Carr Ipock

1. Many, many years ago, the Craven County Board of Education seats were partisan (back when I
was elected to the board representing District 3 of the Democratic ticket in 1992). Chuck
Tyson, County Board Chairman, approached me (as BoEd Chair at that same time) and asked if I
could support non-partisan elections for school board members. I agreed that this did make
sense to me, and that I would carry the issue back to our BoEd. Linda Thomas (BoEd Vice-Chair)
and I discussed the issue and brought it forward to the BoEd members. Again, after more
discussion, we decided collectively that school boards should not be about political parties and
races but should be whole-heartedly focused on our task at hand. Since to make this change, it
needed to be a friendly local bill, at the direction of the members of both boards, Chuck and I
drafted the language of the local process for election of school board members in Craven
County, it was approved by both boards, was then submitted to our Representative, and it
became the local law in 1995.
Some of the original objectives included:
1) 4-year terms, with odd districts (1,3,5,7) following the presidential election cycle, and
even districts (2,4,6) following two years later.
2) maintaining the integrity of the two minority school board districts (Districts 4 and 7)
3) nomination by districts (district-only voting), and the top two vote-getters in each district
from a primary process to move forward to the general election in November
3) Election by county-wide voting for each of the districts in the November general election.
4) Oath of office on the first Monday of December following the general election (therefore the
lame duck period is less than one month).
Other objectives included:
1) ensuring that each district puts forward its choice of candidates for the General Election
2) by the county-wide vote, ensuring that each candidate not only had an obligation to their
district, but likewise ultimately to all voters in the county, regardless of district (so important in
decisions about balancing limited resources for all).
3) all votes are equal, since each voter has a vote for each district on the ballot in the General
Election
4) Opening filing to as many as possible. Because of the Hatch Act, Federal employees are
excluded from Partisan filing, but would be allowed to file and run in a non-partisan race.
(Important because we have so many Federal Employees (and Families) in our community that
may wish to offer their talents to serve on the school board, which is not possible in a Partisan
process).
5) Additionally, in Craven County today, registration percentages stand at approximately 1/3,
1/3, and 1/3 – R, D, and Unaffiliated. For Unaffiliated community members, filing to run in a
non-partisan school board race is quite simple. However, to run in a partisan election and
appear on the ballot in November, a substantial number of petition signatures are required.
This additional burden is a barrier to running Unaffiliated in a partisan race. This potentially
reduces the pool of those seeking a seat on the Board of Education, and is contrary to the

2. intent to open the election to as many capable candidates as possible to provide the best
choices for BoEd service.
In my time on the board (28 years) with 24 as elected non-partisan, I have not witnessed
discussions or decisions that were party oriented. At the same time, we have had people at the
dais whose party affiliation covered all the choices.
I have heard the complaint that it is a lot of work (and expensive) to run countywide, and name-
recognition is much easier for incumbents than those newly seeking to run. These are hurdles
that each of the present and past-serving members have initially overcome these past 24 years.
Much of the thinking behind Non-partisans school board races originated in the 2001
Community Visioning process that was occurring in 1988. Out of that work came the idea of a
more open and transparent county-wide school system. In fact, in following the
recommendation of the 2001 Vision, the school systemlater became the Craven County School
System (re-named from New Bern-Craven County Schools).
Becoming one, as opposed to parts, has always been a goal that we have endorsed for local
public education. Equity continues to be a challenge before us that we must continue to rise
too.
Over time, we were not able to draw population lines that sustained the minority district status
of District 7. Therefore, District 4 is our only population-supported minority district (and
without gerrymandering). Also, each district has essentially equal populations, and no
gerrymandering was used to decide district lines. If you observe our board, you may note that
these issues have apparently had no bearing upon the selection of qualified members of our
board. For that, I salute the voters in Craven County.
It is a fact that the majority of BoEd members past and present have been affiliated with the
Democratic Party by registration. However, during this time interval, that has never been a
determinate in status on this board. As an example, our previous Chairman was elected by the
Board and well-served in this role, although his party affiliation differed from most of the Board
electing him to the role. This was, in fact, immaterial for our non-partisan school board. This
contrasts with the selection process for Chair and Vice-Chair at the County Commission level as
a Partisan Board.
I hope these recollections and observations are helpful.
carr