Candidates running for seats on Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) school board had to qualify by noon on Friday in order to appear on the May 24 ballot.
Positions up for election are school board president and seats for District 4, 5, 6 and 8. All Chatham County residents will vote for board president, while residents of each of the districts will vote for candidates only representing their district.
According to documents filed by the Chatham County Board of Elections, here is a list of qualifying candidates:
President
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Tye Whitely
Credit: Tye Whitely
Roger Moss has lived in Savannah for 20 years and founded two charter schools: Savannah Classical Academy and Savannah Exploratory Charter School. He has worked in radio advertising sales, insurance underwriting and human resources. He founded the Youth Choir in Bluffton, S.C., and co-founded the Savannah Children's Choir.
Tye Whitely is the owner of Chunk's Learning Center and ran in 2018, but lost to current board president Joe Buck and Betty Morgan. Whitley is a 1999 graduate of Savannah Arts Academy and a graduate of Morris Brown College. She is part of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc., has been a recipient of the Georgia Parent Leadership Award and was the former president of the school council.
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
Todd Rhodes is the founder of Savannah Royal Lions Youth Organization and owner of Royal Rhodes LLC. He is a graduate of Beach High School and has served on the Savannah Parks and Recreation board.
District 4
Shawn Kachmar (Incumbent) is currently serving his third term on the school board and lives on Wilmington Island.
Credit: Courtesy of Hunter Maclean
Credit: Courtesy of Hunter Maclean
He is a business litigation attorney at Hunter Maclean. He wants to continue to advocate for the school district's needs, like school safety, focus on low-performing schools, and the budget.
He has also been named the Best Lawyers in America by Chambers USA and Georgia Trend Magazine’s Legal Elite, named Savannah’s “40 Under 40” business leaders by the Savannah Business Report & Journal, and was named a “Community Star” by the Savannah Technical College Foundation.
District 5
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
Rev. Paul Smith is a minister at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church and is a lifelong resident of District 5. The Beach High School graduate has degrees from Savannah State University and Morehouse College.
Treye' Burrison is a small business owner and a native of Savannah. She graduated from Groves High School and Savannah Technical College with a degree in business. In the past, she worked for Savannah-Chatham schools as a paraprofessional.
Theresa Watson has lived in Savannah since 1982 and graduated from Groves High School. In 2018, she ran against current District 5 school board member Irene Gadson-Hines, but lost.
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
For 20 years, she worked as a job coach and as a paraprofessional for special education students in the Savannah-Chatham schools.
She is currently president of the Savannah Teachers Federation.
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
District 6
David Bringman is a Georgia Southern University (Armstrong) professor and is completing his first term with the school board. The Beach High graduate wants to continue advocating for ESPLOST projects, enhancing school safety and working with a collaborative school board. Bringman lives in the Southside.
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
Keith Padgett is a Savannah native and has expertise in trade careers. He is a Windsor Forrest and Woodville-Thompkins High School and Savannah Technical College graduate. He has worked for Gulfstream, Boeing, JBC and other industries. He taught in the auto collision and repair program at Savannah Technical College.
District 8
Credit: Photo submitted
Credit: Photo submitted
Tonia Howard-Hall (Incumbent) is a retired educator and lifelong District 8 resident. She has taught in the Savannah-Chatham and Effingham County school districts and in Tallahassee.
She has also served as vice president on the SCCPSS school board. She received a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Florida A&M University and a master's degree in education from Cambridge College. She also holds an educational doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Sarasota.
Credit: Jasmine Polley
Credit: Jasmine Polley
Jasmine Polley is an Iraq War combat veteran and a native of New York. She works for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services as a state office manager and in the past, she has worked as an investigative social worker. She also volunteers at her children's PTA and school council.
Moss, Rhodes, Smith, Polley, Burrison and Padgett are first time candidates. The school board seats are nonpartisan.
Bianca Moorman is the education reporter. Reach her at BMoorman@gannett.com or 912-239-7706. Find her on Twitter @biancarmoorman.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: 2022 election: Here are the candidates for the open Savannah-Chatham school board seats
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