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Trustee opts out of election

Smith decided not to run again for school board trustee position, `weighing priorities' between work and family

Web posted May 2, 1998

By Emily Sollie
Columbia County Bureau

Columbia County District 4 school board trustee Jean Smith will not run for re-election this year, she announced Friday.

``Between my family and demands at work, I don't think I can do justice to everything,'' she said. ``I just had to weigh my priorities.''

The decision not to run again was a difficult one, she said, adding that she wouldn't rule out a possible run in the future.

``Never say never,'' she said. ``I'd be willing to serve again, but I'd just have to have more time in my life.''

Mrs. Smith has served on the school board since 1994, when she defeated builder Jim Beazley and former trustee Suzanne Scott. She ran on a platform of making the school board take control of the school system, rather than simply ``rubber-stamping'' the superintendent's recommendations. She also focused on returning conservative values to the classroom, stating that students should be able to ``spell without a computer and do math without a calculator.

``I believe we should have a curriculum rooted in academics and an objective way of assessing grades,'' she said.

She said she felt the board's biggest accomplishments during her tenure were hiring Tom Dohrmann, the county's first appointed superintendent; re-emphasizing phonics in the reading curriculum and not increasing taxes.

``It's been a privilege and an honor to serve the fourth district,'' she said. ``I really agonized over this decision, but I have peace with it.''