Thelma Dillard
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Thelma Dillard is the District 2 representative on the Bibb County Board of Education in Georgia. Dillard won re-election in the general election on May 24, 2016.[1]
Biography
Dillard earned her B.S. in business education from Fort Valley State University. She also holds master's degrees in special education, business education, and elementary education from Georgia College and State University. Dillard was a teacher at Central High School from 1975 to 2011.[2]
Elections
2016
Six of the eight seats on the Bibb County Board of Education were up for general election on May 24, 2016. A runoff election was held on July 26, 2016, in Districts 5 and 6. Sundra Woodford and James Timley defeated Jerome Collins but neither candidate received a majority in the District 5 general election. Woodford defeated Timley in the runoff. Bob Easter defeated fellow challenger Valerie Wynn for the District 6 seat in the runoff. Incumbent Jason Downey placed second to Easter in the general election but withdrew prior to the runoff.[1]
In District 2, incumbent Thelma Dillard defeated challenger Tina Dennard. District 4 incumbent Lester Miller won re-election against Jeff Moody. District 1 incumbent Ella Styles Carter and District 3 incumbent Susan Sipe were unopposed in the election.[1]
Results
| Bibb County School District, District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Thelma Dillard Incumbent |
64.77% | 1,780 |
| Tina Dennard | 35.23% | 968 |
| Total Votes | 2,748 | |
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State, "General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election May 24, 2016," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Thelma Dillard participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on April 22, 2016:
| “ | Improve Reading 180 and add 44 Reading Initiative to the budget to improve reading. Improve the Milestone Testing by providing Summer School Opportunity Programs for students who scored low on Milestones Test.[3][4] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Georgia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| “ | I support dual enrollment for improving post-secondary readiness.[4] | ” |
| —Dr. Thelma Dillard (April 22, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Support Common Core! |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Merit pay when it is a fair system for all. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Use for severe cases of weapons, drugs or severe physical harm or death. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement |
Additional themes
Dillard's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:
| “ |
I will work with the School Board to: 1. Improve discipline to make our schools safe |
” |
| —Thelma Dillard (2016), [2] | ||
About the district
- See also: Bibb County School District, Georgia
Bibb County School District is located in Bibb County, Georgia. The county seat of Bibb County is Macon. Bibb County was home to 153,721 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[5] The district was the 18th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 24,180 students.[6]
Demographics
Bibb County underperformed in comparison to the rest of Georgia in terms of higher education achievement and median household income in 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 23.4 percent of Bibb County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 29.3 percent for Georgia as a whole. The median household income in Bibb County was $36,614, compared to $53,482 for the state of Georgia. The poverty rate in Bibb County was 28.2 percent, compared to 14.8 percent for the entire state.[5]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Thelma Dillard' 'Bibb County Board of Education'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed April 18, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dr. Thelma Dillard, "About," accessed May 9, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Thelma Dillard's responses," April 22, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "Bibb County, Georgia," accessed April 18,2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Current and Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
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