Worsham to seek third term on school board

“We have accomplished a lot over the last eight years and there is still more to do. I want to continue to be a part of promoting our school system and working to make it the very best it can be,” Worsham said.

The son of a Baptist minister and veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Worsham, 58, has been a resident of Grady County since 1988. He is married to the former Tammie Bennett of Whigham. The couple’s children, Bennett and Rebecca, are both graduates of Cairo High School. Bennett, 26, is employed by the City of Thomasville Police Department and Rebecca, 19, who was an honor graduate of C.H.S., is employed by Grady General Hospital and is studying at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College at the Bainbridge campus.

The incumbent District 1 board member was born in Camilla, but his father, the Rev. Zack Worsham, was a Baptist minister. The family moved to serve churches not only in Georgia, but also in Florida and Alabama. Jeff Worsham lived most of his school aged years in Clermont, Fla., but the family moved to Bainbridge for his junior year of high school.

Worsham is a graduate of Bainbridge High School and is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Air Force where he attended the Community College of the Air Force. He served four years of active duty, during which he was assigned to the United States Embassy in Manila, the Philippines, and served two years in the active reserves.

In 2019, Worsham retired from the City of Cairo with 11.5 years of service. He began a new career this month as the fulfillment services manager for Atlas Packaging & Displays. Worsham serves as the liaison between Atlas and Taurus USA, the new gun manufacturer that opened last year in Decatur County.

“We have a diverse board of education, but we work very well together. We may have different ideas about how to do things, but we all have the same goal—taking care of our students, faculty and staff while working to make our public schools the best around. We have a good board and a good superintendent and I would like to continue to work with them as we continue to improve our system,” Worsham said.

Worsham points with pride to the new facilities at Southside Elementary School, the new College and Career Center at Cairo High School, renovations at Whigham Elementary School as well as projects underway or on the drawing board for the other schools.

Worsham said he appreciates voters supporting the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which provides resources for new facilities on school campuses. “Without the ESPLOST we would not have accomplished much of what we have done or plan to do to improve our facilities,” he said.

“I believe we as a board working hand-in-hand with our superintendent and finance office, have been good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. Through growth in the digest and strong fiscal management, we have been able to avoid a tax millage rate increase over the last eight years and a couple of times we have lowered the millage rate. I want to continue to be a part of the team that manages our resources in such a way that we can provide for the needs of the system while reducing the burden on local taxpayers,” Worsham said.

“I’ve enjoyed serving my community and I hope the voters of District 1 will permit me to continue to be their voice on the board of education,” Worsham concluded.