Editor’s Note: Stuart Ashby Lee is one of 13 candidates seeking a spot on the November school board ballot in Johnston County. Below are his answers to questions from the Johnstonian News. Four candidates either declined or did not respond to our questionnaire. They were Al Byrd, John Fischer, Jenn Gurley and Joe Preston. Six candidates will advance to the general election this fall.

What grade would you give the school board’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and why?

LEE: Overall, I would give our school board a passing grade for its efforts to address the COVID crisis. This is a national health emergency that our schools, community, state and country had to quickly address. It had been decades since our country had to tackle a pandemic, and all communities were trying to take every step possible to create safe environments for all of our residents.

We prepare our students to become productive members of society and lifelong learners. Many of our students pursue careers in the sciences and emergency services. To suggest that we ignore the educated and professional guidance of our medical, health, science and protective-services fields is in direct opposition to teaching kids to become successful professionals in these fields.

As we continue to navigate a pandemic and head toward an endemic, I would continue to rely upon up-to-date, tested data and science and the recommendations of professionals, not random social media threads. Next, I would like to develop a modern Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) that prepares us not only for future health emergencies but also grows our immediate proactive measures. I do value the input of our parents and local leaders and would also weigh that against the advice and guidance of trained, skilled and knowledgeable science, medical and emergency services professionals to identify the safest and most efficient options to move forward. 

As for alternatives, if we look at the coronavirus, it is only about 0.1 microns, very small, which means it can travel very far. Typical particles from a sneeze or a cough are near 100 microns and travel less distance. Being indoors with smaller particles contaminating stagnant air, the importance of diluting and cleaning air (improved air flow and quality) can have a tremendous impact on reducing contaminants in the air. There are school systems now looking at methods to improve ventilation and filtration. Installing CO2 monitors to gauge ventilation in classrooms or installing air-filtration units for every classroom creates environments where additional steps might not be needed. I feel that if the bond is passed in November, we should look at what preventative measures we can start to build into our operational structure.

Superintendent Eric Bracy’s goal is to have all Johnston schools earn a C or better on their state report card by the end of the 2023-24 school year. And yet the school board last fall extended Bracy’s contract through the 2024-25 school year. Do you support the contract extension beyond his stated date for having all schools earn a C or better?

LEE: First, I do believe that the vision laid out by Superintendent Eric Bracy will lead to the county’s schools earning a C or better. I also have faith in our teachers and administrators. However, we do have an uphill battle. Our schools face overcrowding, lack of human capital in the classroom and recruitment issues — on top of two years of dealing with a national emergency that had a tremendous impact on students, families, schools and communities. There is a great deal of data behind a simple letter grade to truly gauge countywide improvement benchmarks. I think extending the contract by an additional school year will give the board and parents the time to evaluate the full scope of achievements across all demographic and economic groups and by individual school.

County Commissioner Fred Smith recently noted that school spending in Johnston is growing faster than enrollment. Is Johnston spending too much on its schools?

LEE: While I appreciate Commissioner Smith’s comments on school spending, his evaluation falls short and seems to be based on economic conditions of more than 10 years ago. Given the county’s growth rate, cost-of-living increases and inflation, the rate of spending per student is less today than it was 10 years ago, and at the rate of current growth, it will be even less in five years. We must invest in our schools, students and the infrastructure to provide a productive learning environment and prepare our students.   

The school board has asked the county to put a $253.5 million bond issue on the November ballot. Do you support that amount? Or would you favor something more or something less? The school has a list of building needs. What would be your building priorities if elected?

LEE: I do support a $253.5 million bond on November’s ballot. I would ask for an updated facilities evaluation. I often think about schools like Innovation Academy at South Campus, a school building that was put back into service to offer project-based learning opportunities for middle school students across the county. Are there additional facilities around the county that could also be upgraded and put back into service for student learning, such as the school complex on South Third Street in Smithfield? I think we need to build new schools, but I also think we might need to evaluate all existing opportunities and find creative solutions to accommodate our growing county.   

The N.C. Public School Forum has called for the elimination or revision of the state’s A-F grading system for the state’s public schools. How should North Carolina grade its schools to ensure that children are learning and that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth in education?

LEE: The grading system for schools was introduced almost 10 years ago. Since then, all we’ve really learned is that schools with an elevated number of households living in poverty tend to score lower than a C, while schools with a lower level of households in poverty tend to score higher than a C.

I would like to do an assessment of states that consistently rank in the top five in school performance and evaluation and then look at the possible adoptability of those data assessments from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia and Vermont. Massachusetts currently uses a system called the Next Generation Comprehensive Assessment System, which uses a combination of a letter grading system and performance growth based on achievements by individual standards across all subjects.  

What do you consider to be the greatest issue facing Johnston schools, and how would you address it?

LEE: My greatest concerns are our teachers and staff. Over the years, we have seen the burden on teachers and staff grow with a compensation rate that has been stagnant. Teachers are loaded down with paperwork, meetings and multiple “other duties as assigned,” meaning staff are serving in multiple roles. Add on the elevated stress and pressure of a global pandemic, catching students up on learning loss, outside pressures on meeting safety requirements and covering additional classes because schools are short-staffed.

We have got to find a way to make recruitment competitive and retention more appealing for all positions within our schools. You can have the nicest and most modern buildings, the newest technology and access to unlimited supplies, but if your schools are understaffed and the employees have low morale and low job satisfaction, that will have a tremendous impact on our school system.   

About Stuart Ashby Lee

Born: 1975.

Family: wife, Alicia; children, Greer, 15, and Simone, 13.

Education: graduate, Cayce High School; bachelor’s degree, communications and journalism, University of South Carolina, 1999.

Employer: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Political experience: none.

Community service: chairman, Smithfield Appearance Commission; member, Downtown Smithfield Development Corp.; member, Johnston County Principal Advisory Council; deacon, Hope Church in Clayton; volunteer, Johnston Countyschools.

Religious affiliation: Christian.

Online: facebook.com/SALJCBOE.