For the first time in the system’s history, the Jefferson County Board of Education has elected an African-American president.

Jacqueline Smith, the longest-serving member of the current board, was elected in a 3-2 vote during Thursday’s regular session. By law, school boards elect officers each year; the JefCoEd board does so each November.

Smith replaces Dean Taylor. The Gardendale businessman was elected president immediately after being sworn in for his first term as a board member in 2014.

Smith was nominated by Dr. Martha Bouyer, while Jennifer Parsons — who served as board president before Taylor — nominated Oscar Mann, a retired educator from Gardendale. Taylor cast the deciding vote in Smith’s favor.

Mann was then elected unanimously as the board’s new vice president, replacing Parsons.

Though it’s the first time a minority president has been elected by board members, it’s not the first time one has served in the position — Smith herself was the board president for two months in the early 1990s, after then-president Belva Green stepped down. Smith, who was vice president at the time, stepped up to fill the vacancy.

The election caught Smith somewhat by surprise, partly because she had been dealing with a death in her own family, which has taken up much of her time in recent weeks.

“They told me about it when I pulled up in my car,” Smith said.

Bouyer had thought about nominating Smith for the presidency for a while, but didn’t make a firm decision to do so until shortly before Thursday’s meeting, she said.

“I know how valuable Jackie was in her work in helping in the spring [during the debate about a reduction in force for JefCoEd employees], and her knowledge about things that most of us didn’t know about,” Bouyer said.

Smith, Bouyer and Taylor were allied in their opposition to the plan proposed by Supt. Craig Pouncey, which would have resulted in the loss of more than 200 positions within the system in an effort to stem a pattern of deficit spending in the wake of reduced school funding from the state. Their effort resulted in a committee being formed to find alternatives to the layoffs, which were eventually approved by the full board.

Smith’s board position is unique in that she represents residents within the other city school systems within the boundaries of Jefferson County, who still pay taxes into the JefCoEd system; the other four board members are at-large, and don’t serve a particular geographic district. The so-called “metropolitan seat” was established in 1984 with the appointment of Bill Mewburne, and was first subject to election in 1986. Smith defeated Mewburne for that position, and has been a board member since that time.

The fact that she is the first non-white JefCoEd board president wasn’t lost on Smith.

“What does that say about Jefferson County?” she asked. “People have to figure out what that tells us.”