Beaufort Co. school board election winners: Bluffton chair, longtime member, 2 newcomers
Two Beaufort County school board members, including the board’s current chairwoman, won reelection, and two newcomers were unopposed in Tuesday night’s election for the four open seats on the board.
Board chairwoman Christina Gwozdz held onto her seat in District 9, which covers southern Bluffton and Dafuskie Island, against challenger Jennifer Morrow. Gwozdz won 54% of the 6,015 votes cast.
Earl Campbell will keep his seat as the longest-serving member of Beaufort County’s Board of Education. He won 72% of the vote against challenger Jevona Armstrong in District 1, which covers Dale, Sheldon, Lobeco and Grays Hill.
In District 6, newcomer Angela Middleton ran unopposed and is slated to take incumbent John Dowling’s seat representing Okatie and Sun City.
Newcomer Ingrid Boatwright, who also ran unopposed, is scheduled to take incumbent JoAnn Orischak’s seat representing the south end of Hilton Head Island.
The ballot was significantly less crowded than the board’s 2018 elections, when 20 candidates ran for seven open seats and voters rejected a majority of the previous board.
This time around, two years after the ouster of controversial superintendent Jeff Moss and in the midst of a pandemic that has vaulted schools into the national limelight, two incumbents and four newcomers vied for the four open seats.
New members will be sworn in at the board’s first January meeting. At that time, the board will also elect new officers to replace chairwoman Gwozdz, vice chairwoman Cathy Robine and secretary William Smith.
District 1
Campbell has represented District 1, which covers the northern tip of Beaufort County including Sheldon, Lobeco and Grays Hill, for 30 years and has been elected chairman on several occasions, including 2017 to 2019.
Reached Tuesday night, he said he was thankful for the support and would “keep doing what I’m doing,” highlighting his top issues: teacher pay, student discipline, closing the achievement gap and advocating for early childhood care programs
Armstrong, his opponent, has lived in northern Beaufort County for 20 years, and works as a long-term substitute teacher at district schools.
She was also a founding member of Bridges Preparatory School, which is based in Port Royal but governed by the South Carolina Public Charter School District instead of Beaufort County School District.
She said her top issue was ensuring successful virtual learning for students after the spring 2020 semester, when the Whale Branch school cluster saw the highest percentage of students lose contact completely with the district.
While Armstrong said that she had “no idea” what came next, she added that she will likely run for the school board seat again in 2024.
“We need change,” she said Tuesday. “We need someone to be vocal, and Earl is not accessible for his constituents. He hasn’t done anything since the building of Whale Branch school cluster.”
District 9
Gwozdz was first elected to her seat representing southern Bluffton and Dafuskie Island in 2016. She was considered part of the four-member “Moss Minority” that frequently opposed controversial superintendent Jeff Moss before his resignation in 2018.
In 2019, she was elected chairwoman of the school board, taking the reins from Earl Campbell.
Reached Wednesday, Gwozdz said she was thankful for voters’ support and was willing to run for re-election as chairwoman if it was the will of the board.
“I just want to continue some of the good work we’re doing,” she said, adding that the board had sent proposals to South Carolina’s legislature that included raising teacher pay to the national average and endorsing statewide broadband expansions to aid students taking virtual classes.
As chairwoman, Gwozdz led the board through the selection of superintendent Frank Rodriguez, as well as the 2019 vote to approve the district’s $345 school bond referendum.
She also reinforced the board’s decision to oversee the district through policy rather than voting on “operational” decisions, which gave Rodriguez and district staff control over the school system’s response to COVID-19.
Gwozdz came into the 2020 race with a hefty endorsement list that included South Carolina Sen. Tom Davis, S.C. Reps. Bill Herbkersman and Weston Newton, Beaufort County Council’s Mark Lawton and Bluffton Town Council’s Larry Toomer.
Morrow and Gwozdz both said their top issue for the election was the COVID-19 pandemic. Gwozdz, a physician, spoke about transitioning back to face-to-face instruction as soon as it is safe to do so, while Morrow said that she wanted to focus on the impact virtual or hybrid learning could have on working parents.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 11:19 PM.