My name is Brendan Atencio. My wife, Nicole, and I have two daughters, Camden and Kennedy. My parents moved our family to Ardmore in the spring of 2000 when we acquired our first dealership. I graduated from Plainview and earned a bachelor’s degree in Advertising at the University of Oklahoma. After college, I had the opportunity to work in Los Angeles for a few years before knowing I wanted to raise my kids in Ardmore. My wife, kids, and I are actively involved in First Methodist Church in Ardmore whether it be leading small groups or assisting with the youth group.
What made you want to be on the school board?
My family has been heavily involved within Plainview for 25 years now. Whether it be my dad coaching or my siblings and I growing up and being involved in a multitude of extracurricular activities. I felt called to run for the school board to find another avenue to contribute and fight complacency to be a top school. I was fortunate enough to reap the benefits of a strong support system in my 13 years at Plainview. Now, I feel it is my opportunity to contribute to an even better experience and resources for the upcoming generations through the school. Plainview has always been above the mark including being a Blue Ribbon School. Recently, we’ve missed that mark and my goal is to help return to that level. Additionally, our school has been built around the Great Expectations model which starts in the early childhood years and affirmed through junior and high school education systems.
What does Plainview need to do to prepare for future growth in the district?
Growth can mean many things. As many of us know, Plainview has managed growth well. Not necessarily by growing in mass, but a steady growth without losing the quality of education for the students. Plainview can continue to embrace the growth in moderation while not sacrificing our results. As we have seen in recent years, the school has built a state of the art early childhood education facility. The opportunities that lie ahead to continually advance academic and athletic facilities are of the most importance.
What improvements would you like to see to the campus?
No matter the current state of a facility, our world wants “the next best thing.” Facilities are a great way to attract top talent in faculty. Building upon the Early Childhood Education facility would be a step in the right direction to ensure we have adequate space along with updated facilities to give our students the best possible environment to succeed. Ardmore School District has seen a challenge in their facilities and decreasing enrollment numbers. They have a vote coming up soon to build a facility that would suit their school and ensure they will not remain stagnant for the foreseeable future. This doesn’t only lie in the hands of the board, it is left in the hands of many citizens in the district and their commitment to the school. With that being said, instead of just adding onto buildings in certain places, I think the commitment to build new facilities would go further long term.
What do you think is the proper role of the school board?
I believe the school board should act as a checks and balances system to the decision making within a public school. Whether that be creating and implementing policies for the student body, setting guidelines in the curriculum, or procedures in hiring employees. The board should oversee budgeting allocation within the district to ensure there are no deficiencies across every aspect of the school. As a board member we should act as a liaison between the community and the school system to ensure goals of all are shaped accordingly. Furthermore, as a board we should evaluate the performance of the superintendent. Lastly, the board needs to advocate for the needs of the school district while holding the school responsible for their performance in its entirety.
Do you feel the state helps or hinders local education?
First of all, there will never be a perfect relationship or idea of what the state’s commitment should be. Each will have to advocate accordingly to ensure they are achieving their goals. An issue that’s constantly talked about at the state level are the smaller budgets that have contributed to Oklahoma being one of the lower ranked in terms of education. This has an impact on many things whether it be teachers not being paid accordingly or teachers having to come out of their own pockets to purchase additional supplies for their classrooms. However, I believe Plainview has had a strong local commitment through donations, taxes and fundraising to help alleviate the deficiencies in state funding. Overall, while there is potential for Oklahoma’s policies to support education, it’s fair to say that the lack of consistent and adequate state funding has generally hindered local education in the state.
