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Buford L. Burks

Birmingham Board of Education, District 5 

Buford L. Burkes

Name: Buford Lee Burks

Date of birth: 62

Residence: College Hills

Political experience: None

Professional experience: Teacher, Booker T. Washington Junior College of Business, 1982; Birmingham high schools, since 1997.

Civic experience: Member, NAACP, SCLC and National Action Network; received a 2017 Community Service Award from NAACP as author of 2011 book “Pulling the Cover From Over the Head of the People: A Review of the Old Testament.”

Education: Ramsay High, 1973 graduate; Auburn University Montgomery, bachelor’s in English, 1978; Central Michigan, master’s in personnel management, 1981; University of Alabama at Birmingham, bachelor’s in secondary education, 1985; Alabama State University, master’s in education administration, 1987; Birmingham Police Academy, 1997; Alabama State University, EDS in education administration, 2012.

Top contributors: None reported.

Main issues: If elected, the candidate wants Birmingham Police officers removed from schools and replaced with a local security firm to monitor entrances at high schools. He also wants an in-school suspension class in every school so unruly students will not diminish instructional time. “We must concentrate on our high schools,” he said. “2016-2017 Aspire tests listed all city high schools as failing except Ramsay High. In my district, all schools are academically clear except our high school, A.H. Parker High.” The candidate added that ACT scores must increase. He cited that A.H. Parker High had an average of 13, one of the lowest in the state.