Ragin faces 1 challenger in Sumter school board District 5 race

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sixth in a series on the nine Sumter school board district seats that are up for election in November. Each week leading up to Election Day, The Sumter Item will analyze a district (alternatively called area) race and interview candidates on the ballot. All candidates will be contacted. Online, this series, like other election information, will be free to read as a public service. Candidate Q&As in their own words were included in our Vote 2022 Guide that was published in the Oct. 1-3 Weekend edition.

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THE DISTRICT 5 RACE

The new District 5, also referred to as Area 5, is basically the southwestern portion of Sumter County to include Wedgefield, Pinewood and other areas. The western boundary line is the Richland County line, and a southern boundary is the Clarendon County line. The eastern-most boundary is Old Manning Road and includes Lakewood High School.

Two candidates remain in the race: incumbent Shawn Ragin and challenger Mary Singleton. Another candidate, Patrice Campbell-Gaines, filed but withdrew Aug. 16.

SHAWN RAGIN

Ragin won an at-large seat on the board in the November 2018 election. In that race, he was the second-highest vote-getter and defeated original local delegation-appointee to the board Bonnie Disney by 529 votes - or about 1% - with the help of absentee voting.

A Pinewood native and 2004 graduate of Lakewood High School, Ragin ran for Sumter County coroner twice last decade and is the founder and headmaster of Ragin Preparatory Christian Academy in Sumter. The local private school has 118 students across grades K-12 and received its accreditation in May from the South Carolina Independent Schools Association (SCISA).

He is the board's Facilities Committee chairman.

Ragin hired fellow trustee and friend Brian Alston to work as a part-time teacher at the school this year. He and Alston were also outspoken supporters of former Superintendent Penelope Martin-Knox. They were on the minority, opposing side of the illegal 5-4 vote to remove her in February before her contract expired. They were also in support of extending her another three-year contract with the district this year.

The foursome - Ragin, Alston, board chairwoman Barbara Jackson and Gloria Lee - have become a voting bloc on the board.

Ragin holds an associate degree in mortuary science and a bachelor's in organizational management.

When including experience as a teacher with the former Sumter School District 17, Lee County School District and a former charter school in Lee County, Ragin is in his 12th year serving in education.

As far as qualifications as a board member, he said he thinks his calling is service to people and added with his experience and "passion for education," that makes him a good fit for the school board.

"With the combination of all that," Ragin said, "I feel like I am dedicated to serve this community and to be the voice that our children in our Sumter School District family need."

MARY SINGLETON

The Item was only able to speak very briefly this week with Singleton, who said she missed her race's forum on Wednesday night at Lakewood High School because she was sick.

She did submit a candidate questionnaire, though that was included in The Item's recent Vote 2022 Guide.

Born and raised in Sumter, Singleton retired here after working primarily for the Massachusetts Transportation Authority, according to her questionnaire. She has never run for political office.

Singleton said she is running because she feels that District 5 is an "underserved area when it comes to education" and she wants to alleviate the problem.

As far as challenges and concerns in the district, Singleton noted in her questionnaire school achievement levels are low and a need to place more emphasis on technical, vocational skills. She also said with a growing number of latchkey kids because of working parents, she suggests rerouting buses and school dismissal times so that high school students could get home first to meet and care for their younger siblings until their parents arrive home.

Regarding successes to build on, Singleton noted science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in the district.

She said her familiarity with the District 5 area and its people make her qualified for the seat.

"I am an active member of the community," Singleton wrote. "I was also educated in the public schools in this area. My children and grandchildren attended school in this area. I feel that I am best qualified to run for Area 5 because I know the area."

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HOW DID WE GET HERE?

All nine seats on Sumter School District's Board of Trustees are on the ballot in the November midterm election.

After the district's financial crisis became apparent in December 2016, the Sumter County Legislative Delegation added two seats to the seven-member school board in spring 2017. The delegation's purpose then in creating the new "at-large" county seats on the board was to bring additional focus and expertise to remedy the district's challenge.

Without an election that year, the delegation appointed the two trustees to the board, expanding it to nine members. In November 2018, these new at-large seats went up for the public's vote for the first time. Being at-large seats, every voter in Sumter County saw the race on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters won the seats.

Frank Baker and Shawn Ragin won those two seats and have served four years.

The delegation specified in the original legislation that after the 2020 U.S. Census' redistricting to account for population shifts, the school board would switch to nine single-member districts for the 2022 election and moving forward. This spring, the delegation had General Assembly staff members who handled state redistricting also reconfigure Sumter County's seven districts into nine. Law requires electoral districts to encompass equal populations in each.

That means while you may not have moved since the last election, you may vote in a different district than previously. Voters can research sample ballots online at scvotes.org or learn more in The Sumter Item's Vote 2022 special guide that published Oct. 1, which can be read for free at www.issuu.com/theitem. All Sumter County voters are also receiving a new voter registration card detailing their districts.

The financial challenges of 2016-17 are resolved now largely because of the work of district staff and administration as well as attrition.

Meanwhile, the board that took over in late 2018 - which includes Baker, who was the superintendent in 2016 before retiring in 2017 - has been often controversial because of its own actions and internal divisions.

Those started with voting to reopen a closed school and subsequently the state Superintendent of Education declaring a "fiscal emergency" in the district in spring 2019. More recently, the board voted 5-4 to remove the last district superintendent after unanimously naming her to the post three years earlier. The vote appeared to violate Penelope Martin-Knox's contract that required her termination to be approved by a supermajority, which would have been six votes. A judge also found the vote was illegal because the surprise motion was not on the agenda, meaning it violated the Freedom of Information Act.

Special interests tend to dominate the board's activity and conversations over policy and student and staff achievement and wellness, even while public education faces increased competition in recent years with growing educational options available to parents and families. Add onto that a nationwide teacher shortage.

All those factors set the stage for the upcoming election.