Parents react to school board changes - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Parents react to school board changes

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The racial makeup of the Dougherty County school board will shift with Lane Price's defeat of Anita Williams Brown come January, the board will be majority white.

That's significant only because this is a school board that typically votes along racial lines.

Price beat Brown by nearly 2,200 votes in a county-wide race and some parents are optimistic that her election will help turn around a troubled school system.

But some feel that Anita Williams-Brown was unfairly ousted. 

Melissa Strother, a parent in Dougherty County says the election of Lane Price is a step in the right direction. 

"I think that with Lane Price being elected that it's just like kind of given a glimmer of hope to the citizens of Dougherty County.  I think for so long people have just been waiting for a change and looking for someone who can help us get there," said Strother.

 Lane Price unseated incumbent Anita Williams-Brown for the Dougherty County School Board at large seat. 

Strother believes this was the last chance for change to help save the school system.

"I just think that the way things have been going, people don't have trust in the school system and they need to.  Our tax money is going to that and it's so frustrating when you have to pay to send them to private school or pay to home school or whatever when you're already paying for public school that you don't feel you can send your child to," said Strother.

The school system has been in the hot seat as investigations continue into the CRCT cheating scandal, Title I funds and the free and reduced lunch program.

Some believe these recent discoveries unfortunately had an influence on this election.

"You really can't fault her for past things that someone else did, it was unfair, it really was. I mean people are going to vote for who they want to vote for, people are going to do regardless of what you say or what you do. Everyone has their own opinion, everyone has their own objective so all we can do is pray for the best," said Dougherty County parent, Johnnie Morgan.

Lane Price says she's humbled to be elected and is looking to the future and preparing for a lot of hard work.

"Between now and January when I'm installed, my plan is to spend a lot of time going over such things as the policies and procedures, looking at the financials, trying to make heads and tails out of the things that are going on in our school system," said Lane Price.

Price, who's currently the medical director for the Willson Hospice House, is no stranger to pressure and plans to make visible and measurable differences in our school system by this time next year.

Board chairman James Bush told me he wishes Lane Price well and he's looking forward to working with her.

Lane Price will be sworn in on the board in January.

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