School board seats often receive some of the least attention on a ballot, even though they have a tremendous impact on students, families and communities.
Schools play roles beyond educating children, from racial and cultural socialization among students to workforce training and economic development for their areas.
All three school districts in Pike County have contested elections for school board members, and every district in the area has at least one seat on the ballot.
McComb
Angela Bates and Julius Nash are running to succeed Lorraine Gayden, who decided not to seek reelection as the representative of McComb district residents who live outside the city limits.
Bates, a Federal Express employee who graduated from McComb High School and is the daughter of a retired district employee, said she wants to help every McComb student have the chance for a good education.
“I like what I see,” Bates said. “I like the leadership shown by (Superintendent Dr. Cederick) Ellis, and I want to be a part of that.”
She said she would like to focus on increasing student achievement if she wins a term on the school board.
Bates, whose daughter graduated from MHS in 2012, said she believed the district had performed well under COVID-19 precautions, from instituting online classes and busing meals to students last spring, to opening up on a hybrid schedule this month.
“I’m impressed by what I’ve seen,”she said. “There were some hiccups at the beginning, but they got worked out. They provided wifi access hotspots, and that was a great thing they did.”
She said she was also impressed by the district’s handling of graduation last year.
“I would love to be part of the district. I will give 100%,” she said. “I will put my best interests to use on behalf of the district and the scholars to ensure they acquire a good education.”
Nash, owner of Summit Wine and Spirits, is the father of three and grandfather of two current elementary students in McComb. He said on the page that his business experience would be an asset to the district.
“My first priority as a board member will be to ensure that every child in our district receives the best and appropriate level of education to be ready no matter what path they choose,” Nash wrote. “This can be achieved at the school board level by supporting students, families, administrators, faculty (teachers) and staff to be able to do their job appropriately and effectively.”
He said he would support the use and expansion of technology in the district, work to improve community relations and support students, families and teachers.
Nash also said he would be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars, helping to “ensure responsible spending for the district.
“I think mt business background and management expertise will be useful to the district. I want to work with the administration to make the kind of changes that will get this district where we need to be.”
North Pike
Incumbent Chris Richardson, appointed in March after former member Kevin Matthew’s resignation from the District 1 seat, faces Chris Williams for the remaining year of the term.
Richardson, a Methodist pastor who works with Hospice Ministries and has three children in the district, said response to COVID-19 has dominated her time on the board.
“I jumped straight into that,” she said. “My time on the board has been focused on reopening the schools safely, and we have accomplished that. We’re following the rules, and we’re doing well.”
After all the focus on the virus through much of the year, “we’re getting back to quality education as our focus,” Richardson said. “We’ve done that to the ability that we can. Quality education is North Pike’s strength, and it will be a joy to focus more there again.
“I hope we can move beyond COVID soon. That would be wonderful.”
She said communication between the schools and district families is also an important issue.
As a product of public schools and the daughter of a former school board member, she said she has a strong interest in being a public education leader, and as a pastor felt a call from God to run.
She ran for the McComb school board’s one elected seat in 2010 before moving into the North Pike district.
“I want to try to meet as many people as I can,” Richardson said. “I’m excited. The best part of this is really realizing that this system is part of such a strong community,”
Williams, a claims representative for Farm Bureau Insurance, also has three children in the district, and said he has thought about running for the school board for several years.
He and his wife are both alumni of North Pike, and his grandfather served on North PIke’s board.
“I want to have a voice for the future of the schools my children will attend and provide the best opportunities for them and the district,” Williams said.
He said the district’s COVID-19 response was important in his filing to run for the board in this election.
“One of the deciding factors for me was, I thought they should be in school from the beginning,” Williams said. “I strongly support our students being in the classroom.”
North Pike students finished the last school year in online classes and started this school year on a hybrid schedule, with students split into two groups attending school in-person on alternating days, and some students receiving only online instruction.
“I feel the school district needs online learning options for students who medically cannot attend school,” Williams said. “The majority of students don’t fit that, and they should be in school.”
He said he likes the four-day-a-week schedule most students are now on, and believes that is working.
“I hope things are able to continue like they are with no hiccups,” he said.
Also in North Pike, incumbent Jamie Jackson is unopposed for another term as the District 5 member.
South Pike
Cassandra Lewis, a former teacher and now a licensed practical nurse at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and The Claiborne, is facing retiree and Peoples Undertaking employee Percy Martin Jr. for the District 5 school board seat.
The seat has been vacant most of the year since former member Sam Hall resigned to become a county supervisor.
Lewis said she believes the South Pike board needs to change directions.
“The school board needs to change for the children,” Lewis said. “I believe decisions are being made that are not beneficial for all the students. (Board members) need more accountability for their decisions,”
She said a major concern for her on that front is funding, where she believes too much money is directed to athletics at the expense of academics.
Like Williams in North Pike, she said she believes students should be in the classroom more, rather than on a hybrid schedule in which students attend on alternating days.
“These students are out and about anyway when they’re not at school,” Lewis said. “Why aren’t they at school?”
Lewis has two stepchildren, one of whom attends South Pike schools.
Martin, a South Pike alumnus with no children of his own but many close nieces and nephews, said he wants to push the district to improve discipline and student-teacher ratios, and boost communication among students, parents, teachers, principals and the board.
“I want to try to get these kids back where they should be,” he said.
He said he wants to be visible and available to the community.
“I’m just an everyday man working for everyday people,” he said.
Elsewhere
James Copeland is seeking another term on the Amite County school board District 5. He is facing Janice Jackson Lyons.
In Walthall County, two seats are on the ballot.
Three candidates — Denise Ainsworth, Jerry L. Holmes and Ella Faye Martin — are running in District 4 to finish the unexpired term of Eldredge Boyd, who died in August last year. The seat has been vacant since then.
Zackery Fortenberry is running unopposed for the District 5 seat. He will replace Jeffre Conerly, who decided not to run again.
