There are five seats on the Guilford County Board of Education up for grabs this fall. Currently, the board maintains a Democratic majority with six seats held by Democrats and three by Republicans. While incumbent Deena Hayes-Greene is running unopposed in District 8, there are four other Democrats running and four Republicans.
All four Republican candidates for Guilford County school board are backed by a right-wing group called Take Back Our Schools. The group has campaigned with Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who made the news most recently for his calls to remove science and history from elementary schools. Robinson also received backlash for calling books that feature LGBTQ+ characters “filth.”
Demetria Carter, the Republican candidate for the at-large district in Guilford county, has proclaimed that if elected she “will not cave to the woke mob” and calls Social Emotional Learning a “psychological manipulation.”
Crissy Pratt is the Republican candidate for District 2 and has spread claims that Critical Race Theory is being taught in Guilford County schools and wants to “establish district-wide policy to remove CRT from teacher training and classrooms” if elected.
Linda Welborn is the only Republican incumbent and she’s running in District 4. While Welborn’s online presence consists primarily of reposts from Take Back Our Schools and other candidates, during her tenure on the board, she’s voted against funding for school improvements more than once.
And finally, Tim Andrew is the Republican candidate running for the District 6 seat on the school board. Andrew focuses on financial responsibility and transparency, and has heavily criticized many actions by the current Guilford county school board.
In addition to being backed by Take Back Our Schools, three of the four Republican candidates, Crissy Pratt, Linda Welborn, and Tim Andrew, are also endorsed by the NC Values Coalition, a group that has sought to ban certain books in schools.
Voters in Guilford County now have a choice to make regarding the future of education in their county.
