March 11-15 was designated School Board Appreciation Week by the Georgia School Boards Association. Newton County Schools celebrated the week-long occasion, too. 

Its five board members are board chair Abigail Coggin, vice chair Shakila Henderson-Baker, District 1 representative Trey Bailey, District 2 representative Eddie Johnson and District 4 representative Anderson Bailey. 

Newton County School System (NCSS) superintendent Dr. Duke Bradley III recognized the work of each member via a NCSS press release. 

“Our community is fortunate to have a school board that works together to ensure that we have an excellent school system,” Bradley said. “This is not easy work, so I commend them for their heart for service, their dedication to children, and their belief in the potential of every Newton County student.”

The Covington News reached out to each member and asked, “What is your favorite part about serving on the Newton County Board of Education?" 

Three members — Coggin, Henderson-Baker and Trey Bailey — responded at the time of this publication. 

In addition to being the board chair, Coggin is the representative of District 5. She has served on the board for 13 years.

Coggin’s favorite aspect of serving in this capacity centered around helping NCSS students reach their goals. 

“I love to see the expressions of younger students when they learn something new — the ‘a ha’ moment and then listening to older students tell me about what they want for their future,” Coggin said. “I take pride in knowing that  maybe I had a small part in helping them accomplish their dreams.”

Henderson-Baker, who is District 3’s representative as well as board vice chair, has been a member for 13 years.

She highlighted her favorite part about being a BOE member. 

“It’s the return on investment that I get to witness among our students. Seeing our students achieve and accomplish things from various grade levels, to seeing them discover the things they thought they couldn’t do change into them realizing they actually can do, to even seeing students make changes in their life for the better,” Henderson-Baker said. “Those return on investments are just a small fraction of the reason why I serve. I love seeing our students in action whether it’s with academics, sporting events, or at one of their extracurricular organization’s gatherings.”   

For eight years now, Trey has been the District 1 representative. When asked what his favorite part about serving on the BOE, he first shared when he attended a student council leadership conference in high school. 

The conference facilitator led an exercise to create a life mission statement in which Trey realized he wanted to be a “catalyst for change.” 

“The status quo wasn’t good enough and I believed that we all had room to grow,” Trey said. “If I could live in such a way as to encourage others to look at things from a different perspective and even convince some to move in a new and healthy direction, then I would feel successful.” 

Trey enjoys that mission now in his board member capacity. 

“Newton County is in a season of change. I love the opportunity to meet with others and hear their unique perspective, sharpen what needs to change within me and help gain consensus on the plan moving forward…together,” Trey said. “I believe the best days are ahead for Newton County. We have strong foundations to build upon and big dreams for the future. I love being a part of that forward progress.” 

Anderson Bailey has served on the school board for three years. Johnson has been a board member for 15 years.