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Cancer survivor Dodson ready to join Frisco ISD school board
By Anthony Tosie, atosie@starlocalnews.com, @anthonytosie on Twitter
When Bryan Dodson heard Brenda Polk was leaving her seat on the Frisco Independent School District board of trustees, he immediately knew he was going to run for the position.
Dodson is running unopposed for the Place 1 seat, but it hasn't been easy getting here. That's because Dodson, who currently serves on the city's planning and zoning commission, battled Hodgkin's lymphoma from 2011 to 2012.
When he officially was diagnosed on April 11, 2011, however, that wasn't the only surprise in store for Dodson and his wife, Shaye. The next day the couple found out they'd be having their first child.
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| Bryan Dodson with his wife, Shaye, and their 1-year-old daughter, Sadie. Photo courtesy of Bryan Dodson. |
Dodson's daughter, Sadie, was born Dec. 8, 2011, just three days before his last cancer treatment. He's been cancer free since that time, allowing him to rededicate himself to his community.
That's another reason Dodson said he chose to run for school board -- making the community better for his daughter and her friends as they grow up.
Though his daughter is only a little more than a year old, Dodson said he knows that many of the decisions he'll be making as the school board's newest member will have a lasting impact on the city.
"People may wonder why I'm running when I only have a 1-year-old, but it's all about having to make decisions for the future," he said. "A lot of strategic decisions are going to be made looking at where the district will be five, 10, 20 years from now. I want my daughter to have the best school district she can when she's old enough. I want to keep moving Frisco ISD forward."
Dodson was complimentary of the work current and previous board members have done, calling Frisco ISD one of the best school districts in the state to raise a child. Part of their success, he said, was keeping the district on the cutting edge of technology.
One of the technological advantages he cited as a result of the school administration and board's work is the Career and Technical Education Center.
"The CTE Center is one of the greatest advantages Frisco ISD has," Dodson said. "We're able to really offer our students the real-life education experiences that they can actually take into the real world. Math and science -- you have to have those as a foundation. The center really gives them an opportunity to learn about the career they want to make their endeavor in."
In terms of his priorities once he officially takes his new position on the school board, Dodson said maintaining that technological advantage is a main concern, along with retaining teachers and keeping Frisco ISD schools safe.
His highest priority, however, is creating private and corporate sponsorships to help build facilities, he said. Dodson cited Plano ISD's partnership with Texas Instruments to help fund the Plano Academy High School as an example of a strong corporate sponsorship.
Dodson said he's met with his impending colleagues on the school board several times, and he plans on setting up meetings with them prior to officially joining the board himself. That should help ease the transition, he said.
"I'm just looking forward to getting started," he said. "I think the school board and past administrations have laid an excellent foundation that made our schools what they are today. Brenda's done a great job serving the community, and it was an opportunity for me when she didn't plan to run again -- I just hope to continue the job she's done."
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