Our choices for Wake County Board of Education

Traditionally, Wake County voters choose school board members in nonpartisan elections held in October of odd-numbered years. But that was changed in 2013 when Republican state lawmakers led by then-Sen. Chad Barefoot meddled in Wake County’s school board elections. The districts were changed and the school board elections were moved to even-numbered years.

A federal court threw out the new district maps as unconstitutional, but the change to even-numbered election years remains. It has increased voting in school board elections by more than 300 percent, but it has also buried the races on a long ballot dominated by elections for president and federal and statewide offices.

Four of the board’s nine incumbents are unchallenged on the ballot, though Jim Martin in Dist. 5 has drawn opposition from a write-in opponent, Mary Beth Moore. Three incumbents without any challengers are Roxie Cash, Keith Sutton and Christine Kushner.

The remaining five board members have drawn challengers, but there is little reason to shuffle the board. It’s a collegial group of members with diverse experiences and backgrounds who are working well together.

District 1

First-term incumbent Heather Scott, a former music teacher with two children in Wake schools, is being challenged by a Deborah Prickett, a former board member. Prickett was part of the conservative neighborhood schools group elected in 2009 whose acrimonious leadership led to explosive meetings, demonstrations and arrests of protesters. There’s no need to revisit that era. We recommend Heather Scott.

District 2

Monika Johnson-Hostler remains on the board after an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 2nd District. She’s challenged by Gregory Hahn and Dorian Hamilton. Hahn is focused on school security and reopening schools for in-person learning. Hamilton wants to close the achievement gap between white and minority students.

We recommend Monika Johnson-Hostler.

District 7

Board member Chris Heagarty was appointed to the board in December 2018 following the death of board member Kathy Hartenstine. A Democrat, he served in the state House from 2009 to 2011. He wants to step up school construction and add magnet schools in western Wake County.

Challenger Rachel Mills, once a press secretary for former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, is a school choice advocate whose website is headlined with: “Stop indoctrination in our schools.” We recommend Chris Heagarty.

District 8

Incumbent Lindsay Mahaffey taught elementary school students in Washington state and has a master’s degree in education. She moved to Wake County in 2015 and says she “jumped right in” to school issues. She has three children in Wake public school and her top issue is reopening schools safely during the pandemic.

Mahaffey is being challenged by Steve Bergstrom, a U.S. Air Force veteran and a commercial airline pilot. He wants the board to be more responsive to parents about curriculum issues and schools reopening. We recommend Lindsay Mahaffey.

District 9

Bill Fletcher, a board member for 19 of the last 27 years, has deep knowledge of how the school system works. His priority is to have every child reading at grade level by third grade.

Fletcher is being challenged by Karen Carter and Daniel Madding.

Carter, a social worker and special education instructional assistant, wants the board to operate more transparently.

Madding, an IT manager, emphasizes diversity in schools, having more decisions made at the school level rather than district level and teaching foreign languages earlier. We recommend Bill Fletcher.

This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 12:00 AM.