Episode 16: Running for School Board with Candace Hunter
For some people who leave the classroom to pursue other careers, their business is to serve other educators. But what if you left to help other educators and your community? That’s exactly what my guest, Candace Hunter, has done. Candace has taken action towards improving her community by running for school board in education.
Through Candace’s road to running for school board, she learned what the important issues were in her community involving the education system, then most importantly, decided to take action. Her goal was to get back to the roots of bridging the gap between the community and the teachers, all while building relationships that make significant change.
Along with running for school board, Candace has started her own business, Teacher Boot Camp. She serves new teachers and instructs them on routines, procedures, strategies, and classroom management. No matter who Candace is helping, she does it with a positive attitude and a giving heart!
Topics Discussed:
The importance of being a voice for the community on the school board
Candace shares the reality of running for school board
Two things Candace keeps in mind when it comes to making decisions on the school board
Candace’s one piece of helpful advice to keep in mind when starting a business
Resources mentioned:
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Meet Candace Hunter
Candace Hunter is a lifelong educator. She has spent her teaching career mentoring student teachers, teacher interns, and new teachers. Candace taught preschool to adults throughout Texas and is the founder of Teacher Boot Camp, where she provides on-site professional development and continuing education for new teachers. She specializes in systems and procedures, organization, and classroom management. Candace is a fierce advocate for equity in education. Schools seek her training for their professional learning programs to increase teacher success and reduce teacher turnover. On November 8, 2022, Candace was elected to the Austin ISD School Board.
CONNECT WITH Candace
Read the transcript for this episode:
Lily
Candace Hunter is a lifelong educator who has spent her teaching career mentoring student teachers, teacher interns and new teachers. She has taught for 20 years working with everyone from preschool students to adults throughout Texas. Candace is the founder of Teacher Boot Camp, a company where she provides on site professional development and continuing education for new teachers.
Lily
There she specializes in systems and procedures, organization, and classroom management. Candace is a fierce advocate for equity and education; schools seek her training for their professional learning programs to increase teacher success and reduce teacher turnover. And on November 8, 2022, Candace was elected to the Austin ISD School Board.
Lily
Horray. Hello, Candace, so nice to have you here.
Candace
Thank you for having me.
Lily
Yay. Well, I'm really excited to talk to you about all the amazing things that you have done in education. If you could start us off by sharing a little bit about your journey as an educator.
Candace
Well, my journey did not begin as an educator. So we'll start there. I began my search for my meaning in life as a lawyer. And so I went to school for three and a half years, with the goal of becoming a lawyer. And then in my junior year during moot court, I was like, I don't see me doing this for the rest of my life. But I do I see myself as being a teacher. And I haven't looked back since then. And I've been really excited to do that.
Candace
I began my career in a small west Texas town, basically, where I was a facilitator. I mean, these kids came ready made. And then I returned home to Austin, an urban kind of inner city school, where I really did not know what I was doing. I had to kind of learn how to become a teacher all over again. And so I don't say I became a teacher in 2007. Not really a 1997.
Candace
But yeah, since then, I've been able to teach six through 12 Social Studies, I love history. And here in Texas, you have to learn Texas history. So we teach that. A really great thing about becoming a teacher in the neighborhood where I live and work is I get to see my kids every day.
Candace
So I was at a meeting the other day, and I saw one of my students who kept looking at me and they were she was like, I think you were my teacher. I was like I was, so their kids are now in middle school, which that dates me enough, we'll stop there. Been a good journey so far. And now I'm ready for the next level.
Lily
That's awesome. And that's so interesting. I didn't know about the lawyer piece that sounds like it took a good amount of courage to at that point, leave and not go forward with being a lawyer. Can you talk to us about that?
Candace
Oh, my gosh. So let's talk about the elephant in the room, the financial investment, right? At a private institution, which becoming a teacher meant I would never fully be able to pay. I really did I really able to really hard decision, and I call home and I had to make that phone call to my mom. And I was like, so this whole thing with the becoming an attorney, I think I'm gonna be a teacher.
