Name: Jonathan Switzer

Place of residence: Frederick

Date of birth: July 1, 1970

Place of birth: Latham, N. Y.

Current occupation: Pastor, Crossroads Valley Chapel

Education: Master of Biblical Studies, Messiah Biblical Institute; Bachelor International Business Minor in French; ORU. Character Counts Official Community Representative, Aurora, Ill.

Community associations, involvement: Board of directors, Marriage Savers of Frederick; Frederick Faith Debate.

Professional associations: Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Frederick Area Ministerial Association.

Family: Married 11 years. Four children ages 1, 3, 5 and 7.

Campaign office address and telephone: 91 Howard Ct., Frederick, MD 21702. 301-620-0209.

Candidate’s Web site: n⁄a

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

1. Make every dollar count for our kids. Work for an external audit for the entire Frederick County Public Schools. Accountability to the voters on how their money is spent is simply right. See that we develop a careful evaluation program for our programs; that we are continuing to improve. An internal audit was finally done on Heather Ridge School and the results were surprising.

2. A seat for every child, maintain quality growth. This means that we work diligently to assure that every new development⁄house⁄child has a seat in our school system as the homes are built.

3. Reading basics. Develop a quality county wide kindergarten⁄first grade reading program that simply leaves no one behind. The basics have always worked in the past, why would we come up with new approaches? Phonics.

4. Ombudsman for the special needs students. We need an internal critic to bring accountability to see that these programs are effective for our most needy students.

How would you rate the performance of the current school board: excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

I would rate their performance as fair. They have a tough job and should be honored for their work. However, they need to require more accountability for how money is spent and how effective programs are. Also, traditional values need better representation on the board.

How would you rate the job performance of Superintendent Linda Burgee, excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

Good. Superintendent Burgee works very hard. However, there is a need for stronger relationship with the board. If the board represents the people of Frederick County, then the superintendent’s responsiveness to the board reflects her responsiveness to the parents.

Is the county funding for schools too much, about right or too little? If too little, where would you find additional funds?

About right. County funding has simply kept our schools where they need to be. We need to start by improving the accountability processes for how we spend what we have. The current budget expands the ‘‘excel” program from 10 to 14 schools without any substantive proof of its success. This is literally millions of dollars. Then we can go after necessary additional funds as needed. Much kudos to the current board’s acquisition of significantly increased state school construction funds.

Do you think the current system for renovating schools is adequate or does it need changing?

Linganore represents a significant failure here. Certainly, there is some change needed. Prudent planning is lacking here.

Should the school system’s health curriculum include discussions of homosexuality and demonstrations of contraception use?

No. These things should be ‘‘opt in” with parental permission slips.

What do you think about the board’s relationship with the community?

With an elected board, the relationship with the community is getting stronger with each election. This one should be no different.

Do the commissioners have too much, too little or not enough oversight of the school system?

They provide about 56 percent of the current Frederick County Public Schools budget. They are responsible for resourcing the gaps in provision from the state and federal governments, which means they provide more than 50 percent of their county budget to the school system. They play their role and the school board plays theirs.

What should the school system do to improve performance by minority students?

The school system should work with the entire Frederick community in a ‘‘circle the wagons” approach to tap into all community resources whether religious, social or public schools. Minority students deserve our community’s best. The school system should open up to ‘‘out of the box” thinking that releases the full benefits of the entire community. A little humility on the part of the school system could release major resources.

Do you think the school system is doing enough to meet the needs of special education students?

No, there needs to be an ombudsman to bring quality internal critique. This is an area of needed focus.

Are the schools safe for students and teachers? If not, what should be done?

There seems to currently be a solid discipline procedure established in the system. Exceptional situations surely arise, but currently the overall procedure is solid. Heather Ridge proved to be unsafe. The audit provided the analysis to determine that. There is certainly a need to identify quality changes to the Heather Ridge solution.