Currey Hitchens, Democratic Candidate for Georgia School Superintendent

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Transcript

Meral Clarke: 0:17

Hello and welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced and distributed by the Fannin County Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke and we're getting into some good trouble today with our guest Currey Hitchens running to be Georgia's next State School Superintendent. Welcome to the show, Currey. We're happy to have you with us today.

Currey Hitchens: 0:40

Hey, thanks for having me. I love that getting into good trouble part.

Meral Clarke: 0:43

Oh, great. Well, we'll do our best certainly. So let's let our listeners know a little bit about you. Currey Hitchens grew up in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and attended Whitfield County Schools. Until recently, she was a senior attorney in the kinship care project at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society running a project to provide representation to children in school discipline and special education issues. She is currently handling education cases pro bono Wow, thank you for that Currey. Before that Currey practice for nine years at Georgia legal services including with the Dalton Georgia office and was supervising attorney in the Piedmont office. She enjoys fighting for access to justice for vulnerable populations. Currey has focused on helping immigrants with language access and issues surrounding legal status training Legal Aid attorneys in LGBTQ cultural competency, working with victims of domestic violence stabilizing families, helping families obtain a public health benefits and the representation of children in education cases. She graduated from Emory School of Law and was the first recipient of the Jim Elliot Public Interest Law award congrats on that before and during law school. She attended the University of Georgia to obtain her Master's of Education in children's literature at Agnes Scott college for her undergraduate studies. She majored in biological anthropology and completed a teacher certification program as well. She has taught fourth grade and English to Speakers of Other Languages or ESALT before becoming an attorney. Well, you've certainly accomplished quite a bit. So let's dive right in. Is this your first foray into politics running for State School Superintendent, if so why, and why now?

Currey Hitchens: 2:42

Meral it is my first time running for office, I have helped other campaigns just as a volunteer in the past, of course, Stacey Abrams, and Raphael Warnock and Bee Nguyen, for example, but this is my first time running myself. And I have a lot of reasons. And they all have to do with my advocacy of students, and my desire to see that teachers are empowered and allowed to just teach in their classrooms and teach the truth in their classrooms.

Meral Clarke: 3:05

I'm grateful to hear that you're running because State School Superintendent is such an important position. Tell me why you decided to do this now?

Currey Hitchens: 3:14

Well, Meral, I looked at the legislation that was in the pipeline. And I have a group of folks that I talked to that's a bunch of advocate to advocate for students in Georgia. And I kept asking, what else can we do? You know, we've tried to reach out to the point of education to give them advice on what we should do with for example, American rescue plan funds and how they should serve folks with disabilities during the pandemic. I we've done that before. And it didn't feel like we were even getting a response. So definitely weren't being heard or listened to. It's like, what else can we do to help these populations of students and at the same time, empower teachers and make sure they're getting what they need. And I looked at calendar and said, You know what, the qualifying hasn't happened yet for the upcoming election. I'm just going to follow up on run for office. That's what I'm going to do. And it seems like the State Superintendent of Schools is really in the best position to influence people on a lot of issues that I care about in Georgia and for students and for teachers.

Meral Clarke: 4:07

You've also stated that we should teach the truth and actually allow teachers to teach our kids properly, what does that mean to you? And how would you change the current scenario?

Currey Hitchens: 4:19

That means to me that we should not limit discussion in classroom by saying we can't talk about divisive topics, for example, which is a bill that looks like it might pass new legislation this year in Georgia. And it also means that we should trust teachers and stop trying to control what they can and cannot do in the classroom. They're professionals just like other professionals in different areas. And in Georgia, of course, it should be less regulated and more regulated internally instead of by the legislature, which mostly is not made up of educators. So we need to let professionals do their jobs and stop trying to pull them in different directions and politicize what their jobs actually are, which is just to teach children the truth and help them prepare for adulthood or for college.

Meral Clarke: 5:01

Which bill are you referring to? And what does say?

