Keziah Farrar, the president of Mansfield ISD’s school board, has always had a passion for education and her community’s future.
A native of Mansfield, Farrar graduated from Dallas Baptist University with a marketing degree. She got married in 2000, became involved in real estate shortly after, and has since had three kids.
“I never had any intentions to get involved in politics,” Farrar told The Dallas Express.
She was involved in PTA activities at her kids’ schools, but the COVID-19 lockdowns opened her eyes to some of the purported flaws in public education. As a result, she pulled her kids out of public school.
“If I am going to sit here and complain about the things going on and not willing to have a voice behind it, maybe that’s what I am being called to do,” Farrar said.
She first ran for Mansfield ISD school board in 2021 and won with the support of the majority of the community.
“I truly had no idea what it took to run a campaign,” she said.
Farrar said that running for office for the first time was an eye-opening experience. The community rallied around her and devised a game plan to knock on as many doors as possible to reach the most voters.
“We got in the community and got in front of as many people as we could,” she said.
Farrar had a learning curve in her first year as she became familiar with how the various district processes worked.
Her top priorities included checking the incursions made by “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives in the district, ensuring students are receiving a quality education, and improving reading and math scores in the aftermath of the COVID lockdowns.
In May of this year, Farrar became the school board president.
“Our board works really, really well together,” Farrar said.
“Even if we all don’t necessarily have the same ideas or agree with each other all the time, I think we do a really good job respecting everyone’s viewpoints,” she said. “At the end of the day, I truly believe we are all there because we care about kids.”
Farrar said she thinks national politics has been creeping into the classroom.
“I think that Mansfield gives every student amazing opportunities to be the best that they can be, and that’s really what I want to focus on, not necessarily about race or where you come from or those other markers that are sometimes included in [DEI],” Farrar told DX. “I want the most qualified teachers in the classrooms.”
One of the high-profile national issues that Farrar has had to tackle as a board member has been the push to allow transgender individuals to be in traditionally sex-segregated spaces.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Mansfield ISD passed a resolution in May condemning the Biden administration’s recent revisions to Title IX, which would add gender identification and sexual orientation as protected glasses under the federal rule.
The resolution passed by a vote of five to one, with one trustee abstaining.
Another local school district sued the Biden administration over the changes, and a federal judge in July issued a temporary ruling to block the expanded Title IX protections.
“We have to have people that are willing to speak out against it. This is the truth. We have to speak truth over feelings,” Farrar said.
She told DX how faith has played a role in her life and as a district trustee.
“Being in this arena in the last few years, my faith has grown exponentially,” Farrar said. “I rely on [God] to guide me.”
Farrar encouraged people to get involved in their communities when there are things that they are passionate about.
“Just get involved, there are so many different committees… tons of different clubs that give back to the community,” she said.