After mask and CRT protests, Johnston County school board set to seat 3 new members

Encountering a crowded race for three open Johnston County Board of Education seats, voters trimmed a field of 13 candidates to six who will appear on the ballot in November.

The school district was guaranteed to have at least two new board members, as current board chair Todd Sutton and first-term board member Terri Sessoms did not seek reelection.

With all precincts reporting unofficial results, the candidates set to advance to the November election are:

• Terry Tippett

• Kevin Donovan

• Michelle Antoine

• Rick Mercier

• Mark Lane

• Melissa Bowers

Current board member Al Byrd sought his his first full term, but was in ninth place out of 13. Byrd was appointed to Johnston’s school board last year to replace Tracie Zukowski, who resigned in early 2021 following her election in 2018.

Tippett, a retired teacher, had the most votes with all precincts reporting. Previously, Tippett ran for one of the four open Johnston school board seats in 2020, but finished fifth in that election.

Johnston County’s school board is a nonpartisan race, but the field is dominated by registered Republicans, who accounted for nine of the 13 candidates.

The crowded school board race follows a year of controversial policy decisions within the Johnston school system, including rules about mask wearing and curriculum policies barring the teaching of Critical Race Theory. In September, U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn traveled more than 200 miles from his mountain district to lead an anti-mask protest at the Johnston County Board of Education.

Also in September, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners threatened to withhold nearly $8 million in funding unless the school board enacted policies preventing the teaching of Critical Race Theory in county schools. Despite school officials saying Critical Race Theory was not being taught in the district, the school board unanimously passed a measure outlining the manner in which history and racism would be covered in the classroom.

The updated policy includes language that reads “the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined,” and “all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture.”

The field of candidates included many seeking office for the first time, including Joe Preston, whose wife Aurora Preston resigned from her teaching position at South Johnston High School after being placed on unpaid leave for refusing to wear a mask in the classroom.

Another school board candidate, John Fischer, has been connected to the Proud Boys group, and included a link to the group on his campaign website. The Proud Boys have been described as a right-wing extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The top three vote-getters, Tippett, Donovan and Antoine, were all endorsed by the conservative PAC Citizen Advocates for Accountable Government.

Johnston County Board of Commissioners District 5

In the Johnston County Board of Commissioners elections, the District 5 seat was the only commissioners seat with a contested primary.

Commissioner Patrick Harris was leading challenger Jyl Burgener in the Republican primary. Harris was first elected to the Board of Commissioners in 2018.