Biography
Introductory Statement:
Councillor Jacqueline M Lewis entered representational politics in 2018 when she contested and won the Norman Gardens Division in the 2019 Local Government Election. Councillor Lewis took over representation of the Norman Gardens Division from her mentor, Dr. Angela Brown Burke, who is the former Mayor of Kingston and currently Member of Parliament in Jamaica. As an elected representative, Councillor Lewis is currently serving the people of the very community in which she was born, raised, schooled, and, importantly, where she still resides. Councillor Lewis prides herself on being a community development practitioner. She is a long serving Justice of the Peace. Her motto “do it for the Love. She is also devoted Seventh Day Adventist who believes in and actively espouses the Christian teaching and philosophy of love, caring and sharing. She is a mediator by nature. She has been married for 43 years and is a mother of three children, all now adults.
Career Progression
Councillor Lewis started out her professional career serving as an educator. After completing secondary schooling, she worked as a pre-trained teacher in her community and developed a love and passion for education as a vehicle for empowerment of people and community. This love and passion caused her to enter tertiary education and to attain her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Educational Leadership from the University of Technology, Jamaica. Councillor Lewis is also currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Delaware State University (DSU) in the USA.
Redefining the Role of Elected Officials:
Councillor Lewis is fundamentally of the belief that her role as an elected official must be driven by education. As such, from where she is positioned as a member of government, she persistently asserts that recognition must be given to the fact that educators, and more so educational leaders, have a significant impact on shaping communities and by extension the nations of the world. This fundamental belief of Councillor Lewis is underpinned by her conviction that educators and educational leaders serve, collectively, as the influencers and builders of the foundations for the growth, development, and sustainability of any nation. As an elected representative in Jamaica, Councillor Lewis considers herself fortunate to have had a front row seat for observing the challenges that communities are confronted with daily. Per her ongoing observations, she is passionately convinced that any meaningful long-term solution to such challenges must have education as the main ingredient. Consistent with this declaration, Councillor Lewis considers educational institutions to be empowerment zones in the communities she is elected to lead. Furthermore, she is of the view that educational institutions with strong and effective leadership can transform communities into life-long learning environments where everyone (children and adults) will continuously be educated (education for life) and be inspired to be the best they can become. On the contrary, Councillor Lewis holds the view that ineffective educational leadership will certainly work against the desired objectives of the educational system. Councillor Lewis believes that learning is impaired, individuals are shortchanged, and communities suffer the consequences, when political leadership fails to recognize and value the positive implications for effective educational leadership at the community level.
Passion for Further Learning:
As an elected leader, and one who believes education is critical to community and national development, Councillor Lewis feels she will be significantly advantaged by gaining awareness of the research informed theories and best practices for strengthening and sustaining educational institutions in her communities. It is primarily for this reason why she took the bold step of seeking to benefit from the learning that is to be gained by enrolling in doctoral level studies.
Empowering Communities via Education:
In the communities that she serves, many are of the view that the educational system is continuously failing the students, and by extension failing the communities and the nation. The harsh reality is that many students drop out of school at the secondary level, and thereafter find themselves in negative situations. It is her strong belief that an educational institution, at any level, with strong and effective leadership should be capable of identifying problem students, and should be capable, as well, of positively transforming such individuals---thereby preventing or significantly reducing attrition. Notwithstanding, if it becomes an inescapable reality that students will drop out of the traditional school system, there must be alternative educational options in the community. Councillor Lewis is therefore of the view that there must be measures in place to prevent us (as a community) from losing our youths to the negative elements and influences in the communities.
Concluding Thoughts:
With respect to the communities that she serves as an elected leader, Councillor Lewis views her role as, in part, operating as an educational leader. Consistent with her educational leadership vision, she is affirmed in her thinking that one way of never losing a student/youth, as well as at the same time providing ongoing educational opportunities for adults of all ages, is the establishment and sustenance of Community Educational Centers (CEC). In the traditional sense, community centers are multipurpose (sports, culture, religious…) event venues. Councillor Lewis’ vision, however, for the CEC is education for individual and community transformation. Importantly, for this vision to become a reality, she believes there is a need for effective and transformational educational leadership. It stands to reason, therefore, that as the elected leader she must invest the time and resources to gain fulsome understanding of research informed best practices for providing, again, effective, and transformational educational leadership. In addition to acquiring the learning that will help her to realize her educational vision for the communities she loves to serve, Councillor Lewis, currently a doctoral student, is seeking to use the time in the doctoral program to critically assess and affirm her leadership philosophy. To her, it is important to have a leadership philosophy, but it is equally important to meaningfully understand what it means to have such a philosophy.