March 23, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
After having served over 34 years on the DeKalb County Board of Education from the 5th district, W.J. (Dub) Evins, III has decided to hand the reigns over to someone else after his term is completed on August 31. He will not be a candidate for re-election on August 6.
“Although I have enjoyed serving on the Board of Education, I feel the time has come for me to devote more time to my family, business and my personal life and well being,” said Evins.
“I am grateful to the people of the 5th district for the opportunity they gave me to serve them all these years. It has been a privilege to have served on the Board of Education with 6 different Superintendents/Directors of Schools and many fellow board members past and present. I believe Director Patrick Cripps and his staff are doing a wonderful job and I expect they will continue to do so. We have a great school system with dedicated employees and it has been my honor to have worked with them,” said Evins.
“While our school system still has challenges to meet, I am proud to say that over the years I have seen many academic and athletic improvements with the changing times and technologies for the betterment of our educational system. Although there are too many of them for me to name here I am glad to have had a part of helping make those happen along with many others. Today our students and teachers are better prepared because of them. My hope is that we can get a new school construction project started soon. I would like to see it approved before I leave office, “ said Evins.
Evins’ has actually served two stints on the Board of Education. His first tenure began in 1978 and covered 18 years. He was re-elected in 1984 and 1990 which in those days were for 6 year terms. After his mother passed away, Evins’ chose not to seek re-election to a fourth term in 1996 but Evins returned to the Board after he was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2004. Evins was elected to a full term later that year and he was re-elected in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Evins also served several years as Chairman of the Board.