PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Page Valley News will be publishing profiles of seven local candidates in three contested races in this fall’s general election from Aug. 11 through Sept. 1. These Q&As will be published around midday on Mondays and Thursdays.
In September, PVN will be broadcasting pre-recorded candidate forums among the candidates in these three contested races through our YouTube channel. Click on the link here or the YouTube icon in the upper right on our Home page to subscribe to our channel ahead of time.
Charlie Queen Jr.
- Age: 74
- Education: A.A.S. Degree, Blue Ridge Community College, 1976; BA, Bridgewater College, 1974; Bayside High School, 1969.
- Work: Virginia Oak Tannery, Cost Accountant and inventory manager, 1976-1977; Merck, planner, scheduler and programmer, 1977-1988; Merck, Senior Planner, 1988-1997; GE Fanuc, inventory management and scheduler, 1997-2001; Plow and Hearth, customer service, inventory manager, and sales support, 2001-2008; Virginia Industrial Plastics, Sales Engineer and Inventory Manager, 2008-2014.
- Special awards: Merck Management Award for the development of a production roadmap planning system in 1989. I was selected to go to England to install the system at the Merck plant in 1990.
- Elected office: None.
- Family: Wife, Mary; five children, Angela, Christian, David, Bonnie and Matthew.
• Why are you running for public office?
As a citizen of Page County for 55 years, I want to use my talents and abilities to insure that each student has the tools to do his or her best in school. A successful student becomes a productive member of society no matter where his or her career may take them. I want to see each student identify his or her talents and develop them in either the academic field or in one of the various trades that is offered at the Technical Center.
• What makes you the best candidate for School Board?
As a nearly lifelong member of Page County, with a wife who was a teacher at the two high schools for 19 years and a father of five children who successfully attended Page County Public Schools and went on to further their education at universities, trade school and the Marines… I have witnessed firsthand the results of having a stable family situation. Each of my children pursued different career paths, but each of them received a good foundation in elementary and high school. Throughout my professional career, I used the MBWA method (management by walking around ). I will constantly use this method to investigate current practices to see if they can be improved.
• What is the most pressing issue facing Page County Public Schools and how would you address it?
There are currently three elementary schools in the county — Shenandoah, Stanley, and Springfield — which are old. We need to renovate the existing schools, or build new ones.
• What is the best thing about Page County Public Schools and how would you maintain or improve it?
Our graduation rate and SOL pass rate is very high. One way to maintain them is to provide a good foundation in elementary school in reading and mathematics. Providing the young students with interesting reading materials will encourage them to be good readers. Although tedious, students need to memorize their addition and multiplication tables.
• Briefly describe a decision you have made in a leadership role and tell why you made that decision.
At Merck, we were installing a machine to form our own trays. We were using five different colored trays and Engineering said Marketing wouldn’t allow one tray color. Three weeks before installation of the machine I arranged a meeting with the Marketing Director and my manager. I convinced the Marketing Director that we could save $150,000 per year by standardizing on one color. That change resulted great efficiency on the production line.
Early voting starts Friday, Sept. 19
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For election information visit the Page County Voter Registrar.
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