Voters ousted incumbent Chairwoman Penny Hayes and incumbent Vice Chairman Wiley Barrett by wide margins Tuesday, replacing them with Kathy Farren and staunch school system critic Bruce Cunningham.
Farren’s and Cunningham’s victories mean there will be four new faces on the school board if Tuesday’s unofficial results hold up. In the closest race, Lorna Clack was ahead of Belinda Bryant by 465 votes. By 6:30 a.m., the Moore County Board of Elections had tallied thousands of absentee. But the board was still counting curbside ballots. Provisional ballots will be counted Tuesday.
Both Clack and Bryant were seeking to replace Clayton Evans, who decided not to run for re-election. Joe Vaughn was unopposed for the District 4 seat currently held by Allan Beck, who also did not run for re-election.
In District 2, Farren soundly defeated Hayes, garnering 19,055 votes to Hayes’ 8,778 to win with 68 percent of the vote. Farren said she wasn’t surprised by the results.
“During all the campaigning that I did, all I got was positive responses and that made me feel good about my chances,” Farren said. “I wouldn’t say I was overconfident, but I’m usually confident in everything I do. I felt that I had to go into today with the right frame of mind, which was that I would win.”
Farren said she supported Hayes in the 2000 election, but the events of the last several years convinced her it was time for another change.
“Four years ago, I supported Penny when we needed a change,” she said. “The board started out with good intentions four years ago, but I think somewhere along the line they lost contact with the general public and that’s when she lost support.”
Hayes was unavailable for comment after the results were posted.
Cunningham also rolled to an impressive victory, garnering 65 percent of the vote to beat Barrett 18,377 votes to 9,684 in District 5. He began an investigation into the SAT program at North Moore High School that eventually led to the school system’s repayment of more than $100,000 in misspent remedial funds to the state. He also began an investigation into the school system’s vending contracts.
Not Surprised
Like Farren, he wasn’t surprised by the voters’ decision.
“I was not surprised that the voters rejected the adversarial posture that Mr. Barrett took with respect to the county commissioners,” Cunningham said. “I’m very gratified by the results, particularly with the support throughout the county.
“The strong votes for Kathy Farren and me against the incumbents is indicative of the fact that the county is ready for a change in the school system.”
‘Hold My Head High’
Barrett was in high spirits Tuesday night despite the loss.
“I hold my head high because I did not join the lynch mob and waited to find out the results,” he said. “And the final facts did not go along with the lynch mob.”
Barrett said during his campaign that he would not seek a third term if he won. He wouldn’t say if he planned to run again for a second term.
“Right now, I’m going to play golf tomorrow,” he said.
Excluding curbside and provisional ballots, Clack finished with 14,622 votes versus 14,157 for Bryant.
Clack said the fact that both she and Bryant are new to the political arena might have been why the race was so close.
“Mrs. Bryant and I are both new candidates,” she said. “She and I have both tried to fight the good fight.”
Though he ran uncontested, Vaughn received 21,965 votes in District 5. He said he’s ready to start serving on the board in December.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Vaughn said. “It will be a good challenge and a good opportunity. I hope I can make a difference because I want to serve and do the best I can to provide a good educational system for our children, staff and the citizens of Moore County that I will be representing.”
Farren said her first task will be to get to know Purser.
“I felt that in order to be fair to her I needed to keep my distance until I knew if I had won or lost,” Farren said.
Cunningham said he would soon begin establishing a personal rapport with the county commissioners.
“The first thing I’m going to do is contact each of the county commissioners to tell them that I look forward to working with them for the benefit of the students and teachers in our schools,” he said.
