RICEBORO — From school discipline to graduation rates to roads and to backyard chickens, candidates for Liberty County school board and board of commissioners seats staked out their positions at a Liberty County NAACP branch forum Saturday.
District 3 incumbent Commissioner Connie Thrift and challenger Janelle Johns attended, as did District 1 incumbent Commissioner Marion Stevens Sr. and challenger Larry Baker. Stanley Brown, also running for District 1, was not in attendance.
Terry Cook and Charlene Rocker, both running for the school board’s District 4 seat, attended, as did District 5 candidate Richard Hayes. Teresa Wiser, also running for District 5, was not in attendance.
Those two school board positions will have new members as the incumbents for each opted not to run again.
All four of the school board chair candidates were present, but only three – incumbent Verdell Jones, Tim King and former superintendent Dr. Franklin Perry – were on the dais. Challenger Kisyah Burnett attended but was seated in the audience.
Thrift, who also chairs the county board of health, said she knows people in her district who have chickens. The change to the rule the commissioners made affects subdivisions, “because our subdivisions are getting smaller and smaller,” she said.
Johns was asked if she thought property was being overvalued in order for more property taxes to be collected, and sometimes, she thinks properties are being assessed higher values.
“I want my house to be valued properly,” she said.
Thrift pointed to the new health department that is expected to open soon, which will replace a facility that is 46 years old, as part of the progress under the commissioners. She added the commissioners have set up a paid countywide fire department.
“I have been very impressed,” she said. “We need that service.”
The county, in an effort to slow the loss of employees to other entities, conducted a salary study and has established better pay for its staff, Thrift noted.
“That’s our greatest asset, our county employees,” she said.
Johns did not list any particular failings in county government but stressed “there is always room for change. There is always room for improvement,” she said.
“I will do what I need to do,” she said. “I will do the work. You will see my face.”
Baker, the former mayor of Walthourville, said he would work diligently to support responsible growth and advocate for the community’s needs. He noted that he and the city council while he was mayor revamped Walthourville’s fire department.
Baker added he wants to do something about the property taxes.
“I will work with fellow commissioners to lower the millage rate,” he said.
Stevens, who was a volunteer fire fighter for more than 40 years, said there are still 28 miles of unpaved road in the 1st District, which now runs from the coast to Hinesville.
“When I got into office, it was about $350,000 to pave a mile of road,” he said. “Now it’s about $1.5 million.”
Stevens, the longest-serving commissioner, also pointed to the county’s establishment of a paid fire department as a success. He added he wants to further upgrade parks, such as the recently-renovated Susie King Taylor Park, and wants to address widening the I-95 overpass and Islands Highway.
“All I’m looking for is one more time,” he said.
School board races
Jones said the school system looks at data and has made changes when the data shows one is needed, such as shelving the Ombudsman program and starting the Horizons Learning Center.
She also applauded the support the schools receive from the community.
“This community helps you when it comes to back-to-school rallies. They help when it comes to uniforms,” she said. “Our teachers in the classrooms work really, really, really hard. We’re moving forward. We care a lot about the students.”
Jones also parents should be the first authority when it comes to student discipline.
“The first teacher, the first disciplinarian, the first everything, should be the parents,” she said. “When we were growing up, if a school official called a parent, you were in double trouble. We have a code of conduct that goes out every year and we ask for input. We have to make sure we remove all distractions out of the classroom so the teacher can do what they have to do.”
Perry said the system also must teach values, especially to help curb teen violence.
“We have to teach youngsters how to get along with each other,” he said. “We have to teach them how to handle issues without violence. We have to explain to our youngsters that they can be anything they want to be, but there are some things they have to stay away from in order to do that. We have to do more with character.”
King, who works as a paraprofessional at Effingham County High School, said there are great teachers in the school system but the best systems aren’t in place to run the organization. There is one assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, and King wants to have two, with one assigned to grades 6-12 and one assigned for kindergarten through fifth grade.
“There is too much on one plate for one person to deal with,” he said.
He also called for building one high school, with a campus reserved solely for ninth graders, and another campus set aside for only sixth graders.
Perry said he’s running not because the school system is broken.
“We have a great system here in Liberty County,” he said. “Fifteen years ago, we were graduating 66% of our seniors. Now, we’re graduating 92%. We have the highest dual enrollment of any county around. I can go on and on and on. Do we have some things to improve on? Yes, we do.”
Perry said it should be clear that the board sets a vision for the system and the superintendent runs the day-to-day operations.
“They should have the ability to inspire parents and other stakeholders to have confidence in the Liberty County schools,” he said.
Jones said the board has held the line on the millage rate and the system has not had to furlough any staff.
She also stressed the need for more kids to be reading at their grade level.
“People want to see achievement,” she said. “We have to make sure kids are learning first.”
Cook, who has chaired the governance team at Liberty Elementary School for 10 years, said the graduation rates are noteworthy but other figures – such as the number of students not reading at grade level – is troubling.
“I hear that number, and that number sounds great,” he said of the graduation rates. “But the math doesn’t add up. Seventy-five percent of students can’t read at grade level.
“We’re pushing progress instead of proficiency,” he said. “We need to push proficiency over progress.”
Rocker, a former elementary school principal and district curriculum specialist, said she wants to see smaller class sizes and wants to make sure teachers’ planning time isn’t sacrificed. She also pointed to the practice exams for the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, starting in January for a test that is given in May.
“How is that teaching?” she said. “We continue to do it. They need to teach students how to learn. Our county needs to do better than that.”
Hayes said he applauds the educators and the school system’s leadership.
“You hear so much negative. We have great things happening here in Liberty County,” he said. “We have areas we need to improve on but who doesn’t? We’ve got resources. We have intelligent young people. Overall, we have an amazing school system. I’m looking forward to working with the leadership here.”
School board races are non-partisan but voters who opt to cast ballots in a party primary can vote in the school board elections.