In the library at Easley Elementary School on Wednesday, candidates for the District 4 school board race appeared at ease. The three former educators settled into couches ranged around a book-themed carpet, laughing and talking among themselves before the candidate forum began.
Yet the stakes were clear. The winner of this race between Xavier Cason, Jerome Leathers, and Kristy Moore will replace incumbent Natalie Beyer, who has served on the school board since 2010.
“Every Durham Public School can feel like home, but it has to be intentional,” said Cason, who served on the school board from 2016 to 2020.
A retired music teacher and member of several local task forces, Cason has swept endorsements from the Durham Association of Educators, the People’s Alliance, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and the Friends of Durham. He has also been endorsed by Beyer, his former school board colleague.
To Cason’s left sat Kristy Moore, program manager of national programs at The Hunt Institute and former president of the Durham Association of Educators. She is also the former vice president of the N.C. Association of Educators. Clad in a bold crimson blouse, Moore, a former teacher mentor, was alternately cheerful and severe.
“I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to ask tough questions and be an advocate for our parents and our students…,” Moore said, surveying the room. “Public schools are about community, and we have lost that.”
“We have to have parents as partners, not just sitting on the sidelines…and having a three-minute comment [at school board meetings],” she said. “We need to have at least six community engagement meetings each year.”
Most voluble of the trio was Jerome Leathers, a graduate of Hillside High School and former principal of C.E. Jordan High School and later the Southern School of Energy and Sustainability. In addition to stressing his 28 years of work in public education – 12 of which he spent teaching math – Leathers delivered several one-liners that elicited laughter and nods of assent from the audience.
Leathers had thoughts, for instance, on how to bolster teacher retention beyond simply raising salaries.
“We have to stop thinking that we’re God’s gift to whoever would want to come in and teach our young people…,” he said. “We have to feed our teachers intellectually…and show them we want them there.”
Leathers advocated for better teacher training programs. To improve school environments that are “rigid,…uniform,…[and] industrialized,” he also suggested equipping each teachers’ lounge with two massage chairs, two big screen TVs, and “maybe snacks.”
“Having the snack system is all good, but [teachers] are leaving left and right wherever…,” Moore countered.
Instead, Moore encouraged more intentional teacher recruitment, working with local universities to train future teachers — “like what corporate America does, right?” — and conducting exit interviews with those leaving the district.
Cason noted that teacher retention woes are more salient at some schools than others. “If the teachers feel seen, they’ll stick around,” he said. “It’s not really about pay.”
All candidates favored more transparency and accountability from the school district.
Good district communication must come from the top down, Cason said.
“The system is set up to divide [school board members] from the community…,” he said. “It’s the board’s responsibility, if the community wants more communication, that we make sure the superintendent sets that up.”
Moore emphasized collaboration with district “stakeholders” — nearby businesses and universities — to obtain resources as well as building trust with the community.
“The one thing that I hated as a teacher at Glenn Elementary School is I never saw a school board member unless there was something wrong, or it was a photo op time,” said Moore.
Midway through the forum, Leathers interrupted the moderator. Looking up from his phone, he announced that he had not been texting, but instead had come up with a thought. “DPS is our name. And we stand on it,” he said, pausing for effect. “Think about that for a moment.”
Candidates also discussed how to protect students from future raids by federal immigration agents.
“Durham Public Schools does have and has had some really strong policies…,” Cason said in response. “But Durham does not do a great job about implementing those policies.” The district should be clearer on how teachers should respond, he said.
Both Moore and Leathers called for the district to better prepare itself for future incursions by federal immigration agents. “We were not ready,” said Moore.
With the candidates’ closing remarks, the forum ended on a positive note.
“We have to come together…,” said Leathers, naming facilities issues including broken HVAC systems and the run-down look of schools in the summer. “I want to bring respect back to the school board.”
Moore extolled the value of the public schools system, drawing on her childhood experience living with grandparents, then in a children’s home and finally being adopted at age 10.
“The one thing that remained the same in my life was public education…,” she said. “So I know the difference that public schools can make.”
Cason reiterated the importance of pursuing high academic outcomes, student safety and wellness, and teacher retention.
“If nothing else, District 4 is gonna be a good place,” he concluded. “Three career educators who really care about this world [are at this forum]…Hold us accountable.”
After the gathering, around half of the audience raised their hands, indicating that they knew who to vote for. Easley PTA president Ryan Kelly said he felt optimistic about the candidates in the race.
“The broader district has not been instilling a lot of confidence lately,” Kelly said. “So I’m hoping that whichever one of these candidates gets elected, that they can play a part in getting us back on track.”
Above: Candidates for the District 4 school board seat (from right, Xavier Cason, Kristy Moore and Jerome Leathers) shared their view at a forum Wednesday night. Photo by Tanya Wan — The 9th Street Journal
Tanya Wan
