Mike McDaniel, co-owner with his wife, Linda, of Preferred Self Storage in Double Oaks, Texas, has announced that he is running against incumbent Tommy Kim for Place 3 on the Lewisville, Texas school board -- the LISD Board of Trustees. McDaniel filed notice of his campaign last week.
It's not unusual for self-storage owners to take an active role as leaders in the community. Self-storage facilities often become stro
ng proponents of local charities and school fund drives. For Mike McDaniel, running for a position on the school board is a natural extension of the volunteer work that he already does in Lewisville. Last year, Preferred Self Storage, the facility run by Mike and Linda McDaniel, was awarded one of four Humanitarian Service Awards by Inside Self-Storage. The award was based on Preferred's support of the Lewisville High School Circle of Friends Club, a club dedicated to supporting students in the Lewisville area who have developmental challenges. Members of the club find ways to include their developmentally-challenged peers in regular high school activities, by eating lunch with them and taking them on school outings.
In addition to McDaniel's work with the Circle of Friends Club, he is an ordained deacon of his church, serves on the Denton County Child Protective Services board of directors, is president of the Lewisville High School Grand Ball Booster Club (which provides special needs children at LHS with an annual prom designed for them), and has been awarded an honorary life membership by the Texas Congress of Parents and Teachers. McDaniel has also served on the school board before (from 1998 to 2004) and used to be an administrator at Lewisville High School.
McDaniel's decision to run for the school board was based on several concerns. He hopes to be involved with the search for a new school superintendent when the current superintendent, Dr. Jerry Roy, retires (as he is expected to this summer). McDaniel also expressed worries about the school district spending money on new construction during hard economic times.
"In these difficult economic times, LISD has decided to indulge itself in the luxury of five new 17,000 square foot high school field houses at the gaudy price of $295 per square foot, costing up to $5 million for each of the five high schools," McDaniel told the local newspaper, the Lewisville Leader. "As stewards of the taxpayers' money, the board has a responsibility to ensure that needs are met and our children are served, not build palaces....If elected, I will support a plan to ease this additional taxpayer burden by shelving unneeded bond projects until better economic times when the taxpayers can more comfortably absorb any necessary increases."
Sources used:
Circle of Friends Club. "About" page. Lewisville High School, Lewisville, Texas.
Hobbs, Tawnell. "Candidates set in Dallas-area races for school board seats." Dallas Morning News. March 9, 2010.
"Inside Self-Storage announces winners of 2009 Humanitarian Service Awards." Inside Self-Storage. 1/06/2009.
Roark, Chris. "McDaniel becomes ninth candidate to run for LISD." Lewisville Leader. March 12, 2010.