Houston Co. BOE candidate fights back after disqualification

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Houston County school board candidate and his wife are wondering what happened when the county election board disqualified him this week.

Board says it disqualified Clyde Jackson because his wife is a district administrator; but the Jacksons say that’s not the case.

“The school board is telling a bunch of lies,” Clyde Jackson said of the disqualification.

Beyond frustration, Clyde and his wife, Traci, are perplexed.

“Why didn’t they talk to my wife? Because she works there with them, number one. Number two, they have my number because my name is on the sublist. Also, we could have handled That, and we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in,” Clyde Jackson said.

Traci Jackson works for the district part-time. She works as the district and school effectiveness coordinator, contributing to the development of teachers and administrators.

“We intervene, we model for them. We assist and support them through collaborative planning,” she explained.

Clyde Jackson says his wife’s employment didn’t seem to be a problem when the district’s assistant superintendent texted her “Congratulations” after she graduated. He says that so far, no one in the neighborhood has brought up his wife’s job as a potential problem.

Traci Jackson works less than 20 hours per week with an annual income of over $68,000. Although she works part-time, her position still forms the basis for Clyde Jackson’s disqualification. Under Georgia law, you cannot run for school office if a member of your immediate family holds an administrative position in the school district.

Traci Jackson was a school principal, but she says her new job doesn’t involve administrative work.

“That’s the first thing I said was, ‘When I come out of administration, I don’t want to do anything from an administrative standpoint,’” she said.

The Jacksons aren’t the only ones wondering what happened. Houston County NAACP President Jonathan Johnson said he thought the decision was rushed.

“They wanted to intervene in the last round, in the second round, and talk about the disqualification of a candidate. And that’s not how it should have worked,” he said.

The board of elections is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Thursday at 5 p.m. at its offices in Perry. Their notice does not specifically mention Jackson, but it does say they will address the disqualification of a candidate.

13WMAZ contacted the school district and asked if they had filed a formal complaint with the election board. So far, they have not responded.