CPS board member Carolyn Jones won't run for reelection

Longtime Cincinnati Public Schools board of education member Carolyn Jones will retire from the board at the end of this year, she announced Monday. She is not running for reelection.

"I am CPS all the way through," Jones said during Monday evening's public school board meeting. "They've already got me doing something before I even leave."

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Jones' colleagues voted to nominate her to the Preschool Promise Board of Managers on Monday. Her service in this role will begin at the start of the new year.

She said her decision to not run for reelection was very personal, and not taken lightly. She considered it over the last two years.

"You know when you know," she said. "This is my time."

Jones was first elected to the board in 2016 after serving on the North College Hill City Schools board of education for eight years, for a total of 16 years serving school boards. She served as the CPS school board president from 2018 to 2021, before Ben Lindy took on the role.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Jones is a CPS graduate. She spent more than four decades working in the mental health field and has retired from the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.

There are five candidates officially running for three CPS board of education seats so far:

• Incumbent Ben Lindy;

• Incumbent Eve Bolton;

• Bryan Cannon;

• Kendra Mapp; and

• Paul Schiele.

Michael Dantley, Jody Graf and Kimberly Huckleby have also picked up petition packets to run for school board, according to the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: CPS board member Carolyn Jones to retire in December