Three Oktibbeha County residents are vying for a spot on the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees.
A Mississippi Department of Corrections probation officer, a past applicant to the board and an associate director of Mississippi State University Extension Service’s Early Years Network have all qualified for the Nov. 8 election that will fill outgoing school board trustee Eddie Myles’ seat.
The candidates in the non-partisan race are John Brown, Rondeze Harris and Jamila Taylor.
The school board race is SOCSD’s first official contest since consolidation legislation mandated this year’s expiring, city-appointed seat transition into an elected position determined by Oktibbeha County voters.
Legislation previously limited potential candidates to residents living outside Starkville’s city limits and barred former members of the OCSD Board of Trustees from running.
Although 2014’s Senate Bill 2818 clearly outlines who can run, it does not specifically say who can vote in the election.
Officials with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Wednesday that the voter pool is limited to those qualified electors living outside of Starkville’s corporate limits.
Brown qualified in July when he delivered a petition of at least 50 registered voters supporting his candidacy to the Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk’s office, while similar petitions for both Harris and Taylor were certified by Circuit Clerk Glenn Hamilton on Sept. 9.
Brown, who lost last year’s Republican primary for Oktibbeha County tax assessor, is a parole and probation officer with a law enforcement background and previous emergency management experience in Lowndes County. The 59-year-old also taught a variety of subjects in public school systems for five years, including a one-year stint in the former Oktibbeha County School District.
Harris submitted his name last year to the Starkville Board of Aldermen as a potential replacement for SOCSD trustee Juliette Weaver-Reese, who resigned her post in August. He was disqualified after it was discovered he lived in the county, not inside Starkville’s city limits.
Harris did not return a phone call Wednesday, but in 2015 it was reported he is a graduate of Starkville High School and former Mr. Starkville High. He has worked for Sara Lee Foods, Severstal, Weyerhaeuser and Yokohama Tire Manufacturing.
Taylor, 41, is an administrator with the Early Years Network, which offers training, technical assistance, parenting and family support, leadership development and special needs screening, services and referrals to educators and parents throughout the state. She has also served on a variety of parent-teacher organizations in the school district, the district PTO’s executive council and its bi-racial ethics committee.
The Lewis Holloway effect
One issue that could influence county voters is how a potential school board member will work with SOCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway.
Both Holloway and the school board have drawn criticism from county residents as Starkville School District absorbed OCSD, with many saying they felt like they were left out of the process by local and state representatives.
Pressure from county constituents intensified after he was charged with two counts of simple assault via threats for shooting a gun into the air during a 2015 argument with his neighbor.
The school board suspended Holloway for two weeks after his arrest last year and took no action last month after he was convicted in justice court on both counts. Holloway has appealed his convictions to Oktibbeha County Circuit Court
Neither Brown nor Taylor would comment on Holloway’s legal troubles or the school board’s handling of the situation, as they were not privy to all the facts reviewed by trustees or law enforcement agents.
Brown, however, said he finds the situation troubling, given his history in law enforcement.
“I do not know him personally. I have not met the man, so I have no predetermined conclusion on him,” Brown said. “I am going to, if I’m fortunate to be elected, go in with an open approach and educate myself on what’s been going on, what needs to go on, what’s good and what’s bad.”
Taylor said the school district should implement accountability measures that are “fair and just to everyone, from the administration down to the staff level.”
“(Holloway) has done some great things to get the school district to where we are now,” she said. “I’d like to obtain more information, but we, in general and as a school district, need to move forward and focus on the main goal of educating our children.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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