The four races for Wake County School Board were some of the closest of the night Tuesday, with the largest margin of victory at about 15 percent and the smallest at about 2 percent.
Zora Felton handily beat out incumbent Deborah Prickett in the race for District 7, winning by 1,659 votes (57 percent). Felton has three children who all graduated from the Wake County school system.
When speaking to the Record earlier this year, she said the partisan politics that have consumed the board in recent years were the “worst thing to happen to the school board.”
“I think we should all work together for the betterment of our children and to put students first,” she said.
In the hotly contested race for District 1, incumbent Tom Benton beat out opponent Don McIntyre with 52 percent of the vote. Benton has two grown children who both graduated from East Wake High School.
In an earlier interview, Benton told the Record that his two chief priorities for the upcoming school year were a tighter focus on academic achievement and working with the board to restore public confidence in the Wake County school system.
Monika Johnson-Hostler beat her opponent Matt Scruggs in District 2 with 54 percent of the vote. Johnson-Hostler has a 7-year-old daughter in the third grade.
Johnson-Hostler told the Record earlier that she thinks the current re-assignment plan is a forward movement in the right direction.
The reassignment plan is, she said, “placing the emphasis on ensuring that we are shoring up magnet and non-magnet schools that have progressive, innovative programs that are going to give all kids, no matter magnet or non-magnet schools, the same opportunities.”
Incumbent Bill Fletcher beat challenger Nancy Caggia in the race for District 9, winning by 51 percent to Caggia’s 49 percent. Fletcher graduated from Broughton High School, and has three grandchildren who all graduated from Apex High School.
In a previous interview with the Record, Fletcher said he wants there to be a strong emphasis on improving and strengthening the reading skills of students currently in the system.
He said there should be a “keen focus on academic achievement for every child, and that includes stretching our brightest students, those that are performing at the highest levels.”
All the winning candidates were in favor of the school bond, also on the ballot Tuesday, which 56,671 residents voted in favor of, and 41,530 voted against.
