Guilford County Schools elections (2016)

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2018 → ← 2014
Guilford County Schools Elections
Primary election date:
March 15, 2016
General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
72,081 students

Nine of the nine seats on the Guilford County Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. Every seat on the board was up for election due to the redrawing of district lines. The redistricting reduced the board from 11 to nine members, and eliminated one of the two at-large seats on the board. The at-large and even-numbered district representatives served two-year terms, and odd-numbered district representatives served for four years. After the first term, the at-large and even-number seats were up for election to four-year terms. The year 2016 was also the first the district changed from nonpartisan to partisan elections. A primary election was held on March 15, 2016, for Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8.

The at-large position on the board saw one Republican and one Democrat each file for the seat: Alan Hawkes and Alan W. Duncan, respectively. Duncan secured victory to the seat. Two Democratic candidates filed in District 1 and faced each other in the primary: T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and Aaron Keith McCullough. Bellamy-Small won the primary and, facing no formal opposition in the general election, won the spot on the board. In District 2, Republican candidates John Bradley Nosek and Anita Sharpe vied for the seat in the primary. Sharpe won the primary and defeated Jeff Belton (D) in the general election. Similarly, in District 3 two Republicans faced each other in the primary: Brian Pearce and Pat Tillman. Tillman won and advanced to the general election to win against Angelo Kidd (D). In District 4, two Republicans—Paul Daniels and Linda Welborn—filed for the seat. Welborn emerged victorious and won the seat after she found herself unopposed in the general election. District 5 saw Democratic candidate Darlene Garrett file along with Republican candidate Mary Sauer and unaffiliated candidate Lois Bailey. Bailey initially missed the candidate filing deadline on December 21, 2015, and she had to collect the signatures of 1,756 registered voters to appear on the ballot. Garrett ultimately won the race. In District 6, Democratic candidate Khem Irby filed along with Republican candidate and District 2 incumbent Ed Price. However, Price dropped out of the race and was replaced on the ballot by Republican candidate Wes Cashwell, who won the spot on the board. Democrat Byron Gladden defeated unaffiliated candidate Bettye Jenkins in District 7. Jenkins also missed the filing deadline but made it on the ballot by gathering the required petition signatures. District 8 saw two Democratic candidates file: Deena Hayes-Greene and Matthew Stafford. Since Hayes-Greene was unopposed in the general, she won the seat.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

Until the 2016 general election, the Guilford County Schools school board consisted of 11 members elected both at large and by district to four-year terms. A bill passed by the North Carolina State Legislature in July 2013 went into effect in 2016 and eliminated one at-large seat and one district. The new law and also made the elections partisan. Due to this restructuring of the board, all seats up for election in 2014 were for two-year terms. During that year, the board consisted of nine members elected by geographic districts and two members elected at-large. After the 2016 general election, the board consisted of eight by-district seats and one at-large seat.

Candidates began to file affidavits of candidacy on December 1, 2015. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the general election was December 21, 2015. The primary election was held on March 15, 2016, and the general election was on November 8, 2016.

At-large

Results

Guilford County Schools, At-Large General Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Alan W. Duncan	61.37%	149,899
	Republican	Alan Hawkes	38.63%	94,340
Total Votes (100)				244,239
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Alan W. Duncan		Alan Hawkes
	District 4 incumbent

District 1 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	T. Dianne Bellamy-Small  (unopposed)	100.00%	18,644
Total Votes (100)				18,644
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

T. Dianne Bellamy-Small

District 1 primary election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 1 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	T. Dianne Bellamy-Small	56.50%	3,673
	Democrat	Aaron Keith McCullough Incumbent	43.50%	2,828
Total Votes (100)				6,501
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "03/15/2016 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed September 2, 2016

Candidates defeated in the primary

Aaron Keith McCullough
	Incumbent

District 2 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 2 General Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Anita Sharpe	54.64%	15,852
	Democrat	Jeff Belton Incumbent	45.36%	13,161
Total Votes (100)				29,013
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Jeff Belton		Anita Sharpe
	Incumbent

District 2 primary election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 2 Primary Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Anita Sharpe	56.32%	3,428
	Republican	John Bradley Nosek	43.68%	2,659
Total Votes (100)				6,087
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "03/15/2016 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed September 2, 2016

Candidates defeated in the primary

John Bradley Nosek

District 3 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Pat Tillman	50.45%	17,438
	Democrat	Angelo Kidd	49.55%	17,125
Total Votes (100)				34,563
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Pat Tillman		Angelo Kidd

District 3 primary election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 3 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Pat Tillman	62.78%	5,040
	Republican	Brian Pearce	37.22%	2,988
Total Votes (100)				8,028
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "03/15/2016 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed September 2, 2016

