Raymond Smith, Patricia Burden defeat opponents for Board of Education seats
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 9, 2016 9:58 AM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Raymond Smith, Jr., Ann Rowe and Curtis Stackhouse hug Tuesday night at the ACME Theater while celebrating the elections of Smith to the Board of Education and Stackhouse to District Court Judge.
Raymond Smith Jr. captured the most votes for the at-large seat on the Wayne Board of Education, while Patricia Burden, appointed to the District 3 seat two years ago, retained her post.
In addition to the two hotly contested school board races, District 2 contender Len Henderson ran unopposed.
Smith had a 2,000 vote lead, receiving 22,334 votes, or 52.14 percent, to Faulk's 20,157 votes, or 47 percent. The men were vying for the seat being vacated by Eddie Radford.
Faulk had run twice before, in 2008 against Radford, and in 2010 he was in consideration for the appointment to fill Shirley Sims' District 2 seat. He ran again in 2012 for the District 2 seat, losing to Dwight Cannon.
Smith is the son of the late Thelma Smith, a retired educator who had served on the school board for 18 years. He was the school system's transportation director until he was let go by the district in 2014. He said he wished he could jump and shout.
"But my feet hurt from campaigning all week," he said. "It feels great. I am looking forward to getting to work. I am looking forward to addressing the tough issues. I am looking forward to more transparency on the board of education, which I think the people need.
He said he was thankful for the opportunity to serve.
"I am humbled and proud," he said. "I know my mother is smiling upon me right now. She has guided my steps throughout this entire process. From the beginning I have had an easy spirit about this -- no anxiety, no trepidation. I really felt comfortable through this whole process. My feelings right now are contained, but I can tell you now that I am truly ecstatic, and I am truly happy about this moment."
Smith said he looks at his election from the perspective that it "is really the way it should be."
"The reason I say that is because I understand the school system from an intrinsic perspective and I know what kinds of problems the school system has encountered over the years, and I feel like I am coming to help. I am in no way, shape or fashion coming with any other intentions other than to be a help."
Smith said he first wants to find out what is going on right now, what programs and projects are currently under way and to get a feel for what is happening.
"Then I will be glad to interject my thoughts into some of those areas," he said. "But first and foremost what I want to do is I want to focus on improving our schools' performance. I want to look at Common Core and what we can do locally, statewide -- what we can do to interject our thoughts and our experiences and how we can improve and how we can make it work for us.
"I want to look at the growth model because I think not enough emphasis is being placed on student growth. All students don't start from the same starting line. So we really need to emphasize the growth model and give more credit to those who are growing and not worry so much about the overall score. At some point we will get there. But it will take time."
Ms. Burden, appointed to the board in May 2014 to complete the unexpired term of Mrs. Smith's District 3 seat, defeated Trebor Jackson with 59.8 percent, or 4,498 votes.
Jackson, who earned the opponent slot from a four-way race in the primary, received 2,992 votes, or 39.8 percent.
This marked his second time making a bid for the board seat. In 2010, he ran for District 6 seat, against Rick Pridgen. Jackson was also among the five in consideration for the appointment to the District 3 seat appointment in 2014.
Henderson received 4,680 votes.This marks his return to the District 2 seat he previously held from 2010-2012, after being appointed by the county commission to complete Ms. Sims remaining term. In 2012, he ran for the at-large seat, losing to Radford.
Ms. Burden remained low-key about her victory.
"I'm very happy about the win, not just for me but for the people who believed in me and who worked hard for me," she said. "And then I really have to say that I'm extra happy because I know Ms. Thelma Smith is smiling down tonight.
"That makes me very happy because she meant very much to me."
She said she has her sights set on a few goals going into a new term.
"I would still like to continue to focus on the things we have been focusing on, through the new superintendent and leadership team and various directors with special emphasis on enhancing our student performance across the district and especially those schools that have been working so hard to move out of a low-performing or priority status," she said. "It's going to take some time but I believe we're moving in the right direction."
She said she also wants to work to enhance parent involvement, in all schools but especially those that are not performing as well.
"We want them to be involved in the educational process that our children are experiencing," she said.
--Staff writer Steve Herring contributed to this story.