School board race NAACP forums begin Thursday night

Tonight kicks off Sumter school board candidate forums put on by the Sumter branch of the NAACP and four other groups, even if it might be short notice for some.

District Board of Trustees Area 9 candidate Bonnie Disney said she was first made aware of tonight's forum on Sunday with a phone call from an organizer. The event has just two participants, Disney and Reginald "Reggie" Evans.

The local NAACP group, along with the League of Women Voters of Sumter County, Sumter Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and two other agencies will host nine forums between tonight and Nov. 2 for the nine school board seats that are up for election on Nov. 8.

The District 9 forum will be at the North HOPE Center, 904 N. Main St., Sumter, and begin at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

The Item is regularly informed by the NAACP of its organizational meetings and publishes those in the Around Town section on the Daily Planner page, but the newspaper first heard about the forum series, which is open to the public, on Tuesday from Evans.

When The Item called event organizer Carlton Washington, who is also a member of Sumter County Council, on Wednesday about the series, he supplied an email dated Friday, Sept. 23, that was sent to all 25 school board candidates.

Disney said the email must have gone into her junk email and that she never opened it or was aware of it. Washington supplied The Item with a screenshot of the "request read receipt" tracking he marked, but he did not supply a confirmation that Disney opened the email.

Evans said he was made aware of tonight's District 9 candidate forum with the Sept. 23 email.

A full listing of the forum schedule is the following:

District 9 - Oct. 6, North HOPE Center, 904 N. Main St., Sumter, SC 29150;

District 5 - Oct. 17, Cherryvale Community Center, 4340 Confederate Road, Sumter, SC 29154;

District 4 - Oct. 18, Eastern Community Center, 3675 E. Brewington Road, Sumter, SC 29153;

District 7 - Oct. 20, North HOPE Center, 904 N. Main St., Sumter, SC 29150;

District 8 - Oct. 26, Ebenezer Community Center, 4580 Queen Chapel Road, Dalzell, SC 29040;

District 6 - Oct. 27, South HOPE Center, 1125 S. Lafayette Blvd., Sumter, SC 29150;

District 2 - Nov. 1, Rafting Creek Community Center, 4050 Highway 261 N., Rembert, SC 29128;

District 3 - Nov. 2, Bernie HOPE Center, 210 S. Purdy St., Sumter, SC 29150;

District 1 - Nov. 3, Catchall-Shaw Community Center, 2680 Peach Orchard Road, Dalzell, SC 29040;

Doors open for each forum at 5:30 p.m. Forums begin at 6 p.m. each night.