By The Smithfield Weekly Sun
SMITHFIELD – The Johnston County Board of Education at Tuesday’s monthly meeting rejected a request from Johnston’s Republican Party to require future candidates for the board to be listed on ballots as either Democrat or Republican. Presently, school-board elections are non-partisan.
Board member Terry Tippett offered a resolution in support of the change. Michelle Antoine seconded his motion. The other five board members voted against it.
Kay Carroll, the only registered Democrat on the current board, was first to speak up against the proposal: “I would think any kind of change in the way we elect school-board candidates ought to come from the public, not from a political party.”
April Lee, who’s registered with the Board of Elections as “Unaffiliated” with either political party, pointed out that under a partisan plan she and others registered as independents would have to get “thousands of signatures” on petitions to get on the ballot. “We are here to represent the interests of children, and that should be separate from the interests of a political party,” she declared.
Ms. Antoine said “having a partisan school-board race would hopefully end some of the contention on this board,” and she asserted that “people are five times less likely to vote in a non-partisan race.”
“I don’t think it would calm any kind of waters,” Mr. Carroll countered. “There’s just one Democrat sitting on this board and the contention has been amongst the Republicans, so I don’t buy that argument.”
Added Ms. Lee: “I don’t want our board beholden to a political party.”
“The parties are already involved in this race,” responded Ms. Antoine, who insisted “there is no party that’s going to suppress somebody or make it hard for them.” Regarding the change to partisan elections, “the public needs to know where you stand, and that’s what this does,” she asserted.
“If our country is already divided, why would we want to further that divide on this board?” Ms. Lee asked. “Let us not mirror the division in this country.”
Mr. Tippett said partisan elections “would guarantee a Democrat would be on the ballot in every election, and that can’t be guaranteed now.”
Mr. Carroll wrapped up the debate with a statement that non-partisan races “force the voting public to look at who is running and what are they saying, how do they compare with what my beliefs are, and make the decision based on those things rather than having a D or an R (beside a candidate’s name) and somebody handing you a card saying these are who you vote for.”
Board Chair Lyn Andrews along with Kevin Donovan and Jeff Sullivan joined Mr. Carroll and Ms. Lee in voting against Mr. Tippett’s motion.
Enactment of county-specific legislation by the N.C. General Assembly is required to make changes in how local elections are conducted.
New curriculum materials for the next five years
The board unanimously approved contracts totaling more than $8.7 million over the next five years for new curriculum materials for teaching science and English at all grade levels. Anna Kuykendal, the school system’s chief academic officer, said the vendors chosen received “consistently top scores from teachers.”
Contracts for science total $3,408,220. Discovery Education, a national provider of digital content and tools for teaching, will provide materials for grades K-8 at a cost of $1,939,472. McGraw Hill, a long-standing provider of digital and print learning materials, will support high-school courses in biology, earth science, and chemistry for $1,420,540. PEER Physics will provide high-school materials costing $48,208.
Contracts for ELA (English and Language Arts) add up to $5,357,594. HMH, a descendant of publishers Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, will provide reading materials for grades K-5 at a cost of $3,058,772 and literature materials for grades 6-8 for $1,001,152. Savvas Learning Company will provide high-school course materials at a cost of $1,297,670.
“We owe a great deal to our (county) commissioners to pay for this,” remarked Board Chair Andrews. “A lot of school districts don’t have this” for their staffs and students, she added. Ms. Kuykendal touted the materials being purchased as “a teacher-retention tool.”
Smithfield Middle added to “capped schools” list
The board approved a revised list of “capped schools” for the 2025-26 school year. New to the list are Smithfield Middle School, McGee’s Crossroads Middle, and West Johnston High. Remaining on the list for another year are Smithfield-Selma High and Wilson’s Mills Elementary along with 14 others throughout the county.
Schools that do not have at least 61 available seats are put on the “Exceeding Capacity” list that makes them off-limits for student reassignments.
Rather meaningless vote. If the NCGA votes for it, it’s happening.
This board holds no credibility. They should all resign and there should be a special election. As a former jcps teacher I can tell you that they do not have the best interests of teachers and learning in mind. It’s all politics and optics for them
AGREED!
JCPS BOARD HAS TURNED INTO an absolute joke! I think it should be known what party you side with as it plays a lot in how our schools are run. But I’m sure they are mostly Demoncrats so they don’t want anyone to know because then they will get the boot!
Your view on politics carries a lot of weight in how you would run things or ruin things. People who hide their views are cowards and have no ability to defend themselves. There are many who say I will not discuss politics or religion because they stand on a very weak conviction.