Meet Wake’s newest school board member. She has a history of progressive causes.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Board appointed Jennifer Job to fill District 8 seat; term runs through Nov 2028.
- Job brings 18 years in education and runs a progressive political consulting firm.
- Selection reinforced a 7-2 Democratic majority and drew GOP criticism over partisanship.
Jennifer Job — the newest member of the Wake County school board — has a long history in progressive politics and public education.
Job, 46, runs a political consulting firm advising progressive clients on digital strategy and is a regional vice chair for the Wake County Democratic Party. Job also has 18 years of education experience, first as a high school teacher in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and later as a professor at Oklahoma State University.
“I want to defend our public schools,” Job said in an interview Wednesday with The News & Observer. “I want to be an advocate for public schools from a position of knowledge and also from a position of somebody who has the ability to make an impact. And I want to show how great our public schools can be.”
The school board selected Job on Tuesday from a field of 14 applicants to fill the vacant District 8 seat representing southwestern Wake. Job will replace Lindsay Mahaffey, who resigned in August.
Job will be sworn into office next week. Her term runs through November 2028.
Sen. Sydney Batch endorsed Job
Job stopped teaching in 2020 to focus full-time on her political consulting career. Her resume includes working with a long list of left-leaning and left-of-center groups:
- She was an intern and later freelance writer for MoveOn.org, now called MoveOn, from 2012-13 and 2016-18.
- She was a digital communications specialist for Wiley Nickel’s state Senate campaign from 2018 to 2020.
- She was vice president of Steven Biel Strategies, a progressive consulting firm, from 2014 to 2023.
- Since 2023, she’s been president and principal of BreakGlass Strategies, a progressive consulting firm.
- She was a North Carolina delegate at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
- Earlier this year, Job became the regional vice chair for Apex for the Wake County Democratic Party.
Job’s current clients include Red Wine and Blue, which calls itself a diverse group of suburban women fighting extremism.
“I absolutely believe that my ideas about public education are progressive,” Job said. “I want our public schools to be as strong as possible. I want our neighborhood schools to be as strong as possible, and I want the least amount of money filtered out of our public schools to private entities as possible.”
State Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch, who is one of Job’s neighbors in Apex, wrote a recommendation letter for the school board seat.
“With both the professional expertise and the public credibility needed to serve effectively, Dr. Job is not only an ideal candidate for appointment, but she is also well-positioned to build trust, engage families, and earn voter support in the next election,” Batch told the school board.
Wake GOP questions Job’s appointment
Job’s appointment was criticized by the Wake County Republican Party.
“The Democrats on the Wake County school board don’t hide their activist agendas, and some of their outrageous statements have gained national attention,” the Wake County GOP said in a statement Friday. “WCPSS Democrat school board members consistently stack the board appointing only Democrats who fit their agenda which includes allowing boys in girls’ sports in locker rooms, putting DEI over a quality and fair education and the protection of inappropriate content in schools.”
The school board is officially nonpartisan. But Job’s selection maintains a 7-2 Democratic majority.
Jennifer Dearman complained about having to submit proof of voter registration when she applied for the board seat. Wake said it required the voter registration form, which lists political party affiliation, to help make sure that eligible applicants lived in District 8.
“They’ve ONLY chosen Democrats when filling vacancies (now 3 times in a row.),” Dearman wrote Tuesday in a Facebook comment to a Wake GOP post. “Submitting voter registration is part of the application process and in my opinion as one of the candidates for District 8, this makes it partisan. Political affiliation has nothing to with what’s best for children.”
Job was selected after only one round of voting, when she got five of the eight board votes. Dearman, who is a registered Republican, got the votes of the two GOP board members.
But Job told the school board on Tuesday that she can build strong relationships with different elected officials. As an example, Job said she will reach out to Republican state Rep. Erin Paré of Wake County.
Job also intends to resign her position in the Wake County Democratic Party. She estimated she spends 30 to 40 hours a week in that post.
“I want to make clear, I represent everybody in District 8,” Job told The N&O. “It doesn’t matter which party they’re from. I want everybody to have a good education.”
Job: Public education is ‘the most important public good’
During her interview in front of the school board, Job repeatedly argued for the value of public education, calling it a “public good.” This comes amid complaints from some conservatives who’ve used terms such as “government schools” and “indoctrination centers” to describe public schools.
“Public education is the most important good that the government provides,” Job said. “It’s a great equalizer. It exposes children to kids of other backgrounds that they may never be part of again.”
Job called herself a “poster parent for magnet schools,” describing how she successfully applied to get her daughter into the magnet program at Farmington Woods Elementary School in Cary.
Job said Wake needs to “build the narrative of how public schools serve the community at large,”
“We could be telling these stories, too, of the businesses that chose to come to Wake County because we have the schools they’re willing to put their kids in,” Job said. “You know, it’s not low taxes.
“They could go to Texas or they could go to Kansas or Oklahoma if they don’t want to pay any taxes. They don’t do that because they want their kids educated here.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 5:45 AM.
