Municipal elections for 2001
The two incumbent candidates looking for re-election to the Thomasville City Board of Education have won their bid. Darrell Allen and Rick Ivey were the first and second place finishers in the election for two posts in District Two winning their bid for another term on the board and challenger Chris Cooper came in third. All the other candidates – one in District One on the school board – and the three candidates for Thomasville City Council had no opposition. Overall, there was a 14% voter turnout in the city with 1,209 of the 8,429 registered voters casting ballots. There were 38 absentee ballots cast. There were 450 ballots cast in Scott out of 3,024 registered voters for a 15% voter turnout, 348 votes cast in Jerger out of 1,704 registered voters for a 20% voter turnout, 245 votes in Harper out of 2,250 registered voters for a 11% voter turnout and 128 votes cast in Douglass out of 1,451 registered voters for a 9% voter turnout.
Here are the unofficial returns from the Thomasville City election:
|
|
Number of registered voters |
1451 |
2250 |
1704 |
3024 |
|
8429 |
|
|
Total ballots cast |
128 |
245 |
348 |
450 |
38 |
1209 |
|
Office |
Candidate |
Douglass |
Harper |
Jerger |
Scott |
Absentee |
Total |
|
City Council at Large |
Roy Campbell (i) |
98 |
189 |
296 |
340 |
27 |
950 |
|
City Council District One Post 2 |
Earl Williams, jr. (i) |
114 |
206 |
|
|
12 |
332 |
|
City Council District Two Post 2 |
Rick Singletary (i) |
|
|
304 |
380 |
18 |
702 |
|
City School Board District One |
Donnell Carley, jr. |
112 |
210 |
|
|
12 |
334 |
|
City School Board District Two (top two finishers win) |
Darrell Allen (i) |
|
|
294 |
381 |
20 |
695 |
|
|
Chris Cooper |
|
|
62 |
90 |
0 |
152 |
|
|
Rick Ivey (i) |
|
|
293 |
350 |
20 |
663 |
After qualifying ended Friday, September 14, there was one election contest that developed between three candidates for two seats on the school board. That was among the six posts up for election in Thomasville. The General was held from 7:00AM to 7:00PM Tuesday, November 6, 2001, in school gymnasiums provided at Jerger, Harper and Scott precincts and in the school cafeteria at the Douglass precinct. Thomasville participated in the Secretary of State's 21st Century Voting Commission Election Pilot Project, and voters cast their ballots on ATM-style electronic voting equipment.
--One non-incumbent candidate qualified for District Two on the school board, Chris Cooper. At the time of his qualifying, he was 33 years old and listed his occupation as "homemaker." Cooper's wife is Dr. Amy Cooper, a local pediatrician, and both live at 100 West Club Drive. District Two is generally the eastern part of the city. The other two candidates for District Two on the school board were the incumbents: Darrell Allen and Rick Ivey. In the election for the two posts in the district, the top two vote-getters in District Two were elected to the two posts on the school board. For detailed comments from Cooper on his candidacy, click here. For comments from Darrell Allen, click here. For comments from Rick Ivey, click here.
--One candidate qualified for the District One city school board post that was held by incumbent Ananias Hopkins. Hopkins did not qualify for his seat. The only candidate to qualify for the school board post in District One was Dr. Joseph "Donell" Carley, Jr., 45, of 232 1st Avenue. He listed his occupation as "child care project administrative director." Since Carley was the only one to qualify his name on the ballot, he will be elected to the seat. District One is generally the western part of the city. For comments on his candidacy from Carley, click here.
--All the incumbents in the three seats on the Thomasville City Council qualified without opposition. They were At Large member Roy Campbell, District Two member Rick Singletary and District One member Earl Williams.
--All the candidates, except one, participated in a forum during the campaign period. For details of the forum, click here.
--Thomasville participated in the state Secretary of State's pilot project testing new high-tech computerized voting machines. City Clerk and election supervisor Kathleen Vinson said if there were a qualified write-in candidate, a voter would indicate a desire to vote for a write-in candidate and the voting machine would present an on-screen keyboard for a voter to type in the write-in's name. However, there were no qualified write-in candidates for the election this time.
