Name as it appears on the ballot: Lynn Edmonds

Credit: M Cubed Photos Credit: M Cubed Photos

Age: 51

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: lynnforwake.com

Occupation & employer: Outreach Director, Public Schools First NC

Years lived in the area:  27

1. In 300 words or less, please give us—and our readers—your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What are your priorities, and what would you want to see the school board do differently or better over the course of your term?

I’m running for Wake School Board to be a champion for our school system, our students, and educators. I believe public schools are a public good, worthy of our support and investment. I’ve worked in public education advocacy for more than twenty years, including service and leadership on PTAs and two WCPSS Board Advisory Councils (District 4 and District 5). I’ve attended hundreds of school board meetings and work sessions over the last twelve years and have a deep understanding of the role of a school board member. As Outreach Director for Public Schools First NC, I understand the impacts of state policy and funding decisions on our local school districts, including WCPSS. My priorities are helping to attract and retain qualified staff: teachers, helping professionals, bus drivers, etc, ensuring our schools are safe spaces for all students and staff, expanding and supporting equity across the district, and supporting curriculum integrity and the freedom to read. I am eager to support and continue much of the work of the current school board, including implementing a new strategic plan that aims to produce better outcomes for all students. As we work to improve academic achievement following the pandemic, I want to support the work of our educators and advocate for the resources they need to help students recover. Those resources must include adequate staff in our buildings, including more helping professionals such as counselors, social workers, school psychologists and nurses. Our students need more social-emotional support than before the pandemic and the work of these professionals supports academic success. With such supports in place, teachers can focus on teaching and academic recovery.

2. Given the direction of the school district, would you say things are on the right course? If not, for what specific changes will you advocate if elected?

I do believe WCPSS is on the right course. As stated above, a new strategic plan is or will be in place once new board members are sworn in. I support the goals of that new plan, especially the greater emphasis on equity.

3. What are the three main issues that you believe the Wake County Board of Education needs to address in the upcoming year?

Recruiting and retaining qualified educators and support staff, ensuring school safety for all, and expanding equity across the district. In the absence of full funding from state lawmakers, we must work with our county commissioners and community partners to secure the funding we need to make WCPSS a strong, long-term career choice. This is true not just for recruiting and retaining teachers but for all staff: bus drivers, Instructional Assistants, maintenance professionals, etc. We must ensure our schools are safe for all. A 2019 safety audit revealed vulnerabilities in our buildings and those are being addressed. I will continue that work to ensure students and staff are safe from intruders and other forms of violence. School safety must be comprehensive and include social-emotional support for students, anti-bullying measures, restorative justice practices, and violence prevention strategies. We can expand and support equity through the new strategic plan and strengthening the Office of Equity Affairs. I will support this office and look to them to guide us in improving equity across the district.

4. Describe something you think the school board should have prioritized differently in the current budget. Do you think the budget supports students from lower income families as well as from affluent families? Does the budget meet the district’s infrastructure needs?

I don’t have any criticisms of the current WCPSS budget. I do think the budget supports the needs of students from lower income families but we can do more. For example, I’d like to see us offer universal free lunch at all the schools we currently provide universal free breakfast. Meeting the needs of our most vulnerable students requires partnerships with community organizations as was done with one of our newer schools, Southeast Raleigh Elementary. This school is partnered with Southeast Raleigh Promise and the YMCA to help meet the needs of families and children in that community. I would advocate for other such partnerships to support our students from lower income families. Our budget does not meet our vast infrastructure needs. Meeting those needs would require a much larger school bond than is on the ballot in November. With nearly 200 schools, we will always have schools that need major renovation, rebuild or repair. In a community like Wake, where we are rapidly and steadily growing, we are competing for maintenance staff with the private sector which often pays higher wages. We must work with county commissioners to increase pay for our maintenance staff.

5. What is your understanding of what Critical Race Theory is? Is CRT currently taught in K-12  public schools? What are your thoughts on House Bill 324, the bill Gov. Cooper vetoed because he said it “pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics into public education?” Would you support such a bill?

Critical Race Theory is an academic concept that examines how racism is rooted in various policies and social constructs. It is not taught in K-12 public schools. The term has been hijacked by the far-right as a way to describe any curriculum or lesson plan that involves difficult facts and hard truths about America and our history. I supported the governor’s veto of HB 324 and view it as dangerous and unnecessary. House and Senate bills are decided by the state legislature not school boards but I would be opposed to such a bill.

