READY TO SERVE: DAVID COATES

Guilford County School Board

District 3

Prioritizing the Potential of Every Child

-- Physical and emotional safety

-- Attractive pay for teachers and staff

-- Accountability for student achievement

-- Clear communication from the district

David Coates is the Democrat running for District 3's seat on the Guilford County School Board. Like many of the people reading this, he is not a North Carolina native, but with his wife, Suzanne Schafer-Coates, chose to live here. They have three sons and three grandchildren.

Background

Education &

Work Experience

David is a graduate of Wake Forest University, received a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree from Vanderbilt University, and a Juris Doctor from Wake Forest School of Law.

David's career was as a lawyer in New Jersey. From 1982 – 2019, he was appointed to consecutive 1-year terms as counsel for the East Windsor Regional School Board. He was co-lead counsel on multiple school district and taxpayer challenges to New Jersey's method of funding public schools.

Since moving to Greensboro, David has joined College Park Baptist Church and Summit Rotary Club.

He is past president of Hightstown Library Association, president of Hightstown-South Brunswick Rotary Club, co-chairman of Mayor and Council Committee regarding the Hightstown bypass, vice president of Family Service Agency of Princeton, moderator of the First Baptist Church of Hightstown, member of the Council of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, president of the Hightstown East Windsor YMCA, co-team captain of Team Charlie for ten years (a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation – JDRF – Walk Team), vice president of government affairs of the mid-Jersey Chapter of JDRF, chairman of New Jersey Citizens Coalition for Cures, and founding president of I-Care of East Windsor-Hightstown, a group which facilitates bringing free quality mental health services to the community and provides a location for that work.

Volunteer Experience

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”

— Sydney J. Harris

David believes in the power of education to open students' minds to the possibilities of life in our world. Children need to be ready to be productive members of our existing and emerging world. An educational system that does not adequately prepare children for this emerging world does children a disservice.

The Guilford County School District, through the bond issue and a variety of programs and initiatives for children, has been responding to these possibilities and challenges, but the need, to use a concept from the Presbyterians, is not only to be reformed, but always reforming.

David is committed to an educational system that addresses the whole child through high expectations, rigorous instruction, freedom of inquiry with a heavy emphasis on reading and writing, and a grounding in mathematics and scientific method. This needs to be the case for both students on an academic path and for students on a vocational path. All students need exposure to art, music, sports, and encouragement to engage in extracurricular activities.

We live in a democratic republic which is under internal attack. A civics curriculum, grounded in an understanding of our history, Constitution, respect for law, and our court system, is essential for all students, if we as a society are to make “a more perfect union”, based on the aspirational words of the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.”