Sam Hershey, candidate for Wake County Board of Education District 6
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Candidates for Wake County Board of Education District 6
Sam Hershey, Dajma Livingston, Patrice Nealon and Chad Stall are running for Wake County school board district 6. School board member Christine Kushner, who has served in the District 6 seat since 2011, is not seeking another term.
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Name: Sam Hershey
Political party: Democrat
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 45
Campaign website: https://www.samforwake.com/
Occupation: Business owner. We have a startup that focuses on end-of-life planning.
Education: N.C. State University, BA, Political Science; Queens University of Charlotte, MBA
Have you run for elected office before? Yes: Raleigh City Council District A, 2019
Please list highlights of your civic involvement:
- 2021 City of Raleigh Fred Fletcher Award for Outstanding Group Volunteer for work I did at Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve
- Currently PTA Treasurer and Board Advisory Council rep for Douglas Elementary
- Assistant Cub Scout Master, i9 coach, Food Bank volunteer, regular blood donor
Why do you want to serve on the Wake County Board of Education?
I believe in the importance of public schools for all of our kids, our families, and for our communities. I believe we need school board reps who have shown through their actions that they will be champions of our public schools while being responsive to our students, families and educators to address the challenges we face.
My actions:
- Active in the WCPSS for the last 18 years
- Worked for WCPSS for 10 years
- Only one to choose WCPSS for their kid’s education
- Serves on WCPSS PTA Board
What are the Wake County Public Schools doing well?
- WCPSS is doing a great job when it comes to school choice. This includes the magnet programs and Cooperative Innovative High Schools (e.g. Wake STEM, Wake Health Sciences)
- WCPSS has strong vocational programs: career and technical education and dual enrollment programs through Wake Tech
- WCPSS is proactive on school safety: a safety audit and new SRO agreements with more training
- WCPSS is putting together the Helps tutoring plan to address learning loss with one-on-one tutoring
What would be your three top priorities if elected? Choose one, and explain how you would address it.
- Learning loss
- School safety/bullying
- Communication
A recurring theme throughout many of the challenges we face is a need to improve communication. WCPSS gives families several options for receiving information (email, text, call), but we need to do a better job of listening to students, parents and teachers. It’s also not always easy to find information on the county and school websites or to know who to call if there is an issue.
What should the district do in response to calls to remove books from schools that some say are inappropriate for students?
I’m against banning books, but it’s important to have age-appropriate books at every school. I have complete trust in our librarians and teachers when it comes to this. They are well-educated professionals who put a lot of thought into books selection. WCPSS also has a good process in place that allows parents to ask for a book to be reviewed and allows for parents to opt their child out of an assignment.
How should schools discuss issues involving discrimination based on race, gender and other factors?
We should have honest conversations about these very real issues. We should be teaching an accurate history that reflects perspectives from all backgrounds. It is important that the conversations be age-appropriate with the older kids getting the more in-depth teaching.
How would you go about making schools safer in the aftermath of school shootings such as in Uvalde, Texas?
I want to commend WCPSS for having a comprehensive school safety assessment done over the last two years. Some of the recommendations from the report include “a consistent District-wide visitor management system, District-wide Staff Development Training in the Safety and Security field,” and hiring “a physical security specialist that would work in cooperation with school principals to improve physical security at each school.”
I support all the recommendations in the assessment.
What would you do to try to address student learning loss that was exacerbated by the pandemic?
I fully support the partnership between WCPSS, the Helps Education Fund, and the YMCA of the Triangle to provide one-on-one and small-group tutoring. It’s also critical we have a well-trained teacher in every classroom. I believe our goal should be to have an Instructional (teacher) Assistant in every elementary classroom or at least one IA for every two classrooms. That would allow one-on-one time with each student every week. This is one of the many reasons I support the Leandro funding.
What’s the appropriate level of funding that should be provided to Wake County schools?
I support:
- Leandro funding, mandated by the NC Supreme Court, will help get well-trained teachers in every classroom and well-trained principals in every school. Leandro will also provide support for new teachers and will help target low-performing schools, as well as providing high-quality early-childhood programs and more.
- Significant pay raises for teachers, IAs, counselors, social workers, nurses, safety assistants and bus drivers.
- The WCPSS bonds and the Wake Tech bonds on the ballot.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 10:03 PM.
