“I’m not necessarily a nice person, but I try to be faair and responsible,” said John Shipman, who is running for Dublin ISD School Board in the May 7 election.
Shipman, a U.S. Navy veteran who works in aviation electronics when not tending to sheep and goats on his family’s ranch, said he’d like to bring ‘common sense’ decisions to the board as well as professionalism and policies the parents and staff in the district stand by.
Shipman is a Glen Rose native who also owned a power tool business in Burleson and moved to Erath County for the benefit of his family. (Shipman and his wife, Jessica, have four children Lillian, Paige and Makayla Wilson and Ryker Shipman.)
The move came because he wanted his children to grow up on some land and be connected into a smaller community.
Shipman said he hasn’t been disappointed with the area, saying that although it can sometimes take time to get to know people, everyone has been really friendly.
His relationship with the people of Dublin has become even stronger in the last year as he worked in the post office before returning to contract work in aviation electronics for a company with clients like Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter.
This relationship led many to share concerns and observations about Dublin and its school district. Shipman admitted that he doesn’t know if the concerns were valid, but he decided he’s like to get involved and find out.
From his own observations, Shipman feels the school board is made up of good people but thinks “there is some complacency.” He pointed to the recent decision to make school days shorter, saying it was a good move, but he wondered why it wasn’t considered sooner. He also expressed concerns about the regularity of unanimous votes, feeling board decisions should have more debate and consideration of contrary views that might exist.
Shipman continued that he felt the board had some “common sense issues” in decisions like the continuance of the mask mandate for young children without taking parental choice into account and a “lack of professionalism” in making fair decisions to keep everyone accountable with punishments that fit the issue at hand.
Shipman said, if elected, he will be available to all parents and school staff for any issue, and he vows to ensure that no one faces backlash for their concerns. He said that the voting public are the board’s ‘bosses’ and the board needs to be there for them.
Shipman also said he wanted to make sure there is accountability in the school budget by checking into spending and figuring out if the school is overspending in areas where they could be providing more for the district’s teachers.
Shipman also said he wanted to look at retention of the teaching staff because last relationships with educators who stay in the district can help students as they go through the grades.