On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, B.J. Montgomery, recently elected member of the Chattooga County Board of Education was sworn in by Chattooga County Associate Probate Judge, Becky Duke.
B.J. Montgomery was elected to represent District 5 replacing John Agnew.
Montgomery, who has children in Chattooga Schools, says he was encouraged to run when the board of education members were unwilling to listen. “I was spurred to run for the board when I saw some of the board members completely unwilling to listen and address concerns of the students and parents. Having worked inside this system as the SRO, I personally saw the shift in student pride and involvement in student activities. Kids were proud to be from Chattooga, and with the increase not only did parents become more involved but the entire community. With the support of everyone these students pushed themselves to levels never before seen in this county. Academic levels reached an all-time high. Athletics across all sports consistently went to regional and state playoffs. Our vocational programs were competing on a national level. Other systems around the country came to our staff and administrators wanting to know what we were doing different to achieve such high levels of success. So when I saw packed board meetings with students, former students, parents and community members concerns falling on deaf ears, I decided it was time to up my own level of involvement. ”
Looking ahead Montgomery said that, “as board members must work to regain the trust of everyone.”
“I am looking forward to working with Mr. Elsberry, Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Houston and whomever is selected to fill the vacant seat that was left with the heartbreaking passing of Mr. Ballard. I know that if we listen to each other’s perspectives and take the communities concerns to heart that we will be able to make our system the model that others strive to achieve.”
Montgomery told AllOnGeorgia, “I never thought when I first started on this journey, we would be dealing with the problems we are seeing today. Covid has become the number 1 issue that all systems are dealing with across the country. I think that our system has dealt with the issue better than most. Mr. Hosmer and his staff have done an excellent job being transparent with the number of staff and student with positive test as well as the number of people being in quarantine because of exposure. Our systems ability to be flexible in our teaching methods has ensured that students do not have a lapse in instruction due to quarantine.”
