Alfred “Shivy” Brooks beat incumbent Tamara Jones in the Dec. 5 runoff for a seat on the Atlanta school board, according to unofficial election results.
Brooks and Jones faced each other in the runoff after both received just under 50% of the vote in the Nov. 7 general election.
Brooks, who teaches economics and government at Clayton County’s Charles Drew High School, is believed to be the first active teacher elected to the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education. Brooks will replace Jones as the District 7 at-large representative.
Unofficial results from DeKalb and Fulton County show Brooks was leading with roughly 65% of the vote at about 10 p.m.
DeKalb reported unofficial results for all 14 precincts in the APS election just after 10 p.m. with Brooks receiving 1,561 votes for nearly 72%. Jones received 608 votes, for 28%,
In Fulton, with 114 out of 182 precincts reporting, Brooks had a strong lead with 5,593 votes, for nearly 66% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Jones had 2,885 votes for 34%.
His son, Bryce Brooks, 16, died earlier this year in Florida while trying to save young children from drowning. Bryce Brooks attended APS schools and was a junior at Maynard Jackson High School.
Brooks, who ran for Atlanta City Council in 2021, racked up endorsements in his school board run from political heavyweights Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; and Jason Carter, former state senator and grandson of Jimmy Carter, former president, and Rosalynn Carter.
He also was endorsed by Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman and City Council members Andrea Boone, Antonio Lewis, Jason Dozier, Keisha Waites, Matt Westmoreland, Michael Julian Bond, Marci Collier Overstreet, Liliana Bakhtiari, Jason Winston and Amir Farokhi.
Tamara Jones was elected to the school board two years. She was endorsed in her reelection bid by Atlanta City Councilmember Alex Wan, state Rep. Saira Draper, state Sen. Nan Orrock and numerous community leaders including Ann Cramer, Lee Morris, Julian Bene, Adrienne Wesley, Kimberly Scott and Pastor Eric Thomas.
In 2020, the nine-member school board decided to stagger terms to eliminate the possibility of an entirely new board being elected every four years.
In 2021, all nine board members ran for election but the new law said winners of odd-numbered districts would serve a two-year term.
Fulton County election results at 10:05 p.m.:
DeKalb County unofficial election results at 10:08 p.m.:
