Who’s running for MCSD school board? Here’s a list of candidates so far
Five of the nine seats on the Muscogee County School District board will be up for election in 2022.
All registered voters in Columbus can vote for candidates running for the school board’s lone at-large seat. Voters in Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 also will choose their school board representatives on the May 24 ballot.
Here are the other key dates for these nonpartisan elections:
- March 7: First day to apply for absentee ballot.
- March 7-11: Qualification period for candidates.
- April 25: Voter registration deadline.
- May 2-20: Advance voting period.
- June 21: Runoff date, if necessary.
Visit the My Voter Page on the Georgia Secretary of State website to find your district and where to vote.
Here are the candidates who have told the Ledger-Enquirer they will run for MCSD board seats this year. The L-E will update this list as the field expands.
This story was last updated March 4.
At-large
Kia Chambers is the incumbent. She told the Ledger-Enquirer she will run for re-election, but she hasn’t been available to answer further questions for this story. No challengers have filed documents with the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration indicating they plan to qualify for the ballot.
Chambers, a former teacher, is the managing broker for Prestige Property Brokers. She is in her second four-year term on the school board. In 2018, she defeated NCR supply chain manager Tony McCool by receiving 73% of the votes, 16,193-5,866.
District 2
District 2 incumbent Nickie Tillery told L-E she will run for re-election. No potential challengers have filed documents with the election board indicating they plan to qualify for the ballot.
Tillery, a human resources and compliance specialist for road construction contractor J.A. Long, joined the board last year after winning the special election in June. She defeated Bart Steed, owner and CEO of automobile electronics company Kar Tunes, by receiving 67% of the votes, 902-436.
The special election was conducted to fill the remainder of the Mike Edmondson’s term. Edmondson, a retired teacher, died in February 2021 at 66. He had been battling cancer.
Tillery told the L-E in an email she is running for re-election so she can continue to be a voice for teachers, staff, families and students as we make important decisions to improve education in our community. . . . As a former teacher, I know that education encompasses the whole child. Now more than ever we need to focus on not only the textbooks but also the mental and social aspects affecting our students. They are the future of Columbus, and representing their needs on the board is a privilege.”
Asked what she has accomplished during her time on the board, Tillery said, “I have worked to ensure that our teachers and students have the tools they need to combat the challenges of Covid-19. Such obstacles include not only sickness but also employee shortages, increased anxiety in both children and adults, and adjusting from virtual learning back to the traditional classroom.
“In order to address these, we have implemented measures such as recruitment/retention stipend for teachers and staff who signed their contract and increased pay for substitute teachers. We have created a fully virtual school option next year and made it possible for residents of Fort Benning to vote (for MCSD board representatives). I am particularly proud of the last one, as our military members living on post will now be represented for the first time in MCSD history.”
District 4
District 4 incumbent Naomi Buckner told the L-E she will run for re-election. No challengers have filed documents with the election board indicating they plan to qualify for the ballot.
Buckner, 68, retired in 2019 as a special-education teacher in Chattahoochee County.
“I know educational issues,” she said. “I know how the issues actually impact children because I understand them.”
She seeks her sixth four-year term on the MCSD board. In 2018, she defeated retired U.S. Air Force noncommissioned officer Toyia Tucker by receiving 70% of the votes, 2,214-965. Tucker went on to win the District 4 seat on Columbus Council in 2020.
Voters approving five straight referendums (1997, 2003, 2009, 2015 and 2020) to establish and renew the 1% Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax has proven the board has the public’s trust, she said.
“With the SPLOST,” she said, “we tell people what we’re going to do, then we do what we say.”
Her goal for the next four years, Buckner said, is to “continue to move the children forward to make sure we are actually interpreting our data correctly, to make sure our students are continuing to achieve and to make sure they have safe environments.”
District 6
District 6 incumbent Mark Cantrell told the L-E he will seek re-election. No challengers have filed documents with the election board indicating they plan to qualify for the ballot.
Cantrell, 62, is CEO of Action Buildings. He is in his third four-year term on the school board. In 2018, he defeated former MCSD administrator Eddie Obleton and retired U.S. Army colonel Bob Roth by receiving 56% (2,096) of the votes. Obleton received 38% (1418). Roth received 6% (244) despite dropping out of the race a month after qualifying.
Cantrell emphasized his experience and accessibility as a board member.
“I normally have, every week, at least one parent call me about a situation that comes up,” he said. “I tell parents, ‘I can’t promise you I can do exactly what you want, but I will try if it’s in my power to.’”
Voters renewing the ESPLOST, Cantrell said, shows “the large majority of folks are happy with the way Columbus, Georgia’s, school system is going.”
He called David Lewis “a great superintendent. We need to continue what we’re doing. We have a good board that communicates with each other and works together. Everybody on this board, I can honestly say, is trying to make sure we do good for the community and for our school district and our children.”
District 8
District 8 representative Philip Schley, a retired urologist, told the L-E he won’t seek re-election because he accomplished what he set out to do in 2018: defeat lawyer Frank Myers.
Schley, who received 65% of the votes, 1,517-828, said Myers caused “constant bickering” at school board meetings and was “a constant thorn in the side of the superintendent.”
Including two previous stints (1972-81 and 1998-2010), Schley, 89, will have served on the board for 25 years when he departs after this year. And another Schley wants to succeed him.
His daughter, Margot Schley, told the L-E she plans to run for the seat.
“I’ve grown up with school board being such an important part of my family,” she said. “By osmosis, I feel like I know a lot of the issues that have been part of the school board in the past and sort of now here in the future, and I feel like I can continue and try to preserve and improve our school system by serving on it.”
Schley, 51, is a yoga instructor. She has two sons, the oldest at Brookstone, a private school, and the youngest at Columbus High. She worked for 13 years as director of newcomer services in the community development department at Synovus, where she saw the quality of local schools as a key factor in determining whether businesses and people would move to the area.
Schley wants to continue her father’s legacy of civility on the board.
“Part of making it run smoothly is the fact that it can be a cohesive board,” she said. “If there are issues they don’t agree on, they should be able to have that conversation and come to some sort of resolution.”
Among the issues she wants to advocate for are reducing bus delays and increasing teacher salaries.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