--In an interview Monday, September 17, Cooper said his young children were the reason he decided to run for the school board, “I have two children, one that’s two-and-a-half and a new-born that’s 10 weeks old. Both of them are going to be entering pretty soon the school system and I just want to make it the best possible school system that we can possibly have.” Cooper said, “I want to be involved in their education and involved in what the schools are doing. I thought this would be a great way to get involved before they actually start school.”
--Cooper said he has been in Thomasville for two years, “I’m originally from Oklahoma. I went to college in Nashville, Tennessee, at a Christian school – David Lipscomb University. My wife and I met in high school and she went to Vanderbilt University. From there we got married in Oklahoma City after we finished college. She went on to medical school at the University of Virginia in Charlottsville and then from there we went to Gainesville, Florida, where she did her pediatric residency at Shands Hospital for four years. From there we moved to Thomasville. We’re hoping that this is the last time we have to move and this is going to be our home until we die. When our little girl was born two-and-a-half years ago, I quit my job with the University of Florida Foundation and I’ve been staying at home with both of our children now.”
--Cooper said he had a degree in Public Administration. He said he thought his education would contribute to the work of the board, “I think anytime you get any type of education, that’s a plus and it’s a plus being on the school board with that education.” Cooper said his work at the University of Florida Foundation was with it’s fundraising. He said, “I learned a lot, especially about higher education, but I think a lot of things that we learned there was dealing with donors. I can use some of these resources with the city on the school board.”
--Cooper was asked what his major issues were. He said, “One of the things we need more than anything is we need more parental involvement . . . I think it is so important that parents get involved with their kids. I think that a lot of our kids are under-achieving in our schools. We need more parents and mentors in our school. I know some city schools do a really good job with volunteers. They have a program set up with corporations to encourage students and a lot of these kids need that because they don’t get that at home or they don’t get enough of it at home.”
--Cooper said a major initiative of his would be to bring ministers into the schools. He said, “”One of the things I would like to propose . . . is to bring in the ministers of this community and ask them to please help us. Maybe what we could do is have one minister from one particular church sponsor a class. I think that would be great because I think that a particular minister, or associate minister, or that particular youth pastor or that particular church could sit down with the teachers they are assigned to – maybe kindergarten though third grade, start there – and the teachers could talk to them about what’s going on with their kids. They can encourage those teachers. That would be great because a lot of these teachers need encouragement. I think that if we bring the churches in and the churches sponsor a class, teachers could have help for the kids that need help. What we could do is then is have ministers eating lunch with the kids, with the teachers, and be a positive role model.” Cooper said, “In no way am I asking for the church to preach about God. I wish we could preach about God in our schools, and I think we need God in our schools, but right now the law will not let us do that. But I think it will provide a great mentorship to these children. I don’t think I can imagine a better role model than a minister.”
--Cooper said another important issue is desks for teachers, “When money is given to to schools, money is not given specifically for desks or for chairs. I would like to go to businesses and ask them to donate two desks and two chairs to the school system. Every teacher in every classroom needs a new desk.”
--Cooper was also interviewed Friday November 2. He said people “have been talking about the significant number of children that we have that are under-achieving in our schools and what we can do to help their children.” Cooper has been talking about his adopt-a-school program where businesses and churches adopt a class and “instruct students at least once a month and read to them.” He said, “We need a volunteer coordinator to help us with this program so that we can retain these volunteers.” Cooper said, “A lot of people have been talking to me about discipline . . . it’s clearly on a lot parent’s minds. I think we need to do more than in-house suspension. Children who misbehave need to be doing some kind of physical labor – pulling weeds outside or scrubbing bathrooms inside. I think we need to send a message to these children that they can’t disrupt out classes.” Cooper said, “We need a special purpose tax . . . for a new band building for our middle school and high school.” Cooper said, “I’ve been told by teachers that we don’t have a phonics program in our schools. I think we need a phonics program in our elementary schools so students can learn to read by the time they reach high school.” On the phonics program, some teachers and administrators have disputed that there is no phonics program in the elementary schools; they say every elementary school teaches reading using phonics. Cooper said in his interview Friday that parent-teacher meetings need to be in classrooms rather than cafeterias. He pledged to “spend at least once a quarter in each of the schools to better understand the needs of our teachers and administrators.” On the closing of Douglass, Cooper said, “Douglass should be kept open only if we receive additional support from the community . . I think it’s great that those alumni have come out to support Douglass but their support can’t stop there. We need Douglass alumni, homemakers, retirees and others to read and interact with these children weekly, especially at Douglass and Harper where we don’t have a lot of volunteers. I believe if we had more positive role models – especially males – in our schools, we would not have as many children under-performing and we would not have to close schools like Douglass.” On consolidation of city and county schools, Cooper said, “The issue has come up and I don’t know all that’s involved in that issue, so I don’t have a particular answer to the consolidation issue.”
