WINNSBORO - Coming from Michigan, Stephen Belton approaches the issues in the Fairfield County School District with a fresh pair of eyes, but a pair of eyes that have seen similar experiences in his lifetime.

To understand where his perspective comes from, he wanted people to understand who Stephen Belton is and why he felt compelled to address the board on the school issues at the meeting in July.

To that purpose, Belton dropped by the offices of The Herald Independent last week to answer the questions: who is Stephen Belton? Why did he feel compelled to address the school board on the problems he sees in the school district?

Belton was born in Winnsboro in 1971. When his father passed while Stephen was a young child, his mother moved the family back to Detroit, Michigan, where Belton got most of his schooling.

He graduated in the Detroit Public School system.

“I think that’s where my passion to want to work with kids comes from, because of my background and graduating from the public school system.

“I remember the day after graduating, not knowing what was going to come next. Like some of these kids, I reached out to a lot of hands, and some of the hands I reached out to weren’t always the hands that I should have been holding on to.”

A friend of Belton and Belton’s football coach worked to get Stephen on the right path, and he

found himself at Selma

University in Alabama.

It wasn’t until Belton was at college that a professor discovered that he couldn’t read.

“For years I had gone through public school, and I played the system. I see the same things going on with these kids; when it’s their turn to read, they just act out. The teachers don’t have time to deal with them, so they go on to the next person.

“Before you know it, you play this kind of role over and over again, and the next time its your turn to read, they just go right past you. You go through the system not knowing how to read,” he said.

Belton worked with the professor and learned how to read and understand words.

“She also taught me how to look at things differently--don’t just look for a black and white answer, research it, see what’s actually going on,” he said.

He transferred shortly after to Henry Ford University, where he got his degree.

He started as a mechanic and eventually wound up in the corporate structure in the automotive industry.

Through his colleagues, he experienced what many think of as the middle American dream, family cookouts on the weekends, vacations with the whole family, a world that Belton had little experience of. He also did well in the automotive industry, one time being out of work for only a week after being laid off from one of the auto manufacturers.

“I got the opportunity to come back here, and now I see things a little differently,” Belton said. He came back to the area in 2007.

Because of the downturn of the economy and the cutbacks in the auto industry, Belton lost many of those things he had--a nice house in Michigan, a vacation home.

“These last few months or a year, I would say, have been a building up from what I was. But I realized, it’s not about the money for m any more.”

Belton’s daughter attended Cornerstone Christian Academy for a while, and Stephen Belton saw parents who were involved in their children's’ education.

“The teachers at that school taught parents how to be better parents,” he said.

Belton watched the other parents work with the kids at Cornerstone.

“They weren’t highly educated or anything, they were just guys out there letting the kids know they were there for them. And I saw the kids respond to that,” he said. Parents would get together to hare ideas, discuss how they’ve found ways to help the kids learn, Belton said.

“But when I got into the Fairfield Magnet School, there really wasn’t the same atmosphere. It was like the atmosphere that I grew up in,” Belton said.

He started attending school board meetings and watching what was going on in the district around him, and though he saw some problems, he also saw a lot of potential.

“I do believe this school district has a great opportunity right now. Because they are such a small district, there are a lot of changes they can make. I want to be a part of that change, I want to work with the school district. They have a lot of great teachers,” he said.

Belton has been working as a substitute teacher within the district, allowing him to see things from the inside.

“The school district is actually a great school district; there’s a lot of great pride, I love seeing all the parents at the games. There’s a lot of things going on in the school district that are very positive. What’s missing is that something to kind of bring everybody back together.

“That’s something I see, from the outside coming in, that we don’t have a lot of unit in the community in the community or the school district...we’re not pushing as hard as we can, or if we are, we’re going in too many different directions. We need to come together and find a common goal, get a common vision.”

He said, “I’m no trying to be a critic of the school district; I want to work with them.”

Belton mentioned the upcoming ‘Prep Rally’ that signals the beginning of the school year. He suggested getting the kids involved in the planning and the event, because many of them are excited about school starting back up.

“Let’s go to the different communities and talk the Prep Rally up, let’s knock on doors and tell people ‘we’ve got something exciting for the kids to take part in.’

“These kids want an education, they just have so many obstacles and distractions in their way right now that keep them from getting a good education.

“As parents, as community leaders as adults, I think we need to step up a little bit and do something different. We can’t keep going down the same road, because we’ve been down that road, several times, and it isn’t working.”

Belton felt compelled to address these issues to the school board because he has a daughter in the school system, and even if he ensures that she has an education and understands the value and worth of learning, she will still struggle in 20 years from now, because of the lack of learning of her peers.

If all the kids don’t learn and realize the value and worth of an education, these are the people that will build her house, or repair her automobile, or work on her in an operating room.

It’s because he believes in educating all of the children together, as a community, not just his daughter, that Belton is speaking up.

Belton wants to start a men’s group of men in the community, a group that can take some ownership and responsibility for educating the children in the community and supporting the people in the community who are educating them. Interested person can contact Belton by email at stephen.belton@gmail.com.