School board candidates make pitches during church forum

Four days after he was criticized about views on board leadership in the Muscogee County School District, board candidate Todd Robinson of District 5 said Saturday he fully supports Superintendent David Lewis during a forum at Revelation Missionary Baptist Church.

If he is elected, Robinson told about 60 residents gathered in the sanctuary that he would feel responsible for finding the most qualified individual to lead the school system, get it off the failing schools list and keep it off the list. The retired Army Ranger and former teacher said Lewis is doing that.

“I fully support Dr. Lewis,” Robinson said. “I look forward to representing District 5 as a member of the school board and treating people with respect.”

At a Tuesday forum, Robinson grew the ire of District 7 candidate Cathy Williams who noted board members are not to harass, bully or micro manage the administration.

Sponsored by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, Mount Calvary Association and the General Missionary Convention of Georgia 4th District, the Rev. Johnny Flakes III, pastor of Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church, said the forum gave candidates an opportunity to talk about their platform and what solutions each will bring to the school board.

At the forum were former educators JoAnn Thomas-Brown and Pat Hugley Green, the incumbent in District 1, Athavia “AJ” Senior and Vanessa Jackson in District 3, Robinson of District 5 and former board chair Cathy Williams and newcomer Sheila D. Williams for District 7. Norene Marvets, also a District 7 candidate, sent a representative to the event but the other board hopefuls were absent.

Brown steered from the selected topics for candidates to dispel what she called rumors about her being a hand-picked candidate for District 8 representative Frank Myers.

“My credentials speak for themselves,” said Brown, who served 36 years in the district as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and director of student affairs.

She was able to make the statement before moderator John Lyles stepped in to redirect Brown.

Sheila Williams, the mother of two grown children, said she’s running because the district has 10 failing schools.

“It’s a dirty word,” she said. “It’s the truth. They are under performing.”

She would like for her son who has two children to move back to Columbus when he gets out of the Navy.

“When they move out to a duty station, they look at schools,” she said. “They want to select the best schools for children. They like where I live and love South Columbus but when we start talking about school, it’s no go.”

Sheila Williams said she also would like to see certified teachers in the classrooms on day one and teachers need training.

After hearing about a teacher who sits with her cellphone in the classroom, Sheila Williams said that’s awful.

“We need to get rid of the bad teachers and we need to train teachers that really care about students and they give 110 percent,” she said.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "School board candidates make pitches during church forum."