Hey, so by way of introduction, let me tell you a little bit about myself, my story and hopefully why I’m running for school board will just make sense.
I grew up, right here in southeastern NC, in a little town called Bladenboro. I was the oldest child of Jerry and Drewhelen Jones who, all told, brought five of us into the world. We, my siblings and I, grew up hard. We grew up poor. Of course, everyone around us was poor, so it was quite some time before I understood that there were people who weren’t poor. Who didn’t go to bed hungry. Who didn’t wake up cold. We, all of us kids, my siblings, my cousins, my classmates - we were all looking for a way out. Once we understood that out existed, we started looking for a path.
For me, it was books. I was, and still am, a voracious reader. Stories took me to the past…to the future…to outer space. Anywhere and everywhere. I was surrounded by adults who fed my love of books and believed in the power of education. I was surrounded by people who believed that education was the silver bullet solution. It doesn’t solve every problem, but freely available public education (and libraries) has been the single most effective tool we have available to break cycles of poverty, cycles of addiction, cycles of violence…all the negative generational cycles that keep groups of people mired.
#fastforward
Beginnings and Careers
I met and married my wife, Erin, while at Warren Wilson College in the mountains of North Carolina. We moved to Wilmington for school and stayed to start careers and raise our family. I started my working life as an environmental chemist with a local firm, eventually becoming the general manager. I found teaching as a second career and fell in love with sharing my love of science and reason with young minds. I taught four years in a charter school at the middle and high school levels. Erin worked in a literacy program that focused on preschools in the area before becoming pregnant with our first child, Elijah. After we had our second kiddo, Ziko, Erin attended UNCW and attained an MA in Teaching. She taught 5-8 for 7 years both in traditional public school and in charter schools. We currently own a “micro” bookstore here in Wilmington, called “The Roasted Bookery.” After we left teaching, we decided to pursue our “retirement” dream of owning a bookstore. Our collection is curated to highlight the voices and talents of BIPOC, API, and Queer authors and the stories they share.
Family
We have raised our two kids, Elijah (18?!) and Ziko (15), here. Elijah and Ziko both went to charter schools here in town. Our first experience with the traditional public schools here in town was with New Hanover High when Elijah matriculated during the first full school year with COVID raging. He had a pretty hard time finding his place, and the admin of that school spent two years holding our hands and listening to us cry. I have never in my life felt or seen more support. Everyone from Elijah’s JV soccer coach to the principal showed the utmost commitment to helping Elijah walk the path of a Wildcat. Ultimately, Elijah chose homeschool/College and Career Promise to finish out his high school work, and his team at NHHS supported him in that decision, too. Once their brother made the choice to homeschool, Ziko followed suit and has been thriving in the arts program at DREAMS while pursuing their interests as a homeschooler.
Why I’m Running…
I’m running because I owe a debt of service to the adults who shepherded me through my childhood. As I said, education is the silver bullet solution. I broke my cycle. My siblings all broke the cycle. We owe that to our parents, to our teachers, to our counselors, to all the adults that believed we could break our cycles. Now, we are beset on all sides with people who are blowing up this amazing experiment. Not to make it better, but because school board elections have proven to be fertile ground for a culture war that no one wanted. In order to drum up votes for otherwise untenable candidates, there is a group of people who are foisting culture war policies into our classrooms and and into the district as a whole. I am running because kids that look like me deserve a shot at breaking whatever cycle in which they find themselves. Kids that look like me deserve a chance to level the playing field.
If you find yourself moved to help out, you can donate at this link (ActBlue).