Qualifying for the upcoming Richmond County Board of Education election ended on Friday with only one incumbent filing.
District 1 representative Shawnda Stovall was the only incumbent to file and the only person to file for the District 1 seat.
For the District 4 seat, Shontae E. Boyd and Reginald Forrest both qualified. The seat is currently held by Wayne Frazier, who has been on the board for eight years. Frazier said he decided not to run again for a couple of reasons, including that he believes in term limits.
Another reason he decided not to run again is because in the eight years he’s been on the board, there hasn’t been as much improvement as he would like.
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“When I got there, I think we got an F on our grade from the state and here it is eight years later, we’ve still got an F,” Frazier. “But we got a raise, we got a salary raise, we got more money for being down there and the children still basically fail. So, we getting paid for failure basically.”
Frazier added that this isn’t the fault of the superintendent or his staff, or even the board members. What he thinks would help is the community holding people accountable for progress.
“I don’t think we’re going to progress until the community at every level become engaged with the educational process in Richmond County School System,” Frazier said. “The other thing, I don’t understand how we expect the economic system of Richmond County to grow if we have a failing school system.”
The District 5 seat has three challengers, Christopher Mulliens, Monique Braswell and A.K. Hasan. Patsy Scott currently holds the position.
For the District 8 seat, Mary Jane Abbot and Onnie Poe both qualified. The seat is currently held by Jimmy Atkins.
For the District 10 seat, Lee Blitch and Samanta Valentine both qualified. Helen Minchew currently holds the seat. Minchew, who will have served for 24 years at the end of this year, said she felt it was time for new representation on the board.
“I enjoyed my service on the board, but I feel like it’s time some new people become interested in serving on the board,” Minchew said.
The election will be held on Nov. 5.
