Price to run for Dougherty School Board

ALBANY — Willson Hospice House Medical Director Dr. Lane Price says she will announce her candidacy for the Dougherty County Board of Education at-large seat currently held by Anita Williams Brown at 10 a.m. today at The International Studies Elementary School.

A native of Americus, Price and her husband, Julian, have been Albany residents for the past four years, she said she has been appalled at what she has seen from the Dougherty Board of Education.

“It’s been hard to watch the recent actions by the Board of Education and not notice the lying, cheating and utter lack of oversight that’s been going on,” Price said Tuesday evening. “I believe in the public school system and I think the current board needs to be reinvigorated and needs honest, ethical oversight.

“The community can no longer tolerate a Board that will look the other way when teachers, staff, administrators or elected officials are being unethical. This must end.

“I believe I can be that watchdog.”

Price, a board-certified oncologist, was a math and science teacher in Atlanta for four years and obtained a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia in 1968 before pursuing her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia.

She thinks part of the DCSS’s current problems stems from an overall lack of passion within the entire system.

“The lack of passion for learning I see from the students, teachers and administrators is alarming,” Price said. “We have some very good teachers in this system, but I am concerned about this lack of passion, and right now the system is broken.”

If elected, Price said she would go back and look at the system’s history to see where mistakes were made.

“When I take my seat, I will go back and look at history and see how we got to this point today,” Price said. “We also need to look at the present. Westover’s Literary team (which just won a AAA State Championship), The international baccalaureate program and Early College should be inspirations to us.

“I want to be a leader in helping our community to achieve the goal of being a successful school system, and I want to be known as a person who is passionate about education in Dougherty County.”