Alamance-Burlington school board members heard from seven speakers Monday night who lobbied the board to appoint former state representative Ricky Hurtado – a Democrat who served in the state house from 2020 until 2022 – to the vacancy left by Chuck Marsh’s resignation on February 24 (see related story, this edition).
Hurtado had initially defeated incumbent Republican state representative Stephen (“Steve”) Ross in November 2020; Ross went on to reclaim the seat in a rematch with Hurtado in November 2022.
Hurtado was later hailed for being the first Latino Democrat elected to the General Assembly; Daniel (“Danny”) McComas of Wilmington was the first Hispanic Republican elected to the General Assembly and served from 1995 until 2012.
The former state representative Hurtado is currently employed as a program officer with the nonprofit Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and volunteers for Impact Alamance and Alamance Community Foundation.
In his letter of interest, Hurtado highlighted his educational background: A product of North Carolina public schools who graduated from Lee County High School, he went on to earn a prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later earned a Master’s in education policy from Princeton University.
Hurtado also pointed out in his letter that, during his two years in the General Assembly, he had co-sponsored a bill with Republican state house representative Dennis Riddell (who represents portions of Alamance County) that would’ve given ABSS control over its school calendar. “I was also the sponsor of several bills to fully fund our public schools, increase teacher pay, and find ways to improve school mental health and school safety,” Hurtado wrote.
Six of the seven speakers who pressed the board to appoint Hurtado are registered to vote as Democrats, according to their public registration information. A seventh speaker is unaffiliated, according to official public records.
Of the original pool of 16 applicants, eight were registered as Democrats; six, as unaffiliated; and one was registered as a Republican, according to the State Board of Elections. One applicant had no record of being registered to vote in Alamance County or elsewhere in North Carolina, though her resume explicitly stated that she is a U.S. citizen.
Aside from Hurtado’s supporters, no one spoke Monday night on behalf of any of the other 13 candidates who applied for the vacant seat.
A prevailing theme among most of the speakers was their belief that the school board should reflect the population in ABSS and in Alamance County – and that the current racial makeup of the board doesn’t reflect the Latino population at all.
According to ABSS, 35.6 percent of the 22,716 students enrolled are white; 30.4 percent are Hispanic; and 24.5 percent of students are black. (ABSS doesn’t specify when those percentages were compiled.)
By comparison, the latest racial demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that, as of July 2023, 71.1 percent of the county’s total population (179,175) was white; 22.5 percent was black; and 15.4 percent of the county’s population was Hispanic/Latino.
Of the six existing board members, four are white: chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves; vice chairman Dan Ingle; and board members Dr. Charles Parker and Avery Wagoner. School board members Tameka Harvey and Seneca Rogers are black.
Dr. Eric Hall, who was appointed Monday night serve the remaining two years of former school board member Chuck Marsh’s term, is white. He has not yet been sworn into office. Marsh is also white.
‘A champion for success in Alamance County’
Green Level town council member Stephanie Enoch told the board, “In Green Level, our representation is not there. There are more Hispanics in Green Level than any other race; working with Ricky helps a lot.”
Ann McColl of Graham described Hurtado as having a “proven track record with furthering the interests of students [who] knows how to work with others toward a shared mission.”
Tom Stern of Graham told the board that Hurtado had the “key traits of being an extraordinary board member” – such as being comfortable with budgets and finance. “He is known for working with Republicans, for supporting legislation that supported public schools; his extensive background in K-12 [education] and ability to communicate in Spanish or English gives him the ability to communicate with all of you.”
Jerome Mushi of Graham recalled how, as a student at Williams High School, he had forged a friendship with Hurtado. “In communities like Green Level and Elon, and even in places where he wasn’t elected, people recognize him as a champion of success Alamance County.”
Beverly Orwig of Elon (whose husband serves on the Elon town council) told the board Monday night, “I wish for you to consider choosing [Hurtado] based on the one word I believe speaks to our most important population, our students: that word is representation.”
Orwig recalled how, after she was hired to teach seventh grade English language arts at Turrentine Middle School in 2011, she had always sensed something was missing. “That was representation,” she said, opining, “[Hurtado] demonstrates that he cares, sees, and values all of us.”
Ernestine Ward-Lewis of Burlington reminded school board members that she’d emailed each of them, explaining why they should appoint Hurtado. “Did you receive them?” she asked. After board members nodded affirmatively, she responded, “Then you know what I said…I’m going to tell you, vote for Ricky Hurtado for that vacant seat.”
Meanwhile, Eastern High School science teacher Medora Burke-Scoll, the one unaffiliated voter, amplified what she said is a need to represent the Latino population on the school board, saying 30 percent of ABSS students are Latino.
“We’re not supposed to talk about equity or inclusion or diversity but we are asked to look at our [student achievement] data based on those things, so I get a score, asking me, how did my black males do on this test; how did my English language learners do on this test,” Burke-Scoll said Monday night. “It’s all parsed out for you, and our minority groups, especially our Latino boys, are the hardest group I have the hardest time making gains with. If you ask any of them, have you ever had a Latino male figure in an authority position in school, almost none of them have.
“That representation matters,” Burke-Scoll added. “This is nonpartisan for a reason. . . Be brave; lead like you should.”
After the board voted 4-2 to appoint Hall, the disappointment from some in the audience was audible, with at least one person saying, “What?” Others in the audience were visibly irritated as they filed out of the auditorium at Central Office immediately after the vote.
