Tyler Swanson, candidate for Wake County Board of Education District 9
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Candidates for Wake County Board of Education District 9
Tara Ann Cartwright, Michele Morrow and Tyler Swanson are running for Wake County school board district 9. School board member Karen Carter, who was elected in 2020, is not seeking another term.
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Name: Tyler Swanson
Political party: Democrat
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 28
Campaign website: swansonforwake.com
Occupation: Campaign strategist — legal nonprofit
Education: I graduated from North Carolina A&T in 2015 with a bachelor’s in political science. I am currently pursuing my Master of Public Administration from North Carolina Central University.
Have you run for elected office before? No
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: I was peacefully arrested after engaging in civil disobedience with the Moral Monday Movement in 2013. After graduating from N.C. A&T with a degree in political science, I worked as the NC NAACP Youth and College Field Secretary and then Communications and Policy Director. I am a former special education teacher for Wake County Public Schools.
Why do you want to serve on the Wake County Board of Education?
I am running because I want to be a champion for our educators and students. I want every child to have the best opportunity to achieve their potential, regardless of ZIP code or abilities. As a former classroom teacher, I understand what that takes inside and outside the classroom for student success. In addition, I value establishing meaningful relationships among students, parents, and stakeholders to help us create the best learning environments for all our students.
What are the Wake County Public Schools doing well?
We are the largest school district in North Carolina. We are also the third largest employer in the state. The success of our schools and the reputation of our teachers and graduates have attracted well-known, large businesses to Wake County, such as Apple and Amazon. WCPSS has the most board-certified teachers who are winners of numerous national awards and recognitions. We have nationally acclaimed magnet school programs and several successful vocational and technical schools.
What would be your three top priorities if elected? Choose one, and explain how you would address it.
Rebuilding from COVID and dealing with the learning loss created during the pandemic is one of my top priorities.
Additionally, we must address the staffing shortages we are facing in the district. The pandemic highlighted numerous issues facing our schools, and we need to use these lessons learned to rebuild and re-imagine how to overcome our losses both personally and academically.
What should the district do in response to calls to remove books from schools that some say are inappropriate for students?
I rely on the professionals who have been delegated the task of creating appropriate reading lists, such as librarians. I support clearly stating policies about how materials are selected, which should include all stakeholders’ input and viewpoints. These policies should be used to approve or disapprove books and should be implemented by professionals. I do support age appropriateness and other child developmental factors being considered consistently.
How should schools discuss issues involving discrimination based on race, gender and other factors?
WCPSS has to continue to work through implementing policies that address the needs of all students. These policies should be annually reviewed and monitored. If elected, I will work closely with the other board members to ensure that our equity policies align with our district’s values and that we do not allow discrimination on any student characteristic to be used to harm a child emotionally or academically.
How would you go about making schools safer in the aftermath of school shootings such as in Uvalde, Texas?
The board of education had an outside audit of all of our schools. I agree with many of the suggested recommendations, such as increasing the number of security administrators to nine to reflect the large geographic areas we have in Wake County. I do not support arming teachers with guns. However, I support adding additional helping professionals in our schools, such as nurses, social workers, school counselors, and SROs.
What would you do to try to address student learning loss that was exacerbated by the pandemic?
I applaud the district’s recent partnership with Helps Education Fund and YMCA to provide intense tutoring to students dealing with learning loss. If elected, I will work to expand this program. I am supportive of adding more helping professionals in all of our schools to help with the barriers, emotional and physical, that impact student learning.
What’s the appropriate level of funding that should be provided to Wake County schools?
The NCGA has not met its constitutional duties outlined in our state’s constitution. The NCGA leadership in the House and the Senate have consistently underfunded our public school system over the past decade, especially underfunding educator pay and benefits. We need more funding to restore teacher assistants in the lower grades, expand remediation services, and add more helping professionals. The NCGA has ignored the court rulings in Leandro and they are failing our students.
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 7:47 AM.
CORRECTION: >A previous version of this article misidentified the district where Tyler Swanson is running. It is District 9<
