Beaufort Co. School Board will be less experienced, have new leaders after November election
A change in leadership is imminent for the Beaufort County Board of Education with multiple incumbents not seeking reelection, paving the way for newcomers to step into their roles.
Both the chair, David Striebinger, and vice chair, Cathy Robine, are not running again, paving the way for newcomers to represent District 2 and District 8 and new board members in the board’s top positions.
In addition, redistricting led to the District 5 representative Richard Geier to run unopposed for District 4. No one filed to run for Geier’s current seat in District 5, which means it will go to a write-in candidate.
Together, it means that three seats on the board are guaranteed to be filled with newcomers. Even if all incumbents seeking reelection win their respective races, only six of the 11 board members will have more than two years of experience on the board.
The incumbents who are seeking reelection are William Smith in District 3, Rachel Wisnefski in District 7, and Melvin Campbell in District 10.
Seats not up for reelection are Earl Campbell in District 1; Angela Middleton, District 7; Christiana Gwozdz, District 9, and Ingrid Boatright, District 10.
Robine was elected under similar circumstances. School board elections are on a 7-4 split in terms of seats open each election. In 2018, when Robine was first elected to the board, six of the seven seats were filled with newcomers, with Striebinger being the only incumbent who kept his seat.
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Striebinger and Robine said they feel the board’s current philosophy will carry on regardless of the outcome of the election.
“We [the board] have laid a really good foundation,” said Striebinger. “So, if the board stays true to our governing philosophy, I don’t think there’s going to be too much of a change.”
Striebinger describes the philosophy as coherence governance — results-oriented with specific measurable results, he said.
Early into Striebinger’s time on the board, it was much less coherent, mostly due to then superintendent Jeff Moss. Moss saw many controversies, including a hiring scandal, multiple trips to the SC Ethics Commission and an FBI investigation into the construction of May River High School and RIver Ridge Academy.
“It was a disaster, back in 2016. The board was dysfunctional, the superintendent had a lot of issues, it was really a mess, but all that’s been straightened out,” Striebinger said.
Robine says one of the reasons she ran in 2018 was so that she would be involved in selecting a new superintendent, describing current superintendent, Dr. Frank Rodriguez, as a “dynamite superintendent.”
Believing the school district to be in a “really good place,” Robine hopes to spend more time traveling with her family and helping her kids with their kids.
Striebinger considers himself a turnaround specialist and now that he feels the board has been turned around, he’s ready to let someone else have their turn for District 2.
“I’ve pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish,” said Striebinger. “Good superintendent now, we have a board that’s focused on results, and the culture has changed to where the teachers are our highest priority.”
The next term will see an attempt to pass another school bond referendum. But referendums failing are more common than those that pass in Beaufort County.
The last referendum, in 2019, was the school district’s first successful one since 2008, following two failed referendums in 2016 and 2018.
Teacher retention is another issue worth watching as the school board moves forward, said Robine.
In May, the school board voted to give new and current full-time employees a $2,000 recruitment and retention bonus to be paid in December if they remained employed by the district by Nov. 15.
In June, the Beaufort County Council approved a $4,000 increase in teacher salary putting Beaufort County on par with some of the top-paying school districts in the state.
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