Candace
And the response I got from her was how I knew I was doing the right thing. She was like, Oh, my God. Finally, finally, we knew you because that's kind of like my family business. Yeah, my mom became a teacher, but didn't you know, she got a degree but didn't actually teach because she was like, I'm not going to teach in inner city, Houston in the 70s.
Candace
And so grandma and grandpa, and so this has been like a business. And she was like, I just thought, this is what you want to do. I'm gonna support you. But becoming a teacher, is what you were supposed to do. And so that's what I've been doing ever since. In all different forms.
Lily
That's awesome. I know. That's so cool. I mean, I think sometimes we just know, right? And it's so important, I found to listen to that sense, even when it's super inconvenient. Slash cost a lot of money, or whatever it is.
Lily
To have that moment of just being like, this doesn't feel like me. And so tuning into that, like, yeah, you can be a teacher, and be you and be you and all sorts of different forms. Oh, yeah. So tell us about your role now. So I know now you're not a classroom teacher anymore.
Candace
So I actually, have taken your course, to build my education business, Teacher Boot Camp, where I train zero to five year teachers in any sort of school through systems. So you know how to get that classroom started, how to get those things in place, so that you can worry about some of the other things, you put some of those things on autopilot. And I've been doing that for a while.
Candace
And I always knew I was going to do something else. But I had a child receiving special education services. And that just requires you know, anybody who's been in school on the teacher end or the parent end, an IEP managing that with eight different instructors, that that's a full time job, regardless of what you're doing to pay the bills. Yes. And so I knew that in 2018, I was going to run for office, but I couldn't do it then.
Candace
My son graduated and 2021. We're very proud of him. He went to early college high school, he graduated with 12 college credits, and we've given him the gift of a lifetime. He doesn't owe any money and is about to graduate college.
Lily
So congratulations, to him, and to you.
Candace
Exactly. That was the that's like, I can't give you much. But that's the one gift we can give you. It's amazing. He did that through scholarships and just programs and just kind of thinking about all that sort of stuff early on. And then, when the opportunity came up, the district where I live, we have single member districts here in Austin. And then we have two at large. And I knew that I was going to do it. And I stepped out.
Candace
And I was for the first time believe it or not, I was the underdog, like in education, because we'll talk more about that later. But I realized that so much about, like running for office as nuts, especially for an office that has to do with education has so little to do with children, families and teachers. Shocking, it was very shocking.
Lily
I hear you .Yeah, I've never run for office. But it reminds me of like getting into these EdTech companies when I first entered the classroom, and I was like, oh, there must be like so many teachers, right? Like, they're they have education and their names, and being like, oh, no, there's no teachers.
Lily
And they're not like, no, they don't know about education research, like all the things. And so yeah, I am sorry to hear that. About the like, school board side or politics side. But it doesn't surprise me.
Candace
I took the opportunity, though, because again, when I was going to all of these forums and all of these conversations, what I realized very quickly is that people who were voting know very little about what's going on. This is a huge school district, we have 125, facilities onto the 17 schools. And there aren't like I we went to the University, right. And we talked with the university students, and they're like, why should we care?
Candace
And then we would go to like neighborhood associations. And they were like, my kids, like my grandkids graduated already. And it just, I really had a kind of, because it got like to a really low point where I was like, Am I doing the right thing? Because this is like I had been an advocate, right? Like I'm a muckraker, I'm making lots of noise. And this whole other side I was not used to.
Candace
But I really just kind of sat down with my mom. And I was like, Oh, what am I doing? She's like, when you come over here, all you talk about is what's wrong. And all you talk about is how it can be fixed. And all you talk about is, you know, like ways to get involved. That's what you should be telling them. And so that's what I started doing basically.
Candace
People would come and talk about why they should be elected. And I was like, whether you elect me or not, here are the problems, and here's what needs to be done about it. And that obviously, was the magic bullet, you know.
Lily
That's amazing. I mean, I think it's so inspiring to hear about your journey doing this. And this idea of like, we all have things that are so frustrating to us, especially about education, especially about being educators, and then taking action, like not living in that entirely in that frustration.
Lily
But like using that frustration for good and sharing that with other people too, that it's like, hey, they can do something about it. It starts with acknowledging, right, like, these are the things that are wrong. But then how can we work together to find a way forward rather than just accepting it?
