Former City Council member and Coach J.C. Doty hopes to use his experience with local government and education if elected to the Denison Independent School District School Board. Doty will face off against incumbent Amber Pilcher next month to determine who should hold the Ward 7, Place 6 seat on the school board.
The Herald Democrat recently reached out to all candidates in Denison ISD’s spring elections and asked them a series of questions about their priorities, qualifications and issues facing the district in 2025.
Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 22-25 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 28-29.
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day on May 3.
The answers are published below verbatim with only minimal edits due to style, formatting and if a candidate exceeded the word count.
Q: For anyone who may not know you in the community, who are you, and what motivated you to run for a place on the Denison ISD school board?
A: My name is J.C. Doty. My wife, Debra, and I are life long residents of Denison. We are both graduates of Denison High School and I am a graduate of The University of Texas at Dallas. We have two children, Trey and Brittany, who graduated from Denison High School and two grandchildren who are currently students at Denison High School. I proudly served on the Denison City Council for six years from 2017 – 2023.
My motivation for running for school board is many fold, but primarily to relate to teachers who are challenged more today than ever. I have 16 years experience in the classroom with the last 15 in Denison. I taught several subjects from Algebra 1 to government and economics and coached football, baseball, track, and golf. I understand issues the teachers have in classrooms and the economic hardships they fight.
Q: What unique skill sets or traits do you feel you would bring as a member of the school board?
A: I feel I can contribute with budget assistance with the experience I have with City of Denison budgets. Balancing needs is important. Also, my tenure on the city council provided me with knowledge of future growth for the school district. The development of Preston Harbor as well as other projects in the district will change the dynamics of the district. Building and updating schools will be a priority in the next 10 -15 years.
Q: As a member of the school board, what priorities do you wish to pursue?
A: One of my priorities is to control cell phones in the classroom. As a former teacher, one of my biggest issues was students using cell phones. Teachers spend too much time controlling them. Time that could be spent teaching. I understand that parents want to be able to contact their student when necessary, but there are methods to accomplish that without disrupting a classroom. Many school districts in the metroplex have limited cell phone use in their classrooms.
A subject I would like to pursue is term limits for board members. I know this is very controversial, but it works for cities across the state, so why can’t it work for schools?
Q: The topic of state funding has been a recurring one for many districts in recent years. The state funding allocation has not been updated since 2019 and many districts have turned to deficit budgets as a way to make ends meet during the interim. How would you go about balancing DISD’s budget during the current funding uncertainty?
A: Any solution has problems. Spending less is the only way to compensate for lack of funds. School budgets are no different from your personal budget. If you don’t have the money, then you shouldn’t spend what you don’t have. Cutting budgets are not pleasant for anybody. This issue falls directly on Congress in Austin. They have held school funding ransom to get school vouchers passed. This is wrong at every level. Our children and teachers have suffered because of lack of funding.
Q: Following up on the topic of school budgets, one topic that has been discussed by many districts is increasing teacher compensation. Is this something that should remain a priority while the topic of state funding remains in question? How would you go about funding increases during the current economic climate for the district?
A: Increasing teacher compensation is extremely important and a must. It should be a priority to get and keep quality teachers. Our children deserve it. However, as I stated above, balancing a budget is also important. To increase teacher pay, then something else has to decrease.
Q: What issues do you see facing Denison ISD in 2025 and how do you plan to address them?
A: Our bond election on May 3rd is important to address several issues. Our technology is outdated and must be upgraded. It includes over 10 million dollars to acquire land for additional school sites. However, the board should be working on a master plan in order to properly use that money to benefit the community. If elected, I will actively pursue the completion of a master plan. I believe a master plan should be a 20-year plan. The city of Denison completed a 20-year plan 2 years ago and the board could use a large portion of the data collected by the city to formulate its own plan.
