On Wednesday, Chip Swartz announced his intention to run for a seat on the Johnston County School Board in 2016.
Swartz is the business manager of a Raleigh law firm and his wife of 19 years, Jennifer, is a high school Assistant Principal in Johnston County. Chip and Jennifer both hail from Elizabeth City, NC, but didn’t meet until they had relocated to the Piedmont for college and employment pursuits.
Chip came to Johnston County by way of Jennifer, who did her student teaching at a Johnston County high school. Chip recalls, “From the time Jennifer took that student teaching position, we knew Johnston County was where we wanted to raise a family and build our lives.” After Jennifer’s first year teaching at South Johnston, the two moved to Benson as newlyweds.
The Swartz family now resides in the Cleveland community, but their hub of activity tends to be in Four Oaks, where they are active members of Four Oaks United Methodist Church. Their daughter, MacKenzie, also attends public school in Four Oaks, and Chip sits on the school’s Advisory Council and is an active member of its PTA.
Of his interest in running for a school board seat, Chip says, “I think I may bring an interesting perspective to the position. I am a parent who has a child enrolled in the Johnston County school system, so I share parents’ concerns for maintaining a safe, enriching school environment that prepares our county’s children for the challenges ahead. Likewise, I am the proud husband of a life-long Johnston County educator who has spent half her career in the classroom as a board certified English teacher, and the other half in administration as an assistant principal, so I have a real appreciation of the pressures, demands and constraints placed on our school personnel in accomplishing the aforementioned goals. You might say I have a vested interest in both sides of the coin.”
