SELMA — Velma Brewer has announced her candidacy for the Selma City School Board District 2 seat in the Oct. 27 election.

Brewer has worked in the school system, teaching reading in the sixth grade from 2005-06 at Tipton Middle School.

She said she decided to run because her grandson is in the school system and has had some “ups and downs.”

“When I compare the Selma City School System to Georgia, where he came from, he had a better education in Georgia,” she said.

Brewer said some schools in the system are not doing what they need to do to as far as curriculum to benefit the students.

She said she would like to see broad-based teaching, combining academics with technical education.

“We need to prepare them for the now-world,” Brewer said, adding, “I’m here for the future generation.”

The 56-year-old is a native of Selma. She retired after 25 years with the state Department of Corrections, where she was a supervisor.

Brewer has a bachelor’s in education, a business degree and law enforcement training certificates. Her business degree is from Tuskegee Southern Vocational College.

“I love Selma and I love the people around here,” she said.

Absentee voting for the election begins Sept. 22 and continues until the day of the election.

This is the first election for Selma City School Board members. In the spring voters approved switching the positions from appointed by the Selma City Council to elected.

So far, more than 20 people have qualified to run.