Sam Hershey, candidate for Wake County school board District 6, answers our questions
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Candidates for Wake County Board of Education District 5
Ted Hills is running against incumbent Lynn Edmonds. District 5 includes parts of west Raleigh running to Holly Springs. Get to know the candidates with our 2024 NC Voter Guide.
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To help inform voters in the Nov. 5, 2024, election, this candidate questionnaire is available to be republished by local publications in North Carolina without any cost. Please consider subscribing to The News & Observer to help make this coverage possible.
Name: Sam Hershey
District/seat: Wake County Board of Education, District 6
Political party: Democrat
Age as of Nov. 5, 2024: 47
Campaign website: samforwake.com
Current occupation: Wake County School Board Member
Professional experience: As it relates to skills and experiences for school board, for almost 20 years now I’ve been active in our public schools as a coach, official, PTA board member and now in my first term on the Wake County School Board. Since my son was born 10 years ago, at different times I’ve been a full-time stay-at-home dad and small business owner. Those different experiences have helped me hone my leadership and constituent services skills to be an effective public servant for the families of District 6.
Education: BA in Political Science from N.C. State, MBA from Queens University of Charlotte
Please list any notable government or civic involvement: I currently serve on the Wake County School Board, but I have always been very engaged civically as a voter and as a member of my community doing volunteer work and attending community meetings. In 2021 I was awarded the Fred Fletcher Volunteer Award for Outstanding Project Volunteer by the City of Raleigh, and in 2020 I was a general election poll worker at my precinct. Lastly, I’m especially proud to have successfully advocated to Raleigh City Council for raises for our school crossing guards.
What would be your top priority if elected?
Everything I do is ultimately centered around my top priority of providing our kids with a first-class education. This includes setting high expectations and having accountability for all departments in the school district, ensuring safe learning environments, supporting our school staff, dealing with transportation shortages and HVAC challenges, advocating for additional resources from the state and our county, and prioritizing constituents’ services.
What specific strategies would you promote to improve academic achievement for Wake County students?
Outside of WCPSS, I’d like to see the state commit to universal Pre-K and better teacher pay to retain experienced staff. Within WCPSS — I’m very supportive of academics rolling out changes to curriculum, potential changes coming to advanced learning, and the early learning summit to align Pre-K and K learning goals. Expanding on the summit has the potential for major long term improvements. I’d like us to continue to focus on providing additional teacher assistants as well.
How should Wake County respond to the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules involving transgender students?
We responded to the new Title IX rules in the same way we do to any new Title IX rules from other administrations and to laws passed by the N.C. General Assembly; we incorporated them into our policies. I understand this comes up because Moms For Liberty wants to demonize the LGBTQ+ community and have these culture wars, but I’m not having that and I’m proud NOT to have their support.
Do you think the legislature should fund about $500 million for private school vouchers through the Opportunity Scholarship program? Why or why not?
Emphatically NO, the legislature should not fund private school vouchers and every candidate for a public school board should oppose them. Our job on the school board is to advocate for public schools, full stop. This means advocating for additional resources for our schools and for higher teacher pay across the board but especially for our veteran teachers. In other states vouchers are shown to have no beneficial academic impact and are causing major budget issues. Expect the same here in NC.
What is your view on installing weapons detectors at every school as a security measure?
We have security experts in WCPSS who have decades of experience and the security team is constantly reviewing safety products and procedures for best practices and how they might fit at WCPSS. I rely on their advice and guidance for ways to improve safety at our schools and if they said we should have them, I will support it. Safety has been a priority of mine on the board and as facilities chair I’ve implemented bi-monthly security updates.
