Thomas E. Doyle is looking to take a seat on the Board of Education within the Louisville City School District.

The 60-year-old has been a resident of Louisville for over 30 years where his wife served in several positions within the District.

Doyle told Newsymom.com that his wife retired from the school system in 2008 after 33 years of service at the high school both as an English teacher and the principal of the school.

Doyle who holds a B.S. & M.S. in Engineering from The Ohio State University is a retired Engineer where he spent 35 years on research and development on automation technology and managed a number of large-scale research projects with partners both domestically and internationally.

He explained he’s always wanted to run for the position, but with the extensive travel, his career demanded he was unable to until now.

This is his first time running for an elected position.

Doyle explained he doesn’t have an agenda, but rather he hopes to have the opportunity to carry on the proud tradition of the school system.

However; he noted several areas of concern:

First and foremost he explained, is the adversarial relationship that exists between the Louisville Education Association and the school board and the school administration, which he said has existed for decades but noted wounds were reopened after a teachers strike last year.

“This needs to be addressed and it’s not quite clear to me as to how it should be done, but there are a number of school districts in the area that have successfully employed more modern views on labor relations that I think could be a starting point.”

Once that is achieved he explained everything else should fall into place.

“Particularly the relationship with the school district and the community also needs to be addressed,” said Doyle.

Another immediate concern he noted was the district’s renewal levy on the ballot. “If we don’t pass this by November 2018 the school is going to have to cut back,” he explained. “The implications there are potentially significant. In the end, the ones who wind up losing will be the kids because it will impact services the school provides.”

Doyle stressed he would enter the position with ‘no skin in the game.’ He has no children and highlighted that he did not take donations during his campaign.

“I think I go into this with a pretty open mind with regards to making decisions that will be really, hopefully at least from my point of view, of the best interest of the community.”

Doyle reverted to both his educational and professional experiences and knowledge of finances as reasons he is a good fit for the job while also recognizing learning opportunities.

“I’ll be a new school board member,” said Doyle. “Like with any new position, there’s a lot of new items with regards to how school policy works, how school law works and things like this. I’m not daunted by that challenge. Learning this new position will actually be quite fun for me to do.”

If elected, Doyle added he’d like to tackle the issues at hand through training, research, and more transparency.

Michaela Madison Reporting

 

Opponents:

Brenda Ramsey-L’Amoreaux

Cheryl Shepherd

William R. Wyss, Jr. 

Richard Crislip 

Barbara DeJacimo

Jon M. Aljancic – No contact information available

Donald L. Barthel – Did not return a call seeking comment.