School Board Candidates Differentiate Themselves

There are seven candidates running for three open Dorchester County School District Two school board seats this election cycle.

All seven candidates, two of which are incumbents, met Thursday for a candidate forum for Legend Oaks community at Beech Hill Elementary. While all expressed support for the district's proposed school bond referendum and no support for teach tenure, Patch had the opportunity to ask the non-incumbent candidates what they would like to see the district do differently.

Louis Smith

"The board has worked very well ... We need to work to improve though, getting parental involvement. You cannot have a good product unless that product comes from a decent environment. The parents need to be accountable for the children. I'm talking specifically about the minority community. We need to say the parents are responsible for their children, we cannot pass on — no, we need rules and regulations." 

Justin Farnsworth

"We have to adapt to the growth and bring in new technology. I'm not here to bring sweeping change to Dorchester District Two. There's no one here who's going to tell you Dorchester District Two has bad schools ... Now, this is a hard pill to swallow, we are not fantastic in the world ... we need board members who get our community. I'm here to make us great and then to make us world-class."

David Dubose

"I don't have a problem with what they're doing I'm just hoping to bring something different and new to the board as a parent."

Sam Clark

"I want to see increased vocational, technical engineering at each high school. Each high school needs to be a comprehensive high school. A kid needs to be able to go from a calculus class to the engineering and robotics class and then back to his English class. Our kids need more opportunities for vocational."

Harry Blake

"I want to finish what we started, when I first served on the school board. If you pass that referendum you will see a lot of this stuff happen (for vocational opportunities) ... I'm not on the board anymore but just about every two days I get someone coming to my office asking about their child."

Note: incumbent school board members Barbara Crosby and Lisa Tupper were not asked this question but were present at the forum.

Edited 11:30 a.m. Oct. 16 to correct the spelling on Louis Smith's first name.