Having served on the Murray County school board from 1996 to 2000, Davena Baxter-Baggett believes the time is right for her to return and address retirement benefits and the school system’s emergency preparedness plan.

Baggett was defeated in her bid for re-election by current board member Pat Hooker in 2000. Hooker chose not to run this year. Baxter-Baggett faces fellow Democrat Anthony Gallman for the District 2 seat in the July 15 primary. Republicans Kay Leonard McCurdy and Kenneth L. “Sam” Bright are also running.

Baxter-Baggett was working as a school social worker in the Murray system until January when she was dismissed by the school system. She is currently a homemaker.

In July of last year Baxter-Baggett was charged with violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act while in the Coosawattee Wildlife Management Area by a state Department of Natural Resources officer. According to Judge Dale Adams of Murray County Probate Court, Baxter-Baggett entered a no contest plea under conditional release, which means she paid a fine, completed a drug use risk reduction program and had to go through a 4-month period with no further infractions. After that period, the charge was dismissed, said Adams.

“I’d rather not go into that,” Baxter-Baggett replied when asked about the incident. “The only comment I have is that it was dismissed at the Probate Court level.”

As for the school system, she cited two main areas of concern.

“I don’t think our emergency preparedness plan is where it needs to be,” she said. “I know we have one, but it’s not readily available to our staff, and we don’t have it online so parents can find them. If we had to evacuate, would our parents know where to pick their kids up?”

Another problem she sees is hiring qualified teachers and retaining them.

“We’re trying to hire qualified teachers but I think it’s tough to get them to come to Murray County to teach,” she said. “And it’s not that the ones we have are not qualified, but we lose a lot of staff to Whitfield and other surrounding counties.”

Baxter-Baggett said there is a simple reason.

“We need to improve our VALIC (Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co.) benefits, which is a private pension fund,” she said.

Baxter-Baggett also said there have been “changes in curriculum made” in the system recently.

“I don’t know that they were inappropriate, or whether it happened because of testing,” she said.

Asked to elaborate, she declined.

School board members are paid $50 each time the board convenes.