The Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees is about to have another seat open.
Stephen Jones was elected to the Ward 5 seat on the Columbus City Council in a runoff election Tuesday. He will finish out the remaining term of Kabir Karriem, who vacated the Ward 5 seat late last year following his election to the Legislature.
Jones is a member of the CMSD board. He confirmed to The Dispatch that he will resign from the school board prior to being sworn into his council position on Monday, March 14.
Jones, a local Realtor, was appointed to the school board by the city council in March 2015. His term was to run through 2019.
Jones will not be part of the next CMSD meeting, which is scheduled for March 10.
The announcement of the open board seat will occur at the city council’s March 15 meeting. The 30-day minimum time period for school board applicants will begin then, according to Joe Dillon, the city’s new public information officer.
On Tuesday, the city council appointed Josie Shumake to the school board. She takes the seat Glenn Lautzenhiser held for 25 years.
Dillon said with Jones’ seat on the school board about to be open, anyone who applied for Lautzenhiser’s post — which included Lautzenhiser, Eric Thomas and Willie J. Petty Sr. — can apply for the soon-to-be-open seat.
“Any of those candidates who weren’t chosen (Tuesday) could reapply since all of the positions are at-large,” he said.
The only qualification for applying for a city school board position is having a residence within the Columbus Municipal School District.
The other CMSD board members are Angela Verdell, Jason Spears, Currie Fisher and, now, Shumake.
Jones said his year with CMSD has prepared him for the political processes he’ll deal with in his new council position.
He said he hopes the school board continues to make progress.
“I hope that we can continue to move in the right direction and take the extra stuff out of it and do what’s best for the kids,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing I learned in my time there: The role of the board member, it’s doing what’s best for the kids and nothing else should matter.”
Sam Luvisi is news editor and covers education for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.