Ella Smith for School Board, District 2, DeKalb County

Educator, Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, DeKalb County Stakeholder, and Candidate for District 2 School Board Member

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 intends to go back to school in January 2009 and work on her specialist degree in Educational Administration.  Her focus for the past 29 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 currently a candidate for the district 2 School Board Candidate in DeKalb County, Georgia. With Ella’s experiences as a classroom teacher for 28 years, a parent for 32 years and a taxpayer for 35 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 seven 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 two candidates running against her. Ella ran for the district two school board position against Lynn Cherry Grant 4 years ago and she was defended, but she did have a very good first showing as a candidate.

Mother

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 has been involved in the community soccer programs as a coach.

Parents

Ella is the daughter of the late Jessie A. Abney and Mary Clay Alexander-Abney of Irvine, Kentucky.

Siblings

Joe Abney, Richmond, Kentucky

Terrie Abney Tate, Irvine, Kentucky

John Abney, Warms Springs, Georgia

Rebecca Abney Click, Irvine Kentucky

Stakeholder of the District 2 in DeKalb County and candidate for School Board

As a stakeholder and a candidate for the DeKalb County District 2 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

4. Use of Taxpayers’ money as efficient as possible to reduce taxes, but to continue to improve the quality of the education our students are receiving

5. Parent-Teachers-Community Partnerships for Education