PENDER COUNTY — Republican Don Hall is looking to retain his set on the Pender County Board of Education.
On the board since 2016, Hall is running absent a challenger.
Election Day is Nov. 5, with polls opening at 6:30 a.m. and closing at 7:30 p.m. All voters will have to go to their precinct to cast a ballot, as shown on their voter registry.
An ID must be presented to cast a ballot in the election. Acceptable forms of ID include NC drivers license or state ID, U.S. passport, college or student university ID, some state employee IDs and out-of-state drivers license or ID, as long as voter registration was done within 90 days of the election. IDs not in good standing can be expired by one year or less.
Early voting sites have closed and absentee ballots must be returned by the end of the day on Nov. 5. They can be mailed back in and require postage, or can be returned via the voter’s respective county board of elections office.
Port City Daily has compiled candidate questionnaires so voters can read up on contenders’ stances before heading to the polls this election season. All answers have been edited only for clarity; the candidates’ opinions and statements are not a reflection of Port City Daily.
The paywall is dropped on profiles to help voters make informed decisions ahead of the election.
Port City Daily (PCD): How many years have you been a public servant? Why are you (re)seeking this position and what makes you right for the job?
Don Hall (DH): I have been a public servant since 2005 in various capacities, both local and state. I am right for this job because I have a deep understanding of our school system and all the moving pieces that go with it. In addition, I have a lot of prior experience with both similar sized and smaller places as well.
PCD: What are the top three items you’re campaigning on this season and why?
DH: 1. Smart growth — We must continue to look for ways to expand our facilities to accommodate growth. This mean expand in a reasonable way, without putting too much pressure on current budgets. School construction is expensive so it must be done for both now and for the future.
2. Test scores — Due to the challenges that Covid created for our students, we have to continue to work to improve the quality of education our students receive.
3. Operations of schools — We have faced some staffing shortages, as all districts have. I will continue to work to improve our operations, and to hire top staff to accomplish this. This means, monitoring things like test scores, school report cards, etc, and helping make the resources available for the superintendent to have the tools he needs to lead staff to accomplish positive goals.
| What Don Hall is… • Listening to: News talk mainly • Watching: Documentaries • Reading: Several newspapers daily • Name something about yourself that readers would be surprised to learn: Thats a tough one, LOL. I would have to say readers may be surprised to learn the effort that I put forth to do my School Board job every day of the week. I don’t appear on the news, etc., a whole lot, so usually in the background working. | |
PCD: Name an issue you struggle to find a solution for that affects your district and how have/would you go about determining a path forward? If you have a personal anecdote to share that has helped guide you in deciding how to move forward, please, share.
DH: Growth, as you know, is always a challenge here. Tax increases that happen because of school bonds, etc., have to be paid for by our hard-working citizens. We have many needs, but of course have to find ways to meet these needs while watching spending at the same time. I, like others in the county, pay property tax for this.
PCD: There is a current bus shortage in the county, which has been ongoing for a few years now. What ideas would you bring to the table to try and course-correct? Do you support the superintendent’s decision to fire a decade-long employee, also a bus driver and beloved coach, for refusing to drive a bus he claimed had mechanical issues? Explain.
DH: I would like to see our bus drivers be more able to work other jobs within the school system, so that their morning hours and afternoon hours have a middle also. I think this full time work would go a long way in recruiting new ones to fill vacancies. In other words, make the amount of hours worked worth it.
As for the employee, I can’t comment due to closed session and privacy laws.
PCD: A new K-8 school is under construction to help meet capacity needs in the county; do you think the county should also be looking ahead to other infrastructure updates and projects as the county grows? Explain.
DH: Yes — absolutely the county should be looking ahead. We all must remember, though, that construction costs money. Money that must come from taxpayers. It has to be used wisely. We continue to have such a high amount of growth that keeping up is a challenge and will be for the foreseeable future. Planning and involving the county commissioners with that, is very important. As you know, back in September, we held a joint meeting with them. I hope to continue this.
PCD: This year Superintendent Breedlove said the county commissioners’ per-pupil allotment was “dragging down” Pender’s funding to the bottom ranks across the state. Do you think the county should increase funding for the schools district? Why and, if the county were to increase funding, what should the money go to first?
DH: County funding is used for things like teacher supplements and maintenance and operations for our buildings. It is true, there is never enough, but at the same time, the commissioners have to balance the needs we have with what is available.
Again, it is all tax money and must be used wisely. The commissioners have done a good job of listening to our needs and meeting them as best they can. They are experiencing growing pains as well.
PCD: Despite growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, the district still has six low-performing schools that have currently been deemed such. Why do you think these schools are under-performing and what would you direct the district to improve learning outcomes at these schools?
DH: Yes, the low-performing schools have been a challenge not only for our district but for others as well. The pandemic really put a lot of students behind, as during that time, we had many who lacked internet access. Thanks to our county commissioners, there is a current project being done to run broadband service across the entire county. Many are already newly hooked up. This should help. As for the school district, our superintendent has implemented improvement type plans to help. I am confident that with his leadership things will continue to improve. There is a distance to go for these schools.
PCD: A board member recently proposed policy changes that would change the way parental objections to books and instructional materials are handled, namely removing decision-making authority from school and district level committees and placing it in the sole hands of the school board. How do you think the district should handle challenges to instructional materials?
DH: Books were originally handled by the board of education, and this simply puts it back that way. It should make the process faster should anything be challenged. Currently there are no challenges pending.
PCD: What is the current board of education getting right? Wrong?
DH: The current board is getting things right by continuing to move the system in the right direction despite the challenges from Covid. Each one of our members has their own strengths on this. We also are continuing to advocate for buildings and other things such as maintenance funds to keep things smoothly running.
As for wrong, I would like to see our board do a better job of having things like town hall meetings and surveys to ask the parents what more they would like to see, and give them an opportunity to receive feedback immediately and have other questions answered immediately. Some of this takes place already. More of it would be better.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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