E. Denise Simmons says she wants to “move along” in the world.

Simmons, a member of the Cambridge School Committee who is running for the City Council this fall, is careful not to say she’s trying to “move up,” because she has devoted the last decade to sitting on the school board. But she acknowledges a spot on the council would give her a higher-profile position with influence over more city-wide issues, such as housing and social services.

“I’ve seen myself as the School Committee member who had a citywide vision,” she says.

The step from School Committee to City Council is not unusual in Cambridge politics—two current councillors made the same move—and friends say Simmons has been thinking about seeking a council seat for at least four years. She seriously considered running two years ago but did not want to leave the School Committee in the middle of several major initiatives, including the contentious merger of two elementary schools that serve mainly black and Latino students in the city’s Area 4 neighborhood.

But this year, with the elementary school merger a done deal and with Councillor Kathleen L. Born leaving the council, Simmons says she “didn’t even hesitate” to run.

In a crowded field of candidates, Simmons stands out as a non-incumbent who has held elective office and has significant name recognition. Simmons, who turned 50 on Tuesday, lives and and works in Cambridge, running the Cambridgeport Insurance Agency she founded 20 years ago. If elected, she would be the council’s only black woman and its only member from Area 4.

The School Committee has already given Simmons a political education, her friends and supporters say. Several friends who have known Simmons since the 1970s say she has grown up significantly in public life, leaving behind early shyness and learning to be more tactful in her criticisms. And though she often talks about “visions” and “dreams,” supporters say she has come to accept the trade-offs of the political process.

“She sees the City Council as slow and steady, as moving things through with allies,” says Renea Gray, who has worked on Simmons’ last two School Committee campaigns. “You know you have to give to get. She understands the political game and that’s a plus.”

In fact, Simmons is forever talking about “policy.” On the school board, she started a subcommittee on policy that produced immense binders filled with past School Committee orders.

She also supported drawing up a list of major district-wide problems and then agreeing to tackle only a few major issues at a time, such as improving reading scores and discussing how students’ race and class affect their education.

“You prioritize,” Simmons says. “You develop a plan, and you work that plan.”

She says the same approach of focusing on one or two major issues per term would increase faith in the City Council. If Simmons has her way, the council would not attempt to tackle as many issues at once, but would devote its full attention to the issues it does consider.

Though she says this approach requires being patient and looking at the city as a whole, Simmons says coming from Area 4 means she would push for her neighborhood’s issues harder.

“For 50 years, Area 4 hasn’t had a representative,” she says. “I may be a little boisterous because it’s a neighborhood that has been neglected.”

On the School Committee, Simmons was known for raising what she called “issues of race and class.” But her bid for City Council is downplaying the fact that she is the only black female candidate, according to campaign manager Kimberly Johnson.