VALDOSTA — Newcomers Tad Moseley and Stacy Bush will join the Valdosta Board of Education.

Moseley won the District 6 race with 679 votes, or 79.88 percent of the vote, while his opponent R.D. Martin garnered 171 votes, or 20.12 percent of the vote.

“I’m excited,” Moseley said. “I’m looking forward to getting started and getting together with the rest of the board and getting a deeper knowledge of what’s going on to start the process of making the system a better place.”

Moseley said he intends to start working with fellow board members, visit some of the schools and meet with teachers.

“I just want to get my mind more wrapped around the daily operations and what we can do as a board to improve our schools,” Moseley said.

District 6 represented a special election and was not originally up for a vote during this election cycle. The seat opened when former board of education member Bill Love resigned in August, saying he had an opportunity he could not pass up that would require him to relocate. 

Bush won the at-large race with 3,095 votes, or 61.86 percent of the vote. His opponent, Edward Mack, got 1,908 votes, or 38.14 percent of the vote.

“I’m excited for our city school system,” Bush said. “I think we have tremendous potential here in our community, and I want to be part of the solution.”

Bush said he intends to sit down and listen to other members of the board to learn about the process. 

“I think most board members, when you show up, try to get your agenda moving forward, but we’ve got a lot of experience on our board and the first thing I am going to do is sit down, shut up and learn from the board members that are there,” Bush said.

In addition, incumbents Kelly Wilson and Debra Bell were re-elected in uncontested races. Wilson represents District 8 while Bell represents District 7.

All results are unofficial until certified by the Lowndes County Board of Elections Friday.

Joe Adgie is a reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times.