MACON, Ga. — Sundra Woodford, a neighborhood revitalization manager is running for a second term on the Bibb County School Board.
Her challenger is Jill Thomley, who has a background in social work.
"Having served as vice president and now treasurer, I see the district from different and various vantage points," Woodford said.
"As a social worker, I've been involved in crisis work for 20-something years and so looking at situations, looking at the information that I have and making a decision, I'm a very decisive decision maker," Thomley said.
Woodford and Thomley both support Superintendent Curtis Jones' initiatives like the push for higher graduation rates, but talked about other areas that need improvement
"If our graduation rate is rising, then the content mastery rate should be rising as well and it isn't, and so we're just really not producing graduates that are ready for post-secondary education or the job force in general," Thomley said.
"We know about the digital divide. So now, with us now relying more on technology to convey instruction, we need to make sure those students are where they can be," Woodford said.
Thomley also wants to focus on communication with teachers to make sure their needs are met.
Woodford says her work with nonprofits is an asset to building community relationships.
"We have to do something better to increase teacher retention here in Macon-Bibb, and I would love to see [us make] teaching in Bibb something to be desired," Thomley said.
"As a board member, advocating for the needs of our students and conveying that to our community partners in a way that we can partner to achieve the successes in a way that all of us will benefit from," Woodford said.
Woodford says the current state of Bibb Schools is in a good place, and doing much better than in previous years.
Thomley says there's still much work that needs to be done to be on par with other private and charter schools in the area.
Thomley is from Indiana, but moved to Macon 17 years ago with her husband and raised 5 children here.
Woodford was born and raised in Macon. She and her husband have two children.
The School Board also has district seats 1, 3, 4 and 6 up for election on the June 9 ballot.
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