Incumbent Canty faces 3 challengers for school board Area 3 seat

Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series on the five Sumter school board area seats that are up for election in November. Each week leading up to Election Day, The Sumter Item has analyzed at least one area (alternatively called district) race and interviewed candidates on the ballot. All candidates will be contacted. Online this series, like other election information, will be free to read as a public service. Candidate Q&As in their own words were included in our Vote 2026 Guide section published in the Sept. 26-29 Weekend edition.

THE AREA 3 RACE

The Item returns to the City of Sumter in this school board race story to cover the candidates in Area 3.

The area generally contains many of the western suburbs in the city. Western boundaries include Pinewood Road, McCrays Mill Road extending to Pitts Road and also Keels Road. The Cane Savannah Creek area below Kingsbury Drive is the southern boundary. A northern tip to District 3 includes the Alice Drive/Wise Drive intersection in town. An eastern boundary is South Guignard Drive before the district converges onto the downtown area along Oakland Avenue.

Four candidates filed for the seat and are in the race: incumbent the Rev. Ralph Canty and challengers Allie Shae Bullard, Ron Pace and Tiffany Thompson.

ALLIE SHAYE BULLARD

Bullard has a child in Sumter School District and will have another child soon in the public school system. She is a part-time counselor at Selah Counseling Services in Sumter after recently completing her Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling.

Previously, she was a long-term substitute teacher for one year at Kingsbury Elementary School and still volunteers at the school. While serving as a long-term sub, Bullard said she got to know the teachers' concerns and decided to run now to try to make a difference because the seat is open.

Her husband is a district teacher, and the family moved to Sumter in 2019 when he initially earned a position in the district, Bullard said. She is originally from Dillon County near the North Carolina state line.

She regularly watches board meetings online, even before her campaign, because her husband is a district employee and her son is a student at a Sumter school.

She has never run for an elected office.

Bullard said she is running partly because with a child and husband in the district, she can bring a balanced perspective as a board member.

"Having a child in the schools and my husband being an educator, I can't lose sight of where that money goes to," she said. "I hold that perspective of the actual people that these decisions affect."

Bullard's talking points or platform includes public transparency and accountability, improving district operations and increasing student achievement.

Regarding transparency, she said the public needs to be completely aware of how its tax dollars are being spent and accountability includes the school board following through on decisions and making measurable progress.

On district operations, Bullard said bus transportation is "an immediate concern" to include enhancing driver recruitment and retention, route management and effective communication with families.

Overall support for bus drivers is critical, she added. Bullard would support looking into increasing drivers' wages if the district budget allowed for it, but she did not want to make a campaign promise on any particular measure.

"I wouldn't campaign on a promise of anything, especially the higher salary because I think that would be irresponsible because one board member can't promise that anyway."

Regarding a district initiative to implement a full-scale online enrollment process with parents in the spring to obtain accurate residential address information for bus transportation purposes, Bullard said she was not aware of that. Superintendent Gerald Gary and his administration have identified the lack of proper home addresses for students as a key challenge causing late bus arrivals at schools.

No recent Sumter superintendent has pursued an annual enrollment process for parents for bus transportation.

On improving student achievement, Bullard said she has reviewed the district's recently released state report card data and intervention in the early grades is critical in reading and math. The district has early interventions in place, but Bullard said she would be interested in which schools might need more support.

Regarding Gary as the district's new leader, she holds "a lot of support for him" and added that teachers and the overall community are "excited" to have him here.

On the concept of realignment/rezoning first or a board master plan, Bullard said the process in place is appropriate to include a district-wide facilities study to be completed in the spring with updated enrollment data and then moving students subsequently.

It will be important to communicate well on those matters with families, she added, because they are the ones who will be affected in the process.

Regarding incumbent the Rev. Ralph Canty, Bullard said initially she wanted "to be very respectful of him because he is a very kind man and I don't disagree with everything that he has done on the board," but she added that now can be a time for new leadership.

"I believe with the challenges that our district is facing right now, this election presents an opportunity for new leadership," Bullard said. "I believe I could pick up and make more measurable progress, especially since I feel the urgency that all parents are feeling as well.

"Like, we can't continue pushing things off for years. We have to make decisions with appropriate information but in a reasonable amount of time as well because my own children depend on that, too, along with every child in the school district."

