Three candidates are seeking to represent Haywood County’s Clyde district and replace outgoing incumbent Jimmy Rogers: Terry Ramey, James Robertson, and Myra Watson. Ramey did not respond to The Smoky Mountain News’ multiple requests for an interview.
James Robertson
James Robertson, a doctorate-holder, pastor, and former Southwestern Community College instructor who spent over 30 years working for the Waynesville finance office, views a term on the Haywood County Board of Education as a continuation of his public service. He was born and raised in Haywood County, with children who went through Haywood County Schools (HCS), and he’s awaiting the day his grandchildren are old enough to enroll.
“I see education as a powerful tool, and I think it’s something that can help people, and it’s given me opportunities in my life, and I just want to pay that back,” he said.
Teacher pay, Robertson said, is one of the main issues facing the district. Though the state’s budget mandated a raise for new educators, he said the reality is bleaker for seasoned teachers. Robertson said a school bus driver shortage was another issue. He commended county commissioners for allotting HCS an extra $2 million, which he said filled gaps left by massive state cuts.
While HCS would face a $3.1 million deficit had county commissioners funded the district at the prior year’s amount — and commissioners filled $2.3 million of that total — the shortfall was mainly due to inflationary increases in operational costs, North Carolina’s chronic underfunding of public education, and declining real-term federal appropriations.
He said the solution to long-term financial pressure is relationship-building with community, county, and state officials.
He also proposed that HCS generate its own revenue in the future, but did not elaborate on what that would look like.
Robertson praised HCS student outcomes, from growth to career and college readiness, noting the district’s academics consistently rank first in the region and among the top 15 statewide. Though there’s always room for improvement, he said, pointing to mentorships as one way to increase student outcomes.
“One thing that I would want to encourage is having mentorships to keep the dropout rate low,” he explained, noting this affects Average Daily Membership (ADM), which dictates the funding allotted to the county.
Robertson maintained that if elected, he’d be receptive to feedback.
“I want to have an open-door policy as far as trying to address the needs of the school system, the students, the administration, the teachers, and even the parents, because we’ve got to be able to have an open line of communication,” he said.
Though he’d heard little of the Leandro case, he considers himself a Parents’ Bill of Rights advocate.
“Teachers should be the one that educates, but they need to educate in writing, arithmetic, and all the basic things, not in sexual orientation. I’m very strongly against any woke policies or any of that,” he said, though it was unclear what he was referring to, as anti-DEI and parents’ rights laws ban said woke policies.
Once SMN explained Opportunity Scholarships, he said that while he has nothing against individual choices to attend private schools, “taxpayer dollars should go to taxpayer institutions.”
He offered a final message to voters.
“If I’m entrusted to be on the board of education in Haywood County, I want [residents] to know that every decision that I make is going to be for the betterment of the students, parents, the teachers, administration, and school system of Haywood County,” he said. “I want them to know that I will handle all my duties with integrity and honesty and character.”
Myra Watson
Myra Watson, who has two children enrolled in HCS, has spent her life in Haywood County. She taught kindergarten at Meadowbrook Elementary for nine years after spending a year at Asheville City Schools. She then worked full-time in a fixed-term faculty role for Western Carolina University (WCU), completed her doctorate in education, and now teaches the university’s birth-to-kindergarten program as tenure-track faculty. For the past three years, she’s also served as WCU director of teacher and professional education.
But Watson isn’t throwing her hat in the ring because she sees anything wrong with the district. Rather, she said she is running to help support and grow the school system and support teachers, administrators, and students.
Like Robertson, she touched on improving teacher retention and recruitment, as well as the importance of communication, to ensure adequate funding amid lower state allocations. Building relationships, she said, is a two-part process that involves commissioners, legislators, and the public.
“(I’m committed to) just trying to continue to promote conversations within the school board and outside of it about the importance of public education and it being funded,” she said.
She posited an untapped resource HCS could use amid teacher shortages: alternative pathways into teaching. Residency licensure allows someone with a four-year degree in their instructional content area to be hired as a teacher while completing remaining college coursework to earn a teaching credential. This could appeal to parents with a college degree who might’ve been in the workforce and are now involved in the local parent-teacher organization, she added.
“They’re the people who are (doing) things at the school and volunteering and really invested, and I think we should try to take advantage of those folks and talk to them about what could a career in education look like, providing some support and incentives through apprenticeship programs,” Watson said of those who might be interested.
She praised student outcomes within the district, noting how impressed she’s been by her children’s academic opportunities and the myriad Career and Technical Education offerings implemented. But she’s concerned about cuts to teacher and instructional assistant positions, to the point that employees must rotate among homerooms.
“I know that that’s a funding issue, but that also really impacts classroom quality and does connect to we have these kiddos who are coming to us (post-pandemic) with really increased behavioral and mental health needs,” she explained.
She’s passionate about social and emotional support and said HCS is working to address those needs, recommending measures like adding school counselors and ensuring classes are sized so educators can realistically address everyone in the classroom. Still, there aren’t easy answers to some of the district’s problems.
“I think teachers are working really, really hard to meet the needs of every student. But it’s increasingly difficult with the resources that they have and the needs of the students that are that are coming into the classrooms now,” she admitted.
If elected, Watson plans to host a monthly coffee chat for folks in HCS’ Clyde district — and across the county — to share what’s on their mind. To ensure equitable access for working individuals, she said, these would be held in different places at different times. And she’d like to involve a translator at certain sessions to open them to Spanish-speaking families.
She had strong opinions on the most recent Leandro ruling.
“I think not funding Leandro negatively impacts populations that are already underserved. It’s in the haves and the have-nots. I think that the have-nots continue to have-not because of some policy-related decisions, and that’s one of them,” she said.
Watson felt similarly about Opportunity Scholarships, noting the policy draws public school funding by paying former public-school enrollees to enter private schools. In Haywood County, she said it’s less of a phenomenon, since there are fewer private options, but the vouchers use general fund money that could be allotted to other services. So far, $630,450 in state funding this year has been disbursed to Haywood County voucher recipients.
“If that money could be put back into our public schools, I think that we can see maybe some of the issues that are causing parents to pull their children from public schools to be mitigated,” she said.
As for the Parents’ Bill of Rights, she said school transparency with parents is important, but that the law overrides expert voices behind the curriculum.
“Materials used in schools are chosen by education professionals who have been trained in their content area and child development and best practices in education; they’re not selected lightly and without due process,” she said.