James Howard, a Madison father of three and economist/scientist with the Forest Products Laboratory, will run for Madison School Board Seat 4 in the 2010 spring election.

Current Seat 4 board member Johnny Winston Jr. announced last week he will not seek his third term.

There are seven members of the Madison School Board, and Seats 3, 4 and 5 will be in play next year. Current board members Maya Cole and Beth Moss have not announced their intentions for the spring election.

Howard, who earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s from Alabama A&M University, has been involved with a number of volunteer committees with the Madison public schools in recent years. He was co-chair of the Community and Schools Together (CAST) school referendum support group and also served on the East High School attendance area long range planning task force. He is also a past president of the South Madison Economic Development Committee. 

In a release announcing his candidacy, Howard said his priorities for Madison schools include high expectations for all students, raising educational standards, narrowing the achievement gap, improving communications among teachers, parents, administrators and the community and focusing on fiscal responsibility for taxpayers.

As a student at the UW, Howard played on the 1972 Badger basketball team.

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