USC education expert: School board candidates need to focus on 'best interest of the student'

A University of South Carolina professor, who is also a Sumter native and resident, says local school board elections are critical everywhere and need quality candidates who will focus on the betterment of all students.

Sumterite Kendall Deas, an assistant professor of education policy at USC, recently spoke on the importance of school board elections — especially in rural areas such as Sumter with high relative levels of poverty — and what he deems as best profile characteristics for candidates running for those offices.

Locally, Sumter County is in the middle of its two-week filing period for five of the nine seats on Sumter School District's Board of Trustees.

First, Deas said, most people traditionally feel that public education should be dealt with at the local and state levels and not by Washington.

"At Ground Zero, you have people there who know the problems, who know the issues," he said, "so, not having D.C. involved in it but instead people at the local school board level and the state level."

Since the policy agenda is set at the local level, it is important to have candidates running who understand those local issues and challenges and have that knowledge base.

A "healthy democracy" depends on citizens getting involved, Deas added, and the U.S. is currently struggling in civic engagement and in political knowledge, where people understand the critical issues.

"You can't maintain a healthy democracy if your citizenry isn't actively involved in that process," he said. "So we have to encourage people of quality who have knowledge about the issues to run and to be willing to serve. And we have to turn the tide in America in the decline of community engagement."

Ultimately, a key characteristic for school board candidates needs to be a focus on the betterment of all children. And, the public must pay attention to who is running and then — most importantly —vote in November.

"As far as potential candidates, you want people who are not self-serving, you don't want people with political agendas," Deas said. "You want people who are going to want to serve because they believe it is the proper thing as a citizen of this nation to do so. But you also want someone who is genuinely interested in what is in the best interest of the student – that's paramount, regardless of party affiliation."

Candidates seeking to become board members also need to be willing to have open lines of communication with the district superintendent and be willing to work together as a team, he added.

"You want to have strong trust between the board members and the superintendent," Deas said. "And Sumter School District deserves that. There are many young people in this community who are relying on that school system for a quality education. The district deserves that and most importantly the students.

"This is nonpolitical and just factual and what needs to be done and where we need to go as a community."
A democracy depends on people willing to be engaged civically and with "civic knowledge" of the issues at hand, he said.

"Hopefully, we get some great candidates who will be running for the seats," Deas added, "and people who are willing to serve as good citizens who emphasize civic engagement. We need more of that locally and nationwide."