Thursday, October 2, 2025–8:15 p.m.
-Staff reports-
Five of the nine candidates running for the Rome City School Board answered questions on a wide variety of topics during a candidate forum on Thursday at the Rome Area History Center.
The forum was presented by One Community United, the People’s Agenda, the League of Women Voters, and the NAACP and was streamed live for those who were unable to make it out.
Brenda Boyd, Marquita Davis, Karl Gyden, Alvin Jackson, and Ron Roach weighed in on issues such as improving literacy, recruiting quality teachers, the board’s relationship with the superintendent, technology and AI, school safety, and the new Rome Middle School.
Jackson, the only incumbent at Thursday’s forum, acknowledged the cost of the new middle school, adding that its money well spent.
“It’s an investment in our children and our future,” he said. “It’s freeing up space in our other schools. At East Central, we’ve had to build five new classrooms. At West End, we’ve had to build eight new classrooms. That shows me that our system is growing. Believe it or not, if you look down Highway 411, growth is coming to Rome.”
Davis also believes that by moving the 6th grade to the new middle school, additional space will be created at the other schools.
“We want to make sure we have accounted for growth and have accounted for that space,” she said. “That $100 million budget it is an investment, but it also give us an opportunity to include new, advanced technology. It will help the multilingual. It will help with Spanish. It will help English. It will help every language that is incorporated into one if the new systems.”
Roach noted that the $100 million spent is for 100 percent of the students.
“Why would you complain about the cost of the middle school? Because, surely, we needed it,” he said. “The board voted on it twice. In the City of Buford, Georgia, if you haven’t heard, they spent sixty-something million dollars for just five percent of the students.”
Gyden also believes the new middle school will help with overcrowding, but the school system must remain proactive.
“Rome High’s population is just over 1,000 students,” he said. “West End’s population rivals that of Rome High. Grades 1-5 have more students in that space than your high school. That’s a safety issue. So, now that our students are going over to Rome Middle, that is great progress, but we can’t stop there. We need to look at all our schools to make sure we are prepared for the growth that is coming.”
Boyd also spoke about overcrowding, especially at West End, adding there are still mobile classroom units being used even after the recently completed classroom addition. She feels the situation will improve once the 6th grade moves to the middle school. She also thinks 6th graders are more suited to a middle school environment.
“I think we have a wonderful opportunity there to create an amazing culture there,” she said. Because, all of a sudden you are bringing in three grades of kids who don’t know each other, and it’s a brand new experience. I feel like that is going to overflow into the high school.”
Election Day is November 4.
