Gary Jones (Louisiana politician)

Gary Lee Jones (born October 1946) is an incoming Republican member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from Alexandria, Louisiana. He was elected to the District 5 seat for primarily northeastern and central Louisiana in the primary held on October 24, 2015.

Background

Born in a military family in Washington State,^[1] Jones himself served for thirty-seven years in the military,^[2] both the United States Army and the United States Navy. He reached the rank of brigadier general in the Louisiana Army National Guard,^[3] of which he was a member from 1976 to 2006.^[4]

Jones obtained his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Education and Ed.D. from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He engaged in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, all dates unavailable.^[2][4]

Career

From 1971 to 1999, Jones was employed by the city school system in Monroe in Ouachita Parish, which he considers his hometown. From 1999 to 2003, he was superintendent for the Claiborne Parish School Board in Homer. From 2003 to 2012, he was superintendent for the Rapides Parish School Board in Alexandria.^[3]

In 2011, he was named "Superintendent of the Year" by the American Association of School Administrators and the Louisiana Association of School Executives. In Rapides Parish, Jones turned around an $11 million school deficit into a $14 million surplus by what he calls "targeting" resources: "A lot of money comes through our district. I just try to put it where it will get the best results."^[1] Jones said that as superintendent he worked with troubled students to keep them out of trouble with the law: "I get personally involved with troubled students. Instead of getting expelled, such students meet with Jones to sign a performance contract. We negotiate a contract between the student and me, and then we both agree to live up to it."^[1]

In the 2009-2010 school year, Jones was the president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents.^[2] From 2012 to June 2015, he was the assistant state education superintendent for policy implementation in Baton Rouge under John C. White.^[3] Since July 2015, he has been an educational consultant.^[4]

In his race for the BESE seat, incumbent Republican Jay Guillot, an engineer with the firm Hunt Guillot & Associates LLC of Ruston,^[5] did not seek a second term. Jones defeated another Republican, Johnnie Ray Fatheree (born February 1953) of Downsville in Union Parish, a businessman who formerly studied at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Jones polled, 77,301 votes (62.3 percent) to Fatheree's 46,863 (37.7 percent).^[6] The district encompasses these nineteen parishes, some of small population: Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Rapides, Richland, Tensas, Union, and West Carroll.^[6]

Neither Jones nor Fatheree reported having any campaign contributions for the race.^[7] Prior to the election, however, Jones received $35,000 from four political action committees.^[8] James Garvey, Jr., who won a third term in District 1 in suburban New Orleans, reported the most assets prior to the 2015 primary election.^[7]

Jones said that he expects the controversial Common Core State Standards to be phased out in Louisiana with the establishment of academic standards in mathematics and English by the individual states. As an incoming BESE member, he vowed to work for higher standards in Louisiana: "A kid should not get condemned to a lower quality education because of his zip code."^[3] Jones indicated that he prefers a series of informal teacher evaluations, rather than one annual formal evaluation. He also supports merit pay.^[3]

References