Equity-focused educator Craston Artis appointed to Wake County school board seat
A former teacher who promises to make school equity a priority will become the Wake County school board’s newest member.
The school board voted 7-1 on Friday to appoint Craston Artis II to fill the District 4 seat that covers much of Southeast Raleigh. Artis, now an education consultant, was chosen from a field of four applicants to replace Keith Sutton, who resigned in December to serve as superintendent of Warren County Public Schools.
During his interview Friday, Artis repeatedly talked about the importance of providing equity in North Carolina’s largest school system.
“This comes from my experience — not just as a Black male educator but as a parent — that equity is very important,” said Artis, who has two children at Ligon Middle School in Raleigh.
Artis could be sworn in at Tuesday’s school board meeting. His term ends in November, but he could choose to run for election when the seat is on the fall ballot.
Debate over equity in schools
Equity is a controversial topic in schools. For several years, the Wake County school system has struggled to agree on an equity policy that school leaders say would ensure that the needs of all students are met.
A draft equity policy under review would call on Wake County schools to target “systemic, even if unintended, biases that can be seen or detected.” But critics of school equity have linked it to Critical Race Theory and called it an attempt to make students believe that America is racist nation.
Artis told the board that if he was appointed he’d make it a focus to get a strong equity policy approved and to fill the vacancy in the position of assistant superintendent of equity affairs.
“One of the things that I would iterate is again my passion for equity and a strong equity policy and a strong leader for equity in the district,” Artis said during his closing remarks.
Two of Artis’ recommendation letters for the position came from State Board of Education member James Ford and Letha Muhammad, executive director of the Education Justice Alliance.
“His experience and progressive mindset will be an asset for all of those that work with and are served by the school board,” Ford wrote in his letter for Artis.
In contrast, one of the other applicants for the position downplayed the importance of equity and busing for diversity during his interview. Michael T. Williams told board members they should emphasize humanity over diversity.
“If we treat everybody as a human being, equity won’t be an issue,” Williams said. “What happens is in too many cases we have our own personal biases and persons put their biases on another person.”
Williams is a former special-education teacher who is now an education consultant in student transition with the N.C. Department of Public Safety. He received the vote of board member Karen Carter.
The other board members voted for Artis.
Four interviewed for board position
In addition to Artis and Williams, the board interviewed two other people on Friday.
▪ Michael T. Farmer is a retired information technology manager who talked about using his IT skills to help track the progress of individual students.
▪ Daniel Lamar Grant-King is an instructional assistant at South Garner High School who has regularly spoken at school board meetings about the need to raise employee pay.
Lonnie Charles Ervin II had also applied but withdrew his application on Friday. He runs a company that helps support at-risk youth.
Experienced educator
Artis, who lives in Raleigh, has more than 20 years experience in education, including being a teacher in Chicago.
In North Carolina, he was a dean of students at Rocky Mount Prep Charter School and a social studies consultant at the state Department of Public Instruction.
He’s principal consultant at Artis Consulting, which focuses on education and economic development projects. In 2020, Artis co-founded EngageWIT, which works on education technology issues.
Artis talked about the importance of having a strong school system, which he called the foundation for public education in the county.
“We want parents to be excited about their children being part of Wake County Public Schools.,” Artis said.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 5:15 PM.
