This longtime educator wants you to put her on the Beaufort Co. School Board as a write-in
For her 43rd year of educational work, Cynthia Hayes wants to be on the Beaufort County Board of Education.
Hayes, a faculty supervisor for the University of Phoenix, filed as a write-in candidate in September because there are no candidates on the ballot for District 5, which is the Okatie, Burton, Shell Point areas.
Hayes will be running against one other write-in candidate, Gwyneth Saunders, a U.S. Navy veteran and local freelance journalist.
“I just felt that we needed to be represented in that area and servicing the students in Beaufort County,” Hayes said.
Hayes’ career in education started as a special education teacher in Kingstree, South Carolina, in 1979.
In 1988, she began teaching in Beaufort Co. as an adult education teacher and continued in the county for 31 years. Hayes worked as an adult education teacher, special education teacher, assistant principal, special education coordinator, assistant superintendent and administrative lead.
She spent the past 10 years as a faculty supervisor at the University of Phoenix.
“Education is an important thing and it has been very important for me for all those years,” Hayes said. “Even growing up, it was the highlight of my life.”
If elected, her priority with be college and career readiness.
“My priority will be to make sure that all of the students are getting quality teaching in the classroom and preparing students with the skills that they need to be college and career ready,” she said.
As a write-in candidate her name won’t appear on the ballot, and those who want to vote for her will have to write in her name completely and correctly.
With two write-in candidates, the one who gets the most votes will win, election officials said.
“[A challenge is] making sure that I get the information out there for people to write in the name because it will be easy for folks not to write in anything,” Hayes said. “I’m talking to folks, getting some fliers out. I’ve got some signs out on the highways and I’m sending it out on social media.”
The general election is Nov. 8 and early voting in South Carolina begins Oct. 24.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 2:46 PM.
