From staff reports

Betty Tolliver is seeking re-election to the District 3 spot on the Vicksburg Warren School District’s Board of Trustees.

Her name and that of challenger James Stirgus Jr., will appear on the ballots Tuesday.

A Vicksburg native, Tolliver, 58, is a graduate of Temple High School and Vicksburg Commercial College and has studied at Tougaloo Collge with a major in childhood education.

She has worked for the Mississippi Action for Progress, or Head Start, for 24 years as a teacher’s aide, teacher and licensed social worker.

For nine years she was the assistant director of Vicksburg’s youth services department at the Kings Community Center, where she worked with parents and children in tutoring and counseling. She also served as co-founder of the Homework Network.

Her work as an intervention counselor during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina earned her an award from Gov. Haley Barbour.

Currently she is a social worker for the state Department of Human Services, serving as a family protection specialist.

If re-elected, Tolliver hopes to continue to decrease dropout rates and suspensions, increase GED and regular graduates programs, increase parent participation and tutorial programs, achieve a “5” rating for each school, offer more scholarships and funding for the schools and continue to promote staff pay increases and certifications.

Terms on the five-member board are for six years each and rotate so the entire board is never new.