The Columbus City Council tonight can choose from seven candidates to fill a vacant city school board seat.
The seat is open following Stephen Jones’ resignation from the post last month after he was elected to the city council.
The applicants are Ronnie Clayton, Berry Hinds, Gregory Jefferson Sr., George Lowe, Willie Petty Sr., Fredrick D. Sparks and Eric Thomas.
Whoever the council chooses will fill the remainder of Jones’ unexpired 5-year-long term, which ends March 2, 2019.
The Columbus Municipal School District serves approximately 4,500 students. Its board consists of five people each appointed by the city council.
The applicants
Ronnie Clayton said he has worked as building manager of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbus for 20 years and has been owner of Brother’s Keeper Barbecue, located at the corner of Seventh Avenue North and 20th Street North, since 2010. He has two children — one a CMSD graduate, one in elementary school — and said they are the reason he looks to fill the seat.
“I feel the need to address the situation I see on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “I just thought it was an urgent time for me. I’m not a political person, never have been asked to do this, I’ve just been led to do this.”
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Berry Hinds worked for Weyerhauser for 25 years and has attended numerous local meetings, including CMSD board meetings, regularly since he retired a few years ago. Hinds volunteers as president of the Columbus Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association Inc. and offers low-cost electrical system assistance throughout the area.
He said after watching the district for about three years, he has an idea of how to assist as a member of the board.
“I’ve seen what they’re doing and get what they’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “Being a citizen of Columbus, and looking at the inability to move Columbus ahead as a middle-tier or top-tier school, they’ve been unable to do that yet.”
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Gregory Jefferson Sr. is a superintendent/supervisor with Johnston-Tombigbee Furniture Manufacturing who has three middle-school aged children in CMSD. He said he wants to better the school system through communication with teachers and the superintendent and that he wishes to be elected to the seat in order to be a positive role model for his children.
“I promised people I would involve myself more in the community, try to be a positive person that people can look up to to give them a positive image to the city of Columbus,” he said. “A lot of kids are troubled kids and I want to give them a different aspect of life…have someone to look up to.”
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George Lowe is a self-described entrepreneur who recently moved back to Columbus from Atlanta. He’s the owner of GTA & Co. LLC, an apparel brand, and said he has a number of other ventures that he continues to cultivate. He is a 2004 graduate of Columbus High School, president of the Sale Elementary Parent and Teacher Organization and has two children in the district.
“I received a few phone calls to ask if I would consider applying, wanting someone being able to connect with the kids and have a voice on the board,” Lowe said. “By call number six or seven, I thought more about it.”
He said his distinction as a former Falcon should set him apart from applicants, and that he wishes to energize the board with a “youthful presence and perspective.”
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Willie Petty Sr. has pastored Jerusalem Baptist Church in Columbus for 29 years, and worked as a teacher in Missouri for eight years before moving to Columbus in 1987. He taught one semester in Columbus schools and has served as a substitute teacher since. His children graduated from Columbus High School, and Petty said he was a foster parent for several years.
“We need to know what the students need, we need to intermingle, we can’t stay in the office,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest things I think I can bring, from elementary to high school age, I’ve subbed them all. I’ve seen how they’re doing and what they need.”
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Fredrick D. Sparks has worked 24 years for the U.S. Postal Service, where he is currently a supervisor of customer service. He’s also a mentor with Omega Prep via Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and a member of the graduate chapter in Columbus.
He has four children, one that has graduated high school, two currently in the district and one that will begin in August.
Sparks said he wishes to bring new ideas to the board, including those for reworking the school calendar.
“The way the school year itself is set up, maybe entertaining a look at extending the school year,” he said.
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Eric Thomas is father to one CMSD middle school student and a customer service representative with PLS Title Loan, where he has worked about 10 months. Prior to that he worked in insurance. He’s also a youth minister at New Beginning Full Gospel Baptist Church in Columbus and has been a sports coach for more than 20 years with the Columbus-Lowndes Recreational Authority coaching baseball, basketball and softball for boys and girls.
“I’ve always wanted to apply,” he said. “I would like to see our district be in the top 10 in the state, and want to help take the kids to the next level.”
He said he believes in the work done by CMSD Superintendent Philip Hickman and that he would like to expand on it. His other biggest concern as a board member would be culpability.
Sam Luvisi is news editor and covers education for The Dispatch.
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