Meet your candidates: District 9 board of education

Along with Birmingham’s upcoming mayoral race and election for city council, Birmingham City Schools is also holding elections for new Board of Education members. This year, there are 32 candidates in the running for a total of nine seats.

Of the current nine board members, four are seeking re-election: District 4 representative Daagye Hendricks, District 6 representative Cheri Gardner, District 7 representative Wardine Alexander and District 9 representative Sandra Brown. District 5 representative Randall Woodfin is not seeking re-election but instead running for the mayor’s seat.

District 9 includes Norwood Elementary School, Tuggle Elementary School, Wylam K-8 School, South Hampton K-8 School, Wilkerson Middle School, Carver High School and Jackson-Olin High School. Elections are on Aug. 22.

Sandra Brown

Current Birmingham Board of Education member Sandra Brown grew up in the Birmingham City School system, as have her children and grandchildren. She has served the last four years as a representative for District 9, after spearheading projects to help students in the school system as a neighborhood leader. Some of those projects included a coat giveaway, back to school rallies and working with various businesses to help school in her neighborhood.

Since her time on the school board, Brown’s most proud of working with other board members and employee’s committee members to get accreditation for all schools and to pass the 3-mill tax in Birmingham. “With the 3 mill tax, we are able to hire more fine arts teachers … and to have more Pre-K classes,” she said.

Brown decided to run for re-election this year because she felt there was still more work to be done to help the students in the district.

“When it comes to teaching and learning … our system needs more accountability to get the system where it needs to be,” she said. “I decided that since these are critical issues that still needs to be addressed, I want to work with the new superintendent to see if we can work together to give our students the education they deserve.”

If re-elected, Brown said she plans to collaborate with superintendent Lisa Herring to improve academic achievements for all students, develop a more informal method for parents to communicate with the board and encourage the superintendent to improve upon the work of the district’s central administration.

To learn more about her campaign, contact Brown at brown8615@bellsouth.net.

Lawrence Jackson

“I’m not satisfied [with the school system], so instead of just talking about it, I wanted to make it better,” said Lawrence Jackson, who is running for District 9 Board of Education representative.

Jackson attended Birmingham City Schools as a young student through his graduation from Ensley High School, after which he majored in psychology. Now, he’s a collegiate professor at Alabama A&M and Lawson State Community College teaching social work. He is also a pastor of the Birmingham community for the past 25 years who has helped with a reading initiative in the school system and has spent time volunteering counseling with students at Green Acres Middle School.

He said that in recent years he has seen a “certain level of passion” from school board members, but “my viewpoint is I’ve seen the kids that come former school system in the college level, and they’re not prepared.”

After having worked with children on both a spiritual and educational level, Jackson says he has learned a lot on how to deal with students and he’d like to bring in different programs to look at “totality of the man,” or how different aspects of students’ lives may be hindering their learning.

If elected, Jackson wants to increase the competitiveness of the curriculum to prepare students for higher learning, connect with communities and gain the respect of the parents involved in the Birmingham City School system. This would ensure that there is more parental involvement in the system, he said. He would also like not to overlook the barriers that the school system that is currently facing.

“I would just be one person on the board, but I could bring those ideas and try to change the culture,” he said.

He would like the board not only to look at the generation of students that their actions would affect today, but think of those students who will attend Birmingham City Schools in the future.

To learn more about Jackson and his campaign, find him on Facebook by searching “Lawrence Jackson.”

Editor’s note: This is an ongoing article that will be updated as more information becomes available.