Canyon ISD votes unanimously for former pastor to fill Place 4 seat

Amarillo Globe-News

CANYON - The Canyon Independent School District school board of trustees voted unanimously Monday to fill its vacant Place 4 trustee seat with Randall Davis.

Davis will fill the seat Bill Jenkins vacated in December of last year. A vocal minority of the community called for a special election to replace Jenkins, but due to time and cost, the board decided to name an interim replacement.

Only two candidates applied for the open position to serve until the term expires in May of next year. Davis is a lifelong resident of Amarillo, attending Amarillo College and Wayland Baptist University. He has served as lead pastor at Lifeway Fellowship Chruch for 30 years until retiring two years ago. In his application, Davis said he has two grandsons who go to Randall High School and wants to help Canyon ISD maintain its high standards. He stated that while observing school board meetings, he noticed a concern that there needs to be leadership with strong Christian values.

“I have grandsons at in school here and I am very interested in their studies, and I just want to help the community that I grew up in,” Davis said. "I appreciate a good education and how important it is, so I thought this would be a good idea.”

Davis said that with more time on his hands, he needed to serve the community in another role.

“During this process, I found out that there is so much for me to learn, and I am excited and looking forward to learning more about the schools,” he added.

When asked about his commitment to maintaining lofty standards, Davis said that the community is asking for this.

“Of course, I am a Christian, and all the decisions I make in life are governed by the Bible,” he said. "I follow the Bible and and believe the scripture guides everything I do and all the decisions I make. That is very important to me, but of course, I respect others' opinions, but I believe in strong, traditional family values.”

Davis says that he feels parents should be allowed to be more involved in their children’s education.

“The kids belong to their parents, so they should be very involved in what is being done at the school and the district,” he said. “So anything I can do kind of as a pastor to guide people in the directions of the scriptures is my goal as an individual, but again, I realize that is just my personal opinion and my belief.”

When asked about students and literature that he may not agree with due to being LGBTQIA+ in nature, Davis said that he would have to look over the policy and see what needs to be discussed, and it was too early to really discuss those types of issues.

“I am always standing firm on strong Christian values; I see who I am,” Davis said. "I am here to balance the board to emphasize morality, and anything I can do to move us in that direction is my goal.”

Board president Jennie Winegarner said that they had two strong candidates, and she is looking forward to seeing what Davis brings to the board.

“I think his perspective as a member of the community that is not exactly involved in the day-to-day aspects is a strength,” Winegarner said. “I hope it was a good sign that we had candidates of this quality. I am glad to add another strong member who cares about education to our board.”

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