INDReporter

District 8 school board candidate Erick Knezek makes it official

by Patrick Flanagan

"School board members should be focused on one goal: Enhance the education of students, and empower and equip teachers to succeed in the classroom," says District 8 Lafayette Parish School Board candidate Erick Knezek.

Erick Knezek appeared Thursday before a crowd of close to 40 gathered across from Broadmoor Elementary to announce his candidacy for the District 8 seat of the Lafayette Parish School Board currently held by Hunter Beasley.

"Every now and then a candidate comes along that's special; that puts the people he wants to serve above himself and his own political interests," says local PR rep Amy Jones, who introduced Knezek during Thursday's announcement.

Knezek is a graduate of Lafayette High and the U.S. Naval Academy. In addition to serving in the Navy, he also has three years experience as an educator, teaching mathematics and oceanography at two community colleges in California and one in Maryland. He's also an Eagle Scout and the CEO of Truston Technologies, a company he built from the ground up, as well as a member of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as a division chair for the Small Business, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship committee.

Knezek says he feels "called to serve," adding that his decision to run was based on all the turmoil to engulf the school board in recent years.

"Our current school board has disintegrated into a system of total dysfunction. Kids and teachers are an afterthought to personal political agendas and embarrassing, self-serving decisions by the majority of our current board members," says Knezek. "School board members should be focused on one goal: Enhance the education of students, and empower and equip teachers to succeed in the classroom."

Knezek says the decisions made by school board members are critical, both to the students and the community as a whole.

"Our current school board lacks leadership," says Knezek. "Strong, decisive leadership that is focused on our kids and our teachers is critical, and to provide that leadership is why I am running."