Verjeana Jacobs of Mitchellville ran countywide for an at-large seat on the school board four years ago and won with help from a variety of supporters around the county.

Now chairwoman, she is running for a second four-year term but this time in newly drawn District 5. Districts were redrawn following an action by the General Assembly to change the Prince George's County school board from five districts and four at-large seats to nine districts and no at-large seats.

Jacobs, an attorney and former union leader who works for the state Department of Corrections in Upper Marlboro, has raised considerably more money than her fellow candidates.

Her Citizens for Jeana Jacobs committee reported about a month before the pending Sept. 14 primary that it had raised nearly $20,000, while the other two candidates reported less than $1,000, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state Board of Election by Aug. 17.

That has enabled Jacobs to spend about $3,500 on a fundraising consultant, according to the report.

The other two candidates in District 5 are Sharon Theodore-Lewis, a Mitchellville resident and partner in a law firm where she practices family law, and Upper Marlboro resident Doria Boulware, who works as a project coordinator for the KPMG accounting firm. Active in PTA groups, neither has run for public office before.

Also on the Sept. 14 primary ballot, but not running, is Joni Berman of Bowie, who said she plans to withdraw due to work and family reasons.

The top two vote-getters in the primaries of the school board races advance to the Nov. 2 general election. District 5 includes Mitchellville, Glenn Dale, Fairwood, parts of Upper Marlboro and most of Bowie.

Jacobs says she's running again to ensure continuity on the board, which will include at least four new members when members take their seats in December.

"There's been a constant turnover of superintendents and boards over the past decade," Jacobs said. "It needs to be stabilized."

About 45 percent of Jacobs' contributions in 2010 have came from businesses, including $2,000 from the Mel McLaughlin Co., a building company in Upper Marlboro that names the school system as a customer on its website.

Jacobs said Monday that she has been advised that accepting contributions from school system vendors is not a conflict of interest.

"I accept contributions from anyone willing to move education forward, and that could include someone who's doing business with the school system," she said. "If an issue does present a legal conflict, I do recuse myself [from voting]."

Jacobs said she has built a relatively broad base of support, because when she first ran in 2006, she needed to reach out to a variety of groups to raise the money to run countywide.

"I know a lot of people," she said.

In July, Jacobs and the rest of the school board voted unanimously to back a small group of Bowie parents who objected to a school district plan to transfer more than 100 students from Whitehall Elementary to Kenilworth Elementary.

Jacobs said she did not vote to reverse the plan simply because she would be running in District 5, which includes Bowie, but because of the strong case made by parent Nancy Adamson that data used by administrators was inaccurate and that Whitehall was not as crowded as previously thought.

"No, it was not a political decision," Jacobs said. "The dynamics of the move did not make sense."

Jacobs said Monday that she expects to win the endorsement of the Prince George's County Educators Association, the union that represents teachers, which has also contributed $100 to her campaign.

A native of Trinidad and mother of three, Sharon Theodore-Lewis of Mitchellville is also an attorney and currently a partner with the regional law firm of Patrick Henry LLP, where she specializes in family law.

She said she's running because the school board has failed for many years to lower the rate of suspensions and improve middle school performance on MSA tests.

"We've not seen any improvement," she said. "The times are dire. I'm tired of watching the system the way it is. It needs to change."

Theodore-Lewis said class sizes are too large and students' grades drop as a result, including those of one of her children, whom she transferred to a private school.

An adjunct professor, she also said school-system graduates are not ready for college.

"I'm not part of the establishment, and I'm not part of business as usual," she said.

Theodore-Lewis said she has the endorsement of the Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel.

Boulware said she's running because she doesn't believe that the school board does a good job listening to parents' ideas and opinions.

"I'm fed up with the lack of interest in enlisting members of the community," said Boulware, who would push for more board meetings with the public if elected.

Boulware said she disagreed with some of the boundary changes made for certain schools and also questions the board's aborted decision to move its headquarters and other school offices to Washington Plaza, a plan that was nixed by state legislators who objected to the cost.

"The money is not being spent well," Boulware said.

Jacobs, who was chairwoman at the time, said the board was implementing a plan put in place by a previous board and superintendent but in hindsight could understand the opposition from state legislators because of the recession.

The Prince George's County public school system serves more than 125,000 students, making it the second largest system in Maryland after Montgomery County.

For more information about the candidates and their positions on issues, go to the Voters Guide at www.gazette.net.

For a detailed map of the nine new school districts, go to www.princegeorgescountymd.gov and search for "maps."

vterhune@gazette.net

Schools in District 5

There are 25 public schools in the new District 5, more than half of which are in the Bowie area.

Elementary: Arrowhead, Barack Obama, Heather Hills, High Bridge, James McHenry, Kenilworth, Kingsford, Northview, Patuxent, Perrywood, Pointer Ridge, Rockledge, Tulip Grove, Whitehall, Woodmore, Yorktown

Middle: Benjamin Tasker, Samuel Ogle, Thomas Johnson

High: Bowie, Croom Vocational, Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr., Tall Oaks Vocational

Other: C. Elizabeth Rieg Regional (K-12), Chapel Forge Early Childhood Center (pre-K)

Source: Prince George's County school system