All Marian Clennon wanted were answers to questions she raised at a February school board meeting about a Kids Korner issue.

Saturday, September 18, 1999

All Marian Clennon wanted were answers to questions she raised at a February school board meeting about a Kids Korner issue.

What she said she got was the runaround and red tape.

"I didn’t feel I was getting answers," she said. "The more answers I didn’t get, the more I kept asking."

She said she was "put off to somebody else" again and again.

Needless to say, as a parent of school children and a taxpayer, that wasn’t the treatment she wanted from her elected officials and school administrators.

So, she decided to do something about it. She decided to join the 16 others in the running for four open seats on the Nov. 2 Austin Board of Education ballot.

"If I want answers," Clennon said, "this would be my way to do it."

Clennon is a bookkeeper at Jones Cabinets and has spent 23 years in the clerical field, working for big companies and small. She moved to Austin in August 1996.

She has a 21-year-old son in Indiana and two boys in school at Sumner Elementary. She’s dealt with three different school systems in the past 17 years and believes she’s ready to get down to the nuts-and-bolts of the whole operation.

"My qualifications?" Clennon said. "I’m like anybody else, a concerned parent. I want to learn everything I can so I can get answers for people."

Clennon would answer "a fresh start" if you asked her what the school board needs.

So far, she likes what she sees in new superintendent James Hess.

"He’s different," she said. "He’s a good start."

At Hess’ first meeting, Clennon asked him a Kids Korner question and he promptly researched the matter and talked to her the next day.

"He’s able to get answers," said Clennon, who is in favor of making the board’s meeting times more user friendly.

She’s researched other school board start times and can’t find any that start before 6:30-7 p.m.

"Ours are at 4 p.m. and sometimes 7 a.m.," Clennon said. "Working parents have to be able to get involved and they can’t if they get off work at 5 p.m."

Clennon insists getting and keeping the district’s finances in order needs to be a top priority. She’s also an advocate of untangling the lines of communication.

"There’s too many people in the bureaucracy," said Clennon, who has family here and, though she hasn’t lived her entire life here, said she is "familiar with my surroundings."

"I’m just as new at this as anybody who has lived here forever, but has a child starting kindergarten," she said. "I’m eager to learn."