By Chris Simones

Kenneth Rogers is seeking the seat as 4th District representative of the Warren County School Board. His opponent is Tanya Shockley Bess, who currently holds that position.

Chief among his concerns for the school system is what he considers high turnover for teachers. 

“In general, I just don’t think money has been spent where it should have been spent,” Rogers said. “There’s just too big a turnover on teachers. We need to find what the problem is and solve it, but I do feel we’ve spent money on things that really should’ve gone to teacher raises.”

When asked his opinion on the School Board’s decision last week to enter the 2020-21 school year with a traditional opening, Rogers disagreed with their choice. 

“At this time, I probably wouldn’t have voted to do that,” he said. “The numbers are still rising and it just seems to me like it would be impossible to practice social distancing.”

If elected, this would be Rogers’ first term with the School Board, but he is not a newcomer to politics. He has served on the Warren County Commission and he was elected as Warren County Executive in 2002, serving one term. In his capacity as county executive, Rogers traveled to China in hopes of finding manufacturing work to bring to Warren County.

As for his reasons for running for a seat on the School Board, Rogers said, “There were a few different things that motivated me to run for a position on the board. Just looking at how things are going, I didn’t think all the schools were getting represented equally. I don’t think the money is getting distributed equally.”

Rogers lives in the Eastside community and is a 1967 graduate of Central High School. 

He retired from Kroger after 36 years and is currently a farmer. Rogers also works part-time for TriGreen Equipment in McMinnville.

School Board District 4 is comprised of County Commission Districts 7 and 8. Early voting begins Friday, July 17 and runs through Saturday, August 1. Election Day is Thursday, Aug. 6.