment within the school system where teachers feel secure in their jobs.
“I know a lot of teachers who have a fear of losing their job or being transferred,” he said.