In Swain County, the only district within The Smoky Mountain News coverage area to hold partisan board of education elections, Democrats Brandy Monteith and Dannie Shuler and Republicans Jason Lambert and Lisa Loftis (incumbent) will compete for two open spots.
Jason Lambert
Lambert, an enrolled Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) member with a master’s in public administration, grew up in Swain County attending Swain County Schools (SCS) — and so have his children. Lambert has primarily worked in tribal government: 11 years for EBCI, and eight years for himself, providing professional consulting services to tribal organizations nationwide.
He’s running for board of education because his professional background, he said, has given him the experience needed to guide the school system.
“I’ve sat and served on a number of boards throughout my career, so (I’ve gained an) understanding (of) the appropriate function of a board versus staff, and the day-to-day leadership: being able to chart strategic courses, being able to advise and handle the difficult decisions that arise to the board level,” he explained.
That said, he’s aware of his knowledge base and what he can give.
“I’m not coming in making promises. I’m not coming in to pretend that I know the education system inside and out,” he admitted.
Student achievement, he said, should be viewed through growth-based metrics.
“I think that it’s really important that that we are outcome-based and not output-based,” he told SMN. That looks like focusing on year-over-year growth rather than achievement.
Lambert noted there’s likely lingering impacts of COVID, especially chronic absenteeism, which schools could combat through more individualized approaches. But, he said, it’s not fair to fault teachers or administrators entirely for what’s going on with their students.
“There’s a lot of things going on in these kids’ lives that people don’t know about. There’s a lot of stuff going on at home,” he added.
Lambert commended SCS’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, recommending that the district ensure its paths are sustained and transferable. He said it’s worth exploring alternative arrangements, like collaboration with Southwestern Community College, and advocated for college credit-earning opportunities while in high school.
“I was able to [get credits] over 25 years ago, and it made a real personal difference in my own college journey. It has made a difference in my oldest son’s college journey,” he said. These offerings also align with his perspective on K-12 education.
“Making sure the outcome is what that child wants to do after high school — not just getting through high school,” he said.
Lambert thinks students with disabilities are supported within the district but that, whenever feasible, SCS should surpass bare-minimum legal compliance. He praised SCS’ racial and ethnic diversity, which he said promotes character development.
“I think there’s constantly opportunities to advance your skill sets on that and, for instance, with person-centered thinking and those types of approaches, to be more accommodating and more understanding,” he said.
As for budget, he said because of Swain County’s small tax base, it’s tough to fund education at the local level — a problem that extends beyond the board.
If elected, he’d build on an existing parental advisory group task force model to seek feedback from those involved in the school system.
“The classic models of a 7 p.m. PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) meeting, I think those days are gone largely,” he asserted, advocating for digital conference options.
While Lambert is not familiar with the specifics of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, he said he’d “support parents having rights to ask about their children’s education.”
He added that school board members have a unique responsibility to represent all kinds of stakeholders, from staff to administration to parents to students.
He said Opportunity Scholarships are not nearly as relevant in Swain County as in other areas, but with added parameters, he’d support their use.
Lisa Loftis
Incumbent Loftis ran for school board four years ago; with five children enrolled in SCS, she wanted to be involved in the district’s decisions. Though her oldest two have graduated, her mission hasn’t changed.
“(I’m) just wanting to be involved, wanting to advocate for the students and the teachers, and just be a voice from the community to help in any way possible,” she said.
Teacher pay often arises as an issue, much of which is handled at the state level. Still, Loftis is proud of the 2% supplement commissioners recently approved for all educators. She said she has also promoted parental engagement with schools throughout her time on the board. She considers herself an “open-door person” when listening to and seeking feedback from parents, teachers, administrators, and students. Sometimes conversations look like an email; others are grocery store run-ins or catching up at sporting events.
Loftis commended dual enrollment — automotive, carpentry, and welding classes are enrolled through SCS and Southwestern Community College — as well as, since the previous academic year, the Community Eligibility Program’s provision of no-cost lunches for all schoolchildren. She additionally highlighted the CTE program.
“[CTE is] doing a great job with students and just helping them not only look at career paths but also leaving school with certifications and things like that that can help them springboard into the career world,” she said.
Loftis said the school system adequately supports students with disabilities.
“I feel like we are doing our best to really just meet those kids where they’re at, and communicate with their parents, and just give them the individualized assistance and resources that they need,” she explained.
She also said Swain County has been intentional about its alignment with the state-mandated Parents’ Bill of Rights, which she enthusiastically supports.
Loftis wasn’t familiar with Leandro or Opportunity Scholarships, but once the latter was explained, she said, “I think it’s a great opportunity from a parent standpoint.”
Brandy Monteith
Brandy Monteith, who has two children in SCS, said she’s running for board of education because she believes “every child in our community and county deserves the opportunity to receive the best education possible.” Her candidacy is informed by the boots-on-the-ground experience she’s had throughout her seven-year PTO tenure at Swain West Elementary School and ongoing PTO presidency at Swain County Middle School.
She values showing up in educational settings and interacting with students.
“(Even) If it’s a Christmas party or a dance or a Valentine’s gift or something just so small, it makes the biggest impact,” Monteith explained.