6. Does the General Assembly have a constitutional obligation to comply with the state Supreme Court order in the Leandro case to fully fund public schools and give every child in North Carolina a sound basic education?  Yes.

7. Orange County’s Board of Education has passed some of the most progressive policies in the state around strengthening racial equity and providing a safe, inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students to learn. Should Wake follow Orange’s lead and implement Gender Support guidelines that create a protocol for students who are transitioning or want to?

I’ve not fully reviewed the work of the Orange County Board of Education but in general, I support strengthening racial equity and providing safe, inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ students and staff. I have earned the endorsement of EqualityNC and would seek their guidance, as well as the WCPSS Office of Equity Affairs on adopting similar policies and protocols. I believe students who are transitioning or want to should be respected and that school should be a safe space for them.

8. How do you think the current school board handled the COVID-19 pandemic? Please explain your answer.

I believe the current school board handled the pandemic in the best way they could considering the numerous unknowns at the time. What impressed me most was their collaboration with county commissioners and community partners to first make sure children were fed at the start of school closures. I watched board meetings and work sessions throughout 2020 and was also impressed with the collaboration with other school districts and the ABC Science Collaborative. The urgent decisions that were required at the time, as guidance and information changed so rapidly, were extremely challenging. Few of the decisions, if any, were ideal but necessary to keep students and staff safe while striving to maintain teaching and learning. I am grateful for how the current board navigated those unprecedented times and am confident that the many lessons learned will benefit us should another such crisis happen in the future. Specifically, I supported the vote in March 2020 to close campuses and move to remote instruction, the vote in January 2021 to return to campus and the many votes regarding mask mandates.

9. Recently, groups of parents with students in WCPSS have mounted efforts to ban certain books from school classrooms and libraries. The school board and school administrators pushed back on these efforts. Did the board and school system handle this controversy appropriately? What more, if anything, should be done to address efforts to ban books in schools? 

Yes, the current board and administrators responded appropriately to challenged books. There is a process in place in WCPSS for responding to book challenges, starting at the school level, then to senior staff, then to school board. I support this process. I believe strongly in the Freedom to Read as outlined by the American Library Association. I trust the professionalism and integrity of our school librarians to curate relevant, diverse, age-appropriate collections for our school libraries and will do all I can to defend students’ access to books.

10. Do police officers (School Resource Officers) have a role in schools? Do you agree with the way the current board is trying to address the role of SROs in Wake County Schools?

I do believe SROs have a role in schools and I know they make some students feel less safe. WCPSS already requires more training for SROs than is required by state law. I would like to ensure all SROs working in WCPSS be required to take annual restorative justice training as well as cultural responsiveness training. I want to continue working with community partners such as the Education Justice Alliance on issues surrounding SROs, school safety, and student well-being.

11. Research has shown an achievement gap for Wake County Schools students based on race and socioeconomic status. What specific policies would you support or what actions would you take to help close the gap so that race and socioeconomic status don’t persist as predictive factors?

Research is clear that school integration results in better academic outcomes for all students, not just low-income students. The narrowest achievement gaps occurred in the mid-late 1980s when school integration was at its peak. In 2019 the school board was working with the Century Foundation to refocus the district on school integration. Unlike past initiatives that relied too heavily on busing black, low-income students, the board was exploring ways to achieve fuller integration across the district. I would like WCPSS to return to that work and will seek to do that as a school board member. What began in 2019 was far from completion and I believe a new board would be in an ideal position to continue that work.

12. How should WCPSS address its ongoing shortage of educators, support staff, bus drivers, school nurses, mental health professionals, and other key staff?

The current school board has worked very hard to fill the many funding gaps caused by state lawmakers. They’ve worked with county commissioners to provide supplemental pay increases and our community has largely supported this funding. We must continue to advocate for the resources we need from the state, including full funding of the Leandro Comprehensive Plan. In the absence of that, we must continue to work with commissioners to meet our students’ needs. I’m also interested in expanding the existing WCPSS “Grow Your Own” program for high school students interested in teaching.

13) Is the district currently doing enough to assist disabled students? What more could it do?

If any one student’s needs aren’t being met, we are not doing enough. The school board can only control two things: budget (with support from our county commissioners) and policy. If more funding will help us serve these students better, we should make that funding request. If there are changes to policy or development of new policies that will better support these students, we should work with staff to improve those policies.

14) If there is anything else you would like to address, please do so here.

Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.