Larry Walker, a pastor at Columbia’s Celebration Church and a longtime youth mentor, announced his candidacy for the Howard County Board of Education Dec. 7.

Walker, 51, of Ellicott City, a former president of Parents of African American Students at Mt. Hebron High  School, has served for the past four years on the citizens committee that reviews the school system’s operating budget.

Even though Walker’s two sons no longer attend county schools, he remains involved in the education community, he said.

“What I do, I do for the kids,” he said. “It’s about caring for the community.”

Walker decided to seek election to continue his two decades of involvement in public education, which includes several years as a reading mentor at Phelps Luck Elementary and teen mentor at Howard and Oakland Mills high schools in the 1980s and ’90s.

Four seats on the nonpartisan, seven-member board are at stake in the 2010 election.

In 2007, Walker unsuccessfully applied to fill a vacancy on the school board. County Executive Kenneth Ulman ultimately appointed Clarksville pediatrician Janet Siddiqui to fill the spot.

Walker is a graduate of Wilde Lake High School. His wife, Alfreda Walker, is a teacher at Stevens Forest Elementary School and his sons graduated from Mt. Hebron in 2004 and 2008.

If elected, Walker would focus on initiatives “to engage parents, particularly fathers.” He also would seek ways to be fiscally responsible and more inclusive of foreign students, he said.

— Mike Santa Rita

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