--In an interview Friday, November 2, incumbent school board member Darrell Allen said, “People have been talking about the same thing they talked about four years ago: quality education, and a safe environment for their children.” Allen said citizens had been talking about other issues, “A lot of people are also interested in [the Governor’s] A-plus education plan and what the facts are, what’s going on with that and how we’re going to meet the obligations the Governor has given us to meet.” Allen said, for the most part, “People are interested in are we producing a quality student and do we have a safe environment and the answer to these questions are ‘Yes.’” Allen said, “for the most part,” there have been no questions about the closing of Douglass or Harper Schools, “Probably because those are not issues in my district.” Allen said no one has brought up the issue of consolidation of city and county schools “other than the media.”
--Incumbent school board member Rick Ivey was interviewed Friday, November 2. He said he and constituents “continue to talk about the issues of the makeup of our schools and how that affects the use of our resources . . . People want to be sure we are continuing to do the best job we can to educate their children.” Ivey said he had not had any real discussion on the Governor’s reforms in education. On the closing of Douglass, Ivey said, “I do hear from our taxpaying citizens who want to be sure we are doing the right things with our tax money and that we are making the best use of our resources. It has been shown by our studies that the current configuration of our schools . . . does impact the financial viability of our schools, so we will be dealing with that in the very near future.”
--The other newcomer to school board politics is Dr. Joseph "Donnell" Carley, Jr., 45, of 232 1st Avenue. He qualified for the District One city school board post currently held by incumbent Ananias Hopkins. Hopkins did not qualify for his seat. Carley was the only candidate to qualify for the school board post and will be the only name on the ballot for the post. He will be elected to the seat, unless a qualified write-in candidate wins the election. District One is generally the western part of the city. He listed his occupation as “child care project administrative director.”
--Carley said in an interview late Sunday, September 16, “I decided to run for the school board because I do have children and I’ve owned a child care center in Thomasville for 20 years and this is my life. The betterment of children and to make them life-long learners is what it’s all about.” Carley said, “I’ve seen Thomasville City Schools going in a direction and I want to be a part of that to make sure our children get the most proper and best education that we can offer them in Thomasville, in Georgia and in the entire country.”
--Asked if he realized he was going to be the only one to qualify for the District One post on the school board, Carley said, “I didn’t know until five minutes until the closing when I called [Thomasville City Clerk] Kathleen Vinson and asked if anyone had qualified and she said not as of yet. So I figured I was the only one.”
--Asked to describe his work, Carley said, “I’m project site director and education curriculum director for Mu-Dear Child Care Center and owner. I have the only minority owned preschool past Albany, Georgia.”
--Asked what his doctorate was in, Carley said, “I have a honorary Doctorate degree in education.”
