Tamara Jones

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Tamara Jones

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7

Predecessor: Kandis Wood Jackson

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Elections and appointments

Last election

December 5, 2023

Contact

Campaign website

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Tamara Jones was a member of the Atlanta Public Schools school board in Georgia, representing At-Large Seat 7. Jones assumed office on January 1, 2022. Jones left office on December 31, 2023.

Jones ran for re-election to the Atlanta Public Schools school board to represent At-Large Seat 7 in Georgia. Jones lost in the general runoff election on December 5, 2023.

Jones completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jones received a bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University in 1990 and a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. She worked in architecture and urban planning from 1995 to 2009, and was the owner of Me Too! Brands, LLC from 2008 to 2016.

Elections

2023

See also: Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia, elections (2023)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7

Alfred Brooks defeated incumbent Tamara Jones in the general runoff election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7 on December 5, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Alfred Brooks (Nonpartisan)	64.7	9,056
		Tamara Jones (Nonpartisan)	35.3	4,949

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 14,005
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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General election

General election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7

Incumbent Tamara Jones and Alfred Brooks advanced to a runoff. They defeated William Sardin in the general election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tamara Jones (Nonpartisan)	48.2	13,101
✔		Alfred Brooks (Nonpartisan)	47.3	12,852
	Submit photo	William Sardin (Nonpartisan)	4.5	1,222

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 27,175
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Jones in this election.

2021

See also: Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia, elections (2021)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7

Tamara Jones defeated KaCey Venning in the general runoff election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7 on November 30, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tamara Jones (Nonpartisan)	66.9	45,034
	Submit photo	KaCey Venning (Nonpartisan)	33.1	22,250

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 67,284
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

General election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7

Tamara Jones and KaCey Venning advanced to a runoff. They defeated Patricia Crayton, Royce Carter Mann, and Stephen Spring in the general election for Atlanta Public Schools school board At-Large Seat 7 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tamara Jones (Nonpartisan)	39.2	30,391
✔	Submit photo	KaCey Venning (Nonpartisan)	19.9	15,392
	Submit photo	Patricia Crayton (Nonpartisan)	15.1	11,708
	Submit photo	Royce Carter Mann (Nonpartisan)	12.9	10,003
	Submit photo	Stephen Spring (Nonpartisan)	12.2	9,434
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	567

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 77,495
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Tamara Jones completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Jones' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Jones received a bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University in 1990 and a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. She worked in architecture and urban planning from 1995 to 2009, and was the owner of Me Too! Brands, LLC from 2008 to 2016.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Literacy (Priority)
• Transparency
• Communication

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Jones said her experience as an urban planner required "collaborating with multiple public and private entities to ensure that the critical dimensions of healthy communities are incorporated – including diverse life-cycle housing, equitable access to employment and services, transportation, recreation and wellness, and education," and she "will bring her understanding of these interconnected elements and her skill with engagement and collaboration to the school board."

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2021

Tamara Jones did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Jones' campaign website stated the following:

“	Solid Foundations Foundations Several parts of our academic and organizational foundation need shoring up. Like a building, a school system’s structure needs regular maintenance. Literacy (Priority) Every child can learn to read. If we fail to teach reading, we fail to provide adequate education. Every student needs to be met where they are and given access to literacy instruction based on the Science of Reading. Wellness The system’s approach to overall wellness is often fragmented because various elements depend on different funding streams. We need a comprehensive wellness strategy that views all pieces as essential no matter where the money comes from: Social and emotional learning, mental health, nutrition, physical health, social workers, etc. Attendance Barriers Choose to view attendance problems as a strong signal that a student’s needs are not being met. Devoting resources and working with communities to determine specific barriers to attendance is the first step toward removing them. There are many barriers to attendance, including student discipline, health issues, disengagement, transportation, anxiety and bullying, homelessness, working to support the household, and providing childcare to younger family members. Most schools with high levels of absenteeism do not have the in-house resources to determine the causes for each student. Early Education Continue and strengthen partnerships with nonprofits. Consider possibilities for co-location on APS properties. Work with families who are leaning on older students to provide child care to younger siblings. Life Skills Teach kids “how to be students” – time management, breaking down assignments into smaller parts, maintaining a calendar, etc. Include financial literacy in the curriculum, either as a discrete class or imbedded into other coursework. Communication Develop and maintain a consistent way of communicating information out, and make online resources easier to navigate. Meaningful Connections Connections Building bridges also means building and nurturing relationships. City / County (Priority) APS must have a working relationship with the City that is not based on personal egos. Schools are the ear to the ground and often the first to know of constituent needs. APS, City of Atlanta and Fulton and Dekalb County governments serve the same people. Constituents deserve a collaborative relationship to achieve the greatest possible benefit for children and families. Duplication of effort is wasteful and inefficient. Inclusion / Belonging Every child is worthy of connection and belonging, just as they are, and should not be made to feel they have to conform or to “earn” it. Love and belonging are at the center of Maslow’s Hierarchy, but do not receive enough attention in our performance-driven culture. Neighborhood / NPU Schools cannot be divorced from communities. Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) are critical resources for information about issues facing APS families in the community, and can also be partners in change. Each APS cluster needs to develop a strong working relationship with the NPUs that represent their communities. Relevance Culturally relevant pedagogy and materials can help build bridges between schoolwork and a child’s lived experience. Community-engaged learning can also help them understand how concepts they learn affect the people and places around them. Universities Atlanta is home to world-class institutes of higher learning. We should be leveraging these resources to a far greater degree. Cross-cluster Bridges APS clusters currently lack a viable structure that facilitates interaction with each other and with the district. The result is distrust and suspicion instead of collaboration and sharing. It’s time to change that and build bridges and dialogue. Sustainable System Sustainability All systems require measures to ensure effectiveness, resilience, and sustainability. Equity (Priority) No system can be successful and sustainable without equity for all participants. Accurately identifying the unique needs of all individual students, schools, communities, and clusters in real time and crafting specific strategies and resources to address those needs is essential if we are to meet all students where they are, and provide strategies and wraparound support necessary to facilitate learning. Engagement / Governance (Priority) Every family, student, educator, and community deserves an engagement infrastructure that is authentic, predictable and reliable, and equitable. This is essential to build the trust needed for a sustainable system. It is also critical that every community has elected representation governing schools and the school system. Resources & ROI Balancing resources with the Strategic Plan is one of the most important duties of the school board. However, the board cannot balance the budget at the expense of pushing out existing residents due to tax increases on rising property values. We must constantly evaluate the effectiveness of expenditures to identify areas for potential savings. We also should consider new ways to generate revenue, such as renting facilities and exploring innovative ways to use vacant properties. Emergency Operations Plan Schools and districts are expected to have a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan that addresses multiple threats, including infectious diseases. We have seen that plans for Continuity of Learning during school interruptions caused by emergencies are underdeveloped. ABOE should ensure that the EOP is fully developed, and that allowable parts are shared with the community so they will know what to expect. Continual Improvement	”
—Tamara Jones' campaign website (2021)

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