Wake school board will reopen the process to fill vacancy after previous pick withdraws
The Wake County school system is reopening the application process to fill a vacant school board seat after the last person it picked withdrew amid questions about his eligibility to serve.
Craston Artis II had been selected on Jan. 14 to fill the District 4 vacancy but withdrew his name Saturday amid allegations that he was not legally a District 4 resident. The Wake County school board unanimously voted Tuesday to reopen the application period with new measures that are supposed to ensure candidates meet all eligibility requirements.
School board members said the situation with Artis was “unprecedented.”
“Never would we ever have imagined that someone would misrepresent their address,” school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said Tuesday. “Unfortunately that’s why we’re here today.”
Applicants will now have to provide documentation proving they live in District 4 before they’re interviewed by the board. Under the new timeline, the board would not pick a new member until at least March 3 when it interviews applicants.
The board opted to reopen the application process after rejecting by a 5-3 vote a motion from board member Karen Carter to reconsider the remaining applicants first. They can reapply again.
Calls to investigate selection process
The fallout over the failed appointment of Artis to the District 4 seat has battered the image of North Carolina’s largest school district. Steve Bergstrom, a school board candidate, has called on State Superintendent Catherine Truitt to investigate how the board picked Artis.
“We must have an investigation into the Wake County School Board for their mishandling of the appointment of Craston Artis, as this clear corruption and negligence is eroding the voters’ trust, and violates citizen rights to a fair process,” Bergstrom wrote in his letter to Truitt.
Truitt is staying out of the issue though.
“Neither the State Board nor the State Superintendent has jurisdiction to investigate or take action against a local board of education on matters of how it chooses replacements for exiting board members,” Blair Rhoades, a spokesperson for Truitt, said in an email Tuesday. “The state statutes and local acts put all the authority for those matters in the hands of the local boards in the case of nonpartisan boards and in local political parties in the case of partisan boards.”
Bergstrom said he was disappointed in Truitt, accusing his fellow Republican of leaving Wake County citizens to address the situation on their own.
“So what we have is a self-governing board, and a Superintendent of Schools who turns a blind eye to corruption in the state’s largest school district,” Bergstrom said in a statement Tuesday night. “The voters of Wake County know now we have no support from Superintendent Truitt who provided zero guidance on how to proceed, and lacked the courtesy to answer our letter or respond to evidence regarding a public official fixing a political appointment.”
Effort to restore public trust
But multiple board members said Tuesday that they need to work to regain the public’s trust after what happened.
The board passed a motion Tuesday agreeing not to have contact with anyone but district staff about the vacancy and that members will notify the full board if they are contacted.
“Clearly as a board we acknowledge not only do we have to regain the public’s trust because of the mis- and disinformation that’s been put in the public, we also have to regain each other’s trust at this board table,” said board member Monika Johnson-Hostler.
The motion to not have contact with candidates was made by Carter after she said Artis had emailed board members on Dec. 6 about meeting with them. Board member Jim Martin said he had spoken with Artis but had not given any details to him.
Johnson-Hostler said she did not know about Artis’s address issue when she voted for him Jan. 14.
Here under ‘false pretenses’
District 4 has been without a representative since Keith Sutton resigned Dec. 31 to become superintendent of Warren County Public Schools. The district includes much of Southeast Raleigh.
Six people applied earlier this month. One person was disqualified after listing an address outside of District 4 on their application.
Of the five remaining applicants, one person withdrew at the last minute. Artis, an education consultant and former teacher who had promised to make equity issues a focus, was selected in a 7-1 vote.
But before Artis could be sworn in on Jan. 18, questions were raised about how his voter registration record listed a different address outside of District 4 from the one on his application. Becky Lew-Hobbs, who had questioned Artis’ residency status at last week’s board meeting, announced that she will apply for the seat.
Carter said the board should have been alerted when Mahaffey called Artis to ask about the discrepancy in the voter registration records. Mahaffey said Artis told her that the address on the resume showing a District 4 address was correct.
“Lack of communication is why we’re here,” said Carter, who was the lone board member to not vote for Artis.
The board canceled the swearing-in ceremony and gave Artis until Thursday to provide documentation proving his place of residence.
Artis provided documentation last week that shows he planned to move into his new apartment in District 4 earlier this month but didn’t do so until after he was appointed. His estranged wife, Rebecca Jackson-Artis, said in an interview Saturday that her husband is no longer a Wake County resident and has lived with his parents in Goldsboro since April.
In an email to the board Saturday, Artis cited ”political concerns from a small group of citizens” and “personal attacks from someone close to me” as reasons he no longer wanted to be considered for the position.
Board member Roxie Cash accused Artis of being “here under false pretenses.” But board attorney Jonathan Blumberg said that nothing legally would preclude Artis from applying again.
The board had originally planned Tuesday to review Artis’ documentation. Instead, it set the process for trying to fill the seat again.
How to apply for vacancy
Applications must be received by 5 p.m. Feb. 28, including submitting proof of residency. Applicants must live in District 4 and be eligible to vote. Candidates should submit:
▪ A letter of interest, no more than five pages, outlining the candidate’s background and listing three initiatives that can be implemented in the school board’s next strategic plan.
▪ A resume.
▪ Three letters of recommendation.
▪ Proof of domicile, including proof of voter registration.
All materials submitted are considered public records and can be emailed to district4vacancy@wcpss.net or mailed or delivered to C/O District 4 Board of Education Vacancy, Wake County Board of Education, Crossroads I, 5625 Dillard Drive, Cary, NC 27518.
This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 4:12 PM.
