DEL.ICIO.US2 face off for Cobb school board seat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, September 12, 2008
For Cobb school board candidates Alison Bartlett and Ron Younker, Tuesday’s special election is a warm-up for the November contest.
A special election is needed for Cobb post 7 because board member Teresa Plenge resigned for health reasons. The winner will serve the remainder of the year. Bartlett and Younker will face off again Nov. 4 for the four-year term to represent the south central part of the county that includes Osborne and Oakwood Open Campus high schools.
- Age: 52
- Education: BBA in Industrial Relations, University of Georgia; MBA in Fiance, Mercer University
- Family: Wife Pam, and two sons, age 24 and 21
- What you need to know: Younker wants to improve graduation rates, and feels a stepped-up vocational program could help
- What you might not know: Younker's son David is a third-year law student, and son John is a first-year vet student, both at the University of Georgia. Younker was endorsed by Cobb County Association of Educators
- Age: 46
- Education: BS in Civil Engineering, University of Alabama
- Family: Husband Rick, and four kids, ages 14, 12, 9 and 6
- What you need to know: Bartlett has been an advocate for education since her oldest child started kindergarten
- What you might not know: Her background is in construction. She has worked in various aspects of the building industry. "I understand what it takes to build something, and replace something and maintain something."
RON YOUNKER
ALISON BARTLETT
• Cobb County news
Both candidates are educators and involved parents.
Bartlett, a Democrat, teaches high school math and is a mother of four. Her children attend Cobb schools; and she believes the board should be more “parent friendly.”
“Not only do I have a teacher’s perspective, but I have kids in the classroom,” Bartlett said.
Lifelong Cobb resident Ron Younker, a Republican, is a leadership development manager with the Southern Company. He graduated from Wheeler High School and his two sons are McEachern High School graduates. Portable classrooms are one issue Younker hopes to address.
“We need the goal of the elimination of trailers. They should be categorized as temporary,” he said.
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