She identified teacher recruitment and retention as a district-wide challenge. Acknowledging SCS can’t compete financially with other school systems, she proposed emphasizing opportunities unique to Swain County, like the increased instructional autonomy inherent to less populated school districts. She said another selling point is the area’s proximity to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
But Monteith, citing her own work with Future Teachers of America, would also consider proactive options.
“I would like to work with the school district to see about possibly creating or implementing a scholarship program for graduating seniors who would like to pursue an educational degree,” she said, adding that those students would go on to teach at SCS.
If elected, she’d promote increased educator feedback and communication. At the start of the campaign, she received a noteworthy comment after distributing classroom priorities and needs surveys to teachers she works with.
“[The teachers said], ‘Nobody’s ever taken the time to ask us these questions,’” she recounted.
Meanwhile, Monteith praised Superintendent Brandon Sutton’s work to address chronic absenteeism. She told SMN that parent-teacher communications have drastically improved through a parent portal addition and applauded myriad other SCS initiatives.
“We have a wonderful FFA program. We’ve got the welding program. They’re offering more programs within the middle school, as far as computer engineering, things like that,” she said.
She noted that underneath Principal Ryan McMahan’s leadership, Swain Middle has built in school-day support for struggling students. This “no child left behind philosophy”—of which she’s a major proponent—is driving initiatives in the elementary schools.
Monteith said the needs of students with disabilities are generally addressed but that she was upset by the decision to move all of Swain West’s exceptional children’s classes to Swain East Elementary, because interactions with developmentally disabled classmates can help general education children learn more about diversity and inclusion.
She didn’t speak directly about the Leandro litigation but said that given cuts to public schools and Swain County’s low socioeconomic status, “We need to work with our local government and our state government to ensure that we get as much funding as possible.”
When SMN explained Opportunity Scholarships, Monteith affirmed the need for an income cap for voucher recipients.
“I don’t agree with funding being taken away from public schools to fund private schools,” she added.
She was more open to the Parents’ Bill of Rights, however, noting that while it’s state law, parents should know what’s going on in the classroom for the sake of their children’s mental health. Parents have opportunities to opt their child in or out of certain books, and she said she aligns with that practice.
To that end, Monteith said the district should “focus on shifting the mindset of the families in our county about the importance of education” and promote parent, grandparent, or guardian school involvement through listening and open conversations.
On a final note, she criticized the partisan nature of Swain County’s school board elections.
“We need to be willing to consider good ideas regardless of where they come from and evaluate them based on the evidence and the potential impact,” she said.
Dannie Shuler
Dannie Shuler, who has a degree in early childhood education from Western Carolina University, is an SCS parent, former Swain County Band Boosters Treasurer, and former SCS Bright Adventures Pre-K teacher. She credited her background for her understanding of school needs.
“I decided, after seeing a decline in the morale that’s surrounding our schools, that I would run to help improve things,” she said.
Namely, “there is desperate need for funding,” she said. “Obviously, a lot of that is out of the board’s hands.”
Acknowledging the 2% supplement raise, she proposed other supports for teachers.
“I think being more visible in schools is important. Having the board go and be a familiar face in the schools, being very approachable, I think will help,” she explained.
Shuler linked the district’s high rates of chronic absenteeism to poor external engagement in education.
“I think that parent and community involvement, really, that has declined substantially since COVID, and I think that I would like to see more of that,” Shuler said, adding that sustained board visibility and community-to-school relational repair could also counter this problem.
Another potential solution involves listening to students. What makes them excited to come to school?
Still, she thinks the district is doing well on many levels. Like Monteith, she spoke highly of Sutton’s task force to address chronic absenteeism, noting she attended last month’s meeting. She commended SCS’ year-over-year student outcome improvements, the district’s CTE offerings, and a federally funded GEAR UP program.
“[GEAR UP is] wonderful at the high school with helping with college prep, filling out the FAFSAs, making sure that students are supported in their college application process,” she explained.
Shuler advocated for more qualified EC support staff, which she said the district has struggled with this past year. But there’s no easy solution.
“I do know that due to funding concerns this year, that the support staff has even lessened, so I know that there’s only so much that our teachers can do,” she explained.
Shuler didn’t comment on the most recent Leandro ruling but, noting the state constitution outlines the right to a public education, still had strong opinions related to the litigation.
“I am extremely tired of our elected officials trying to make sure that [this right] doesn’t happen,” she said.
She also criticized Opportunity Scholarships.
“I think that it is terrible how our taxpayer dollars are pulled from our public-school systems to go to privately funded schools. I think that also the way that they have taken some of the (income) limitations on how those are used off, people are really uneducated at how that has happened over time,” she said.
She added that while some say Swain County, with only one voucher-eligible school, is largely unaffected, “that’s actually not true because it’s taken off the public-school budget as a whole and then divvied out,” she said. Voucher appropriations cost school systems directly when students previously enrolled in public education opt instead for a private institution.
While Shuler disagrees with the removal and censorship of materials under the guise of parental rights, she praised district-level implementation, noting her kids come home with notes outlining what books they’re reading, allowing parents to opt into alternative material.
“I think that’s great. Parents are informed,” she said, though she questioned the efficacy of such measures at limiting access to information.
“I think there’s a huge push at censoring literature when it really should be the phones that their parents stick in their hands,” she said.
Like Monteith, Shuler disavowed partisanship within school board elections.
“I don’t think politics should have any say so over our children’s education.”