Meet the Candidate: Rick Snuffer for Raleigh County Board of Education

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience/accomplishments

I’m a life-long resident of Raleigh County, graduating from Trap Hill High School in 1973.  I attended WVU, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Animal Science.  After graduation, I taught Vo-AG in Fayette County, teaching landscaping and horticulture for 2 years.

I worked for USDA for 38 years, retiring as the State Executive Director overseeing 100 plus employees and managing budgets over 20 million annually. I’m managing partner of Snuffer Farm LLC, a state-awarded cattle farm enterprise that has been in his family for over 130 years.

⁃    What motivated you to run for Board of Education, or if you are an incumbent, what motivated you to seek reelection?

I’m seeking re-election to the BOE to complete the important works we have started over the last four years. I believe I have the knowledge and experience in education to continue to work with the other BOE members to lead Raleigh Co Schools into the next level of excellence in education.

⁃    What are some issues facing the school system currently that you would like to see addressed and fixed? How would you fix those issues?

The most important issues facing Raleigh CO schools are

1) the drop in enrollment and how do we deal with this loses in funding.

2) the shortage of fully certified teachers, how do we find and encourage more students to go into education. Along the same line we also have a shortage of aids, bus drivers and other service jobs. We can’t provide a quality education to all our students without quality employees.

3) the increased need for pupil services, such as counseling, medical, mental health, and special education needs within our limited budget.

We “the County Board of education” need more flexibility from the State Department of Ed and the legislature to address the above issues while being more creative and innovative in our approach to education.

⁃    What makes you stand out from the rest of the candidates, what do you bring to the table that they don’t?

I believe I have a solid foundation of accomplishments as a member of the BOE. I bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that other candidates seeking the position simply lack. I have grandchildren in the system, my three children are products of the Raleigh County system and I stay personally supportive and involved in the schools. I also have taught school and know what our teachers face daily in trying to educate our children. I’m the only candidate that can bring this diverse and complete knowledge to bring a member of the board.