ALLEN HADAWAY

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, my family moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1971, where my father was involved in the oil and gas business. I graduated in 1976 from Edmond Memorial High School, and attended Oklahoma State University, worked as a roughneck on an offshore drilling rig, and graduated in 1982 from Oklahoma University with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. Following graduation, I married Christina and went to work for T. Boone Pickens at Mesa Petroleum in Amarillo. In 1985, I moved to Canadian, where I was employed by C.W. Kelly Jr., Inc. In 1990, we established Hadaway Engineering Inc., an oil and gas consulting engineering company, and Hadaway Properties, LLC, a real estate business. From 2011 to 2019, I was involved in Hadaway Consulting and Engineering LLC with three other business partners. I am currently a contract professional petroleum engineer through Hadaway Consulting. My wife and I have three children: Kaitlyn, born in 1988; Grace, born in 1991; and Everett, born in 2003.

HEATH MITCHELL

I am originally from Wheeler, and I graduated from Wheeler ISD in 1993. I attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University and graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing. My wife, Tricia, is currently in her 14th year at Canadian Middle School. We have three boys. Tate graduated from CISD in 2020 and currently lives in Austin, working on his college degree and working as a fitness and nutrition coach at Crossfit Renew. Trace is a junior, and Weston is in the sixth grade. I am currently the president at Inter-Bank. I began my banking career here 21 years ago. I have been very involved in the community and served on numerous boards over the years. I am currently the president of the Canadian Education Foundation, former president of the Canadian Rodeo Association, current chair of the SPRC Committee at the First United Methodist Church, and former president and currently serving my sixth year on the Canadian Economic Development Corporation.

DAVID PARNELL

I was born in 1960 in Lubbock, and in 1963, my family moved to Gem City, where I attended Blue Ridge Elementary and Canadian ISD. I graduated CHS in 1978, Texas Tech University in 1982, and earned a Master of Science from East Texas State University (Carswell AFB campus) in 1995. I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the USAF. While in USAF, I flew the B52, KC135, and served as a contracting officer (held unlimited Warrant for Service, Construction, and Major Weapon System contracts), flight commander, deployment commander, director of operations of Homeland Security/Homeland Defense Tanker Task Force, deputy director of operations of Global Tanker Task Force, government flight representative, and weapon system budget programmer for HQ USAF at the Pentagon. Over the years, I deployed and flew combat missions over eight different war zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan. I deployed and commanded a ground-based flying ISR unit staged in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In 2014, I retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. I operate a small ranch in southeast Hemphill County, raising Wagyu and Wagyu cross cattle. I am a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Hemphill County Ag Committee, the American Legion, and a past member of the CISD board of trustees. I married Cay Parnell in 2015.

BRAD WARREN

Cassi Brown and I married in 2019, and together, we have five children ranging from a 22-year-old senior at WTAMU to a 7-year-old second-grader at CES. We attend the Canadian Church of Christ. Professionally, I have been in oil and gas for 18 years, and am currently the business development manager for Champion Automation in Perryton. I have international business experiences in North America, as well as Asia and Europe. Cassi and I started TR Cattle Company last year as the retail beef outlet for her family’s cattle business, TR Land & Cattle, out of McLean. I have also served on the Canadian City Council and the Canadian/Hemphill County Economic Development Council.

Why should voters cast their ballot for you as a candidate for the Canadian ISD board of trustees?

AH: I love living in Hemphill County and care deeply about the future of the county and CISD. I am excited about the future of CISD and Hemphill County. I have nine years prior experience as a CISD board member and 35 years of experience owning and operating multiple successful businesses in Hemphill County. For 39 years, I have been consulting and recommending to my oil and gas clients on how to economically spend hundreds of millions of their dollars on operational projects. I will use this experience to work for CISD and the taxpayers of Hemphill County. I lived in Canadian the summer between my junior and senior year of high school and the summer between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. I said then that this is a nice place to live and raise a family. Then in 1985, my wife and I had the chance to move to Canadian and start a family.