She agreed with the newspaper that some of the delays in action have been because of board dysfunction and struggles between board members in the rural areas versus trustees in the city.

"Moving forward, middle ground needs to be reached by the full board, so that we can continue with progress," Bullard added.

If she were elected, she said she would be dedicated to continue learning more on all district issues to benefit the full board and the community.

"As I have new conversations, I am still learning throughout this process, and I don't imagine that will end especially if I get elected to the board," she added. "I am also dedicated to learning about the issues and also having productive conversations to find solutions."

THE REV. RALPH CANTY

Canty is a bivocational pastor who has owned Job's Mortuary Inc., a local funeral home, for 56 years. He also is owner of two smaller Sumter businesses that operate out of Job's - Tranquility Cremation Service and Design Inc., a print company.

Canty pastors two churches to include Westend Community Church in Sumter and another in Effingham in Florence County.

He has served a total of 13 years on Sumter school board since Sumter's consolidated district was formed 15 years ago in 2011. He did not serve from 2020 to 2022 but came back on the board in November 2022 after winning the Area 3 election then over incumbent Johnny Hilton. That election was when Area 3 was initially formed as seven single-member districts in Sumter County that were reapportioned into nine single-member districts at the time.

Additionally, Canty served two years on the former Sumter School District 17 board pre-consolidation.

He said he is running for reelection now because he was asked by the community to do so, and "I accept the challenge so that I could advocate for children."

His second reason for running, he said, is his commitment to the district's new administration.

"I am excited about the vision, boldness, goals and strategies that Dr. Gary and his team have put in place," Canty added.

"I am also excited about the progress we have made this past year and the progress that will be made over the next two or three years as the plans come into full fruition."

Regarding Gary, Canty added, he thinks the new superintendent is for equity for all schools "and he has made that the cornerstone of this administration."

He added the current administration "needs a board without a personal or political agenda like the current leadership has."

According to Canty, he thinks "returning the four incumbents running for reelection now will position our district and community for growth that we have not seen before."

His talking points, or platform, include increasing academic achievement, teacher/staff recruitment and retention, developing a board master plan with the current facilities study that is in process as a key element, and community partnerships.

Regarding academics, Canty said he is for "a rigorous, data-informed and intellectually demanding curriculum." He also supports the potential for magnet schools, themed schools, an early college high school and other newer concepts, given an increasingly competitive landscape across the country and locally for traditional public school districts.

An aggressive program of recruitment and retention of all staff at all levels is also necessary, he added.

Regarding district realignment, or rezoning attendance lines, Canty said he is not opposed to the concept in a general sense where obvious rerouting needs to be addressed.

"My objection has been against the current realignment plan or anyone in the future with a similar theme to balance all schools' enrollments," he added. "That previous realignment plan was rejected by the community when it was unveiled in 2022.

"The unfortunate thing about the current plan is a small segment of the community and some board members have failed to recognize and appreciate the will and sentiment of the community. Public schools mean exactly that. They belong to the public, and the public has said they do not want that plan implemented."

The previous rezoning study was completed by an outside consultant in 2021-22, and the nine-member board at the time was dominated by trustees from the rural areas of the county to include the former Sumter School District 2 superintendent, Frank Baker. A project theme was shuffling students from higher-enrollment schools in the City of Sumter to lower-enrollment schools in the rural areas with the objective to balance enrollments, even though the district had no overcapacity issues. Baker was the board's realignment committee chair.

There was no consideration of closing any schools either at the time.

According to Canty, with likely more than half of the district's 24 schools currently at 50% occupancy or less, "shifting kids from one school to the other for the sake of balance creates a greater problem for teachers, transportation, operational costs and management."

The school district's last facilities study was completed in 2018 and was never used by that previous board. The new study, which will be completed in the spring, will evaluate the condition of all district facilities and their current enrollments and capacity levels.

Canty supports a board master plan effort now that would include rezoning attendance lines as part of it.

He initiated the concept of such a plan in 2023 with another previous board that overall was open to the effort, and he formed a board committee to take a comprehensive look at the physical condition of all district schools and whether they could even take on more students through a rezoning effort. That long-term plan would also consider building new schools to replace older, dilapidated ones through a capital campaign and potential referendum and consolidate some schools as needed.

