Three vying for SOCSD Board seat
Three Mississippi State University employees are in the running to fill the vacant seat on the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees.
Sumner Davis, Lisa Lyn Long and Debra Lindsey Prince have all filed the necessary paperwork and will be interviewed by the Starkville Board of Aldermen. The aldermen will then vote to select the most qualified candidate. The selected candidate will fill the seat left empty after the resignation of Anne Stricklin on June 28.
The seat is one of three appointed by the aldermen, with the remaining two elected by residents of Oktibbeha County.
Prince could not be reached for comment, but has applied for the past two vacancies on the school board, with Stricklin being chosen over her in 2015 and Melissa Luckett being chosen over her earlier this year. Prince is an associate professor in the MSU College of Education. She is an alumna of Starkville High School and MSU.
Davis is the the department head and a Governmental Training Specialist with the Center for Government and Community Development (GCD). He has held public office before, representing Ward 2 on the Starkville Board of Aldermen from 2001 to 2009. He holds a bachelor's in history and a master's in public policy and administration from MSU.
"I'm fairly comfortable with where the district is right now , and I would like to help it achieve some of the goals it's laid out for itself," Davis said.
Davis said he felt his expertise in public policy would be helpful to the district, especially with the state's education budget shortfalls.
"I have two children in the district myself, and I'd really
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