Currey Hitchens: 5:04

There were two bills. One bill made, it said that teachers and art could not address divisive concepts in the classroom, in K through 12 schools and one was for colleges, the one for colleges basically got left behind and didn't make it I think paths crossover. But the bill that was addressing blocking teachers from teaching about divisive topics, in K through 12, schools, maybe is still something that capacity and if it doesn't, I think there will still be a fight about it coming in the future. So basically, it says a lot of things. But what it's basically going to do, even if it doesn't actually say that they can't talk about all divisive topics, it's going to chill teaching in classrooms and make it so the teachers don't feel like they should teach about anything that could be divisive, including in history, or current events, because they don't want to get themselves or their school into any kind of trouble with a part of education or, in general, I don't want to have their school lose native benefits. Basically, it used to be they're going to fine the schools if they found that this was happening in a school. And they changed that. I think now the current version that keeps changing a little bit, the current version is that they're going to not allow waivers, like maybe waivers of class numbers, that kind of thing for schools, like take them back basically for schools who are found to be in violation of this law and teaching divisive topics.

Meral Clarke: 6:19

That's really scary and divisive topics, of course, including critical race theory and DEI diversity, equity and inclusion, correct?

Currey Hitchens: 6:29

Yeah, I think it would definitely include those things. But just to be really clear, like no K through 12 school is teaching anything to do with critical race theory in Georgia or anywhere in the country. Usually not even in college. That's a law school topic, basically. And then you have to opt into that kind of class. It's usually not something that everyone's going to be learning about. Maybe teachers can learn about critical race theory themselves and try to apply it in a classroom to make their classes more equitable. But it's not something that kids are learning in Georgia.

Meral Clarke: 6:55

Well, kids really aren't learning it K through 12 anywhere. So I believe the Republicans are simply pandering to their base with these types of bills of laws. Do you agree?

Currey Hitchens: 7:06

I do agree. But I also think they're going to follow through even if they are pandering, they do still try to pass these laws, and it would make it harder for teachers to teach in Georgia. A lot of judges already feel like they're pretty controlled in what they do, and they have a lot of busy work, I guess is one way to put it a lot of different things they're already handling and juggling. And this would be one more thing for them to think about when they're planning like, wait a minute, is this plan going to actually get me or my school in trouble? If I teach about current events about who knows anything could be like Ukraine could be controversial, even though it shouldn't be like what the war in Ukraine should be pretty straightforward in the United States that there are, of course, people who talk about this. So anything can be controversial if there's somebody else who talks about and promotes the other side of it. So I'm not sure how you would actually regulate that. And I would I did debate in high school. And I keep wondering, how would you even have a debate team? Like, you'd have to take something controversial to be able to have a debate about it?

Meral Clarke: 7:55

Right, I was on the debate team in college. So I'm very familiar with what you're referring to. And it is important that we should discuss these matters in a civil and appropriate manner. So moving on, we all know that teacher pay is abysmal. I have two friends who teach in Cobb County schools and their pay rate is ridiculous. It's barely a living rate. And they often have to pay for school materials out of pocket because the schools don't offer the materials they need. So what would you do as a school superintendent to raise wages, especially with an overwhelmingly Republican legislature, such as the one we currently have in Georgia, and will probably continue to have.

Currey Hitchens: 8:39

Basically work to get whatever I could to make sure that their salaries are increased. I do understand that would be difficult. But if I win, then Stacey Abrams is also going to be winning. So that would be helpful. That would be very helpful. Yes, yeah. And also probably Bee Nguyen you're a Democrat, at least in that position. So folks, it's going to be a little bit bluer state, if that happens, and hopefully it does, because I think we could do a lot of good for teachers and for students. I think the problem is that Georgia has always said at least for a long time, we're going to pay teachers more and it hasn't happened and keep getting promised a $5,000 Raise, even by Brian Kemp, and that hasn't happened. Instead, they got a$2,000 bonus, which you know, is not a raise. I mean, it's great. I'm really grateful that that's happened. I want them to get more, but I do want it to be part of their salary, not just a bonus that happens when someone feels like doing it instead of you know, money is required to be paid to them. I don't think it's going to be necessarily easy, but I do think this is the kind of issue that could be bipartisan. I think there are a lot of Republicans who agree that teachers should get this pay including Brian Kemp for example, so we can make it happen together. In fact, it might be one of the first issues that I tried to get folks to tackle together because it seems like it has that partisan support in Georgia to pay our teachers more I want I want them to be paid in line with other professionals that have a similar education level.