CANDIDATE FORUM FOR CITY ELECTIONS
Candidates for the Thomasville municipal election appeared before citizens Thursday night, October 25, in a forum sponsored by the Thomas County Branch of the NAACP. The election is November 6. The forum was at the Thomasville Cultural Center and broadcast live over WPAX. Less than twenty people were in the audience at the Center. Rick Ivey, the incumbent candidate for one of the two posts on the Thomasville City School Board in District Two was not at the forum because of family obligations. The two other candidates in the only contested election facing voters were there: incumbent Darrell Allen and challenger Chris Cooper. The first and second place finishers between Allen, Cooper and Ivey in the District Two election will fill the two posts up for election in that district on the school board. District Two is generally the eastern portion of Thomasville. The other candidates have no opposition: Joseph Donnell Carley, jr, for a post on the school board from District One, Rick Singletary for a post on the Thomasville City Council from District Two, Earl Williams, jr, for a post on the city council from District One and Roy Campbell, the candidate for the At Large post on the city council. The forum began with a presentation by City Clerk Kathleen Vinson on the new voting machines citizens will use in the election.
--In remarks from the candidates for the District Two election of the school board, Darrell Allen said his focus on the school board continued to be “on instruction.” He said, “We have to continue to identify students that need extra help and provide that help. . . We need students to be involved more in extra-curricular activities because studies show that those students do better in school.” Allen said he was concerned about a teacher shortage and also concerned about a possible cutback in revenue from the state for local schools. Asked about consolidation of city and county schools, Allen said it was “a citizen issue and the citizens – city and county – had to make their views clear on it to the city and county boards.” However, Allen said he supported a separate city school system as long as citizens in the city continued to support it. Addressing a perceived drop in student numbers from 9th grade to 12th grade in the system, Allen said many of the students left the system for other systems. Allen said he liked smaller schools, so he did not want to see the system build a single elementary school that “would be too large.”
--Chris Cooper said, “We have under-achievers in our schools and I’ve talked with many people about what to do to address the problem. . .I’m worried about children who are failing.” Cooper said a strong mentoring program was needed with citizens becoming involved in the schools. He advocated hiring a volunteer coordinator to help get people involved. He said students who are discipline problems need to be “pulling weeds outside and cleaning bathrooms inside.” Cooper advocated a special purpose local option sales tax to build new band rooms for the middle school and the high school. He said teachers needed new desks and students needed new chairs, a phonics reading program needed to be introduced in the early grades, new pianos were needed and classrooms needed telephones. Cooper advocated Douglass School remain open “only if support comes from the community.” Asked how he could know about the deep-seated issues in the community involving the closing of schools since he had been a resident of Thomasville for just over two years, Cooper said he would depend on the help of volunteers and parents to be involved and bring solutions to the board. Cooper said he “did not have an answer” on the issue of the consolidation of city and county schools. On the issue of why students seem to be leaving school from when they reach middle school to when they reach high school, Cooper said, “People don’t want to send their students to MacIntyre Middle School from a school like Jerger Eementary because they would be mixing with under-achievers from the other schools.”
--Donnell Carley, jr, the only candidate for the school board in District One, said, “I believe in children and creating a positive climate.” He cited his ownership and operation of Mu-Dear Child Care Center as qualifications for working on the school board. He said he was in favor of city and county school consolidating.
--The three candidates for city
council all have no opposition, a fact that Rick Singletary cited as meaning
“it must mean citizens think we are doing a good job.” All cited paving streets
as an important issue and said they expected all the streets in Thomasville to
be paved soon using SPLOST money and all cited economic development as
important issues. All also cited the advantage the city had in owning its own
city electric and water system as well as its new communications infrastructure
that brings income to the city. Asked about the condition of Country Oaks Golf
Course, Rick Singletary said the golf course was “a very important asset to the
city and there have been problems but it is the council’s priority to do
something about the problems.” On city-county consolidation, all three
candidates said they expected the city and county to consolidate planning and
zoning functions and said other areas have already been consolidated, such as
emergency services and the landfill. Asked if there was anything that could be
done to improve communications between the city council and the county
commission, Rick Singletary said “the city does a lot and sometimes the county
has a problem working on all the projects the city wants to do.” Roy Campbell
said he was beginning to understand that the county had its funding sources
come only from taxes while the city had funding from its money making
departments. Campbell said, “Maybe the city is sometimes more aggressive than
the county in getting things done.” Earl Williams said the city and county
governments were “like city and county football – the county has a different
agenda.”
As a general rule, District 1 is the western part of the city and District 2 is the eastern part of the city.