H. Lee Jones, father of two students attending Bulloch County Schools, is both a police officer and a livestock farmer and has often worked with youth programs. He has now announced his candidacy for the District 1 seat on the Board of Education.

Jones, 46, has a history of working with youth in programs connected with both of his careers, and as a lay coach with school and recreation department sports. The farm where he and his family reside and raise cattle is in the Portal area, but Jones also has connections with the other two high school attendance zones.

"I grew up in Brooklet and I ... attended Southeast Bulloch," he said. "My mother was from the Portal area, I have a lot of family here, my children attended for a while, and I still have little cousins and relatives attending the Portal area. I coached and my wife teaches and my children attend Statesboro High School. I feel like I have a vested interest in every school in this county."

At this point, District 1 has a three-candidate school board race. Shalah Hendrix has also announced as a candidate, and incumbent board member Cheri Wagner is seeking re-election. Qualifying week, March 7-11, will determine the official candidates for the May 24 election.

Jones' older daughter is in 10th grade at Statesboro High School. The younger is in fourth grade at Sallie Zetterower Elementary.

But both attended Portal schools until a couple of years ago. After the death of their grandmother, whom the girls had gone home to at the farm each day, they were transferred to Statesboro schools nearer where their parents worked, Jones said.

His wife, Dr. Susan Jones, is the agriculture teacher at Statesboro High School.

Now a sergeant with the Georgia Southern University Police Department, Lee Jones has a little over 20 years of experience in law enforcement. He first worked a few years at the Bulloch County Correctional Institute, and then with the Statesboro Police Department. He left law enforcement for a few years to operate Coastal Athletic Supply, which sold athletic equipment and made school uniforms, but he sold the business in 2007.

While working with Statesboro police in what was then its community-oriented policing division, Jones took over its "Cops N Jocks" effort, part of a national program, in 1998. Of his programs he has helped develop for youth, this is the one he is proudest of, he said. In Cops N Jocks, police officers served as mentors to high school students by working with them in sports programs.

"By 2001, I had over 700 kids involved in that program here in Statesboro, and we were the only affiliated program in the state of Georgia," Jones said.

At first, local police mentored with boys teams; then a program was added with the girls softball teams and cheerleaders, and one for band students, he said. The officers launched projects to find students jobs and tutors. He also worked with a project, led by other officers, starting a Boy Scout troop.

Jones previously served on Statesboro High's school safety committee.

Much of his recent volunteer work with youth meshes with his family's farming, his older daughter's interest in becoming a veterinarian, and his wife's teaching agriculture courses. He has worked with students involved in agricultural and livestock projects, served as an assistant coach of Statesboro High's livestock judging team last year, and is a member of some organizations, such as the Georgia Swine Boosters Association.

Jones said he has considered running for school board before, and recently decided to put his money where his mouth is.

"It's easy to sit back in the shadows and kind of armchair quarterback and say, 'They shouldn't have done that,' and 'They should have done this,' and a lot of times those opinions are made without all of the information," he said. "So I wanted to make sure that I had all the information, to make sure that the kids of this county are coming first in every aspect, that we're making sure we're taking care of the talents of every kid, no matter how unique they are."

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.