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Deborah Albright-Santiago is a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Troup County School Board.

Santiago has lived in Troup County for most of her life. She is a certified practicing teacher with more than 20 years’ experience in education. After graduating from Troup High School in 1979, she served in the United States Army and later returned to LaGrange to raise her family. After her four children were school bound, she began her formal education at LaGrange College where she graduated in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in middle childhood education.

Later, she returned to LaGrange College and completed her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in 2006. Currently, Santiago holds a specialist degree and is in the defense state for her doctorate of education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., in November.

Santiago has taught at Hogansville middle and high schools, West Georgia Technical College and Heard County Middle School. Albright-Santiago has four adult children: Bianca Martinez, Deangelo Santiago, Mario Santiago and Felisia Santiago; and 10 grandchildren: Ramon, Diego, Julian, Gabriela, Jazzmine, Ariana, Lilyanna, Deangelo, Jr., Chandler and Reeves.

Santiago’s late father, Bill Albright, and mother, Jewell Albright, were both teachers in the Troup County School System. As a retired Troup County educator, her mother continues to teach at West Georgia Technical College.

In addition to her parents, Santiago has two other family members that currently teach on kindergarten through college level. Santiago said she holds several multicultural views and values with family members of Japanese, Mexican, Guatemalan, Italian and Puerto Rican descent.

Santiago said her main interests include school law, teaching methodologies, data analysis and instructional technology. She has performed quantitative research on classroom management, leadership styles, technology integration, school law, conflict resolution, gender differences in education, bullying in schools, Christian perspectives in education, online learning formats, CRCT and learning formats, and students with special needs.

Some of Santiago’s publications include: A Brief History of the Heard County School System Media Centers 1870 ­ 2005, “Georgia Library History Project,” in December 2005; and “Technology Enhanced Instruction with PassKey,” Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, March 2006. Over the years, Santiago has served on several committees including: superintendents advisory, disciplinary board, facilities planning, ESL literacy standards, statewide collaboration in action, student acceleration, school representative for southern association of colleges, instructional/grading improvement, partners in education, adult literacy council, and V.I.P. ­ volunteers in partnership.

Some of her objectives as a board member includes: fostering critical thinking and student creativity based learning; increasing parent/teacher communication and community involvement; implementing consistent disciplinary procedures; decrease spending and class size; ensuring a safe and secure environment for all children; decreasing taxes for seniors; maintaining adequate surplus in budget reservoir; analyzing school data to implement school reform as needed; and collaborating with other board members as a team player.

Her interest in serving on the Board of Education has grown over the years as her children attended Troup County schools. Currently, seven of her 10 grandchildren are enrolled - the other three are not school aged. Santiago said her guiding inspiration is to have the opportunity to serve as a board member for all the people of Troup County.

She is enthusiastic about working as a team member with a wonderful group of board members in the Troup County School System. Early voting begins Oct. 15th and she would greatly appreciate voter¹s support from District 1.

Santiago may be contacted at 706-812-9131 or email at DeborahASantiago@gmail.com.