“I want to work closely with and reach across the aisle to our county commissioners, improve those relationships, and work well in collaboration with one another in moving our community forward.”
– Incoming school board member Avery Wagoner
Newly-elected Alamance-Burlington school board member Avery Wagoner is a fairly recent entrant into the political arena who failed in his first bid two years ago, dusted himself off, and became the second-highest vote getter among eight candidates for four open school board seats in the November 5 General Election.
It was his teachers and coaches who pulled him through personal tragedy – while growing up in Elkin, a town of about 4,000 that straddles the Surry and Wilkes county lines – and ultimately inspired him to volunteer as a coach for three sports and run twice for the school board, Wagoner tells The Alamance News.
His persistence paid off. In this year’s General Election, Wagoner placed second, with 36,738 votes (14.68 percent), behind incumbent and current school board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves, who received 38,125 votes (15.35 percent) to win her second, four-year term.
“When I didn’t get [the party’s endorsement] in 2022, I knew I was done,” says Wagoner, who describes himself as socially moderate and fiscally conservative. “But I went and worked the polls, getting to know people, because we have to work across the aisle. I wasn’t going to give up; it’s just not me.”
Two years ago, he placed fifth for three open seats, trailing well behind three candidates who had received the party’s endorsement, as well as Democratic candidate Seneca Rogers who’d run unsuccessfully in 2020 and lost again in 2022.
That year, the local GOP endorsed former state house representative and county commissioner Dan Ingle, who led with 24.99 percent of the vote to win a seat. Coming in second and third, respectively, were Dr. Charles Parker, with 20.10 percent of the vote, and Chuck Marsh, with 19.10 percent.
Meanwhile, Rogers was appointed by the school board in November 2023 to serve out the remaining term of former school board member Patsy Simpson. He was elected to a full, four-year term on November 5, after receiving 36,382 votes (14.65 percent).
The other new school board member elected on November 5, Tameka Harvey, received 33,961 votes (13.67 percent) to win the fourth open seat, beating three other newcomers and incumbent school board member Donna Westbrooks, based on unofficial election results.
Rewinding to his childhood in Elkin, the now 56-year-old Wagoner describes the sudden death of his father at age 45 as one of his most formative experiences. The loss of the family breadwinner meant his stay-at-home mom, now a single parent to 10-year-old Avery and his 16-year-old brother, had to go two work to house, feed, and clothe her family.
“The people who [had] such a positive influence in my life at that time were my coaches and teachers,” Wagoner says. “They really lifted me up.”
Wagoner’s standings on his high school baseball team helped land him a partial scholarship to Appalachian State University, where he pitched for the Mountaineers from 1989 until 1991 while earning a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, and public relations.
“I was good enough to play Division I but not to go to the next level,” Wagoner says. “It was a means to provide some funding and have some structure in my life. I knew God had given me some talent, and I wanted to use it to better myself. Athletics is definitely an avenue for some students to go to school, whereas they wouldn’t have [one] prior to.”
Putting down roots
Wagoner eventually met his future wife, Burlington native Rebecca Conklin, in 1995 in Greensboro while working for Kenan Transport. Following a brief move to Selma and the birth of their first child, the couple returned Burlington to put down roots. His job in sales for Cary Oil kept him on the road all the time, says Wagoner, who is currently employed as the vice president of sales for Campbell Oil Company in eastern North Carolina.
Besides being Rebecca’s hometown, Wagoner recalls that the quality of the local public school system factored heavily into their decision to move to Burlington the early 2000s. At the time, ABSS was led by superintendent Dr. Jim Merrill, who was selected as the N.C. Superintendent of the Year in 2005. Merrill left ABSS in 2006 to become superintendent of Virginia Beach public schools and was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year in 2013 before leaving to become superintendent of Wake County public schools, where he again named N.C. Superintendent of the Year in 2016.
Both Wagoner children eventually graduated from Williams High School, during Dr. Joe Ferrell’s tenure as principal and prior to his elevation to the ABSS Central Office. Farrell left ABSS in 2017 to become superintendent of Camden County schools and is now superintendent of Richmond County schools.
Wagoner credits the caliber of education his children received in ABSS with laying the foundation for future success. Daughter Ingle, now 25, graduated from Carolina and works in medical sales; son Ian, 22, also graduated from Carolina and works as a financial advisor.
“You are around people who don’t look like you, and you have some different dynamics that are different than a private school – that’s the real world,” the newly-elected school board member says, while he’s quick to point out that he doesn’t oppose private K-12 schools.
A longtime community volunteer, Wagoner coached boys’ and girls’ soccer for six years; boys’ and girls’ basketball for seven years; and basketball for the Special Olympics for three years. He has also served on the board of directors for the Positive Attitude Youth Center, a nonprofit in Burlington that offers mentoring, recreation, and spiritual programs for at-risk children.
Wagoner spends much of his time these days crisscrossing several states for Campbell Oil, when he’s not working from his kitchen table in Burlington. He will move early next year into a new position as vice president of Campbell’s Oil branded division, managing retailers as part of the company’s long-range goal to grow that part of its operations over the next three to five years, Wagoner elaborates. At the same time, Wagoner says he’s cognizant of the time involved in serving on the school board, which his employer supports.
‘A school system of choice’
He hopes to rebuild bridges between the school board and Alamance County’s board of commissioners, Wagoner says, alluding to the tense, often hostile, exchanges between the two boards that followed last year’s $27 million outbreak of mold in 33 ABSS facilities and subsequent claims that the commissioners had long underfunded the school system.
“We need to use our tax dollars wisely and justify why we’re doing what we’re doing. State funding is unlikely to increase. We are going to have to be creative and do more with less.”
“My vision for ABSS is to be a school system of choice. I want people to move to our county because of it, not in spite of it. We’ve got to flip the script and re-earn the trust of our community. I’m not blaming any current or past board member – that’s just the reality of where we are. Being humble sometimes goes a long way. I hope to be a positive influence.”
– School board member-elect Avery Wagoner
“I want to work closely with and reach across the aisle to our county commissioners, improve those relationships, and work well in collaboration with one another in moving our community forward,” Wagoner tells the newspaper.
While “resources” (i.e., money) is and has always been top of mind for the 115 North Carolina public school systems and their school boards, Wagoner hopes to bring a pragmatic approach to developing a county budget request that reflects what the majority of Alamance County taxpayers can afford to spend on public education. “[I also want] to work with our teachers to make sure we’re making their lives better,” he says. “When you talk to our teachers, money is important, but it’s not the overriding reason they teach. They want to make a difference in our children’s lives.”
For the fiscal aspect of his role on the school board, Wagoner says he will draw from his 30-plus years’ experience in the business world, as well as lessons gleaned from his service as an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Burlington. “We do all the financing, management, and running of the church.
“In my professional background, whenever we’re acquiring another company, or investing in one of our branded convenience stores, you have to make sure those are viable entities and that you’re going to get a profitable rate of return,” Wagoner explains, using a common growth strategy in business as an analogy to charting budgets and setting policy for the school system.
“We need to use our tax dollars wisely and justify why we’re doing what we’re doing,” says Wagoner. “State funding is unlikely to increase. We are going to have to be creative and do more with less.”
“My vision for ABSS,” he adds, “is to be a school system of choice. I want people to move to our county because of it, not in spite of it. We’ve got to flip the script and re-earn the trust of our community. I’m not blaming any current or past board member – that’s just the reality of where we are. Being humble sometimes goes a long way. I hope to be a positive influence.”
Ellington-Graves, Harvey, Rogers, and Wagoner are scheduled to be sworn into office on December 2.
