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CHAPEL HILL -- While the races in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have garnered the most attention in this year's election, today voters in southern Orange County will also be voting for candidates for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, and Hillsborough voters will be voting for members of the town board.
Six people are running for three seats on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, and the only "incumbent," Gregory McElveen, was not elected to the board; rather he was appointed to fill a vacant position in December 2008.
The candidates are: McElveen, Christine Lee, MaryAnne Gucciardi, J.M. (Joe) Green, Susana Dancy and Michelle (Shell) Brownstein.
McElveen, who owns his own market research and business development firm and has two daughters in high school, believes the first priority of the school district should be to accelerate closing the minority achievement gap. Proficiency is just the starting point for launching all students on successful paths, he said.
Lee, an ophthalmologist, has three children, including two that attend East Chapel Hill High School. She supports empowering high-achieving students to develop to their full potentials and empowering every student with the necessary knowledge and skills to become an active and contributing member of the global community.
Gucciardi, who moved to Chapel Hill with her family three years ago, said she believes that children must be engaged as learners by the second grade. She favors adopting research-based learning techniques during the elementary years to maximize the chances of reaching as many types of learners as possible.
Green is director of the Upward Bound program in UNC's School of Education. In his job, he has focused on preparing first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students for post secondary education and graduate studies. Among Green's first priorities: Ensuring the school system maintains high expectations and academic excellence for all students and that the district's resources are fairly and equally distributed.
Dancy, a real estate developer in Durham, has had three children attend school in the district. She has strongly advocated for an arts wing at Carrboro High School, and says if elected to the board she will fight for equity among all the schools in the district.
Brownstein is a retired surgeon with four children. She advocates addressing inconsistencies within the district's schools due to inadequate infrastructure and student needs and improving the evaluation process to determine the effectiveness of its programs.
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Though Tom Stevens runs unchallenged for Hillsborough mayor, town voters will still find a race in the election for two town commissioners.
Three candidates, two of them incumbents, battle to fill the two open seats on the Hillsborough Town Board.
Mike Gering, 53, currently serving his second term on the board as mayor pro tem, works as a senior software engineer for IBM. He has served as chairman of the Hillsborough Tourism Board and chairman of the Hillsborough Train Station Design Force.
Gering said the main challenges Hillsborough will face in the next four years include growth, development, the town's financial health and residents' quality of life, all things he pledged to improve in the last eight years and, though progress has been made, he said he hopes to continue for the future.
Frances L. Dancy, 55, has served the on the Town Board for three terms and also works as a business officer in UNC's Carolina Population Center. Other involvements include the Triangle J council of Governments, Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau and Delta Sigma Theta
Improving Hillsborough's economic health, a better quality of life and managing growth also sit high on Dancy's list of priorities. She said she hopes to continue the progress the board has started in enhancing the town as well as encourage economic developments to increase the tax base.
Bryant Kelly Warren, Jr., 59, is the only non-incumbent seeking election in Hillsborough. He works as a UPS city carrier in Chapel Hill and has served as the chairman of the Hillsborough Planning Board, the chairman of the Hillsborough Parks and Recreation Board as well as on the Hillsborough Small Rail Station Task Force.
A longtime resident, Warren said he thinks the current commissioners have done a good job, but it's time for a change, and his involvement in Hillsborough town government since 1998 offers him the expertise to bring something to the table. His main concern for the next four years is managing growth.
Tom Stevens, a town resident for 10 years and area resident for 35 years, seeks a third term as Hillsborough's mayor. Stevens is a self-employed owner of a consulting business, Esquare Leadership LLC, and serves on the board of the Raleigh-Durham chapter of Association for Corporate Growth as well as on the board of Striving for More.
Stevens emphasizes the emergence of a new vision for Hillsborough that focuses on the small-town character and celebrates the town's heritage and community.