Then after the November 2024 board election, trustee Shawn Ragin became chairman and temporarily halted that committee. In March 2025, he reintroduced rezoning attendance lines to balance schools' enrollments as a first step before a master plan, and the realignment measure passed in a 5-4 vote for implementation in the current school year.

Then-Superintendent William Wright Jr. said at a board meeting in early 2025 that the rezoning plan would help "save rural schools."

But after Wright resigned in August 2025, the vote swung against rezoning immediately because a full-time superintendent was not in place. Essentially, since then, the divided board has not been able to move forward with either realignment or a master plan concept.

When interviewed last week, Canty said that he would be for consolidating schools in the future "wherever feasible and developing a framework for constructing new schools."

On the "rural schools versus city schools" mindset of some board members and that others - including Rembert-area Sumter County Councilman Carlton Washington - have promoted leading up to this election, Canty said it is "tragic."

"It's tragic that a very small segment of the community would attempt to divide us, according to geography," he said. "We are one district with urban, suburban and rural schools. Every child in every school is significant to our system, and we need to work to ensure every school is transformed into a high-performing institution."

"Our schools are for our children and not for the communities that they live in."

RON PACE

Pace moved to Sumter about 1.5 years ago from Massachusetts and is semi-retired and going to school online, he said. Vocationally, he was a commercial truck driver for 38 years with small, independent companies.

Pace said he recently completed his Bachelor's Degree in Project Management online and is seeking a master's degree online. Additionally, he served five years in the military between the U.S. Army and Coast Guard and was honorably discharged, he said.

According to Pace, he ran for an elected office once previously in a school board race about 10 years ago near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and lost.

Pace has attended school board meetings in recent months and has spoken several times in public participation. He leaves the meetings early but watches the remainder online, he said.

His campaign platform includes open communication by the school board and district administration, child safety to include bus monitors on all buses, more educational opportunities, improving on attendance and "the ethical treatment and ethical standards of all rank-and-file employees."

Regarding communication, Pace said the board has "tabled items" such as the realignment plan - or rezoning attendance lines - for four years.

The full board has never been able to move on the realignment plan completed by an outside consultant in 2021-22 because that broad-scale plan had the theme of shuffling students from higher-enrollment schools in the City of Sumter to lower-enrollment schools in the rural areas. A main project goal or objective was to balance enrollments at all district schools. An estimated total of 17% of all district students would move to a new school in that realignment measure to include 32% of all high school students.

When the plan was presented to the public at information sessions in late 2021 and early 2022, it created outcry from district parents.

Pace also said administration has not cooperated with his open records requests regarding financial records related to a state Office of the Inspector General investigation that was completed in April.

He said when he lived in Colorado he was successful in getting a county building department to initiate online publishing of building permits and site plans for the public to eliminate open records requests.

On educational opportunities, Pace said the district "still needs a real vocational school, which we should have had 10 years ago."

He added the Sumter Career and Technology Center "is not a real vocational school."

"I went to a vocational school and we had 600 kids going to that vocational school at least once a day from the high school," Pace said. "I would like to see more of a hands-on vocational training with the adaptive stuff so these children can walk out of there with a skill. Like [Arizona State University President] Mike Crow said, 'Without a skill, you are nothing.'

"And even operating a computer is a skill. Not everybody is going to college."

Historically, Sumter's career center enrollment has fluctuated between 300 to 400 students.

Local industrial leaders and the Sumter County Legislative Delegation previously tried to help the district move toward constructing a technical high school in the last decade, but the full board never moved on the concept.

Regarding attendance, Pace said, "the district has one of the highest rates of absenteeism in the state," according to state data.

The Item shared with him that the new administration has discussed attendance at recent board meetings since the school year began and has said it is addressing the issue with a comprehensive approach and attendance involves many different layers. Administrators are also developing a district-wide attendance manual now.

"I can fix it in 30 days," Pace said. "Thirty days is all you need to send out the information. We have plenty of money that we can send out the information back with the kids every day when they leave the school and say, 'We are now implementing this A, B, C, done.' That's it. The attendance stuff needs to be fixed yesterday."

Regarding ethical treatment of district employees, bus drivers are a key element to include payroll and overtime issues, he said. Additionally, district teachers are not respected by students, Pace added.

