Former state lawmaker becomes newest Wake County school board member
Former state Rep. Chris Heagarty will become the latest member of the Wake County school board, filling the seat that had been held by the late Kathy Hartenstine.
The school board voted Tuesday to appoint Heagarty after interviewing the lone candidate to fill the District 7 position that covers Morrisville and parts of Cary and northwest Raleigh. During the interview, Heagarty talked about issues such the challenges of student assignment, getting more children identified as academically gifted and the need for more school counselors and improving pay for teachers.
“Let’s be honest,” said Heagarty, a parent of Wake magnet school students. “You can’t make everybody in the county happy and give everyone the ability to attend the school of their choice.”
Heagarty, 48, of Raleigh, will serve on the board through November 2020. He’s scheduled to be sworn in at the Dec. 18 board meeting.
The District 7 seat has been vacant since Hartenstine, 68, unexpectedly died on Sept. 23 from what her family said were complications related to the flu. Hartenstine was running unopposed on the Nov. 6 ballot, so the Wake County Board of Elections declared her seat vacant when she got the most votes.
School board members had said they were surprised that Heagarty was the only person who applied during the two-week application period that ran through Nov. 26. But board members said they wanted to give Heagarty a chance before deciding whether they should reopen the application process.
Heagarty, was a Democratic state representative from 2009 to 2010. He and former U.S. Senator Robert Morgan founded the N.C. Center for Voter Education in 1999, which merged with Common Cause North Carolina in 2014.
“I know a lot about public policy and how government works,” Heagarty told board members.
He is currently director of the City of Oaks Foundation, a nonprofit conservation and youth development organization. Heagarty is also a licensed attorney.
Heagarty will become the third person to hold the District 7 seat in a little over two years.
Zora Felton, a retired teacher, died in November 2016 a week after winning her re-election campaign to the board. Hartenstine, a retired principal, was appointed in January 2017 over other applicants, to complete Felton’s term.
This story was originally published December 11, 2018 at 1:46 PM.