Candace
Oh, yeah. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to run because a lot of what we did on the campaign trail, and there were five positions open in our school district, and four of them, opponents were teachers, right. And so we were going against people who were like, dyed in the wool politicians, big money, like I mean, DC, we're throwing that and we were just like, we're teachers for years out to fix it, and no one is listening.
Candace
And so now we have an opportunity to have a voice and be the voice of so many other teachers. And that was really cool. Because we got to meet like, I mean, hundreds of teachers, hundreds of families where people were just like, we're, we're tired, and we don't know what to do. And we just, we just need people to listen to us. And so that's what we did.
Lily
Yes, so amazing. I know. It's disheartening and like knowing how much corporate money goes into school board races all over. But it's also super inspiring to see how teachers still can go for it and find a voice and find a place on the school board. Oh, yeah. So I know you said it was a dream of yours for a while to run for office. And can you talk about why, what was your kind of motivation there?
Candace
So unfortunately, in our school district, and like I've been in the school district as a teacher since I was a student in the school district for so many years, until I left for college in 1990. And then returned as a teacher in 2007.
Candace
I had seen so many, like there's this level of we're just going to be up here on the Dyess and we're not going to really be down here. You know, we'll go to a few events. And it was just like this distance between the community and the board. And it's like, we're supposed to be serving the community, we're supposed to be out in the community.
Candace
I mean, that's, it's basically a volunteer position here in Texas, you can't get paid to be on a school board. So it's really all about relationships. And I saw that that was not happening. And I just was like, why that's crazy. That just makes sense to me.
Candace
And so many other people were saying that, and when I real, I said, you know, what, I'm gonna run, I'm gonna run, and I'm gonna be that link between I'm gonna build that bridge between the community.
Candace
You know, we have so many things here in Austin, and the community has lost a lot of trust in us. And so I really just wanted an opportunity to have a vote. I've always had a voice, I go to the meetings, I stay until 1 o'clock, I get my public comment. But in this case, I get to say yes. And I get to say no. And I get to say that yes, and no, based on the will of my community.
Candace
And so that's what that's what was driving me this whole time, I was really honestly doing the work of a trustee, I was showing up, I was helping parents, you know, get transfers, and helping parents work through things at school, and all that was kind of volunteering on the side, you know, people just kind of knew me. I think the biggest thing I did, which really helped me earn a lot of trusts was during the pandemic, right.
Candace
And when we first got locked down, parents started freaking out. And I started, like, emailing and trying to like, comment, and then I was like, This isn't working. And so I just started making videos on Facebook and be like, Hey, today, we're gonna talk about this. Today, we're gonna talk about this.
Candace
Did you guys know about that? And I think for the first time, people were like, here's an advocate, that's like, communicating with us, not using big education speak, not doing all these crazy things, but actually trying to serve us.
Candace
And then that's what I wanted to bring into the office. And I think that's what my fellow trustees who are now elected, also wanted to bring into this position. And that's what we're doing. We're really trying to build that bridge back to the community and say, I know, you probably don't remember this, but we actually work for you.
Candace
Yeah, you've been told no. And you've been told we you don't know enough, and that you're not smart enough, and that you don't really understand. We just want to remind you that yes, things are tough, but we actually still work for you.
Lily
I love, love that. And so, so needed. And you said before that how many of the new newly elected trustees used to be teachers, or former teachers?
Candace
Four. So myself and three others, and then the one at large used to be a bilingual teacher in the Rio Grande Valley here.
Lily
That's amazing. I mean, this seems amazing no matter what having you on the board, but also having other teachers, you know that it can be a group of you to support each other, and then even more likely, right to cause real change too.
Candace
Yes, and it helps us understand I think sometimes when you have a board that's not as knowledgeable and you have a district, and there's supposed to be some management going on, we are very aware of the situation. So when they say this and such we're like, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah, so we remember and one of our members, Andrew Gonzalez actually was a teacher last year.