Meral Clarke: 9:50

Why do you suppose that hasn't happened?

Currey Hitchens: 9:52

Well I'm gonna be really blunt here I've probably sexism so a lot of people who are teachers are women and women work is usually paid less like historically in our country in the world. And that is exactly what I think is happening. Now we think women will do this work without getting paid, we expect them to just love the children. And that's the reason they go to work. But I don't think that's acceptable. I mean, of course, they're probably going to love the children, but that shouldn't be what they get paid in, they shouldn't get paid in love, they should get paid in an adequate salary.

Meral Clarke: 10:20

I agree. And certainly there are plenty of male teachers as well, who could benefit from a raise. And it's ridiculous that teachers actually I have four friends who are teachers two in Cobb County two in Gwinnett County. So it's ridiculous that they have to keep paying for supplies out of their own pockets when it should be the school system providing that. What kind of leverage would you have a state school superintendent to get that done? Is that something you can do on your own? Or I assume you need the legislature on board as well.

Currey Hitchens: 10:52

would take a lot of work. But like I said, I think this is something that we could push faster than other things because it it does have bipartisan support. So part of education is split. It's not only the superintendent of schools, who's in charge, it's also the Board of Education. And a lot of those folks right now have been appointed by Republicans. In fact, almost all of them, I think. So Stacey could help change that, of course, but it wouldn't be a fast process. Because folks would get to stay who've already been appointed, we would have to work together. But like I said, I think this is the kind of issue we could work together on and maybe it could get us to build a relationship to move on to maybe even tougher issues. This is one that a lot of Republicans have given a lot of lip service to giving a $5,000 raise for years. And who knows, maybe it will actually happen probably right before the election.

Meral Clarke: 11:36

Right? a vested interest in getting that done. Yes.

Currey Hitchens: 11:39

But yeah, that's how things suddenly happen. Right? It's time that we want teachers to come vote. But I don't think teachers can be fooled like that. I think they will realize they had this promise for a long time that just hasn't come to fruition until right before the election. They're smart. They mostly did learn critical thinking skills, maybe not critical race theory, because I didn't go to law school, perhaps. But some of them did, of course. But anyway, critical thinking skills, which I do think are important for students to learn as well. But teachers will have those skills to be like, wait a minute, this is not for less, we see what's happening here, we see that you only have our backs, and you want us to vote for you. But any other time you don't have our backs.

Meral Clarke: 12:13

Yeah, that's unacceptable. It really is. So what is the current Republican State School Superintendent doing or not doing that you would change? What else?

Currey Hitchens: 12:23

One thing he's not doing is speaking up on issues like this issue of banning schools from teaching divisive topics or any other issues, really, he's not jumping in to speak up for teachers, or say no need to let teachers teach. Let them teach the truth. students, students deserve to learn the truth. But he's not jumping in and saying anything like that. In fact, I've noticed we don't hear a lot from him, again until right before an election. So that's one thing I would do. And I don't think he does enough of that standing up for what should be even if he can't necessarily make the change on his own. He has a powerful voice if he would use it to influence not just the teachers across the state, but the lawmakers across the state as well.

Meral Clarke: 13:00

Is he a teacher as well or No?

Currey Hitchens: 13:03

I think he was a superintendent in the past, which is different.

Meral Clarke: 13:06

Yeah. A little bit different than actually teaching in the classroom. Yes, more of an administrative role there. So tell us about Georgia's school funding formula. What is it? And why does it need to change?

