Note: This is the sixth story in a series by Athens ISD profiling the seven members of the Board of Trustees.
By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
David Freeman is a renaissance man. He started to work at Texas Power & Light right after graduating from Kemp High School in 1979, doing everything until he retired from “digging holes to climbing poles.” He’s a minister. He works the land he lives on. He was a licensed master electrician for years. He served as president of the Athens Little Dribblers Association for most of the 1980s, and he has been a member of the Athens ISD Board of Trustees (Place 6) for the past 13 years.
Freeman’s wife, Deborah, works for AISD’s Pinnacle Early College High School as the liaison to Trinity Valley Community College. Their two daughters both graduated from Athens High School.
“It may be a cliche, but it’s true: I do it for the kids,” said Freeman of his service on the school board. “It’s the same reason I did Little Dribblers. I was at the gym almost every day after work from 4:30 to 6 or 7 and most of the day on Saturday from November to June. … I want to see kids succeed.”
Freeman said that desire to see children do well was best realized in one particularly memorable basketball game. “I had a little girl on my team who didn’t have a lot of natural ability,” he said. “We got ahead, and I said to the team, ‘Nobody shoot but her. Get her the ball.’ She shot and made a basket, and her eyes got big as saucers. I think that was the highlight of the whole thing.”
While Freeman is a sports fan — noting that success in athletics can have a hugely positive impact on school spirit — he has never undervalued the importance of academic success.
“When my oldest daughter was in 8th grade, she made a 74 or something in a class, and I took her off the basketball team for the rest of that six weeks,” he recalled. “The coach was livid. He said, ‘Why are you doing that? She’s passing.’ I said, ‘Not by my standards.’ We only had to do that once.
“People say kids are a lot different now. I think kids are pretty much the same. Parenting is what has changed.”
Freeman views the primary role of the school board to be overseeing the superintendent. “I’ve always said there’s not a bad superintendent; there’s a bad school board. There’s not a bad school board; there’s a lazy and apathetic community. If the community doesn’t know who they’re electing and doesn’t care, what can they expect?”
For the record, Freeman believes both the superintendent, Blake Stiles, and the school board on which he serves are doing well. “I feel like we’ve turned a corner in the last few years. We’re getting now to drill down into educational issues, and that’s where I’ve wanted to be for a long time. There were years we [were mostly] dealing with turnover. Now we have a superintendent who knows education. He’s getting after it. I’ve seen a lot of growth.”
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More about David Freeman
- He puts a very high value on personal integrity. “I would think one of the best things people can think about me is that I’m a person who’s fair. If I don’t have integrity, what do I have?”
- His favorite book is the Bible. “I’ve read Genesis through Revelations, minor prophets and major prophets. Faith [in God] is like a well of living water we can draw on. That’s what makes you love; that’s what makes you fair.”
We have been proud to call this man our friend for more than 30 years. He is genuine. He is real. He is a man of character. He is dedicated. He is humble. He loves children and the Athens ISD. Most of all, he walks his faith in his daily life and shares God’s love and grace with others. Thank you for your service David Freeman.