Birch Dalton said his business experience will be a necessary asset to the Westfield Washington Schools Board of Trustees if elected Nov. 6. Dalton is as the managing director of EdgeRock Development in Westfield.
“The reason I’m running is my experience. I think I add a lot of business smarts to this board,” Dalton said. “The school board’s function is to make sure the schools are financed and capital assets are taken care of. You let teachers teach, administrators lead and the school board supports them to make sure they have what they need to succeed in the classroom.”
Dalton is running as an at-large candidate. He is partnering his campaign with two other candidates, Rebecca Ogle for District 4 and Bill Anderson for District 2. The trio has hopes all three will get elected so they can have a majority vote on the five-member board.
Dalton said Ogle is a CPA and would be an ideal person to have on the board to analyze and offer opinions on school construction contracts. Anderson has an IT and operation background.
Dalton also is the pole vault coach for the Westfield High School track and field team. He also is an assistant coach for the WHS freshman basketball team and is a hurdles coach for the Westfield Middle School Track and Field team. He has coached since 2005. He spent three years as a substitute teacher.
Per his campaign, Dalton said his top priorities are school safety, having strong financials, recruiting and retaining quality teachers and providing classroom resources.
“If you have strong financials, you’ll be able to push more into classrooms in terms of resources and you’ll be able to create the best teacher recruitment environment you can,” he said.