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Autauga County School Board Needs ‘Young Blood, Fresh Eyes,’ says Kim Crockett

By Hamilton Richardson

Elmore/Autauga News

Editor’s Note: The EAN will be running stories concerning winners of the recent Primary elections, as well as candidates who are now facing a runoff for positions in Elmore/Autauga counties. For more information email Sarah Stephens at editorsarah@yahoo.com

It took roughly four years of prepping and planning. But local resident Kim Crockett’s dream finally came true on the night of the May Primary election as she took home the most votes in her race for a District 2 seat on the Autauga County Board of Education.

Crockett will once again be on the ballet on June 21 as she goes head-to-head in a run-off with Wayne Lambert, who came in second in the primary. Crockett received 45-percent of the votes counted and Lambert received 35-percent.

The Mobile native said she’s been thinking about running for a board seat for a long time.

“Four years ago, I was asked to be the president of the Parent Teacher Association,” Crockett said. “I just got super heavily involved and I had created a really great relationship with the principal. She told me I really think you should look at running for the board. I started looking into it and going to the board meetings. Digging Deeper into what that looked like.”

After Crockett finished serving on the Parent Teacher Association, she started the process of digging deeper.

“I love relationships with people. I love making teachers happy and creating environments that kids love to be in,” she explained about her motivations. “I thought I could take what I love and do it on a bigger scale. The principal continued to encourage me over the next few years and when it (the election) came up, she called me and said, are we going to do this? She gave me a lot of confidence in myself.”

As the time to qualify approached, Crockett thought to herself, ‘am I really going to do that? Am I really going to put myself out there?’

“I think I’ll bring a different perspective to what they have right now,” she said about her final decision to run.

Crockett said that what stands out from others is the fact that she’s not looking to be a politician.

“I’m not a political person,” she said. “The whole world of politics is not very appealing.”

Even though the Prattville mom said she didn’t realize there would be three other candidates in the race, she said it makes her happy that more people in the community are stepping up to make changes, and she faced those people at the recently held Education Forum.

“I have spoken to crowds of people before but there’s something about not knowing all the questions,” Crockett said as she recalled the forum, where each candidate for school board answered several questions in front of a large crowd. “I have never claimed to know all the answers but I feel very confident in myself that given the opportunity to be on the board, I will bring the perspective of being a mom and having volunteered in the classroom all those years. It was very exhausting but I had good input from others who were there.”

Crockett said her candidacy has received a lot of support from the community.

“So, the support has been overwhelming from parents in the community, from my friends, my family, the educators, the employees of Autauga County,” she said. “We need somebody who has been in the trenches and in the classrooms. They know that I get it. Things may look good on paper and that’s what the board sees. They see numbers and spreadsheets. They see that part but I’ve been there and that’s different.”

Crockett, who has a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, said that it comes down to one main point.

“I’m relatable,” she commented. “I run in the mom circles. I hear what these moms’ concerns are. I hear from the kids and from the teachers. They are not necessarily going to go to a board member and tell them what their problems are. But they feel heard by me and I’m going to do what I say I’m going to do.”

Some of Crockett’s top priorities have to do with regaining trust for the board of education.

“People are searching for answers,” she said. “When you go to board meetings, you don’t really always understand what they’re talking about. I don’t like that. I’d like to bring back accountability, transparency to those board meetings. I understand there are things you can and can’t talk about, but there are some things that they want the community involved in and yet they don’t tell the community what’s happening. Then people get tired of coming into a meeting and they walk away not knowing any more than when they came in, or sitting in a hallway for an hour while they’re (the board) is in executive session and wasting time. We need to change the meetings so that the community will come back in.”

The board candidate said people have to be able to trust their leadership.

“Our teachers don’t feel supported,” she said. “They don’t feel heard by the higher ups and half of them don’t even know who the board members are. Raise the morale a little bit. Morale is low and things have been difficult and hard in the last couple years. When your teachers are happy, your kids are happy.”

As a result of the election, the school board will look very different soon as Jim Manderson, who is a longtime board member and ran against Crockett, will not return to his seat.

“There is nothing against Mr. Manderson at all,” she said about her opponent. “He’s seen me at these board meetings. I think he’s done a good job. I think that during Covid a lot of things were brought to light about our school board. People started to look at the school board and some people weren’t happy with some of the decisions. People realized that these are elected officials and they are making decisions for our children.”

Crockett said that after Covid, across the nation, all school boards began to be scrutinized.

“I think people have just realized that we need change,” she stated. “People are ready for someone who understands. Here I am stepping up as a parent and a longtime volunteer and they say she’s a good fit because she knows. They’re ready for young blood and fresh eyes.”

Crockett reflected on the recent school shooting in Texas and discussed how safe Autauga County schools are and what could be improved.

“I think that our schools do a really great job at security,” she said. “You have to be buzzed in. All the doors are always locked. Could we do a better job? Absolutely. Everyone can always do better. The problem is funding. We don’t have enough money to have the top-of-the-line security system or have officers at every school. Would we like to change that? Absolutely. Could this happen in Autauga County? Sure. It could happen anywhere. We are doing the best job we can do at this moment. We want our children to be safe. We don’t ever want anyone to go through that. If I get elected and get into that seat, I want to see what other options are out there to make improvements on that.”

During the June 21st run-off, Crockett will be on the ballot with Wayne Lambert, both vying for the coveted District 2 seat.

“People have to get out and vote,” she said. “This is a local election and every single vote counts in a local election. I feel like that speaks volumes in that people want something different.”

Crockett and her family moved to Prattville 13 years ago. Her husband, Dr. James Crockett, is the owner and operator of Eyecare Plus in Prattville and all three of their children are in Autauga County schools.