Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010 1:24 pm

Dennis Rainier

Name: Dennis L. Rainier
Occupation: Retired from the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department as Director at the end of 2008.
Education: BS in Elementary Education from MTSU; MS in Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Safety with a Minor in Administration/Supervision from MTSU
Contact information: Facebook

Why are you running?
My whole life has been dedicated to helping provide children and families with the best quality of life experiences and helping promote educational successes for children.

I want to continue by helping provide the necessary resources for children to achieve academic success and positive life experiences while they attend Murfreesboro City Schools.

What is the most pressing issue facing city schools and your possible solution?
The most pressing issue is being sure that “No Child Left Behind” Standards are met.

In light of the economy, we need to be sure we still provide services for students and necessary materials for teachers to assure academic success.

What would you do to improve areas in which MCS failed to meet No Child Left Behind benchmarks?
Though monies will be harder to come by over the next few years, I think that we may need to provide more funding in the areas or to the schools who are having difficulty.

Perhaps that may be by funding extra Educational Assistant positions or smaller class sizes.

We also need to make sure that administrators and teachers communicate to assure that all needed services, such as Special Education and ELL (English Language Learners), are properly funded and have resources available to meet these benchmarks.

What is your position on the consolidation of Murfreesboro City with Rutherford County Schools?
We have two great school systems and I see no need to consolidate.

Each system is dealing with its own issues.

Schools and teachers know their students and their abilities. With “No Child Left Behind” and “Race to the Top,” it is evident that this is not an opportune time to think about consolidation.