Carbondale Reporter

West Frankfort resident Tim Scarbrough is seeking a spot on the Johnston City CUSD 1 school board in Williamson County. 

He has one son who is currently enrolled at Johnston City High School and three other children who are graduates. 

“I'm just wanting to serve the public,” Scarbrough told Carbondale Reporter. “I was in the Army for 21 years and I retired from that back after I [was] deployed and returned from Iraq. I'm currently an executive for the State of Illinois. I've been working for the state for nearly 13 years now. It's just a service, being a service mind to the local community. I have always understood there are local positions to consider. Johnson City is where my children have gone to school, where I am, and where I have decided to live for some time.” 

After considering what position he might fit to serve the public, Scarbrough decided he is best suited to serve the public school system.

“It's been on my mind for a little while," he said. "I think if anything, there were questions in my mind some years ago about how my taxpayer dollars were being utilized and how that affected teacher salaries because I'm in the state government workers union. I was wondering about that. And then also [the] long-term educational quality and how it affects the children afterwards, because I do have four children and I've seen different things and how the local school system affects the children. The children's mother graduated from the Johnson City School school system a number of years ago, too. So I had an idea like, I wanted to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being properly used.” 

Scarbrough said he is not criticizing the current board. 

“It’s serving and ensuring that our taxpayer dollars are appropriately utilized,” he said. “From my military experience and from many years of being a successful trusted manager, the city or the school district can know that someone who has this management background, committee background, and can be someone that they can trust and they can [hold] accountable at that level. All right. [There] are too many places where many of us do not believe that our elected officials are looking out for us. Not that I want to be a paragon, but if I am elected to serve, then let me be a good example.”

Johnston City CUSD 1 oversees 1,053 students over four schools. It employs 66 teachers, according to the records of the National Center for Education Statistics.

Scarbrough is the Southern Area Facility Manager for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, his LinkedIn profile shows.

He is also the owner of Scarbrough Farm in West Frankfort. He was also a teacher/instructor of 4th and 5th Grade, as well as adults in the Trinity United Methodist Church, West Frankfort, IL from 2009 up to 2016.