Candace
So he's like our, like, most recent, and so whenever we're really like, trying to get the teacher pulse, we like look at him and be like, Andrew, is this gonna fly? Should we? Because it doesn't feel good. What do you think?
Candace
And so, I think that that's going to help us a lot, because that's the one thing, man that's gonna keep us afloat are our teachers. We are in Central Texas, we are a huge Mecca, we do not, we just, there's a lot of things. So we have something here called recapture, which is basically the money that goes back to the state.
Candace
And so we have a billion dollar a year budget, and $850 million that we bring in through taxes, we have to give back to the state of Texas. Oh, wow. Okay.
Candace
So it's called Robin Hood, sometimes, because districts that are like property poor, that money goes to them. And so one thing I'm super excited about this year is we actually get to go to our state legislators, and actually, in February, we'll be going to Washington, DC, and just be talking about public education and how the funding has to be changed.
Candace
It has to be changed universally in our state and our country. But in state of Texas, we do a lot of things that basically cripple public education.
Lily
Hmm, yes. So important to call it out. And to make it clear and known because some people don't know like, I've never heard of that in Texas before. Yeah. So it's like, yeah, I'm sure that most people if they heard that would be shocked.
Candace
Oh, yeah. And that we don't get paid based on enrollment. We get paid based on average daily attendance. So when kids don't show up, we don't get money.
Lily
Yes. Same in California. I remember that when I was teaching, you know, just being like explaining to parents like it does make a difference. We're not just trying to have some like arbitrary attendance policy. Like it really is how we're funded and it's so yeah, I think so much.
Lily
We know from being teachers too, it's like so much is better when it's clear. When people have the information when you can like say ain't like you're saying it right, like in a way that people can understand directly to them, and then really get on the same page from it.
Lily
And then I'm wondering a little bit about the process of running for office. And I mean, I feel inspired by your story of like, yes, we need teachers on all these boards, you know, we need teachers everywhere I put teachers there. But for a teacher who's maybe interested in getting into politics or running for a school board, what advice would you give them?
Candace
So I will give you a reality check. One is, I could not do anything else while I was running. So that means my Teacher Boot Camp business, it was put on hold, which means I had no income coming in. Okay. There was a lot of, you know, beans and rice and a lot of tortillas being eaten in my house.
Candace
And there was no vacations and there wasn't a lot of extras, and oh, my god, the school needs, how much for what? And that's the way unfortunately, in the country, and in our state, it set up. Our state legislators only make $11,000 a year. Yeah.
Candace
And so it catered to people who are independently wealthy. You can do this, it's not for the average person. And that's new as a history teacher. That's not what was the intent of our forefathers. Right? Yeah. So that's, that's one thing I would say is be aware of the reality, I would start saving up if you know, like, two, three years out, start socking away money, because you're gonna need it.
Candace
And the part that I dislike, I guess the most is the fundraising part. Because you still need money for your campaign. And it's asking people for money. And I was very fortunate. I have like a little mom squad, they did a lot of that work for me. They were like, donate this week. It's $5 Friday.
Candace
And so there's some of that. But it's political. Even in, you know, school boards are ostensibly nonpartisan, right? They're still very political. Mm hmm. And so it's just be aware of that.
Candace
And I kind of told my campaign manager, oh, I'm not gonna go to any of these forums like the Democratic Republic, or I'm not gonna go to any of that, because that's not enough to do with us. She was like, oh, no, you kind of need to go to those things. And that's when I was, like I said, I had that conversation with my mom. And I was like, I'm just gonna start preaching to people about education, and that sort of thing.
Candace
There's a lot of small pieces. And as teachers, we're used to, like make do or do without, you absolutely have to be able to delegate, you absolutely have to have a team. At one point, a good friend of mine says, who's helping you and it's like, Oh, I'm just, you know, I'm doing it on Canva. And I'm doing it on the you know, IG and I'm doing it, she's like, No.
Candace
Two great ladies, Nadia Khan, who is an architect, but a really big community advocate here in the community. And Sharon Vane, who's a former reporter, kind of came to my rescue, and then a bunch of other advocates were like, we support you and just really lifted me up. And so you need that village of people.
