In Tuscaloosa, Alabama Incumbent Ginnye Capps is seeking re-election in District 6, but she faces two opponents, Mark Collins and Marvin Lucas.
Capps, Collins and Lucas all have ties to the school system, either as parents of children now attending a school in the system, or as a retired teacher, in Capps’ case. But each of them is focusing on different issues.
Ginnye Capps said she’s running again because the school system is going through tough times and she believes that her four years of experience on the board and as a teacher in the system for 26 years will help see the system through it.
Mark Collins, the parent of a sixth-grader who attends Eastwood Middle School and a fourth-grader who attends Woodland Forrest Elementary, said he’s running for school board because no current school board member has a child now enrolled in the system. Because of that, they don’t get the daily perspective of the system’s “customers” on what works and what doesn’t, he said.
“I think it’s time that the parents had a greater involvement on the board of education in Tuscaloosa and a direct line of input,” Collins said.
Marvin Lucas is the parent of two children also in the school system and three more who graduated from Paul W. Bryant High School. Lucas has also been heavily involved in public education as a leader in the PTA at his children’s’ schools and at the state level for the past 13 years.
“I’ve developed relationships with the community, and I feel that they trust me to stand up for what’s right,” Lucas said. “I think I can help improve the relationship between the community and the board and that’s important because before we even think about improving the graduation rate or anything else in the system, we have to have the parents involved or we won’t be able to accomplish any of those things.
“It’s going to take the entire community working with the school system to make it successful. If elected to the school board, Lucas said he’ll first focus on the system’s financial issues, such as lack of money for teachers’ school supplies.
Tuscaloosa will be electing Mayor, City Council and School Board members on August 25, 2009. Mayor Walt Maddox faces no opposition in the Aug. 25 election. Neither does school board Chairman Dan Meissner. So no one is running a citywide campaign.