Currey Hitchens: 13:20

So we have a school funding formula in Georgia. That's from 1985. And you know, before we had the internet before, most people even had computers in their classrooms or in their schools and homes even I mean, not just classrooms. So but when I was a child and tunnel Hill go into Tunnel Hill Elementary School, this funding formula was created. And it's honestly it's really complicated. So if you really want to learn about it, you need to look up some information about it. Because it's much easier to understand when you read about it, or there's a short video, I think I put on my website, I made a link to it. That tells you a little bit more about how that funding works. The QBE works in Georgia. And it's a little bit comprehend, like I said, But it starts with there's a basic amount of money that each student and each type of school, elementary school, middle school, and high school should have like to be educated. So the school system should get that amount of money every year for that student. And they do a count every year to see how many kids are in your school. And that's how much money you should have. But the state doesn't give you that full amount of money. The school systems, the local education authorities themselves, are supposed to raise a good portion of it from property taxes basically supposed to be a 5% tax, at least of course, richer areas can tax more than that if they want to and some do. And as you may know that sometimes schools and richer areas have a lot better funding. Often they're considered better schools because they have that funding in a sense, it's easier for them to pay their teachers more sometimes or you know, whatever it is they need to do to make the school better feel the basics of it. But the part that that's the part that's raised is that 5% or more in the state will give enough to make up to that QBE amount what each student in Georgia supposed to get depending on what grade level they're in. And there are some funds and some grants are supposed to help with transportation in rural areas or We're making it more equitable to rural areas, because a lot of areas in Georgia don't have huge property value like so the, you know, they're just not getting a lot of money from that tax base. So there's some grants are supposed to make it better as well. But school funding in Georgia is just not equitable, because it is based on that property tax.

Meral Clarke: 15:16

So speaking of equity, or lack thereof, you grew up in rural Georgia. So you understand rural issues were in the ninth District, which is an extremely rural area. And of course, we're overwhelmingly red up here. So education tends not to be a priority. It's problematic, and how would you change it to ensure equity and fairness for all Georgia students, not just students in metropolitan areas?

Currey Hitchens: 15:46

I would make sure it's not based on just property taxes in an area. And I think maybe using property taxes is still the way to do it, because it's how people are already paying for schools, but then pooling it and making it more equitable across the state so that all schools get the same resources. I know, there are a lot of charter schools who do different things also. And if they're trying, they have more leeway to do that the way that they're chartered, basically. So I kind of hope that public schools can also do those things, which might include a lot of parcels have foundations that like help them with funding as well. So that might increase funding across the state. But again, I want that to be equitable. So I want us to be able to work together to make it so that all schools have that kind of funding as well, but are able to do different types of learning different types of programs, to be able to adapt to what's going to be better for students and what's working in other areas, like look at those areas, and try to do that as well. I think we have too much of a focus on schools competing and being good schools or bad schools. And I think we should look more at making all schools good schools.

Meral Clarke: 16:44

That would be tremendous. And certainly the lack of rural broadband is a problem for our students. Correct?

Currey Hitchens: 16:51

It is yeah, actually wrote a whole article about this. It didn't get published. But yes, that's absolutely correct. There is a lot of broadband funding coming out of federal funding that came to Georgia, but didn't actually make that happen. And it's not even just in rural areas. There are areas in Atlanta, one of my clients, families for whole month during the pandemic in 2020. And the school kept saying, Well, you were absent this whole month, the school the schools were closed, what do you expect them to be doing, they did not have internet for a month, you didn't bring them a hotspot and nothing was working, they couldn't make that happen themselves. They didn't have other options for providers, like this was the one provider and it was down. And I know that's exactly what happens in a lot of areas in rural Georgia, and that in some areas, and there's not high speed internet, we need to make sure that that is stretched across the state, not just for school students, but for people, adults to want to have, right everyone exactly. Parents who want to work virtually, you know, work from home, and we need it for everybody, it would definitely be a benefit for schools and students but also for workers in Georgia.

