Filing for school board seats in Chesterfield County starts tomorrow, Monday, August 5th, at noon. The process is open until Monday, August 19th, at noon. These times are of the utmost importance to all citizens since the future of Chesterfield County will be determined by who wins this election. Please allow me to explain.
The school system in Chesterfield County is an abject failure. This chart shows just how bad it is:
As you can see, only 3 out of 10 Chesterfield County school system graduates are proficient in math. The English performance is only marginally better and falls far behind the state average, which should be an acknowledged disgrace by all South Carolina citizens.
And what is it costing the citizens for these pitiful results? The answer is a lot of money. The following chart shows this spending.
All of these numbers are available from the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office:
Education Funding Dashboard | South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office
In my humble opinion, these results are nothing less than child abuse. The current leadership of the school system, the Board of Directors, and the people they hire are complicit in allowing young people to graduate without the tools to compete in the real world. It is people who are a disgrace and stain on the county! This is why the citizens of Chesterfield County must replace the Board of Directors with people who will make a stand, change the status quo, and oversee a plan to make the schools in our county the envy of the State of South Carolina.
Now, who should these new candidates be? The answer is obvious: they should be the parents of students currently attending our schools. They should be candidates who have the backbone to fire those employees of the system if excellence is not a priority in the schools. They need to have the resolve to stand up to the state and tell them, “Your way of doing things isn’t working, and as parents, we will take it upon ourselves to see that our children are educated and can become successful adults in our county.” We need mothers to defend their children against all things that might hurt them. We need fathers who would go to the gates of hell to give their children all the best that the world has to offer. We need leaders, not rubber stampers.
The following seats will be contested this year:
| School Board Seats open in 2024 |
| Chad Vick – District 4 |
| Jamie Wayne – District 5 |
| James Sweeney – District 6 |
| Robert Teal District – 7 |
| Eric Dusa District – 8 |
You can see if you are eligible to run for one of these seas by going to the following website:
Home – SC Votes – South Carolina Election Commission
Click the Voters Tab, then the Check Your Voters Registration. Fill in the requested information, and all the information concerning your voting status in Chesterfield County will be available. Look at your School District and compare it to the chart above. This will tell you if you can be a candidate.
The Independent Conservative Republican Party of Chesterfield County and I will offer all resources to help those who want to run for these offices and make the necessary changes. I can be reached by email at rzuendt@chesterfieldcountygop.org or, if you wish, at my home telephone number, 843-335-5310.
I have asked numerous parents of children in the Chesterfield County School System if they want to run for one of these seats. The answer given by almost 100% of them is that “they are too busy to do the job.” Are you too busy to provide the best education for your child? Are you too busy to ensure their success in the future? Sorry, those answers are not those of a parent who is concerned about their children. The answer that should be given is this, “Yes, I will run to make Chesterfield County School System the best in the state because “Failure is not an Option.”