NEWBERRY — Lucy Anne Meetze is no stranger to working with the Newberry County school system and that is why she wants to use her experience to fill the seat of Newberry County School Board District 3.

Meetze was born in Columbia to Anne and Charles Haile. Her family decided to move to Newberry before she started first grade, so to Meetze it almost feels as if she has lived in Newberry all of her life. She has one younger sister, Kate Wilson and has been married to Mike Meetze for 35 years.

Together, they have four adult children: Luke, Jacob, Joshua and David, two grandsons and a granddaughter on the way.

Meetze also attends Wightman United Methodist Church, where she used to serve as a Sunday School teacher. Meetze is a graduate of Newberry High School and Clemson University where she received a degree in accounting.

When Meetze decided that accounting wasn’t for her, she attended the University of South Carolina where she received her master’s degree in secondary education and taught math at Newberry High School until her children were born.

Once Meetze’s youngest son graduated from Mid-Carolina High School, they had three children in college so Meetze decided to return to the classroom and she accepted a position at Clinton High School.

“Those years that my children were in school, I was a parent volunteer, and I also served on PTO at Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School. Then I served on School Improvement Council at Mid-Carolina Middle and Mid-Carolina High School. So, as a teacher, I certainly had a strong interest in our school system,” said Meetze.

If elected, Meetze said she would like for the residents of Newberry to continue to work hard to help children, specifically in K-5 to overcome what may be lacking in home situations.

“We are going to have to give them more help in school and look at ways that we can help children to be able to read by the third grade,” she said. “Even though I’m a high school math teacher, reading is very important. If they can’t read, then they fall behind in middle school and high school. We want to continue to expand our career center, because it’s very important that our graduates are trained so that industries will be interested in coming to Newberry, so they know that we have a workforce that can meet their needs.”

In Newberry, she said property taxes need to be maintained and should not be a burden for taxpayers.

“But at the same time, we need to provide our children with the absolute best education that we can, and as a parent and grandmother, we want to make sure that whenever they graduate that they are prepared,” she said. “They are the future of Newberry County. To me, there’s nothing more important than what we provide our children with, as far as education in Newberry County.”

Meetze said she has received nothing but support from family and the community throughout the election.

“My family is very supportive. Two of my sons are actually teachers,” she said. “The community knows me fairly well. I used to volunteer at the schools, but I also served as Treasurer for Pomaria Boy Scout Troop 76. My husband and I have also been involved with the Booster Club, so I feel like I am very active in the community.

“People should vote for me because I feel like I’m unique,” she said. “I have a Business Degree, and one of the main responsibilities of a school board member is to deal with the budget and finances of the school district. School finances are very complicated. There are between 65-70 different funds, and so with my Accounting Degree, I understand the finance aspect of board member duties and also being a teacher currently in the classroom, I understand the educational decisions that are sometimes presented to the board as well.”

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By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@civitasmedia.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.