The newest Simpson County School District school board member, Rev. Ralph Walker, is a familiar face in Magee and the Simpson County area. He has been an active member of the public school system and of the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church community.
Walker, 65, did not take lightly his decision to run for the SCSB when his friend Patrice Boykin informed him she was not running for re-election. He recalls the circumstances surrounding that phone call. “Last year I coached All Stars for Magee with Mr. Dempsey Sullivan and we went to the World Series in Camden, AR. That Monday, I had just checked out and was leaving Camden when Patrice Boykin called me. We talked all the way from Camden to the other side of Vicksburg. I said, ‘let me pray about it and I’ll let you know’.”
He said he prayed for two nights seeking the Lord’s guidance. Walker called Boykin Wednesday morning and told her he would run. He believed it was his time to do this, he said, and did not invest much financially in campaigning. He won the election handily.
Walker is a man of faith as well as a man of his community. He has been in Good Hope MBC all his life, being baptized there at the age of 6 and surrendering to the call to preach at age 23. He celebrated 45 years of preaching last year. He was under the direction of the late Rev. E. W. Magee at Good Hope before Walker himself became their pastor.
Walker speaks warmly of growing up in Magee, graduating from Magee High School and calling Magee home. He has never lived anywhere else. He loves his hometown. Walker also believes Simpson County, especially its school system, is poised for progress and he wants to help move it forward. “I’m here for the children,” Walker said.
“I graduated from Magee High School in 1975; I started driving a school bus. I would make my route in the morning, get off my route and drive to Jackson State, come back and be back at 2:30 to make my route in the afternoon. I did that for three years,” Walker explained. He graduated from JSU with a degree in social work.
Walker worked at Mt. Olive Attendance Center for a year before going to Five County head Start, where he also served as a social worker. He then moved to Boswell Regional Center, where he had interned while in school at JSU. He retired from Boswell in 2013.
When Magee Elementary School implemented therapeutic classrooms, he began working with then principal Kathy Swalm, in those classes. The following year he moved to Magee Middle School to assist then principal Ernest Jaynes with the same process.
In 2016 the State Department of Education mandated that Simpson County implement P16, a program to aid prekindergarten through higher education experiencing continual falling overall school grades. Walker cited specifically how Magee Elementary School increased from an F to a B with a new school building. But Magee High was a D; Magee Middle, a D; Mendenhall Jr., an F; and Mendenhall High dropped to a D from a B. Walker first served as vice president to Pat Brown, president. Six months later Brown turned presidential responsibilities over to Walker; he has held that position since. Now that Walker has been elected to the SCSB he will resign as P16 president so there is no conflict of interest.
It is no exaggeration when Walker states, “I’ve been in the schools all my life.”
Walker ran his campaign on three words: accountability, honesty and transparency. He believes especially that accountability and transparency have been lacking in the county. “I want to make sure the county is informed,” he said. Walker stated that both the Magee/Courier/Simpson County News and Magee News were present at the first SCSB meeting he attended, and the paper published an article detailing the specifics of that meeting.
In regard to consolidating the high schools, Walker said he believes the overall grades of the schools will rise due to a safer environment and better facilities. “The teachers can feel safe to teach. I’m looking forward to moving Simpson County Schools forward.”
He said he feels blessed to be in this position at this point in his life and that history is repeating itself. “My dad, Walter Walker, Sr., served on the School Board prior to integration with the McLaurin Attendance Center.” Incidentally, Walker and his father both drove school buses.
“Our community has been divided for so long. I want to bring positivity back into our community. I love Magee; I was born and raised here. I went to school and graduated from Magee. I live here in Magee; I’m going to die here in Magee.”
Walker continued, “I know it was the Lord that opened the door. I had my first board meeting last Thursday (Jan. 12) I almost choked up but I didn’t, I held it in. I just thank God that He allowed me to be a part of it so that we can be like other school districts.”
