Jefferson County Board of Education, Place 3

Party: Republican

Name: Jake Ware

Age: 27

Residence: Hueytown

Professional experience: Alabama Media Group, recruiting marketing specialist, current.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Alabama; Hueytown High School.

Civic experience: President of Junior Board of the Alabama and Lyric Theaters; chairman of Hueytown Bicentennial Committee; member, Jefferson County Republican Party Executive Committee; served two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Main issues: Ware says his campaign theme of “Serve our Schools” emphasizes trust, transparency and promoting progress as priorities. “We must build trust with employees, teachers, and parents. Through an open-door policy and truly listening to problems and concerns, I will help build the bridges between the central office, teachers, and parents,” Ware said. “In building trust, we must have and promote transparency.” He wants to make information about board actions more accessible. To promote continuing progress, he wants to help create more partnerships and opportunities for Jefferson County students. He points to programs such as Alabama Works and groups such as AIDT that could help bring more training and credentials to students to prepare them for the state’s workforce.