About Ryan

Why I'm doing this

I grew up in Tennessee and came to Johnson City for ETSU, where I studied and completed my B.S. in Computing. Plenty of people I graduated with left for Nashville or Charlotte or somewhere further. I stayed. I am building a business here. I am raising a family here.

That decision is the reason I'm running. When you plan to stay somewhere for the rest of your life, you start caring about things on a longer timeline. You start thinking about what a building will need in fifteen years, not just what it needs this budget cycle.

Our schools are genuinely great. Our graduation rates are strong. Most of our schools rate highly. Teachers here work hard and it shows. I'm not running because something is broken. I'm running because things this good take steady attention to stay that way, and I'd like to be one of the people paying it.

The kitchen table test

I'm the only one of the five candidates in this race with a child currently enrolled in Johnson City Schools. One member serving on the board right now also has a child in our schools. If I'm elected, there'd be two of us.

That's not a knock on anybody. Good board members come from all kinds of places. But there's a difference between reading about a policy and living under it. When a decision changes how the school day works, I find out about it the same way you do. From a kid at dinner.

I stayed in it

I ran for this board once before. When the votes were counted, I wasn't the one elected. But the reasons I ran were still here, so I kept showing up.

I kept going to meetings. I kept reading agendas. I kept learning how the board works. I'm asking again because I still believe I can help.