Two candidates are vying for an upcoming opening on the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees.
Beverley Odom and James Richardson have submitted applications to fill a spot Frederick Sparks occupies. Both are former CMSD employees.
Trustees are appointed by the Columbus City Council to serve five-year, staggered terms with one seat coming up for reappointment each year. The five-member board oversees the district, which serves roughly 3,081 students with 590 teachers and support personnel.
The council will appoint an applicant to the school board Feb. 20.
Odom, a graduate of Lee High School, began her teaching career in Memphis after graduating from the Mississippi University for Women with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She taught at schools in Tunica, Mississippi and Phoenix, Arizona before moving to the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Texas.
She was selected as a candidate for the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Principal Leadership Academy Master’s Program, received her master’s degree in administrative education and went on to serve as an elementary school principal in the AISD for 16 years. After returning to Columbus during the pandemic, she worked as a teacher in the district for three weeks before resigning for personal reasons.
Odom said her experience working as a classroom teacher and an administrator will help her identify the biggest challenges she sees in the district and propose meaningful solutions, like establishing a better vision for CMSD and making district-wide goals more specific.
“Making sure that the principals are understanding what the vision is and being able to articulate it,” she said. “They should be able to put it into action. Then looking at our action steps — if our action steps aren’t really written so that an action is included, how do you improve it?”
If chosen, Odom said she will prioritize writing more grants to help fill gaps in funding, address ways to support students’ emotional and mental needs and make the district more attractive for potential teachers.
“One thing we can’t change is poverty, but we can give the kids hope that they will not be in that place forever,” Odom said. “One thing I know that this district needs to do is notice how the monies are allocated to teachers to buy supplies and everything. Going into the classroom with nothing? It’s shameful.”
Richardson is a graduate of Caldwell High School, a former employee of the district and the current pastor at Pilgrim Grove Mission Baptist Church in West Point.
He graduated from Caldwell High School and received an associate’s degree in theology and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from New Life Theological Seminary as well as an honorary doctorate from St. Stephen Harding Theological College and Seminary.
He has had five children graduate from Columbus High School and has held several positions at CMSD, including a stint as the district’s transportation director and multiple jobs coaching football, track and powerlifting. Richardson said the time he has spent working in the district motivates his application.
“I’ve been a part of the district from the beginning,” he said. “Watching over the years, with all of the changes of leadership every two to three years from an academic standpoint all the way down to an athletics standpoint, we allowed things to deteriorate.”
Deterioration in both morale and the district’s physical facilities are major challenges Richardson plans to focus on, if chosen. He said the connections he has built working for the district, pastoring churches and serving the community as a part-time police sergeant with the Columbus Police Department would help him excel on the board.
“I believe I can bring that extra piece of leadership not just from a business standpoint, but even from a spiritual standpoint,” Richardson said. “I just want to see the district get back to that standing where people want their kids to come not only because of what you’re offering academically, but what you offer athletically and out of the whole school (and) education process all together.”
Sparks told The Dispatch he intends to apply for reappointment, though he had not filed his application by press time Thursday.
Deadline to apply is noon Feb. 14.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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