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The race for Jefferson school superintendent will be decided at November's General Election

Recounts found Christian Caban to be the second place finisher - barely.
Michael Rolands
/
stock.adobe.com
A picture of voters filling out their ballots at the polls.

Jackie Pons and Al Cooksey won their partisan primaries and will face off in November.

Two former school superintendents will face off in the November General Election for the Jefferson County superintendent role.

Jackie Pons and Al Cooksey won their partisan primaries Tuesday evening, with 65.6% of Jefferson Democrats pulling for Pons and 60.1% of Republicans voting for Cooksey, their former superintendent.

Cooksey served as the Jefferson County Schools superintendent from 2012 to 2016.

"To those who cast their votes for me, thank you," Cooksey posted in a Facebook post. "Your belief in our campaign and what we stand for is truly humbling."

Pons is the former superintendent of Leon County Schools.

He joined the Jefferson County K-12 School in 2022 as a principal, helping them reach a “B” letter grade after decades of Ds and Fs.

Pons, says if elected, he plans to make student success a top priority in the county.

“That would be my goal as superintendent, to be focused on the students and make sure we continue this remarkable improvement that we’ve made in Jefferson," Pons said.

Election Day is on November 5, 2024.

Adrian Andrews is a multimedia journalist with WFSU Public Media. He is a Gadsden County native and a first-generation college graduate from Florida A&M University. Adrian is also a military veteran, ending his career as a Florida Army National Guard Non-Comissioned Officer.

Adrian has experience in print writing, digital content creation, documentary, and film production. He has spent the last four years on the staff of several award-winning publications such as The Famuan, Gadsden County News Corp, and Cumulus Media before joining the WFSU news team.