Four Leflore County residents now have submitted qualifying paperwork to run for the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated District School Board.
Henry Fant has filed to run in District 3, joining incumbent Samantha Milton and another challenger, Anglean Wardell. Dr. Kalanya Moore, the District 2 incumbent, is currently unopposed.
Fant, now retired, previously worked in the Leflore County School District as a teacher, coach, athletic director and disciplinarian. He said he is focusing on academic performance.
“Right now, our school district is not where it should be, as shown in our state test scores,” he said. “If we could all work together and get our schools up to par, we can bring about change.”
The first thing on his agenda would be to discuss academic performance with administrators to get everyone moving in the same direction.
“It’s all about the students. I’m going to be a board member who’s going to work hard for the kids,” he said. “I think my reputation reflects that I’ve always been for the betterment of the kids.”
Wardell, a retired hairdresser and cotton classification officer, works part time in the county courthouse. She said she is focused on “getting students the best they can get.”
She hopes a bond issue can help the district build new schools, such as a new high school in Itta Bena and another, larger high school on the east side of Greenwood.
Wardell said that it is Milton’s “time to go” and that the incumbent is “not doing what she needs to do for the students” but declined to give details.
The qualifying deadline for paperwork is 5 p.m. Friday.
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
The original version of this article had the incorrect date for the qualifying deadline.
