Education candidate Hannah emphasizes collaboration

For Charlie Hannah, the answer to the many challenges that the Richmond County School system faces is simple: Get back to basics.

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Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff

Charlie Hannah: Businessman emphasized collaboration between schools and government to realize cost savings.

If elected to the Board of Education's District 2 seat, Hannah said he would reach out to parents to listen to their concerns and encourage them to be involved in their children's education.

"When a child is young -- in pre-kindergarten or elementary school -- the parents are usually very heavily involved," he said. "But the further it gets along, the parent tends to step a little further back, when that's actually when they need to be more involved because it would be very beneficial for the child and the community."

That ties in directly with what Superintendent Dr. Frank Roberson has identified as a pressing need -- improving the school system's high school graduation rate.

"If we try to teach (students) algebra and you don't teach them addition and subtraction, you do everybody a disservice," Hannah said.

Hannah, a businessman who is making his first run for school board and who also has run for Augusta Commission, said he would call for more collaboration between the municipal government and school system to try to realize cost savings.

An example would be transportation, he said.

"If you have any excess vehicles laying around, you get rid of them because then you don't have to maintain them in future years," Hannah said.