Meral Clarke: 17:50

Well, what happens to kids who are left behind without ability to access broadband?

Currey Hitchens: 17:55

They don't get education during a pandemic, for example. And also they have less opportunity for jobs in that are IT kind of jobs, because they don't have a laptop and internet at their house to be able to you know, learn and practice those types of skills. And I would say during the pandemic, they were just out of luck that they a lot of them did not have access, some schools did try really hard, I didn't want to give them credit for that some schools, set up internet spots, like in buses or parking lot. And some of them sent home hotspots to areas but as we're saying, like summaries didn't have that kind of capability. So it was still difficult for schools in rural Georgia to be able to have that happening when problems we didn't have a plan in place. So everyone was just trying something and kind of frantically to get kids in virtual school, which I think wasn't great for a lot of students, or really, maybe most students, I kind of wish we had gone more to outside school. But in Georgia, not that cold. We could have had outside schools.

Meral Clarke: 18:53

True. And also kids get left behind because they can't do their homework as easily they can't research. They can't look up facts. Yes, I agree. So another campaign issue for you is applying community school strategies in our state. Again, what is this? And how would you implement it?

Currey Hitchens: 19:12

Yes. So the basic Is there a group of these schools across the country? I don't think there are any in Georgia yet. But it'd be great if we could have some to see how that works here and see if it's helpful here. But strategies that basically make the school the center of a community and I think maybe it used to be and maybe it still is in some areas and a lot of places in Georgia, but then schools got bigger and bigger and bigger. Instead of opening schools, we shut schools down and just made larger schools in some areas. But it would be a small school that that's not too far that's in your community. That's not just the school, but also could be a location where childcare is provided not by the teachers. I'm not saying they would be childcare providers, there'll be separate providers for that teachers have enough. And also there could be like mental health clinics and health clinics and it could be a place you could apply for benefits. You don't have to make it all the way to wherever The Department of Veterans Services offices or there could be days each week where those people are there. So it would be like a community center, and not just the school. So meetings could be there, you know, all things could happen in the school building. Because we have these buildings already, we're not using them all the time in most cases. So we could use the buildings to do more and serve the community better. And pulling people more out of poverty would definitely help with schooling because students who don't have food and are only getting their meals at school are having a harder time learning. Like you're just saying they don't have internet at home, but they also don't have food at home, that's gonna make it hard for them to learn, or they may not have homes in some cases. So also think that we can help with social work, provide those kinds of services, or at least looking for housing for folks in the community. I also think we can schools should try to fight for universal housing in Georgia, because that would solve a lot of issues for schools as well.

Meral Clarke: 20:49

What is universal housing?

Currey Hitchens: 20:51

Housing is provided for everyone and I'm not an expert on this, I just think that it would be amazing if everyone had a home, um, kind of home if they could call theirs. And kids would always have a place to sleep at night, because I know, I've had clients who lived in extended stay hotels, and that is sometimes not a very stable home for a child to live in. And they need a more stable housing to be able to learn in school and be ready for school every day. And if you're an extended stay motel, usually that's your whole family in one room. So that's probably tough for learning. Also, if you're not getting a lot of sleep, it's probably hard to do your homework with everyone else crawling on top of you, you know.

Meral Clarke: 21:24

Well, homelessness is certainly a serious issue. Yes, in Georgia for both children and adults. So we could have obviously a whole nother conversation about homelessness and how it affects children's mental abilities and capacities as well. Do we have any community schools in Georgia?

Currey Hitchens: 21:44

They're mostly in northeast, so and I think there's some in California, but it would be a great model, I'd like to try it. Another reason I want to try community schools or I want them to be in Georgia is because they look at equity. They try to fight against the school to prison pipeline, that's definitely existent in Georgia right now. And I want to make sure that kids get the resources, they need to prevent a lot of behavior that ends up getting kids kicked out of school and sent into the criminal justice system. I think we can do that. And right now, what we do in Georgia anyway, is we discipline kids, especially with out of school suspension, at least twice as much when they're black, and at least twice as much when they're disabled. And that's not okay, that should say to people, wait a minute, something is wrong with our school discipline system, we shouldn't be disciplining kids who have disabilities, and kids who are black just because of those reasons. I mean, that's basically there's no other reason we're just the data shows that school discipline is not effective and not working for this population especially.

