Only Challenger in Tuscaloosa School Board Elections Seeks District 1 Seat

Tony Humphries, the only challenger contesting a seat on the Tuscaloosa City Schools Board of Education next month, said he has spent the last several years inside of classrooms, seeing children's needs firsthand.

Humphries is running against incumbent Dr. Karen Thompson-Jackson for her seat representing District 1 on the TCS school board. None of the other six seats on the board will be contested in the March municipal elections, nor will the chairman's office, where Eric Wilson will remain.

The Tuscaloosa native told the Thread he's run for the same seat before - once in 2005 and again in 2017 - but is now bringing an insider's perspective to the race. Humphries, who worked for WVUA 23 in both of the last two races, said he is now a paraprofessional in special education inside the school system.

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"When I ran for this position years ago, I was running then as someone looking from the outside in," Humphries said. "Now I work as a paraprofessional in special education, inside the school system. And when you get the inside perspective, you see things that kind of disturb you."

The Central High School graduate said he was most bothered by unmet needs in some special education classrooms, where he said some teachers don't have the equipment to lift students out of wheelchairs or other gear to help make their jobs easier.

Humpries said if elected, he would focus on improving the Parent Teacher Associations at each of Tuscaloosa's schools, focus on the complete well-being of students and ensure each school is represented fairly as decisions are made about where to allocate the school system's $151 million budget.

He said although he does not have children in the city school system, he is a product of it - from the Head Start Pre-K program to Stillman Heights Elementary all the way to his 1996 graduation from Central High.

"That's a journey that really had a profound effect on my on my life," Humpries said. "I was in the band, in ROTC and different other extracurriculars and they truly have helped shape me into who I am today."

That lived experience, his new professional role in TCS and a deep love of children have driven Humpries to seek the school board seat for a third time.

Tuscaloosa's municipal elections will be held on March 4, 2025. Check out our coverage hub for those races here.

Almost all other Alabama municipalities including Northport will host their own elections later in the year, on August 26, 2025.

For updates on those races and more, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.