Candidate Profile: Marques Holmes
Candidate for Position 4
Bio
Marques A. Holmes has lived in the great city of Humble, TX since 2003. He was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM and made his way to the state of Texas after attending college in North Carolina. Marques and his wife Krystal have 2 children, Major, who is attending Groves Elementary and is in the Spanish Immersion Program (SIP) and Kamille, a graduate of Howard University and Atascocita High School.
Marques has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and several certifications in leadership training and development. He met his wife of almost 20-years in Greensboro, NC while both were attending college.
The reason Marques desires to be a board member for Humble ISD, is his passion and desire to see all children operate at their fullest potential. He knows that supporting the school district, teachers and parents gives the greatest pathway to success for our students. Each of these groups is integral in building out the framework for what Humble ISD’s mission is: “…to develop each child intellectually, artistically, emotionally, physically, and socially so that all students are life-long learners, complex thinkers, responsible global citizens and effective communicators.”
In leveraging his background from growing up in New Mexico, to being a medical and security risk management consultant working with various corporations and federal agencies (Center for Disease Control, State Department), a leadership coach to corporations and non-profits, to now managing essential telecom infrastructure across South Texas and Louisiana, Marques believes this gives him a multi-faceted experience that will help in making Humble ISD even better.
Both Marques and his wife have strong roots in the Humble community and share in their love for seeing children as life-long learners. Marques & Krystal have owned and operated a music school in the Humble area since 2005 with Krystal being classically trained in voice and piano. Most of the 175+ students who are, or have been in the program, attend(ed) area Humble ISD schools.
Marques at various points over the last few years has introduced and taught growth-mindset training to students at Groves Elementary. He worked in partnership with teachers to ensure the curriculum fed into Humble ISD and Groves Elementary mission and vision.
Marques and his family attend Global Outreach Community Church located in Atascocita, TX.
Below is a short list of the associations, organizations and certifications Marques has or has been a part of:
Board Member (Former) - Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Board Member – Global Outreach Community Church
Founding Member of The John Maxwell Coaching & Training Certification
Workplace Violence & Active Shooter Training
Leadership Houston Class of 28
DISC Certified Trainer
Public speaker and facilitator on blended families
Leadership Coach for Kids – Growth Mindset Training and Facilitation
Coach for Youth Sports:
The Gym – Volunteer basketball coach for 6 seasons
Texas Heatwave Soccer – 5 Seasons
2nd Baptist Upward Basketball League
YMCA – Youth Basketball
Q & A
What inspired you to run for Board Trustee? On that note, what are you hoping to accomplish if elected to the Board of Trustees?
The sole focus for running is ensuring our children have the best opportunity to have a great education. Having children that are educated, well rounded citizens makes for a better future for everyone. The accumulation of career experience also lends to aiding Humble ISD be an even better school district than it already is. I have a background in scholastic technology catering to the ever-changing landscape of how technology can be used to enhance education. When it comes to the safety our students, faculty, and staff, I have a background in the medical and security risk management industry; whether it is active shooter training, workplace violence training or working with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), I look to lean on these experiences to add value to our district. One of my greatest joys is working with children on leadership and having a growth mindset. I have been blessed to have multiple opportunities to go in and teach elementary students at Groves Elementary curriculum on tapping into their potential while dealing with adversity.
How will you advocate for teachers and staff within Humble ISD? In your opinion, what is important to the teachers and staff within Humble ISD?
First, I am a strong advocate for teachers and always have been. They can influence our students to accomplish great things in life. To facilitate the foundation for this happening, our teachers want and need support across several areas. In speaking with teachers in Humble ISD, I have found 2 common themes: 1) Wanting the continued trust and support of their administration in being empowered to make decisions that are best for the students. 2) Our teachers want to feel like they are actively being listened to in having opportunities to invest in their professional enrichment and development. Some have goals of advancing their careers within Humble ISD through promotion or alternate positions that tap into their core strength and passion. This also translates into the conversation around competitive pay for our teachers and staff.
Tell us your thoughts on how Humble ISD has handled virtual learning, and ideas for virtual learning going forward?
There is always room for improvement but seeing how quickly Humble ISD adapted to delivering virtual learning last March was a proud moment as a Humble ISD parent.
Moving forward, we must continue to push the envelope realizing virtual learning is an alternative form of delivering education where traditional learning environments may not be conducive to certain students’ success. We need to also continue educating teachers and staff on becoming even better at delivering education virtually and look at upgrading our technology systems where appropriate. With my experience in technology in the scholastic arena, we need to ensure when it is time for going after funding that we are viewing it with virtual learning systems/processes in mind.
Other than virtual learning, tell us your thoughts about Humble ISD and the handling of COVID-19, both for teachers and students
Being a parent of a student, I have firsthand experience and can say that Humble ISD has done a good job from this standpoint: Allowing parents to make the best choice for their child whether in-person, online, or a mixture of both. I appreciate the nimbleness of Humble ISD offering laptops for children who do not have access to a computer at home, this is just one facet of showing their commitment to students. I think if we are to remain competitive and look at the future in retaining and drawing the best and brightest teachers, we need to offer them more flexibility in how they deliver teaching as well.
As you look at Humble ISD, are there areas where funds are overspent? What areas would you look at to reduce expenses?
As a Humble ISD board member, fiscal responsibility is tremendously important. I will always push for increased pay for our teachers and staff and spending on technology initiatives to better educate our students, enable our teachers, and empower our staff. Managing our budget does not always have to be a zero-sum game where we take dollars from one area of the budget to stand up another area of the budget. I would continue in the vein of being creative in how we bring revenue to support what is most important for our district.
As a parent of a Spanish Immersion Program (SIP) student, I can honestly say that enrichment programs like this are preparing our students to be world leaders that communicate in broad environments. These and other programs need to be offered at as many schools as makes sense educationally and fiscally.
During several Board meetings, students and parents have brought up topics around diversity and inclusion. What can Humble ISD do to ensure it is welcoming to students of all backgrounds?
As part of the diversity and inclusion team of a Fortune 500 company, the same challenges Humble ISD is being presented with are also present in corporate America, I would hope to be able to offer value in this area as well. From a leadership standpoint, our mission and vision statements must reflect what we are driving towards in D&I. Then the district should baseline diversity and inclusion across several metric’s according to what we want to accomplish. Along the way, there should be an oversight committee put in place that is made of teachers, students, parents and Humble ISD administrators to ensure mutual accountability towards the goals we are putting in place.
Humble ISD has several Title I campuses. How do we ensure that those campuses have the resources needed?
From my perspective, Humble ISD is doing well and we can do even better. With the rebuilding of North Belt Elementary, an older campus, it shows money is being spent on preserving the history of these schools while also updating them to today’s standards in technology and learning environments.
Closing thoughts? Anything you would like to add that we didn’t ask? What can people do (or where can they go) to learn more about you?
Thank you for the opportunity to answer these questions. I hope it allows the viewers of our community to learn more about me and my background.
Digital Properties if you’re looking to get connected:
Website: www.Vote4Marques.com
Email: marques@Vote4Marques.com
IG: @MarquesAHolmes
Facebook: Facebook.com/Marques.A.Holmes
All the content above was provided by the candidate and is not necessarily the opinion of the administrators of Humble ISD Parents. Other than formatting, we have not made any edits.