HM: I have had a close working relationship with Canadian ISD for several years, either through my involvement with the Canadian Education Foundation or through my position at the bank. I have a vested interest in the school having had one son already graduate and currently having two other sons in the school and a wife who is in her 14th year of teaching at CISD. Moving to Canadian the first time was a decision based on a career opportunity for me. It has allowed me to work in the financial field for 21 years. I feel like my financial knowledge and experience will be a huge asset to Canadian ISD. Over the last 21 years, we have moved away from Canadian for short stents of time due to career advancement in the financial field. We came back because of our sons and the opportunities they have at Canadian ISD and the quality of education. As a family, we chose Canadian, and that has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. I love to serve in the community of Canadian. I feel like my experience with numerous other boards, in addition to my financial background, makes me a strong candidate for the school board. I also feel like having a wife and children in the system lets me bring a different perspective to the board. I want to serve on the school board to help make those decisions that need to be made so that my kids and your kids continue to get the high quality of education that brought my family back here.

DP: As a former member of CISD board of trustees, I offer experience and insight, maybe old-school wisdom. Hopefully, these qualities can be viewed as positives.

BW: I will gladly accept the responsibility with as much grace and compassion as I can muster. Most of us are doing the best we can with the tools we have, and sometimes, it can feel like we’re not enough. I cannot imagine a time when it was harder to be an educator than right now. Coming back from COVID has been hard for everyone, and I’m sure there are still losses and difficulty that we need to process, not only personally, but also as a community. The first thing I try to understand in any situation is the other person’s perspective. Empathy is absolutely imperative when serving as a trustee.

Where did you attend public school as a student, and how did it help shape who you are today?

AH: I graduated from Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Oklahoma, in 1976. I will have to admit that I was not a very good student in high school. I did not take advantage of the good high school education that was available to me. I soon found out that college was much harder without a good educational basis from high school. This shaped me into understanding how important a good high school education is if you want to further your education to the next level. I was fortunate to be able to attend and graduate from the University of Oklahoma in 1982 with a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering and then to become a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas in 1986.

HM: I attended Wheeler ISD from kindergarten through high school and graduated in 1993. Even then, I was involved in numerous organizations and held offices such as class president and student council president. I liked going to a school that was small enough where I knew everyone in high school and knew most people in the community. I had a strong support system within the school that always encouraged me to get involved and emphasized the importance of getting involved. This involvement carried over to my adult life. After graduating from Wheeler, I attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in business marketing. SWOSU was where I met my wife, Tricia, who I have been married to for 24 years.

DP: I graduated from CHS in 1978, Texas Tech in 1982, and East Texas State University in 1995. All three are public schools. As a product of the public school system, I was shaped by dedicated teachers and a supportive community that instilled a strong work ethic, coupled with high expectations of character, leadership, responsibility, and accountability. These attributes have served me well in my personal/family life, military career, and community service.

BW: I didn’t grow up in Canadian, but I got here as soon as I could. I attended the public schools in Amarillo, and yes, I was a Sandie, but don’t hold that against me. Throughout my entire career as a student, there were teachers and staff that had a profound influence on who I am today. They didn’t just teach me a specific curriculum, they also taught me how to problem-solve and gave me an unquenchable thirst for learning. I have never stopped learning, and those individual teachers, aides, counselors, principals, etc., have been thought of very often and fondly. I can’t think of a single class I took that I haven’t used in my adult life.

What is one of the greatest strengths of Canadian ISD today, and what is its greatest weakness? How would you, as a trustee, build on its strengths and diminish its weaknesses?

AH: The greatest strengths of CISD today are the CISD employees and the community that set a high standard for the students. Building on CISD strengths would be to keep training and hiring first-rate employees and new and existing policies that will increase the community support for CISD. This may not necessarily be a weakness, but I believe each child’s path after high school can be different. If a student wants to continue their education in college or if a student is interested in a trade after high school, then we should prepare them for their futures equally.

