Four run for School Board
By ROB NOVIT
Senior writer
The Aiken County Board of Education races will be completely wide open this fall, as all four incumbents up for re-election chose not to run this year.
Four candidates thus far have filed thus far - Keith Liner in District 4 (North Augusta), Donna Wesby and Tammy Conner-Moore in District 8 and Dr. Alice Sheehan in District 9. No one has formally indicated the intention to run in District 1 in Wagener, the seat held by John Brown.
The filing deadline is Tuesday, July 15 at noon. Candidates for Districts 4, 8 and 9 should file with the Aiken County Registration and Elections office. Director Stuart Bedenbaugh said prospective candidates in District 1 must file with the State Election Commission. That district includes a small portion of Saluda County in the Ridge Spring area.
Liner, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is seeking to succeed Nick Flouras in one of the two North Augusta seats.
Conner-Moore and Wesby hope to succeed Dr. John Bradley, the former School Board chairman, in District 8. Sheehan is a candidate to succeed another longtime board member, Jack Hunter.
Tammy Conner-Moore
Conner-Moore moved to Aiken six years ago. Her husband, Dr. John Moore, operates the two Family MedCenters in Aiken. A physician by training, Conner-Moore has been active as a parent-volunteer in the schools, with her two sons attending Kennedy Middle School and South Aiken High School. As a board member, she would focus on issues that impact academic performance.
With the support of the Kennedy school administration, said Conner-Moore, she and another parent started A Bridge to a Brighter Future last year. The program targets middle school girls who are at-risk.
"We want to change attitudes and let the students see that education is a priority," said Conner-Moore.
As a volunteer, she has talked with new Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt about her concerns over abuse and neglect situations. Children may have no one at home to support them in their educational pursuits, Conner-Moore said.
"It's not a point where the children are not capable of doing the work," she said. "Other things may interfere, so they fall behind and aren't able to catch up. Sometimes they're labeled as underachievers, and they don't make it."
Conner-Moore doesn't want to add to the extensive responsibilities that teachers already face.
'"My platform is that it takes a village to raise a child," she said.
Donna Wesby
An Aiken native, Wesby operates The Greatest Gift on Silver Bluff Road. Previously, she worked at the Savannah River Site as a senior communication specialist and later with the Washington Savannah River Company's education outreach program. Her husband, Don, continues to work at SRS.
As an education outreach staffer, Wesby worked with the School-to-Work and internship programs. She has had a close working relationship with Public Education Partners, the Aiken-based education foundation.
"A large part of my life has been working with youth," Wesby said. "I served as chairman of the Brothers & Sisters program. With three kids in school, I have a vested interest in the way we operate schools."
She has a strong desire, she said, to make sure all Aiken County children have opportunities provided by the school system to prepare them for the global economy.
"As a businessperson, I'm looking forward to a well-educated workforce," Wesby said. "With all my experiences and my true love for young people, being on the board is a natural fit."
Dr. Alice Sheehan
Dr. Alice Sheehan spent 33 years with the school district as a teacher and administrator, the last nine years as the Oakwood-Windsor Elementary School principal. Her experiences with teachers, parents and students will serve her well on the School Board, she said.
"No matter what school children attend, all have basic needs to meet," said Sheehan, whose husband Jim also retired from the district. "At Oakwood-Windsor, I tried hard to meet their needs with free breakfast and an afternoon program that was free. The school district has to step in and provide when children come to us without those basic needs."
Sheehan is also cognizant of the needs of teachers. It's the teacher, she said, who pulls a class together and makes a difference in a child's life.
Every child is different and performs at different levels, and it helps to have strong principals to support teachers and provide quality control, Sheehan said.
With all the new principals, district administrators and a new superintendent, the Aiken County School District is going through some exciting times, Sheehan said.
"We're going to have 45 percent new board members, and I'd like to be a part of it," she said.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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Comments
2 comment(s) found!
Posted by:
Tammy Conner-Moore On:
7/5/2008
Comment Title: Working together to make a change
I agree with A. Lewis. A 53% graduation rate is unacceptable and deplorable. This issue is addressed by our new school superintendant, Dr. Everitt, in her proposed strategic plan to increase that rate to at least 92% in the next 5 years. That is commendable, and I too, want to see that achieved. However, my concern, as I expressed in the above article, is that there are other factors that play a critical role in reaching that goal. Consider the child that is given homework on material they don't understand and there's no one at home to assist them. Or that child that goes home to an environment where their basic fundamental needs are not fully met; ie, food & safety. Issues such as these and others make it difficult for a child with those concerns to perform at peak potential. Teen, and even preteen pregnancy, is yet another issue that contibutes to our low graduation rate, and thus also needs to be confronted. My desire and my plan is to merge community programs with school/educational programs forging a unity of parents, citizens and the school system. Working together to address academic and non-academic issues in order to catch children who would otherwise drop out or be kicked-out. By taking this approach, several things I believe can be accomplished. First, that child that would have been part of the 47% that didn't graduate, hopefully now will place a higher priority on education and be better equipped to not only graduate from high school, but perhaps go beyond. Secondly, these same children that are often times more disruptive in the classroom, may now be more motivated to learn and contribute to their class, thus making it more conducive for the teacher to be more effective with all of her students. Finally, and more importantly, the graduation rate is more likely to increase, thus increasing the number of youths that will become a productive part of our community. Let's look towards the future, because children are our future. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child. No one person can do it alone, so let's work together as a community and be part of the solution.
Posted by:
Andrew Lewis On:
7/5/2008
Comment Title: School Board
We need candidates prepared to actually improve the education level in Aiken County. Our schools only graduate 53 percent of our students! 53 percent!! When I was in school that was a FAILING grade. As reported in the Augusta Chronicle by Julia Sellers, in the last two years Aiken County's graduation rate has DECREASED!! Can our school board do any worse? We need leaders willing to lead and educate all of our children.
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