Rick Mercier, candidate for Johnston County Board of Education
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Candidates for Johnston County Board of Education
A total of six candidates are running to fill three seats on the Johnston County Board of Education in the nonpartisan election. Get to know the candidates with our NC 2022 Voter Guide.
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Name: Rick Mercier
Political party: Democrat
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 56
Campaign website: electrickmercier.com
Occupation: Communications
Education: B.A., University of Virginia; M.A., University of Texas at Austin
Have you run for elected office before? Johnston County Board of Education (2020)
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: I have served as PIO/communications manager for the Town of Garner since 2010. I am on the Parent Advisory Council at Smithfield-Selma High School and the PTA at the Innovation Academy at South Campus. I serve on the Johnston County Partnership for Children’s Summer Learning Loss Action Committee. I serve on the board of the N.C. Open Government Coalition. I have been a reading tutor in Johnston County and Wake County public schools.
Why do you want to serve on the Johnston County Board of Education?
I want smart, responsible leadership on our board devoid of politics. I want to put our kids’ education first. I have two children in Johnston County Public Schools. We have had kids in this school system for 12 years. It’s the only school system we’ve ever known as a family. We are loyal to it and want it to be the best in the state.
What are the Johnston County Public Schools doing well?
We finally have a curriculum for English and math and are following them consistently across the district. We are tracking data on student achievement and growth throughout the year and holding principals accountable while also offering many of the necessary supports to enable improvement. We have some excellent “choice programs” that put students on successful career or college-ready paths. We just need to market those a little better to the community.
What would be your three top priorities if elected? Choose one, and explain how you would address it.
Improving early literacy; recruiting and retaining great staff; working with commissioners to get funds to have the best school system in the state. As for early literacy, we must give teachers support to implement LETRS training (“the science of reading”). We can reach out to retired teachers to be reading tutors. We must separate teaching assistant and bus driver duties. Title I schools should use funds for reading coaches. We should have grade 3/4 combo classes for students who need that.
What should the district do in response to calls to remove books from schools that some say are inappropriate for students?
There should be a board-approved, district-wide policy that spells out the review process when a book is challenged. This would give our media coordinators the framework to make decisions about individual books. We can’t remove books just to placate a loud minority who wants to impose their will and their ideas on everyone else. That is un-American, and it is no way to run a first-rate school system.
How should schools discuss issues involving discrimination based on race, gender and other factors?
Schools should teach a comprehensive, accurate history of our nation and world and invite students to employ critical thinking skills to analyze, discuss and debate what they learn. All of this must happen within the framework of the standards set by the state. We should not have ideologically driven gag rules that limit what can be taught. This, too, is un-American. These rules and policies result in students receiving an education that is inferior to what students in other districts receive.
How would you go about making schools safer in the aftermath of school shootings such as in Uvalde, Texas?
We must be comprehensive and proactive. We have access to a matching grant to hire more school resource officers. We should take advantage of it. We also need to support a bond program that will enable us to build more schools and expand others. This will get kids out of trailers and into school buildings, making them safer. The bonds would also enable security-related technology upgrades to schools. We should also invest in more counselors, social workers and psychologists to prevent violence.
What would you do to try to address student learning loss that was exacerbated by the pandemic?
We need to use federal COVID (ESSER) funds to have a robust summer school program for the next two summers, before those funds run out. We need to be monitoring data from student assessments throughout the year, and the district should make additional supports available to schools most in need. In the early years, we need to focus on getting all kids at grade-level reading proficiency. We should bring in retired teachers to tutor. Peer-to-peer tutoring in higher grades also holds great promise.
What’s the appropriate level of funding that should be provided to Wake County schools?
I would like us to aim to be in the top 25 in the state in per-pupil funding. We were in that territory more than a decade ago before we tumbled to near bottom in the state. We’re starting to climb in the rankings again. The majority of our commissioners have indicated a willingness to continue to increase local funding to our schools if the district shows good return on that investment. I want to build a good working relationship with our commissioners. We all want a great school system.
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 9:48 AM.