Candace
I would encourage every educator who wants to go to another level, I don't say, I think next level, sometimes you're still going to be a teacher, because you have to train people and teach people all the time, and explain to them why this will work. And why this won't work.
Candace
And a lot of it I finding is that we're doing this because this is the way we've always done it. That is a very, very hard change. I think people hate anything, they hate change.
Candace
And right now, that's kind of the mind shift that this board is bringing to our district is like, we know we've done this for 20 something years and look at our district, we can no longer do this. And so, you know, I think that the reality is that you can never make everybody happy. At the end of the day, when I sit down and I decide, did I do a good job, as trustee for district one, I have two measureings: are teachers feeling supported?
Candace
Are kids having the outcomes they're supposed to have? And that's it. If parents are happy, yay, that's a bonus. I want families to be happy. I want parents to be bought in. But at the end of the day, are my teachers getting what they need to support the students so they can get what they need? And that's just how I have to measure it out.
Lily
I love that. I love that. And I think that all teachers can relate to those as being goalposts too like that feels good and right. And it's necessary. I think, when you're in a complex situation like that, where I'm sure you're going to be back and a whole bunch of people's voices in the mix, to have some like clarity or goalposts to be able to go back to sounds like it can be really helpful. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Lily
So talking about a little bit, we talked about the school board and kind of your journey there. And I want to go back a little bit to Teacher Boot Camp. So if you can tell people a little bit about like, how did you start it? I know you talked a little bit about it, but how did you start it? What did you learn from the process of starting your own business?
Candace
Oh, my gosh, well, I started it after I quit my job. So when my son went to eighth grade, I was like, I just can't be teaching a full time tested subject, and get this kid through high school is just not going to work. And so I've just figured, you know, we're just gonna take the poverty route.
Candace
And then I had an old principal say, Hey, I heard you're not in the classroom anymore. Can you come help? I got a couple of history teachers that are struggling to teach eighth grade is history. Can you come over? Sure. I'll give you a couple hours a week. I was like, volunteer, right?
Candace
And then he was like, Well, if you can be here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I can get you pay, you know, 25 bucks an hour, which at the time seemed really awesome. And then later, I was like, Oh, my God, I was working for p
Candace
I was like, I think this could be a business. And so then I did kind of just like limp along. And then eventually, you know, what, three years later, I saw, I don't even know where I saw your class. Like if it was on Facebook or IG I don't even know where but I was like, I am taking that education business class, I need to find out like how to do it. And I just learned so much actually, from from your class.
Candace
And just really, because I have a teacher brain, but I did not have a business owner brain, I have to bridge those two, right. And so I was really able to do that. And I love the camaraderie of you know checking with everybody every week and seeing where people were. And my Instagram game has definitely upped by this campaign. So I know he's all those features.
Candace
Yeah, Teacher Boot Camp was originally here in Austin. Like I said, we're an urban school district. And we have extreme poverty, and we have extreme wealth. And there's not a big middle ground. So we have a lot of schools in East Austin that were struggling.
Candace
And that's where you get all your brand new teachers, right. I've never taught before, I've never taught in an urban school district, and they get the job. And this is the school, they just pick a school out of the school. It's like that one.
Candace
And I just kind of started going in and setting up those systems and helping them and it just builds and I was writing curriculum, and I was like, Okay, how do we get kids in? How do we get them going? What do we do during direct teach? How do we get them out? What happens during an emergency? What's a timely? How do we keep kids on task?
Candace
I think one of the biggest, whenever I do sort of like on conferences and stuff, I always do parent communication, because I find that teachers really are afraid to make those phone calls. They don't know what they're gonna get. They don't know how to make those phone calls.
Candace
And so it's just those little pieces, those little system pieces that I put in, not really, you know, pedagogy, per se, but the little pieces that will have you at the end of the day, not pulling your hair out.
Lily
Yes. And those are the things that are like invisible, but they make it or break it. Oh, yeah. I remember as a new teacher being like, I don't even know what to do to like how to collect homework. What do I do? How do I keep track of student work? Like all those things. Like I couldn't even think about what I was going to teach if I didn't have those, like classroom management or something like a foundation. Yeah.
