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Baker BOE newcomers want change

• Don Buie is the downtown manager and head of ADICA.

Joshua Brown

NEWTON — With three longtime members of Baker County’s school board being replaces, the newcomers say they are looking forward to trying to implement some changes in the system.

Of the county’s four school board members up for reelection Tuesday, three lost their seats — Jimmy Barnett, Ivory Joe Benton Sr. and John Moore, all Democrats.

Milford District school board member Myrlene Sheffield was not up for reelection and Elmodel District incumbent Grace Miller held off her opponents.

The new faces on the board are Bonnie Ruth Hudson for the Anna District, Janet Anderson for the Hoggard Mill District and Carrie Hall for the Newton District. None of the three have experience as school board members.

School Superintendent Tommy Rogers was unavailable Thursday for comment on the new board’s members, his secretary said.

Benton said he was happy that the county’s residents voted their minds and felt ready to leave the board after nearly 30 years as a member.

“Well, I feel like this (decision) is countywide and it’s whatever the people in the community see that they need to elect another (board member),” he said Thursday. “I think it’s their privilege and I’m happy about it for the one that won.”

Because the new board is inexperienced, the new members will go through training later in the year, he said.

“They’ll have to learn the ropes, go to school board workshops to learn their duty and what their job is,” he said.

Anderson, a youth director and licensed practical nurse, said she was ready to start impacting the lives of Baker County’s students. Many of them “just drop on the wayside,” she said.

The system needs to a better job preparing its graduates for college, Anderson said.

Anderson also wants to increase the number of extracurricular activities for students because, as a youth director, she hears from many of her charges that “all we do is go to school,” she said.

“(We should be) trying to get them to really look at themselves and challenge themselves first,” she said. “A lot of them don’t really know what they want to be because nobody has encouraged them and told them, ‘You know, you’re good at this. You need to get into this for a career’ or something like that.

“If you don’t have anyone to encourage you or guide you in the right direction, you won’t get there.”

Anderson said she recognizes she and fellow newcomers will face challenges, but was confident they would become effective board members.

“I know there’s a lot I have to learn, but whatever it is, I’m going to put my foot in there and go forward hard. I’m going to work hard,” she said.

Board member Jimmy Barnett, who also had about 30 years on the board, declined to comment about the future direction the school board may take or how he felt about losing his seat.

“I appreciate all the people that have been for me all these years, my supporters,” he said. “I appreciate them and thank them for supporting me.”

Hudson, a certified nursing assistant who beat Barnett for his Anna District seat, said she wanted to help motivate the school system’s children to continue their education.

Part of her strategy included getting more community feedback about the county’s educational system.

Miller, the only incumbent up for reelection to survive Tuesday’s election, said she was excited about working with the new members to improve the county’s school system.

“I’m excited. I believe we can work good together,” she said Wednesday. “They’re going to have to take training. It will be a struggle, but I think we can work it out. All of them are smart ladies.”

Miller said she didn’t know what direction the school board would take with the new members on board.

“I don’t know because they want a change. That’s why they fought so hard to get it,” she said.

As the Newton District’s new board member, Hall said her first priority was the construction of a media center for the county’s elementary school, which has not had a library for two years.

“Right now, my biggest concern is that school library,” she said. “For two years they have been there and they have not had a working media center for K-3.”

Also troubling to Hall was the lack of attention that failing students seem to be receiving, which she hoped to discuss with other board members to find a solution.

Incumbent John Moore was unable to be reached for comment.

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