Last week, five candidates joined the Board of Education races in Nash County. Two current school board members will vie for the District 6 seat now that the board has gone from 11 districts down to seven. The District 4 race will also pit two current school board members against each other.
This is the last week for filing to run in the Nov. 5 election for a seat on the newly configured school board. The filing period ends at noon Friday.
LaShawnda Washington, the current school board’s chairwoman, and school board member Evelyn Bulluck both filed for the District 6 seat early last week. Washington currently serves in District 9 and Bulluck in District 10. With the demerger and legislation that was passed the N.C. General Assembly last year, the school board’s make-up will align with the seven districts that comprise the Nash County Board of Commissioners.
Current District 5 school board member Bill Sharpe filed last week to run against current school board member Chris Bissette for the District 4 seat.
Bissette said he won’t enjoy running against Sharpe, referring to his opponent as a friend. But Bissette also said he wants to continue his service to the school district and is seeking the support of its voters.
Bissette, a member of the school board since 2018, said he will stand on his record and his reputation for being responsive to his constituents.
“It’s business. It’s not fun business running against a friend and colleague. There’s no need to cry or complain about it. It’s what we were dealt,” Bissette said.
Current Board Member Doneva Chavis filed for the District 1 seat last week. She currently holds the District 1 seat under the 11-member map.
Linwood Weeks of Rocky Mount filed to run for the District 5 seat.
Other candidates who completed the paperwork to run are Jamon Whitfield in District 2 and current school board member Richard Jenkins in District 7. They, along with Bissette, filed on the first day of the filing period.
As of Friday, no one has filed for the District 3 seat, which is located in southern Nash County and takes in the towns of Middlesex and Bailey.
All seats are up for election this November. The school board members who were elected in 2022 — Washington, Bissette, Zack Gray, Lank Dunton and Dean Edwards — can serve out the remainder of their four-year terms as at-large members or can file to run in November’s election for one of the seven district seats. If they lose the election, they can still serve as at-large members. Gray, Dunton and Edwards have yet to file to run in November as of Friday.
The school board members whose terms expire in December 2024 are Jenkins, Chavis, Sharpe, Franklin Lamm, Evelyn Bulluck and Sharonda Thomas Bulluck. Lamm and Sharonda Thomas Bulluck have yet to file to run in November as of Friday.
The candidates running for school board seats in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 will be elected to four-year terms in November, as per state law.
In order to have school board members serving staggered terms, as per state law, three of the districts — 2, 4 and 6 — will be elected to two-year terms in November. Those seats will be on the ballot again in the 2026 midterm election for four-year terms moving forward.
The multi-year demerger process between the two school districts in Nash and Edgecombe counties resulted in a separation of the two school districts along county lines. Prior to the demerger, all Rocky Mount residents were part of the Nash County Public Schools system, which included students who lived on the Edgecombe County side of the city.
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