Meral Clarke: 22:36

And I also wanted to ask you about STEAM, which includes the A for arts being taught in schools and children being encouraged to study science and mathematics, engineering.

Currey Hitchens: 22:48

Yeah, I think all of those are important, especially in today's day and age. And we need to make sure that the funding is appropriate. So it can teach students appropriate skills for today, we need them to be able to jump right into potentially a very technological marketplace. And if they do get these kinds of skills, like the science, technology, engineering, art and math, then they should be able to go too far in this world. There are a lot of things that I kind of wish I had learned, I didn't learn any engineering in school, but I kind of wish I had, it would be interesting to know a little bit more about how that works. And I think it's great for students to have a really broad education. Of course, I don't want to leave out literature either. I mean, I have that master's insurance literature. So I love children's literature as well. But I think all of this is important. And we should also let kids as they get older, choose their interests and make sure that we have STEAM in schools, but also vacational kind of tracks for kids who don't think they necessarily want to go to college. And that's another thing I think is problematic. I think we push kids too hard to do something like college, and they may not all want to go to college, there are other fantastic jobs don't require college degrees, especially in STEAM fields, honestly. But I mean, of course, you can go to college in STEAM fields as well. But there are lots of job opportunities that don't require college. And I think we kind of make kids feel like if they don't go to college, they're not living up to what they you know, their potential. I don't think that's true. I think a lot of kids will be perfectly happy and great additions to society without going to college, though.

Meral Clarke: 24:11

Oh, absolutely. And technical jobs pay well, especially if they're union jobs and make a huge difference for families across the board. So yeah, VO tech and technical schools, etc, are extremely important. Another thing I wanted to ask you about is how you work with school boards and how the states Well, let me put it this way, how the State School Superintendent would work with school boards, individual school boards, and what are the standards that you would use for judging whether or not a Board of Education is doing its job? And one thing that the department education and I was going to ask how you would work with the individual school independent schools can do is they have the purse strings basically so that the department education can work on giving guidance and funding to schools to do things that would move school was formed in Georgia, because I think that one problem right now in Georgia is students and teachers are also wonderful. But somehow we've let our education drop in quality, like we need to do a better job. I've heard from a lot of people in college level professors and parents, that the schools are not necessarily prepared. And I think that sad, like, we need to make sure that kids do get the education they need by making sure they get the funding they need, and making sure that there are good standards in place, what's required for that student who's going to graduate and go to college. Now think of last part of your question Marel. So can you repeat it? boards and change whatever is not working right now on the state level.

Currey Hitchens: 25:39

So in Georgia, schools do have a lot of autonomy. And so there would be a lot of trying to convince them. But I think with funding, it's easier to convince people to do things and try things, but funding. And here's a good example of it working well in this school. Like if I can get some schools to get on board and make big changes and show good results. I think that would be like probably the most convincing way to get other schools to actually make those moves as well. And I would want us to look right now. Because if we're looking at Community School strategies, we need to look at other states that are actually doing that works and wants to look at that, and learn how to do it and implement those strategies here in Georgia. But I know we are doing three different schools doing good work. I'm not saying that's not happening. But I think it's more in spite of our funding, in spite of you know how they're funded than it is because of it. I think we could do this more equitably, and have all schools be good schools.

Meral Clarke: 26:28

So I also want to ask you about the new push to arm teachers and other personnel in schools with guns, which in my estimation is insane. But Fannin County actually voted to arm staff within two months of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Florida in 2018. So what's your stance on arming teachers and personnel with guns? And what would you do to prevent more counties from adopting this approach?