"These teachers aren't respected," he said, "and that has got to stop. I don't know when we got so out of hand that the lack of discipline on your part as a parent translates into disrespect for a teacher when they show up for school."

When the newspaper said that the new administration has already made changes to the code of conduct, Pace said he did not care what district leaders were doing.

"I don't care what they are doing," he said. "I am telling you what I am going to do. It's going to change even more. When I tell the superintendent something, if I get elected, and we agree on it, it's getting implemented.

"From now on, there is no three strikes rule, and in-school suspension is going to go away. If you are a problem in the school, we don't need you there. You're a distraction, and you go home. Let your parents deal with you, like it used to be. Then you would catch a beating for it, and you didn't do it again."

On his view of the new superintendent, Pace said he would reserve judgment on him now for another month.

For reference, he said that he has been unable to reach a compromise with Gerald Gary on certain items, such as open records.

Regarding the concept of realignment or a board master plan for facilities for at least the next 20 years, Pace only said he is "for school consolidation to save money and close down the schools that are in such disrepair [that] we can't fix them [because] they are too old.

"I gave them a 55-page realignment plan that was actually written by an expert. I have a person who helped me do it because I have people who are friends who know more about this than I do."

On incumbent Ralph Canty, Pace said his time on the board should be done.

"I think he has a shelf life on the board, and I think he has outlived it," he added. "He's been there for 20 years, and look where we are at. All you have to do is look at his record and look what's going on."

Canty has served on the consolidated board for 13 years.

When The Item asked Pace for specific recent actions or the voting record of the incumbent that he contended with, he only referenced "inaction."

"I am going to go with one word, his 'inactions,'" he said. "Inability to proceed forward, period."

Regarding the district, Pace said that he has filed one lawsuit.

"It's a mediation over an open-records request that the district refused to turn over records that are subject to an open-records inspection," he added.

Pace said he is acting as his attorney and representing himself in the case, and "the district came back and stated that the information that I asked for was not subject to open records. I am going to let a judge decide whether it is or not."

The case will most likely be handled next year, he added.

There were about four or five Freedom of Information Act requests initially involved on the issue with 20 or more responses back and forth, according to emails that The Item was also copied on.

"When they would respond to the FOIA request with a 'take a hike,' I would come back with the law," Pace said. "Not what their opinion is, what the law says I can have. That's what was going on."

It is going to court now, he added, because the district would not provide the information to him.

TIFFANY THOMPSON

Thompson is a mystery candidate in the race. She did not return The Item's phone calls or text messages last week or also on Monday for an interview. Additionally, she was the lone school board candidate of 15 total who did not attend on Oct. 8 when Sumter School District Teacher Forum held a candidate forum. Neither did Thompson respond to the newspaper's multiple messages in the ensuing days regarding her absence at the event.

In an initial interview in late August with The Item shortly after she filed, she described herself as a "military veteran" in a general sense and added "with my current position, I can't use that in my platform or anything like that; so I don't talk about that part of it. But I am employed."

Given her concern, the newspaper then asked as a follow-up question if her employer discovered that she was running if they would make her drop out, and she said they could not because school board races are nonpartisan.

A Shaw Air Force Base public affairs spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Department of War regulations do allow federal civilian employees and - under specific conditions - active-duty military personnel to participate in local, nonpartisan elections, such as school board races.

Thompson also was the only candidate who did not submit a questionnaire for The Item's Vote Guide for school board races in late September.

Regarding that questionnaire, she texted the newspaper when submissions were due and said, "Unfortunately, I will not be able to provide responses to your questionnaire at this time."

When The Item responded that she could have an extra day to submit, she never responded.

In the initial phone interview from August, Thompson said she does not attend any school board meetings or watch that many on video (YouTube), but she is "informed on the issues, and I am like connected social-media wise; so I hear the concerns from the community as well as the board members and their stance on certain issues."

When The Item then asked why she was running for school board, Thompson said "that is a good question."

She said her platform was "students first and opportunities for every child." Thompson added she wants to ensure "that we strengthen our rural schools and expand magnet and innovative programs and we are preparing our students for life after graduation."

As of Monday, no school board candidate had dropped out of a race, according to Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Office Director Pat Jefferson.