Stephen Parr: Sitting across the table from us right now is Paige Hoffpauir. Welcome to American Ground Radio. 

Paige: Thank you, Stephen & Hi, Luis. 

Stephen: So nice to have you here. Paige you are running for BESE District #4. 

Paige: I am. 

Stephen: This is your first campaign running for public office, right?

Paige: Yes it is.

Stephen: Why did you decide to start getting involved in politics? And specifically, why BESE District #4?

Paige: Well, I don’t plan on getting involved in politics. I plan on running a race for our children. I got the call at 10:30PM at night by Walter Lee, former Caddo & DeSoto Parish Superintendent, and former elected BESE Board member. He said Paige have you ever considered running for BESE Board? There is an opportunity. I said, “well, let me look it over”.  I looked it over & said “ABSOLUTELY”, my heart leapt within me and I got on the road the next morning headed to Baton Rouge and qualified. 

Stephen: So, what is it you would like to accomplish on the BESE Board? Why is this something you said your heart leapt, why?

Paige: Because our CHILDREN need FREEDOM. We have got to stand up for our children! We have got to put the POWER back in the hands of the PARENTS in free choice of curriculum and schools. 

Stephen: Your kids are a little older, yeah? They are in high school. What have you learned as a parent to help you apply to the BESE Board?

Paige: Well, I tell you what, I have always stood up for children. I have led my community and my neighbors in caring for our children and the children all over this city. My kids witnessed me do this. In their schools, I would look over all their materials and anything that was not appropriate, I put my foot down. I stand for TRUTH everyday and at the end of the day, that’s what our children have to be fed for them to grow into their God-given potential. 

Stephen: Let me ask you something about that. You said, “if you saw something not appropriate you put your foot down”. Are you talking about in homework papers you saw something come home that was not appropriate or what?

Paige: I am so conservative and so for the Word of God that anything that stands against it, I will call out. It could be things in our culture, our holidays, it could be…For instance, I didn’t want my children learning about Edgar Allan Poe. If Hitler was an incredible literary genius, do you think I would want my child to learn about Hitler’s “awesome” writings?

Paige: The point is we have to give POWER back to the parents, because they know their children and they have been designed by God to have the authority to train up their child in the way they should go. Not the state government, not the federal government and you really have to watch out for candidates that are supported by big money, because there is an agenda against our children and we as common citizens have got to stand up!

Louis Avallone: Is that what you are hearing as you campaign across the district, visiting with voters? What are the most important concerns that you are hearing?

Paige: Well, Luis. Our school system is failing. It’s failing our teachers, their hands are tied, they are not given the freedom in the classroom or the support to deal with the children’s situations. They are not even given the liberty to teach them the truth. They are given carved out conversations…If we could see what’s going on in the classroom, we would understand why the confusion is coming out into the city streets. These kids don’t know what to do, because they are not given the liberty to learn truth and actually be encouraged in the FUNDAMENTALS OF EDUCATION, which would just support what the PARENT see’s happening in the child and it would support what God has naturally designed to grow in the potential of that child. That’s why we need moral citizens to be given the truth in the classroom.

Stephen: You say they are not given the liberty, can you expand on that?

Paige: Well, you know, we have taken God’s Name out of our schools, we teach our children not to say His Name, but I tell you what, the same God that led our forefathers here against the dictatorship of King George III, is the same God who has a covenant with this United States of America and He gave our forefathers the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and all of those are for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that includes our children!

Stephen: Paige, I have about 30 seconds left. One of the complaints I have heard is that there aren’t people running for BESE Board who are in education. What sets you up to be the best candidate for this?

Paige: Well, my son is attending Hillsdale College right now in Michigan. He graduated above a 4.0 in the Gateway program at Byrd High School. My daughter, is at Byrd High School, she is taking a tough curriculum by choice. But, you know what? The Word of God is not accessible to her. They require her to stay in the classroom for SEVEN HOURS/day, so of course that was supplemented by me and my husband in our household. That should be accessible to every child IF THEY WANT IT. That’s why SCHOOL CHOICE will be good for the public schools, private schools, home schools etc. 

For instance, there is a grandma here in Louisiana who has a grandchild who goes to a school choice curriculum in Santa Monica, California. She speaks 3 languages and by the age of 10 years old, takes surfing classes and plays the piano and violin in the Santa Monica Orchestra.

Stephen: Well, that’s all the time we have today. Thank you for coming, Paige. 

Paige:  Thanks for having me!