Currey Hitchens: 26:55

Well, I would absolutely push against that policy, we definitely shouldn't be having more guns in schools. And I think that there is good data to look at. It's not about the teachers being armed, but about the fact that even when a school has a school resource officer or police officer in the building that has not actually ever prevented violence in the school, there's a lot of data about this, that's not actually helpful. It doesn't make people feel better. And there was a lot of funding that went to putting school resource officers in schools kind of right when I went to college, I guess, because I graduated from high school and 1998. So it was after that, that school shootings started to be I'm not saying it didn't happen. Sure it did before that, but that's when Columbine happened right after that. And there was huge increase in wanting there to be someone with a gun in the school. But the mythology of the good guy with a gun, which is basically what this is based on has never actually proven to be true, I think we should look at the data and see that that's not what helps what helps is not having any guns in the schools, and having appropriate programs in place to help with mental health issues to help students get the services they need, which might happen, hopefully, in a community school setting. But I would want to even if there's not a community school strategies being used in every area, I want their lives to be a huge increase in mental health services in ways that kids can get help and reach out and support for the kids. And for teachers. I think there are also teachers right now are basically I think people have been saying they're exhausted. I think that if you look at it from a worker perspective, it's more like they're exploited because they're doing so much right now. And they, yes, for two years. And instead of like giving them a break, and let them just go back to teaching like normal, they're mostly being required to do more now, and not less. And that's often because there aren't as many teachers and RnF, substitute teachers and all that, but that definitely increase recruitment of going back to a question you asked earlier, one thing that the current superintendent is doing that I think is good, I just saw an email, I need to like dig more into it, but a recruiting for teachers in rural Georgia. And I think that is definitely important. There are a lot of schools across the state who just right now do not have enough access to teachers and they're suffering, because have a hard time taking out even when they are sick with it. So we need them to be able to do that. But yeah...

Meral Clarke: 28:57

We have a lot of teachers that are leaving the profession because of all of these things. So we have to stop the bleeding and also have qualified I would add not just parents who substitute for teaching or become teachers themselves, but people who are actually qualified to be teachers and have had the schooling to do so. So if someone wants to donate to you, or volunteer with your campaign, where would you send them?

Currey Hitchens: 29:24

They can go to my website, www.CurreyHitchens.com. And that's CURREYHITCHENS.com. And there's a Donate button there. And you can definitely email me about being involved or coming out to meet me at an event. I'm going to try to put everything on the website as I'm going so you should be able to find me and I hope to get up to all parts of Georgia if I possibly can and maybe you'll let me know about events that are going on. So if you reach out to me also let me know about events going on in your area.

Meral Clarke: 29:57

Terrific. We certainly will and And finally, and I ask all my guests this question, tell us a fun fact about yourself. Just something about Currey that doesn't have to necessarily do with your work or your campaign. Tell us something fun just about you.

Currey Hitchens: 30:12

Okay, I don't know if this is fun for everybody, but I love to run. So for me, it's fun that I have run an ultramarathon. And that is one thing that I've done in my life that made me know that I can do anything that I was gonna do is work really hard at it, and I'm capable of anything. So I ran an ultra marathon in Dalton, Georgia on the Pinhoti Trail, the Georgia jewel several years ago.

Meral Clarke: 30:33

Congratulations. That's impressive. Thank you. And I finished right as like, Hey, Mom. All right. Listen, I am not one for whom to run is a verb. So I admire all those who do so good for you. Well, thank you Currey for joining us today and sharing more about your critical work to support education for Georgians and maintain our democracy. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. Join us next time when we chat with Patrick Thompson, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia's Green Coalition. To learn more about us and the work that we're doing, visit us online at Fannin County, Georgia democrats.com all spelled out. Share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family and be sure to subscribe and follow and if you enjoy our podcasts be a founding patron and friend of the show at North Georgia blue podcast.com/patron. Now with three different giving levels to choose from offering cool swag recognition on the show and website and valuable gift cards to help us continue getting into more good trouble.