HM: I think one of the greatest strengths of Canadian ISD is all of the passionate people that make up the school. I’ve been saying this for years, but passion is the key to success. That is true in communities, business, and even schools. Our school is full of passionate elementary teachers that not only lay the foundation but also love on our children. The middle school is full of passionate teachers that prepare the students for their next step into high school, and high school teachers that are passionate about preparing their kids to go out into the adult world. We also have passionate administrators and school board members that are always looking at ways to better prepare our kids for the next chapter of their life and always looking to expand those opportunities. As far as weaknesses go, I think it is something that all schools face and try to avoid, and that is complacency. We cannot become complacent or content. We have to always strive to be better and do better. We need to continue to find ways to give our students the very best tools to prepare them for their next chapter after graduation. This includes students going on to college, trade schools, or straight to the workforce.

DP: Canadian ISD’s greatest strength is the community that surrounds it. Our community consists of taxpayers, parents, teachers, and fans that are steadfast in their support for the mission of the district. There are several cornerstones of a successful, vibrant community, and our school is definitely one of them. Unfortunately, with the shrinking tax base, all weaknesses become exposed. I urge the community to not become complacent or lose sight that support is needed more than ever during these difficult economic times.

BW: I wonder if the answer to both of these questions is the same...”WINNING.” As a strength, we know how to win. Having a winning attitude can sometimes be hard to pull off consistently. It’s a wonderful legacy we have here in Canadian. The students and faculty show wide-open ambition. As a weakness, walking the tightrope of winning in a healthy way can be very difficult to sustain. Maybe the strategy “win at all costs” is great for a short-term plan. However, does it serve a successful long-term strategy for young adults and our community? What does this attitude do to us emotionally, physically, or even spiritually? Are we setting our children up for success after they leave Canadian when we can no longer control the outcome? What if we tweaked the definition of winning just a little bit and included things like finishing apprenticeships, trade school, college and/or higher education? What if we built more entrepreneurs to come back to Canadian and help grow the economy? What if we had community succession planning instead of planning for high school success?

What one thing would you like to accomplish during your time as a CISD board member?

AH: My focus would be to continue the high standards and excellent education we offer at CISD. However, without sufficient money/funding, it is harder to accomplish this. I am excited about the rising oil and gas prices, and I think there will be opportunities for CISD to take advantage of the increased revenue from these increased prices. It is my understanding that oil and gas taxes are around 90 percent of the income for CISD. If there is one thing that I have learned through the ups and downs of the oil and gas industry, it is that you spend money on the things you want during the good times while at the same time saving money for the things you will need during hard times. The one thing that I would like to accomplish during my time as a CISD board member is to ensure that CISD has the funds in the future to continue the quality education for the students during good times and hard times. I think that the excellent school system in Canadian is one of the main reasons that families want to live here and also the reason that families want to move here.

HM: Running for a seat on the school board is a decision that I didn’t take lightly. I think the experience I have gained through my career and my involvement in this community has gotten me to the point where I’m excited about the opportunity. I want our school to continue to be prideful of what we have accomplished and continue to strive to do better and be better. I want us to continue to fill the school with passionate people. Each year, I want the graduating seniors to have more opportunities and be better prepared for their next chapter than the group of seniors who graduated before them. Ensuring that the staff and administration have the resources to accomplish these goals would be the top priority. DP: I’m a strong believer in accountability.

DP: I’m a strong believer in accountability. We are all accountable for our own actions or lack thereof. As elected trustees, we are accountable to the community to provide guidance and oversight to the superintendent. We have high expectations of all aspects of the educational process. It’s incumbent on all of us to make sure those expectations are met. Over the past few years, I’ve become a huge advocate of the opportunities that are available for our girls and the support that is directed toward those opportunities. I look forward to ensuring that equity to participate is afforded to every student at every campus.

BW: I don’t really have an agenda or a secret plot if I am fortunate enough to be elected trustee. Even if we do need to make changes, I imagine they would be very small. We have a wonderful school system that helps to educate amazing young people. I would say that we are in the middle of a very difficult and polarizing time in the United States. If I had one goal, it would be to continue to keep politics out of our school administration and maintain civil, cooperative communication with everyone.