Challengers are taking on two school board members – one seeking a second term and the other seeking a fifth – when Lowndes and Oktibbeha County voters head to the polls in November.

On the Lowndes County School Board, incumbent Jacqueline Gray, who represents District 5, aims to secure the same seat she’s held since 2003. Tresa Sanders, city clerk for Artesia, has submitted qualifying papers to run against Gray.

Incumbent Cassandra Palmer has filed qualifying papers for her seat on the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School Board. Retired SOCSD educator Maggie Cooks will run against her.

Thursday was the deadline to qualify.

Once the candidates’ qualification materials are certified, their names will be added to the ballot for the Nov. 3 general election.

LCSD

Gray is seeking her fifth term on the LCSD board. Her impact in the position, she said, has been rooted in maintaining strong communication between students, parents and the board as well ensuring students are getting “everything they need to thrive.” Both are goals that motivated her to run for the job once again.

“Just carrying on advocating for students and parents,” she said. “Being a parent myself and having students in the system, I just wanted to make sure our community was well represented.”

Gray had a 22-year career in education before retiring in June, the last 18 she spent as a principal in West Point Consolidated School District.

“I just ask for the community’s continued support, and I will do my very best with my abilities God has given me to represent them equally, fairly and also advocate for them and their children,” she said.

Sanders has worked as the city clerk for Artesia for 29 years, but it was her five-year stint as the president of the West Lowndes High School Booster Club that motivated her to run for the seat.

“I saw a lot of things that the school needs, and I said, ‘Well, I want to try to bring some ideas to make it better,’ because that is my alumni school,” she said.

If elected, Sanders said she would use the position to make sure the community is aware of everything going on “as they say, (on) this side of the river.”

“I would like to see more participation with the community and get the enrollment up and get on a better standing (academically),” she said.

The LCSD school board consists of five elected board members serving staggered six-year terms.

SOCSD

Since she was elected to the seat in 2021, Palmer said her focuses on the board have spanned the district’s last superintendent search, expanded pre-K access, improved training for dyslexia services and support for arts programs.

While she noted her excitement for the new Starkville High School and her motivation to see that project through to completion, Palmer said her primary reason for running again is rooted in advocacy.

“The No. 1 reason I want to qualify again is the same reason I ran in the first place: To advocate for all of our stakeholders, but especially make sure we’re paying attention and listening to the needs of students and teachers, the people that are there every single day and of course parents too,” Palmer said.

Palmer said she has been involved with the school district in some capacity since 1999, both from stints working as a mentor and crisis therapist and as a parent with students in the district.

“I had built so many relationships where – because I think I’m a natural listener – teachers would tell me what their needs were,” she said. “… I believe we really have to listen to teachers and we have to listen to students. … In our district, we have a lot of different needs, and it takes a lot to meet those needs.”

Cooks retired in 2016 from SOCSD, where she spent 25 years of her 28-year career as an educator. Cooks also noted her background working with her husband’s Johnie E. Cooks Foundation, supporting at-risk students through mentorship and life skills programs.

Those experiences, Cooks said, would inform her approach to putting students first if she’s elected to the board.

“Regardless of the student, we as a school district and being a board member, you should put students first and should keep an open line of communication between parents and school board members. School board members and administrators should be approachable.”

Cooks also expressed excitement for the new SHS project and noted her goal to see career technical programming expanded if she’s elected.

“It’s the representation for me, for all. It doesn’t matter your social economic background, where you live – it doesn’t matter for me because it’s (about) representation for all.”

The SOCSD board is made up of five members serving staggered five-year terms, two of which are elected positions. The other three positions are appointed.

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.