Political candidates who are MACE members have had another banner year thus far. Representative Darryl Jordan, a MACE charter member, had no opposition in the Democratic Primary. Also, no Republican qualified to run against Rep. Jordan. However, a woman recently decided to run as a "write-in" candidate against Rep. Jordan. Rep. Jordan has handily defeated his opponents in the past, including the then incumbent Jimmy Benefield whom Rep. Jordan defeated in 2000. Rep. Jordan has always been a strong voice for classroom educators in the State House of Representatives where he serves on the House Education Committee. Rep. Jordan represents portions of Riverdale, Jonesboro, and Fayetteville. He teaches in Henry County and has a brother and a sister who are MACE members in DeKalb County and Bibb County respectively. His wife, Jackie, is an educator in Atlanta, and the couple have five children.

     Tony Guisasola, MACE’s longtime "Field Marshal" of North Georgia, defeated his opponent, an incumbent on the Gilmer County Board of Education, by a 59% to 41% margin. Tony had formerly taught in Gilmer County for over twenty years before he transferred to teach in Dawson County. He and his family, wife Becky and children Miguel and Carmen, continued to reside in Ellijay, thus enabling Tony to run for the Gilmer County school board post. The Gilmer County Board of Education has only five (5) members. One of Tony’s friends also won a seat on the school board. Recently, the superintendent, Lex Rainey, announced to the school employees that he would be retiring in December of this year. Hmm. Previously, the superintendent has been trying to get the school board to grant him an extension on his contract.

     MACE charter member Linda Crummy decided to step down from the Clayton County Board of Education after eight years on the school board. (For the record: Linda Crummy was not one of the ladies who "nutted-up" on the Clayton school board. In fact, she has been widely credited with holding the school board together despite the foolish antics of some of the board members. Linda represented sanity on the school board.) Another MACE member, Yolanda Everett, ran for the post that Mrs. Crummy will be vacating at the end of the year. Yolanda won a close race, beating her opponent 51% to 49%. Yolanda is originally from Columbus, Georgia, and she now resides in the College Park area of Clayton County. Yolanda has the same type of even-keel temperament as Mrs. Crummy, and we look forward to witnessing the same quiet, strong leadership from Ms. Everett.

     Janice Scott, another MACE member, ran a very impressive race against a longtime resident of Clayton County, Eddie White. Mr. White retired from the Clayton County School System as Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. He retired with over 40 years of experience. In her first jump into the political fray, Ms. Scott earned about 46% of the vote. In the early returns, she was leading the race, and she almost pulled off a shocking upset! We look forward to hearing future political rumblings from Janice Scott!

     MACE member Dahshi Anderson ran a valiant race for the school board in Fulton County. She ran an impressive race, and she had heads turning. She, her husband, Andrice, and their children campaigned hard but came up short this time. There are only seven school board seats in Fulton County, and each seat represents nearly 100,000 people. This makes a school board campaign in Fulton County a very expensive proposition. But, Dahshi had’em running scared!

     Congratulations to all of these fine people who are willing to put their names on the dotted line!