MOULTRIE, Ga. — Robert Lee Elrod Jr. prides himself as the common man’s candidate in his campaign for the District 4 Colquitt County Board of Education seat. 

Elrod is running against Hayden Willis in the only contested seat for the board. The seat currently occupied by Board Chairman Robbie Pitts is up for grabs in the election’s primary, which is set for May 24 but early voting is already under way. 

Elrod has been a lifelong Colquitt Countian, he said in an interview Monday. 

After graduating Colquitt County High with the class of 1986, Elrod worked with the Department of Corrections for five years making shift manager in about six months. Since then he has worked in managerial positions with Cooper Tire, The Tax Shop and currently works as an account manager for Kemper Insurance where he has been for the past nine years. He also said along with his fiancee, Polly Jarvis, they opened Pockets Carosail Wholesale in late 2021.

While he has no previous political experience, Elrod says his experience in these roles make him a great candidate to listen to all members of the community. 

“I know how to understand people. I’ve learned to address any situation that might arise. I know how to listen and to care for the people, the working class… I want to make sure they know they’ll be heard and I’ll listen,” Elrod said. 

Elrod’s main focus, if elected, is to work on getting back to basics. 

“There are things that our school district does and says that I don’t agree with,” he said. “We need to get back to three ‘R’s:’ reading, writing and arithmetic… We need to teach the kids things that the real world throws at them.”

Financial transparency for the board and financial education for children are also some of his goals. He says he believes that every student graduating from Colquitt County should take economics or some other financial literacy course before graduating. 

His other campaign ambitions include teachers’ right to teach; parents’ rights and choice; teaching how to think, not what to think; curriculum that supports and builds American values, and promoting well rounded students through athletics, according to campaign flyers provided to The Observer by Elrod himself. 

He hopes to accomplish this by working with “like-minded people.”

“I’ll get all this with my vote,” he said simply. “I’ll be talking with people and continue to help with people who are like-minded. People who feel their voice isn’t being heard… I want to see every child succeed. We do that by building up what we have and continuing to work with like-minded people.”

He particularly wants to focus on agricultural education. Elrod particularly noted the debate that has recently dominated many conversations in the district: the moving or rebuilding of C.A. Gray. The official decision on what to do with C.A. Gray has been postponed until approximately 2027, according to a previous article in The Observer. 

“I think C.A. Gray should be moved. I think there is enough land where they want to put it to build the new school and not mess with the agricultural land that is already out there,” Elrod said. 

Due to state guidelines, 27 acres is required for the county to acquire state funding to build the school. While the parcel of land under question was given to the district by Lassetter Tractor Co, the current land available is only 24 acres, according to Elrod.

“I think we could persuade Lassetter to donate those three remaining acres so we’d have enough space for the new school and we wouldn’t have to mess with the land that is already out there.”

He also hopes to sell the lot where C.A. Gray now sits to a residential developer to build more economic and affordable housing. The funds made in the sale could also go towards the building of the new school, he said. 

Elrod said that parents and children are two groups he’s worked with closely for years. He has coached for 17 years with the recreation department in a variety of sports such as football, baseball and basketball. 

“You know when you’re working with these kids, there is another group you always have to listen to, the parents,” he laughed. “There are so many things that you have to pause and listen to the parents. You have to know how to communicate with them…. That’s what I want to do. I want to talk and understand what parents need. Getting down in the trenches with them. Like I said, I’m just like everybody else. I’m a working man.”

He also extensive experiences with Promise Keepers Christian Men’s organization and did children’s outreach with Heritage Church where he drove a bus for 12 years to pick up kids.

While all three of his children — Aaron Elrod, 33, Robert Lee Elrod III, 24, and Abigail Elrod, 22 — have all graduated from Colquitt County, he says that his grandchildren have been one of his biggest reasons for running. 

“I’m doing it for them. I want to see them grow up in a good place,” Elrod said.