An 11-candidate primary for the three at-large seats on the Moore County Board of Education is heating up. The top six vote-getters in the Sept. 10 primary will advance to the November general election.
Voters will also elect a board member from District No. 3 in northern Moore County, now represented by Bill Garner, who is not seeking re-election to a fourth term. There is no primary for that seat. Ellison Hardison and former Robbins principal Charles Lambert are seeking that seat.
Garner, a retired truck driver, has endorsed newcomer Matt McWilliams of Aberdeen, a Libertarian turned Republican. Elizabeth Kelly, chairman of the Moore County Republican Party, welcomed McWilliams’ conversion
McWilliams, who works for his father at Knollwood Golf Club in Southern Pines, won Garner’s support because of the two men’s similar conservative views on spending. Garner has given his blessings to Hardison, again because both want to save taxpayers’ money where possible. Garner is also a Republican.
Among other things, Garner thinks the school system spends too much money on salaries and retainers — especially on Superintendent Dr. Patrick Russo’s salary and on fees to school board attorney Richard Schwartz of Raleigh.
McWilliams has come to Garner’s defense, accusing the other seven members of the school board of “substantial criticism and unfair treatment” of Garner over the past four years. He called it “childish and detrimental to the cohesiveness of the board.” He also said the board lacked “professionalism and leadership.”
School board Chairman Jennifer Garner, no relation to Bill Garner, told The Pilot that she doesn’t know what McWilliams was referring to in his criticism of the board. As chairman, she said, she has included Garner in all communications with other board members and that he has never expressed any complaints about his treatment.
“In my opinion he has always been treated professionally and courteously,” she said. “I have never called other board members and not him,” said Garner.
Bill Garner said he had been embarrassed publicly by three or four school board chairmen in the 12 years he has been on the board, but only once by Jennifer Garner, at the start of her first year as chairwoman. He mentioned that to McWilliams.
But since then, Bill Garner said, he has no complaints about the chairwoman’s treatment of him.
Besides disputes with the majority of the board over budgets and Russo’s salary, Garner also opposes the First in America educational initiative, partly because he says many people in the northern part of the county, including school employees, don’t understand it and don’t support it.
The board customarily listens without interruption or argument to Garner’s statements and opinions, voiced impromptu during board meetings.
Jennifer Garner, who is also a Republican, is one of the candidates for the at-large seat. She won election to the school board in 1998 and has served as chairwoman for the past two years. She is an attorney.
“I would like to see the opportunity for all school board candidates for at-large seats in the nonpartisan primary to address the issues,” Garner told The Pilot.
In responding to Bill Garner’s concerns about Russo’s salary, she said the superintendent actually make less money since his compensation was restructured and a 10 percent bonus for school system performance was eliminated when the board voted earlier this year to extend his employment contract to 2005.
Garner said he has no complaints about the quality of the work anyone in the central office is doing, but believes too much money is being spent.
If the primary candidates want a forum to address the issues, they will get it at the end of August. The League of Women Voters of Moore County is sponsoring a forum Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Agriculture Center in Carthage for locally contested offices, said Kay Hodge, a LWV member chairing the education committee.
The League is a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse candidates for public office but acts as a voter education and service group.
Other candidates for the at-large seats besides Jennifer Garner and McWilliams are incumbent Sue Black, Thomas Brennan, retired principal Blanchie Carter, Jimmy Chalflinch, J. Dale Frye, retired principal Nathaniel Jackson, Noah Key, incumbent Frank McNeill Jr., and former school board member and masonry contractor Charles N. (Buddy) Robinson.
Bill Garner once worked for Key, a Robbins businessman and former chairman of the Moore County Republican Party. He encouraged Key to run for school board, Garner told The Pilot.
