Second candidate emerges in special election to be newest Muscogee school board member
A second candidate has emerged for this year’s Muscogee County School District Board special election.
Laketha Ashe, who owns printing company As He Leads and Alana’s Beauty Supply, is scheduled to host a campaign kickoff at 11 a.m., March 20, at her company’s conference center, at 1965 South Lumpkin Road.
Last month, Home for Good vice president Patricia Frey was the first candidate to announce a campaign for the board’s District 7 seat. The special election day will be June 20.
District 7 representative Cathy Williams has resigned, effective April 1, from the nine-member MCSD board to join the 14-member Georgia Department of Transportation Board. She received the most votes for the appointment last month among the 24 state legislators whose districts are in or contiguous to the 2nd Congressional District.
Lakesha Ashe’s background
This will be Ashe’s third time on a District 7 ballot. She ran for the district’s Columbus Council seat last year. She finished second in May’s four-candidate race to qualify for the June runoff, which Joanne Cogle won 454-373.
Before she became a business owner, Ashe worked for 18 years in customer service and claims at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia.
As a teenager in Panama City, Florida, she was a part-time paraprofessional in classrooms and in the office of an elementary school. After, she worked about six years doing patient intake at a psychiatry and counseling clinic.
Ashe, 48, graduated from Panama City’s Bay High School in 1992. Through dual enrollment, she earned an associate’s degree in accounting at Gulf Coast Community College in 1992. Two years later, she earned an associate’s degree in business administration from Gulf Coast.
Her other college degrees are a bachelor’s in psychology from Troy University-Fort Benning in 2006 and a master’s in psychology from the University of Phoenix-Columbus in 2010. She is enrolled in the University of Lynchburg’s online doctoral program for healthcare administration.
‘My focus and commitment’
In an interview Wednesday with the Ledger-Enquirer, Ashe explained why she is running for the school board after losing last year’s city council race.
“My focus and commitment remain toward embracing and helping our future generations,” she said, “I think this is the perfect time to jump into the arena to help push the vision of Muscogee County, to have our youth reach their full potential.”
Asked what is the most significant change in MCSD she wants to advocate for if she were elected to the board, Ashe said, “I’ve come in contact with the community a lot, the school community, the teachers. They’re No. 1 concerns have been school safety.
“ … Teachers have been talking about how they’re being held to be parents, teachers, doctors, janitorial staff,” she continued. “So I’ll just pretty much advocate for those students and teachers and parents, those relationships. No major change to implement, just bringing those things together.”
District 7 residents should vote for her, Ashe said, because “I’m already community focused. I’m already doing some of the things that involve and entail volunteering in the community.”
Ashe is founder and past president of Columbus, Georgia, Reloaded, a community organization helping residents find the resources they need.
Key dates for special election
April 12-14: Qualifying period for candidates, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12-13, then 9 a.m. to noon April 14, at the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration in the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way, off Macon Road. The qualifying fee is $90.
May 22: Voter registration deadline. Only residents of District 7 will be eligible to vote in this special election. Information about voter registration and districts is online at mvp.sos.ga.gov.
May 30: Mailing of absentee ballots begins, sent to only District 7 registered voters who requested one.
May 30-June 16: Early voting in the City Services Center. The elections board hasn’t announced the times.
June 20: Special election day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the District 7 precincts: Cusseta, Epworth, First African, Gallops, Our Lady of Lourdes and Wynnton.
July 18: Runoff election day if no candidate receives a majority of the votes.
