Candidates for the Wilson County Board of Education’s District 1 and District 3 seats discussed issues and concerns facing the school district Thursday during a community forum at the Wilson County Public Library.
The forum, sponsored by the Wilson County Public Library and The Wilson Times, is a part of a series of candidate forums planned each Thursday through October ahead of the 2022 general election on Nov. 8.
In District 1, incumbent Debora Powell faces challenger Jeanne Cuddington. In District 3, Chairwoman Christine Fitch faces a challenge from Georgina Barbosa.
Wilson County Public Library Director Molly Westmoreland and Times Editor Corey Friedman served as moderators. Attendees submitted written questions that were read from the podium.
SECURITY, EDUCATION QUALITY, INTERPRETERS
Barbosa, who has worked at the Sallie B. Howard School of Arts & Science as a teacher for more than two decades, said she wanted to focus on issues including school security, quality of education and intensive programs that support staff members.
“Teachers are very valuable, they implement a lot of things for our students,” Barbosa said. “They care for the students. I see a lot of support in the educational system, but there is always a little bit more we can do.”
She said families also need to be educated about security in the school system. She said she would work to educate the Hispanic community on that specific topic as well.
Barbosa also said she would like to improve interpreting services not just for the Hispanic community, but for other minorities as well. She said it’s vital for parents whose first language isn’t English to know which resources are available to them.
TEACHER RETENTION, COMMUNICATION, RENOVATIONS
Cuddington said she sees a lack of communication between the school board and the community.
“I feel like I could bridge that gap,” said Cuddington, who previously worked as a testing coordinator and an English as a second language coordinator in Rocky Mount.
Her other concerns include teacher retention and safety and security measures within the schools.
“We are losing great teachers,” said Cuddington, who has two children in high school within the Wilson County School district. “We need to identify why those teachers are leaving.
She also said she’d like to focus on improving schools’ physical condition. She said she believes some are not safe and are need of substantial repair.
Cuddington said she’d look into seeking more money from the state, federal and county governments to improve safety and security and make other repairs and renovations.
LEARNING LOSS RECOVERY AND SAFETY
Fitch said safety within schools as well as learning loss recovery from the pandemic are areas of concern for her.
“We partner very vigorously with our law enforcement community,” said Fitch, who has represented District 3 since November 1989.
She added that the district has drills and reunification plans for students, cameras have been installed on buses and locks have been placed on school doors.
“We are in the process of revamping a couple of our schools that have open lobby areas to make them more secure so that anyone who gets in has a barrier before they can get to our classroom situations,” she said.
Fitch said the district implemented various programs throughout the summer to help with learning loss recovery. She said progress has been made, but there is still more work to be done. Fitch said the district has seen a proficiency improvement for students because of various programs implemented this summer.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS, COMMUNICATION
Powell said building relationships with teachers, staff, parents and the community is key, as well as communication. Powell said social workers, nurses and psychologists are vital within the system.
“They are there to support our schools and help assist in any way,” said Powell, a retired exceptional children’s educator of 30 years.
Powell, who’s been on the board since 2014, said many students are silently suffering and she wants to ensure students have mental health resources.
“We need to be able to reach them,” she said.
Also an ordained minister and guardian ad litem, Powell said reinforcing the need for preschool programs is important. She said she’s excited about the new Wilson Academy of Applied Technology as well as the future Frederick Douglass Elementary School, which is slated to be rebuilt.
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS
All four candidates seemed open to the possibility of adding school resources officers in elementary schools. Wilson County Schools currently has resource officers in every middle and high school.
Most school districts don’t have officers at the elementary school level, but the recent Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has brought more attention to security needs in the lower grades, including the possibility of assigning SROs to the schools.
Fitch and Powell added that funding at the state level could be a hurdle.
THIS WEEK’S FORUM
The next candidate forum, for Wilson County Board of Commissioners Districts 1 and 6, is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday in the downtown Wilson library’s assembly room.
Questions can be submitted to library staff during the forum or emailed in advance to PublicLibrary@wilsoncountync.gov.
The library plans to post videos from each forum on its YouTube page, which is accessible at the shortened link https://bit.ly/3BuwOca.
