ANNOUNCEMENT OF CANDIDACY
[Editor’s note: The Citizen offers each candidate for local office the opportunity of one announcement of candidacy at no charge.]
The following is the announcement by Dr. Regina Daigre:
I grew up in an old unpainted, tin roof home without running water, heat, or an indoor bathroom neatly perched between a bayou and woods located off a graveled road in central Louisiana. My life was filled with poverty, struggles, and setbacks, but I adopted education as a solution to poverty at an early age, gleaning wisdom from the teachings my parents and educators provided me.
While in 7th grade, I overcame a speech impediment. Reluctantly, I gave the valedictorian speech and received a standing ovation. Less than two years later, my family life was shattered when my mother died when I was 14 years old. At the end of my junior year, I relocated from rural central Louisiana with approximately 200 students in the entire high school to a metropolitan city with 233 students in my senior class. I graduated #3 out of 233.
Two months after graduating from high school, my second oldest brother was killed in an accident. Because of trauma, struggles, and poverty, I was determined to earn a college degree. This mission was accomplished working two, sometimes three, jobs while carrying 16 to 18 semester hours.
Later, I married Sean Daigre, Sr. and we had two healthy sons. Life was great, but, in 2001, our home in Louisiana was flooded and underwent renovation. During that time, while traveling to Atlanta, my entire family experienced a horrific SUV rollover on I-65 in Mobile, AL. The children and my husband were not injured. Unfortunately, my body was traumatized and I incurred two broken legs, a crushed wrist, fractured fingers and toes, a shattered knee, and more. Bedridden, incapacitated, and wheelchair bound, I had to learn how to walk again.
Through triumphs, trials, and trauma, I forged my way through college to earn three advanced degrees with honors and an educational leadership certification. I did not allow my situations to determine my outcome in life, but I used my struggles as stepping stones, energy, and momentum to soar higher.
As a 15-year Fayette County resident and a passionate, driven, life-long educator, I am uniquely qualified for the Fayette County Board of Education District 4 position. I have been involved in public education for over 18 years through teaching K12, community college, and higher education undergraduate and graduate levels. I have seen all parts of the educational system, being graced to teach more than 5,000 students, conducted technology training for more than 3,000 educators, and served as a board member for the Georgia Future Business Leaders of America, a 27,000-member, career technical student organization.
While forging my way through education, I also earned a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. Now married to my best friend, Sean Daigre, Sr. for 31 years, our two wonderful sons, Sean Jr. and Jared, applied the lessons of hard work and dedicated study until they graduated from Fayette County’s educational system. Just as I fought for my sons’ education, I am ready to fight for all of our children’s education.
I’m running for Board of Education District 4 because, I believe:
• Parental engagement is key to student success to learn, discover, and grow.
• Career readiness is a vital element to ensure students are prepared for work and life; and a
• High Quality Virtual Option is necessary to accommodate various learning styles and to keep pace with the ever-changing delivery of education.
I will work to improve efficiency, and help build the incredible and deserving reputation that Fayette County Schools hold. To learn more about me, visit www.reginadaigre.org. Together, we can make this happen.
[The preceding was the initial candidacy announcement by Regina Daigre, who is seeking the Democrat nomination for Fayette County Board of Education District 4 in the May 24 Democrat Primary. The Citizen offers each candidate for local office the opportunity of one announcement of candidacy at no charge.]
Hmm, maybe I should run.
Yours is a poor line of reasoning. As a parent of four students in Fayette County public schools, I am well acquainted with the social studies curriculum. Our current local school history lessons do NOT teach that America’s founding fathers created a “faultless” government. American students are taught the founding fathers approved the Declaration of Independence, led the American Revolution and ratified the US Constitution. Students are NOT taught that these men were faultless, nor that our system of government is faultless. Your assertion is faulty.
Hi Mom (on Mother’s Day, no less). My response was dripping with hyperbole.
However, I much prefer the selection of curriculum to historians and educators who have devoted their entire lives to the topic rather than than parents, especially those with a political agenda. Someday, these students will be making decisions that affect my aging carcass, and I want them to understand history as it really unfolded – with all of its warts – so that they will not repeat those things that do not work. Parents have no more of a stake in public education than any other citizen.
I concur with you, STF.
I see a lot of mixed reviews about her book. Appears she might be mixing history with a heavy dose of liberal bias.
I completely agree with your first two bullet points. Too many parents have checked out and expect the school system to raise their kids. Best of luck to you.
Yikes! I don’t need anyone to “fight” for my children’s education. No thank you.
Tell that to our fearless Georgia legislators who ceaselessly used their last legislative session to ensure that only their narrow, sanitized interpretation of history would be presented to our children.
so you want a version of the 1619 Project taught to our kids?
I want Jill Lepore’s excellent history of the United States “These Truths” to be the standard high school U.S. History text. She deftly describes all of our country’s shortcomings and demonstrates how we have overcome these to become the great nation that we are. She trusts her readers to understand our evolution into a shining democratic republic instead of presenting the founders as creators of a faultless government.
See reply above
Hi Mom – if you don’t want anyone fighting for your childs education, its just because you’re a bad mom. Sorry.
“Fighting” is a poor choice of words to describe what I expect from my elected school board officials. It has an aggressive and angry tone. It connotes violence and conflict. It’s not a word I want to associate with my local school board. My vote is reserved for representatives who will “advocate” for my children in a respectful and professional manner. I will vote for representatives who “champion” my positions on issues important to me. I will vote for articulate, knowledgeable and discerning candidates who will speak rationally on my behalf. Yes, I have high standards.
Qualified experiences, conscientious, and ethically principled are other standards too that one should look for in an applicant or a candidate; coupled with successful past job performances. Just my two-cents worth.