Board of Education Candidate Profile

Bio
Most know me as Troy Plutschak, a lifelong resident of Preston, Maryland.

My wife Heidi and I have been married for 18 years and have a daughter Avery, who attends Colonel Richardson High School. As a family rooted in the community, we take pride in being “homegrown” and invested in the future of Caroline County. I was born and raised in Preston, and I am a proud product of Caroline County Public Schools. I attended Preston Elementary School, Colonel Richardson Middle School, and graduated from Colonel Richardson High School in 2003. We are truly #HomeGrown.

I have dedicated more than two decades of public service to Caroline County, currently serving as a Lieutenant in the Communications Division of Caroline County Emergency Services, where I have worked for 21 years. In addition to my professional role, I have been deeply involved in volunteer service, including serving as Past Fire Chief of the Preston Volunteer Fire Company. I remain active with the department today as Vice President on the administrative side and as a Lieutenant on the fire side.

I have also contributed to the community by coaching youth sports, reflecting my commitment to supporting local families and students both on and off the field. I take great pride in attending student athletic events, music and chorus performances, drama productions, and art shows. I value visiting our schools, speaking with staff, and seeing teachers in their element.

What should the Board and its partners, chiefly Caroline County government, do to prepare in the event of an operational funding crisis in the next five years?
“So right now, currently, our fund balance is actually the highest it's ever been. That is something [that] when I came on the board, technically four years ago, they knew that it needed to be upped, and we needed to start packing some funds away because of the Lockerman build that was coming. We knew there was a school build coming.

We also knew that things were starting to get tight in the state, and I think that's the biggest thing, is being able to pack it away in our fund balance, to be able to have that rainy day fund, and for us to be secure to have that. I think we all agree that we've seen some other counties around us to have had to cut jobs and stuff like that, and Caroline has not had that problem yet. And we want to stay that way. We would like to keep all our employees, and I think that's the biggest thing we can do, is be able to get that fund balance and keep that fund balance up, and not do wasteful spending. We've had in the past where we did not spend money on just a small parking lot at North Caroline because we knew some other future things were coming. So, you know, just wasteful spending and watching how we can cut spending in other ways, and if we need to tighten the belt, we can also look further into cutting spending as well.

Now with the Commissioners, we would, of course, meet with them, like we always do every year. I think that our CFO and Derek have met with the county's finance director, Danny Fox, and talked about the future and what we need to do to put funds away. And I know that they are doing the same thing, trying to pack away as much and cut the wasteful spending as much as possible, because they know it's coming down the pipe with the state being tight.”

What is the greatest challenge facing administration, teachers, students, and families?
“I think the greatest challenge for me is just being so diverse, the way the county is. Trying to make everybody happy, and that is one thing that I have learned, that we can't always make everybody happy. We need to strive to do that, but we got to remember also that the kids are the number one reason why we're there, and they come first, and then we can go down the line.”

What State education policies impact Caroline County Public Schools the most?
“I'm going to say Blueprint as a whole is impacting Caroline County. I know that's not just a policy, but that's something that they're implementing. I think that's the biggest thing that affects us the most. We're having to change multiple things, the way we do things, how we calculate funds, and it's putting pressure on us because they're not giving us much detail on how things should be done. And everybody's learning. It's been a, I don't want to say nightmare, but it's been a learning curve for everybody trying to figure this out as a whole, not just as our county, but as a state, and even just the Eastern Shore, just trying to figure things out on what they're pushing and how we can spend funds, and how the funds need to follow the kids to each school makes a difference. I think that's the biggest policy at the moment that affects us.”