With 15 candidates trying to become trustees for the board of Charleston County School District, the five races on the November ballot are shaping up to be doozies.
Each of the odd-numbered seats on the school board — for districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 — are contested. The board’s current chair is not running for reelection.
“I encourage every voter to learn about the candidates seeking to represent them and to take this election seriously,” said outgoing chair Pam McKinney, whose district includes parts of the peninsula and North Charleston. “The decisions made by the next board will help determine whether we sustain our momentum, address the challenges that remain and continue creating greater opportunities for every child in Charleston County.”
McKinney and three other candidates on the ballot are part of a five-member majority elected four years ago with the support of the right-wing advocacy group Moms for Liberty. Its critics, who on Nov. 3 have the chance to break up the group’s domination of school policy, have frequently complained about how the board’s majority caused dramatic and unnecessary political polarization when it should have focused more on student outcomes.
Here’s a breakdown of each race by district. You can find candidate responses to a Charleston City Paper survey online:
District 1: East Cooper/Mount Pleasant
Incumbent trustee Keith Grybowski, longtime educator and advocate Char Fitzwater and businessman Mark Little are seeking the seat covering parts of Mount Pleasant. In candidate survey responses, they highlighted goals related to transparency, student success and fiscal responsibility.
Candidates differed, however, on where they draw certain lines. The board of trustees is often criticised for its abundant and lengthy executive sessions, which drew concerns about honesty and transparency from community members.
Little said transparency is one of his most important platforms in this election, saying the board should conduct all of its business in the presence of voters who elected them. Meanwhile, Fitzwater said executive sessions serve to protect legally established privacy rights of people discussed in them, including employees and students. Grybowski, who frequently voted to go into executive session with the Moms for Liberty bloc of trustees, said they served an important role, but added, “executive session must never shield routine business from scrutiny, and every decision and vote must occur in open session.”
District 3: North Charleston/Downtown
The four candidates for the seat held by McKinney are educator Joseph Bennett, civil engineer Stuart Day, education advocate Bethany Nemitz and lawyer Tressa Pankovitz.
Each commented in survey responses on the politicization of the CCSD’s board of trustees, saying it should be reined in to return the board’s focus to local education issues.
“The school board is supposed to be a nonpartisan board that represents the public and serves the best interest of students,” Nemitz said, adding that fiscal conservatism, integrity, diplomacy, collaboration and transparency are key elements to serving that interest.
Pankovitz agreed. “Some trustees seem to forget the board exists to serve our children,” she said. “Conflict damages morale, distracts and stresses educators, and erodes public trust. I won’t participate in political theater.”
Bennett went further, pointing to a 2023 demand by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and other state leaders for board members to follow the law. “Events since then have not lessened these concerns,” he said.
Day added that regardless of political views or backgrounds, student success should be the board’s focus.
District 5: North Charleston
Public school advocate Libby Tisdale is running against incumbent Carlotte Bailey for the seat overseeing parts of North Charleston and the upper peninsula.
Tisdale said the area’s fast growth is a driving force for the need to plan for the future, including facilities, enrollment, transportation and staffing. Bailey, meanwhile, pointed to the growth as evidence of the success of Superintendent Anita Huggins. She’s not the only one, as other incumbents often cited hiring Huggins as their great accomplishment since their election to the board.
District 7: West Ashley
Activist Francis Marion Beylotte, education advocate Joy Brown and Darryl Ray Griffin are running for incumbent Leah Whatley’s seat covering parts of West Ashley. Griffin did not respond to the City Paper’s survey.
Whatley drew attention in August when she replied to media questions with an AI-generated response. Since then, the City Paper has asked all candidates about their relationship with generative AI and its responsible use. You can read their answers in the full surveys.
Beylotte said he foresees the rising popularity of generative AI bringing “the end of human creative and critical thinking,” adding that it was possible to get it under control and help people complete more menial tasks, with regulation.
“I think generative AI should be banned in totality through 8th grade,” he said, “and introduced slowly with significant restrictions during high school.”
Whatley said trustees should be held to the same if not higher standards as county students, saying she “learned a very public lesson” about AI’s responsible use. “AI can be an extraordinary tool … however, it should never replace independent thought, judgment or personal responsibility,” she said.
Brown pointed to the district’s recently announced Generative AI policy, saying she was committed to ensuring the policy is effective and works as intended.
District 9: James Island
Adjunct Citadel professor Karen Luhrs is seeking the seat currently held by incumbent Carol Tempel, the only incumbent who wasn’t backed by Moms for Liberty in 2022.
Luhrs said the politicization of the county’s school board has distracted trustees from the ultimate goal: student success.
“Every action of the board should lead with this question: Does this help the children?” she said. “Too much focus is placed on divisive political issues that only serve to distract from the work we should be doing to support the district in educating children.”
Tempel agreed, highlighting her first year on the board, which was notably marked by partisan votes on faction lines, long, drawn-out meetings and heated debate between trustees. She said after hiring Huggins, things settled down.
“We became more effective when we put student outcomes at the center of the agenda, made decisions based on evidence and local needs, accepted fiscal responsibility, operated more transparently and respected the superintendent’s management role,” Tempel said.
For more information about candidates, including each candidate’s responses to the seven-question survey sent in early September, visit charlestoncitypaper.com.
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