Ella Smith for School Board, District 9, DeKalb County

 Educator, Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, DeKalb County Stakeholder, and Candidate for District 9 School Board Member Seat

  Educator

Ella has been involved in the educational process her whole life.  Since the age of five, she has been either a student or a teacher. She graduated from Estill County High School in Irvine, Kentucky in 1973 and then attended Eastern Kentucky University and received a BS in Health and Physical Education with a coaching endorsement in 1979.  She then attended the University of North Carolina, Florida State, Georgia State, and Gulf Coast Community College where she became certified in Biology, Specific Learning Disabilities, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Mild Intellectual Disabilities, and Interrelated Special Education.  In 2006, she received her Masters Degree in Curriculum-with emphasis in Adult Learning, from Central Michigan University at the Atlanta, Georgia Campus. She is currently working on her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Argosy University.  Ella just finished her specialist degree in Administration and Leadership in the summer of 2010.  Her focus for the past 30 years has been as a teacher in the field of Special Education and Health and Physical Education.  However, she has also been involved as a coach of soccer, swimming, cheerleading and once as a football coach.

 Ella is a candidate for the district  9 School Board in DeKalb County, Georgia. With Ella’s experiences as a classroom teacher for 30 years, a parent for 33 years and a taxpayer for 38 years, she feels she is the best candidate for the job. She was a teacher in DeKalb County but she  chose to leave the DeKalb County School System as a teacher ten  years ago deciding to get more involved politically when she saw how the decisions made by the School Board affect every citizen in DeKalb County. Since then she has worked in the Gwinnett County School System and now the Fulton County School System. She has also chosen to teach at some of the best schools in the state in order to see the differences from school to school. She feels that she has different perspective than the other candidates. Ella ran for the district two school board position two years ago and was narrowly defeated in a run-off election.  However, in the general election she received 41% of the vote to 28% and 27% of the other two candidates in the district 2 race.

 Ella is the mother of four children and two grandchildren. 

 Children

La’La Westall, Columbia, S.C. 

Lance Oliver, Atlanta, Ga. 

R. J. Holston, III, Atlanta, Ga. 

Austin Smith, Atlanta, Ga. 

 Grandchildren

 Haley Westall 

Tyler Westall 

Husband

Ella is married to Merck Kelly Smith who graduated from Emory University with a degree in math and Georgia State University with a law degree.  He currently is the COO-Chief Corporate Council at RAMP Media Group. Merck is the son of Judge Jack B. Smith (former Senior State Court Judge in DeKalb County) and Inge Smith (former German teacher) of Decatur, Georgia. Merck also a select soccer coach. The U16 GSA Team he was the volunteer coach of and my son is on, won state this year. In other words he was the assistant coach. Next year he will be this team’s head coach as the team travels for regional play. Merck also volunteers as a trainer for the Lakeside High School Varsity Boy's Team where he played soccer in high school.

 Daughter

 Ella is the daughter of the late Jessie A. Abney and Mary Clay Alexander-Abney of Irvine, Kentucky. Ella's mother just turned 80 years old and was the oldest person in Kentucky to ever have a kidney transplant about five years ago. She has done extremely well since the transplant and all her doctors cannot believe her progress at her age. It has been nothing less than amazing for the entire family.

Siblings

Joe Abney, Richmond, Kentucky 

Terrie Abney Tate, Irvine, Kentucky 

John Abney, Warms Springs, Georgia

 Rebecca Abney Click, Irvine Kentucky

Major Concerns

 Stakeholder of the District 9 in DeKalb County and candidate for School Board

As a stakeholder and a candidate for the DeKalb County District 9 School Board Member, I am concerned about the following:

1. A “World Class” Education for every child in DeKalb County 

 2. Attracting and Retaining Qualified Teachers and other Educational Employees 

 3. Protecting the Health and Safety of Students, Employees and the Community at large; with accountability in spending. 

 4. Accountability of Taxpayers’ money- Taxpayers money should be used as efficient as possible to reduce taxes, but to continue to improve the quality of the education our students are receiving in DeKalb County.

 5. Parent-Teachers-Community Partnerships for Education

6. Transparency in doing business as a school board