Only one candidate is running to take Aisha Carr's school board seat. Here's what to know.

Only one candidate will be on the ballot Nov. 5 to replace Milwaukee School Board member Aisha Carr, who resigned suddenly May 1.

James Ferguson II announced his campaign last month at his alma mater, Milwaukee High School of the Arts. He's the only person who filed election paperwork with city officials ahead of the deadline at 5 p.m. Monday.

Election officials still need to verify all of the signatures of people who signed Ferguson's nomination papers, said Milwaukee Election Commission Deputy Director Paulina Gutierrez, but their initial review found that he had enough.

It will be the only school board seat on the ballot Nov. 5 with the presidential election. Board elections are usually in April, but the board ordered a special election to replace Carr before then.

Assuming Ferguson wins the seat in November, he will be back up for election in April, when Carr's term was set to expire.

Who is James Ferguson?

Ferguson, who attended Westside Academy before High School of the Arts, said his parents and siblings were all educated by MPS in District 4, the district he would represent.

"MPS surrounded me with opportunities that afforded me to go from a poor, nameless kid growing up on 28th and Garfield to a well-educated business, community and faith leader that now stands before you as a candidate for school board," he said.

Ferguson works as the general manager of the Silver Mill shopping center and is a board member at the Center for Family Preservation Corp. He was previously the executive director of Life Christian University Milwaukee but said he has left the organization.

Ferguson previously ran for Priscilla Coggs-Jones’ county supervisor seat in 2021, winning about 9% of the vote.

How would James Ferguson compare to Aisha Carr?

In a May interview, Ferguson said that while he knows Carr, he hadn’t talked with her about running. He said he was encouraged to run by Raymond Roberts, a music teacher at Milwaukee High School of the Arts.

“He contacted me, telling me that he had a vision of me running for the school board seat,” Ferguson said. “I had just finished praying and asking God for direction.”

Ferguson said he was unsure at first about running because of what seemed like a “toxic” environment surrounding Carr’s departure.

Asked whether he supported Carr, Ferguson said he “stayed neutral.” He said he would do some things differently than she did.

“For one, I try to work with everybody; I try to be a good colleague, first and foremost,” he said. “People need to be able to trust one another, and I think there was a lot of mistrust. I’m coming in with a unity agenda.”

What was James Ferguson's stance on the MPS referendum?

Carr had opposed the recent referendum that increased tax funding for MPS to reduce budget cuts.

Asked in a May 20 interview with the Journal Sentinel about whether he supported the referendum, Ferguson said it was something he “stayed away from.” He said he did vote on it but declined to say how he voted.

Later, Ferguson emailed the Journal Sentinel to say he did support the referendum.

"I did support the referendum because I am aware that MPS faces grave budget cuts that ultimately injure our students," Ferguson said in an email. "If the taxpayers would not have approved the referendum, the cuts to our schools, and ultimately our kids, would have been much more detrimental."

What are James Ferguson's priorities for MPS?

Ferguson said one of his top priorities as a board member would be to “double down on partnerships” with organizations and companies that can support MPS and offer work and learning opportunities for students.

“Being on an island, that’s not a recipe for sustainability,” he said.

Ferguson said his other top priority is improving safety. Asked in a May interview whether he would support police in schools, he said he was “open to a lot of different things.” Later in an email, Ferguson said he is opposed to police in schools.

"As you know, school safety is one of my top priorities, but I do not believe that having police in schools will make our schools safer," Ferguson said in an email. "I believe that addressing certain systemic issues that speak to the root causes of violence in schools is the solution to making our schools safer."

Does James Ferguson have any endorsements?

Ferguson said he "would be honored" to receive an endorsement from the union for MPS staff, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association. MTEA spokesperson Jon Knudson said the group's political action committee will convene later this month to consider any endorsement.

"Teachers have a critical job that often goes overlooked and underappreciated," Ferguson said in an email. "As a MPS board member, I will do everything in my power to ensure that MPS is appropriately supporting our teachers not just verbally but practically as well."

At Ferguson's campaign announcement in May, he was introduced by Russell Goodwin, who is running as a Democrat for a state Assembly seat. Goodwin said he thought Ferguson would be dedicated to "transparency and accountability in financial matters."

What happened to Aisha Carr?

Carr submitted her resignation May 1 after questions were raised about her residency and comments she made about planting a recording device in the district superintendent's office.

Carr's resignation letter did not include an explanation for why she was resigning and she didn't reply to interview requests from the Journal Sentinel.

Records  unsealed in April showed that the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office in January was investigating whether Carr had lied about living in the district she represents. The office has not answered questions from the Journal Sentinel about whether that investigation is ongoing.

Earlier this year, a recorded conversation surfaced online in which Carr could be heard telling a former Milwaukee Public Schools administrator that she had planted a recording device in MPS Superintendent Keith Posley's office. Carr told the Journal Sentinel that she did not plant a recording device but had made the false statement to the former administrator to determine whether she was trustworthy.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: James Ferguson to replace Aisha Carr on MPS school board