Alamance-Burlington school board members agreed this week to invite 16 applicants for the vacant seat created by the February 24 resignation of Chuck Marsh to speak at their meeting on April 28, when the board could possibly vote to appoint a replacement to serve the remaining 20 months of Marsh’s term.
Friday, March 21 was the deadline to submit a letter of interest for the vacancy, with the sole prerequisite that applicants must be registered to vote in Alamance County.
Though the seven-member school board is ostensibly nonpartisan, three of the six current members are registered to vote as Republicans; two, as Democrats; and one is unaffiliated.
Of the 16 applicants, eight are registered to vote as Democrats; six are unaffiliated; and one is a Republican, according to the State Board of Elections. Though one applicant has no record of being registered to vote in Alamance County or elsewhere in North Carolina, her resume explicitly states that she is a U.S. citizen.
Democratic former state representative Ricky Hurtado is the only applicant who has previously served in elective office, based on candidate materials that were included with the agenda for Monday night’s school board meeting.
In their letters of interest, 10 applicants describe themselves as parents of students who are currently enrolled in ABSS schools.
Three applicants are currently employed with Elon University; one is employed in the administration at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and two applicants are employed in real estate.
The names and home addresses of each of the 16 applicants, as well as a brief personal description from their letters of interest (when provided) appear below in alphabetical order.
- Beth Carlin, 355 Roseberry Loop, Burlington: The parent of a Highland Elementary School student, she is a member of this year’s class of Alamance Leadership (a leadership development program led by the chamber of commerce); employed as the assistant director of Alumni Engagement for UNCG; former high school English teacher; and a 21-year member of the U.S. military, currently serving as a senior chief for the U.S. Navy Reserve.
- Carl (“Kevin”) Cromwell, 2824 North N.C. Highway 119, Mebane: A former state employee who retired in 2018, he is the parent of a senior at Eastern High School; has “over 30 years of experience developing positive learning communities” in higher education and adult education; has served on a national board focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and as a board member for several nonprofits.
- Adetokunbo (“Ade”) Eniolorunda, 1501 Cherry Stem Road, Haw River: A parent of an ABSS student, she is currently working to complete her master’s degree in healthcare administration, she is a native of Bowie, Maryland and is employed as a healthcare administration analyst with Calyx Senior Living in Durham.
- Eric Hall, 203 Forestview Drive, Elon: The parent of two ABSS students, he is employed as the assistant provost for scholarship and creative activity, director of undergraduate research, and as a professor of exercise science at Elon University.
- Ricky Hurtado, 507 North Main Street, Graham: He is a former state representative and a Democrat who defeated incumbent Republican state representative and former Burlington mayor Steve Ross to serve one two-year term in the General Assembly, from 2020 to 2022, before being defeated by Ross in a rematch in 2022. He is currently employed as program officer with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and volunteers for Impact Alamance and Alamance Community Foundation.
- Carisa Jeffries, 5014 Windsor Court, Elon: The mother of two ABSS students, she is employed as a property manager for Kane Realty Corporation and currently serves as the secretary for the PTO at Western High School.
- Casey Johnston, 620 Collington Drive, Mebane: An Alamance County native and 1998 graduate of Graham High School, she is a stay-at-home mom and parent of two ABSS students; currently serves as the president of the parent-teacher organization (PTO) at Garrett Elementary school; as president of the Hawfields Middle School Academic & Athletics Boosters; as president of the Alamance County Make-A-Wish chapter; and previously coached youth teams for Graham Recreation & Parks, Mebane Recreation & Parks; and currently coaches several local youth sports teams.
- Patricia E. Lewis, 2169 Walker Avenue, Burlington: A parent of a student at Western Middle School, she currently volunteers with the school’s tennis club; previously volunteered as literacy advocate and oversaw a parent-teacher association in Hamden, Connecticut before moving to Alamance County six years ago.
- Lateerah J. Brown, 325 Mason Trace, Burlington: describes herself as “easily adaptable, self driven and motivated; sociable, capable of completing tasks in a timely manner; punctual and reliable; and a visionary and team player.”
- Gregory C. Scott, 450 Fieldstone Drive, Burlington: An Alamance County native and 1983 graduate of Southern High School, he retired from a 33-year career in physical therapy in 2022 with the intention of working and coaching for ABSS but was unable to accept a position offered at Broadview Middle School due to the demands of being a caregiver for a parent who has since passed away; he and wife Gayle Scott have two grown children who graduated from Williams High School; and currently serves on the Alamance County Board of Senior Citizens.
- Evan Small, 1223 Franklin Street, Burlington: He is employed as the faculty director for the Danieley Neighborhood and as a lecturer in the school of education at Elon University; previously volunteered with Alamance Citizens for Education; served on the city of Burlington’s Recreation and Parks Commission; and served as a guardian ad litem for the Alamance County courts system and social services department.
- Laurie Smith, 2415 Ivy Knoll Drive, Mebane: A parent of three ABSS students, she is a member of the PTO at Garrett Elementary School and of the public education advocacy group Public School Strong.
- Evan Sprinkle, 234 Macallen Drive, Burlington: The parent of a student at Smith Elementary school, he is employed as the dean of undergraduate admissions at Elon University, where as a student he was a Presidential Scholar and captain of the men’s soccer team; currently serves on the board of advisors for Blair Academy, a boarding and day school for high school students in New Jersey; and is a graduate of the Leadership Alamance program.
- Jessica Stoner, 1005 Scotch Pine Way, Mebane: The parent of a student at Garrett Elementary School, she is employed as a realtor; serves as the treasurer for the PTO at Garrett Elementary; volunteers with Triangle Beagle Rescue and Make-A-Wish of Central and Western North Carolina; and previously served as the secretary and a board member for Destination Downtown Mebane.
- Brandy Whittaker, 3248 Castlerock Drive, Burlington: A previous candidate who failed to win a seat on Burlington city council in 2023, she is an Alamance County native who graduated from Western High School and a parent of two ABSS elementary school students.
- Jeffrey A. Williams, 123 Dolomite Drive, Gibsonville: Though officially retired, he is currently a volunteer pastor for a ministry in Whisett called My Faith Looks Up to Thee; previously served as the director of child and family services for Guilford County’s social services department and as an adjunct faculty member for several universities; and held 11 local and federal government positions in three other states from 1989 to 2015.
Two names not among the applicants were the runners-up from last November’s school board election: Corrie Shepherd, who placed fifth for the four available seats, and Peter Morcombe, who placed sixth. Both recently told The Alamance News that they were no longer interested in serving on the school board.
The 16 applicants will be given three minutes each – the same time limit placed on speakers who address the board during the public comments period at monthly business meetings – to outline their qualifications and explain why they want to serve out the remainder of Marsh’s term during the school board’s meeting on April 28.
The board “may or may not vote” at that meeting, school board chairman Sandy-Ellington Graves pointed out for her fellow school board members Monday night. “But the opportunity is there if it’s the consensus of the board at that time,” she added.
School board attorney Adam Mitchell, of the Tharrington-Smith law firm in Raleigh, reiterated his earlier instruction that all conversations regarding the appointment must take place in an open meeting, as required by state law.
“If a board member wanted to talk to one of them, is that okay?” school board member Dr. Charles Parker asked the attorney.
“I would discourage individual conversations,” Mitchell said. “I can’t say it’s prohibited by law,” he said, while emphasizing that, “in the spirit of” the state’s Open Meetings Laws, those conversations should only take place during an official, public school board meeting.
The board agreed by consensus Monday night that the new board member would be sworn into office at the beginning of their meeting on May 27.
The remainder of Marsh’s term runs through early December 2026.