Lily
And I love that. I mean, how it came out of just this one conversation, too. I think that's how things often happen. Like, hey, somebody asked you if you can come in and support a few new teachers, and then it's like, oh, wait, there's more new teachers out there. And it's almost like seeing things through that lens that if there's one area where you could be filling a need, then there's likely so many more areas too.
Candace
And I think one thing that I really learned in your course, that I think is important for people to know, one thing that held me back for a long time, is that other people are doing it too. There's no way there's no space for me, there's no, you know what, there are other people doing what I'm doing not doing it the way I'm doing. And that's what makes it unique. And so I think for those people who are like, Oh, I really want to but somebody's.
Lily
Totally, exactly. And it's validation, right? Like, it's like it's working for those people. If there are people out there doing it, and there's probably a market if there seems to be some good successful businesses there. And exactly like no one else is you.
Lily
And so I always give this analogy of like, in my tab, like there's like 10 different pizza places, we literally go to eight of them. But for different reasons. You know, sometimes we're like, oh, we're going to Zachary's like, Oh, do you wanna go to the cheese board? Like, for different reasons, right? So I'm have outside seating, some are great for families like whatever.
Lily
Same thing with any business, we start that there isn't, you know, a bunch of teacher coaches out there, but you do things in a certain way, or you have your own people you connect with, and there's always room for a different voice.
Candace
Yep. I'm there for that. So I think that that's important for teachers, because I guess a word of encouragement is that you're not a failure, or you're not the person you meant to be if you leave the classroom. I think that's so hard for people. And I think it's really hard, especially for those of us who taught in Title One schools this whole time, who know the need, and like see it everyday up close. It is so hard for us to walk away.
Candace
And so there's a couple things I say about that. One, can you still serve kids, teachers in a different way? Right, because that still works. I don't teach in the classroom every day, but I still get to ensure that teachers are being supported, so that kids can get what they need, right? I'm not directly providing that, but I am that a tangible, like I'm doing good work. And I know it.
Candace
Because when I see my teachers who I'm called in, they're like, Hey, we've got some teachers. Yeah, they're really struggling. And then at the end of the year, they're like, our teacher of the year and our teacher a promise, are the same two teachers that you had me come in, because you were gonna fire them that next week, I know that, that that's tangible, right? Like, I can see that I can feel that that's working.
Candace
If you have to go work for an EdTech company, or you need to do what you have to do I get that. And I think that's important for teachers. It's also important for us to grow our own. So that's something here in AISD, that I am working on. And we have South by Southwest EDU here. And so I'm planning on taking, we have two schools that have Grow Your Own Teacher programs.
Candace
And so I'm like these people, these 16-17 year olds have raised their hand, seeing everything may seem to the pandemic to say, yep, but I still want to do it. I was like, we've got to take them to South by Southwest EDU, so that they can see the world that they're stepping into is more than the hardship they witness everyday in the classroom, with their students, with other students in their own teachers.
Lily
Yes, I love, love, love that. And I think it's so true of like, you are making arguably a much larger impact now, in your role, right? Like, you have had this career pathway of being a teacher, knowing what a teacher's life is like, and now going on to advocate for teachers and students in a much broader context, both for Teacher Boot Camp, and from your board of trustees work, you know, both.
Lily
And so I think that there doesn't have to be that guilt, right? Like, it's not just that you're a teacher in a classroom, like, you can go out and do all sorts of things that are aligned with supporting students, advocating for students, advocating for schools, teachers, all the things that we might believe in, on a much bigger scale.
Lily
And that starts with letting go of just seeing teachers as being people who are in the classroom all the time, like we're still teachers, just in different ways. Exactly. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Candice, for sharing your story. It's truly inspirational. And congratulations again, on your election. Can you tell folks if they're interested in connecting with you how they can do that?
Candace
Sure. They can reach me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, through hunterforaisd. I'm all all there. And then you can just find us at Austinisd.org. You can contact any of our trustees and if you have questions, because there's like I said four other teachers just kind of pick their brains about what's happened there. And reach out and I will definitely help out anybody with with anything.
Lily
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Candace. We'll talk again soon.