Candidates defeated in the primary

Brian Pearce

District 4 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 4 General Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Linda Welborn Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	25,379
Total Votes (100)				25,379
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Linda Welborn
	Incumbent

District 4 primary election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 4 Primary Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Linda Welborn Incumbent	56.27%	4,289
	Republican	Paul Daniels	43.73%	3,333
Total Votes (100)				7,622
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "03/15/2016 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed September 2, 2016

Candidates defeated in the primary

Paul Daniels

District 5 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Darlene Garrett	47.11%	15,812
	Democrat	Mary Sauer	44.65%	14,988
	Nonpartisan	Lois Bailey	8.24%	2,767
Total Votes (100)				33,567
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Darlene Garrett		Mary Sauer		Lois Bailey
	District 3 incumbent

District 6 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 6 General Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Wes Cashwell	54.66%	18,036
	Democrat	Khem Irby	45.34%	14,960
Total Votes (100)				32,996
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Wes Cashwell		Khem Irby

District 7 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Byron Gladden	69.73%	19,299
	Nonpartisan	Bettye Jenkins	30.27%	8,378
Total Votes (100)				27,677
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Byron Gladden		Bettye Jenkins

District 8 general election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 8 General Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Deena Hayes-Greene Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	22,288
Total Votes (100)				22,288
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Guilford," accessed December 5, 2016

Candidates

Deena Hayes-Greene
	Incumbent

District 8 primary election

Results

Guilford County Schools, District 8 Primary Election, 2-year term, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democrat	Deena Hayes-Greene Incumbent	80.70%	5,917
	Democrat	Matthew Stafford	19.30%	1,415
Total Votes (100)				7,332
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "03/15/2016 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed September 2, 2016

Candidates defeated in the primary

Matthew Stafford

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: North Carolina elections, 2016

The following offices shared primary, general or both election dates with the school board elections in Guilford County:

• President
• U.S. Senate
• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• State Treasurer
• State Auditor
• State Superintendent of Schools
• Agriculture Commissioner
• Labor Commissioner
• Insurance Commissioner
• North Carolina Court of Appeals

The North Carolina Connect NC Public Improvement Bond question was also on the March ballot statewide.

Note: The date for North Carolina's congressional primary was June 7, 2016. This primary was originally scheduled for March 15, 2016.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for North Carolina school board general elections held on November 8, 2016:

Deadline	Event
December 1, 2015	Candidate filing begins
December 21, 2015	Candidate filing ends
March 7, 2016	First quarter campaign finance deadline
March 15, 2016	Primary Election Day, if necessary
November 8, 2016	General Election Day

Endorsements

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

Candidates in this election raised a total of $39,594.69 and spent a total of $33,354.72 as of November 3, 2016, according to the Guilford County Board of Elections.

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

School board candidates in North Carolina were required to file campaign finance reports to their county's board of elections unless the candidate:

(1) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in contributions, and

(2) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in loans, and

(3) Did not spend more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

The third quarter campaign finance deadline was October 31, 2016, and the fourth quarter deadline was January 11, 2017.

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2014 See also: Guilford County Schools elections (2014) At-large Guilford County Schools, At-Large General Election, 2-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Nancy R. Routh Incumbent 71.4% 89,995      Nonpartisan Jack Kraemer 28% 35,268      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.6% 811 Total Votes 126,074 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 District 2 Guilford County Schools, District 2 General Election, 2-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Ed Price Incumbent 99.1% 12,907      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.9% 118 Total Votes 13,025 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 District 4 Guilford County Schools, District 4 General Election, 2-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Alan W. Duncan Incumbent 62.8% 9,045      Nonpartisan Monique Morgan 36.7% 5,284      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.6% 84 Total Votes 14,413 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 District 6 Guilford County Schools, District 6 General Election, 2-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Jeff Belton Incumbent 98.7% 9,432      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1.3% 121 Total Votes 9,553 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 District 8 Guilford County Schools, District 8 General Election, 2-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Deena Hayes-Greene Incumbent 99.2% 10,481      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.8% 85 Total Votes 10,566 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 30, 2014 2012 At-large Guilford County Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Sandra Alexander 51.9% 94,791      Nonpartisan Pat Tillman 47.7% 87,267      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 752 Total Votes 182,810 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014 District 1 Guilford County Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan J. Carlvena Foster 99.4% 13,135      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.6% 77 Total Votes 13,212 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014 District 3 Guilford County Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Darlene Garrett 98.9% 17,595      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1.1% 197 Total Votes 17,792 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014 District 5 Guilford County Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Linda Welborn 99% 19,496      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1% 191 Total Votes 19,687 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014 District 7 Guilford County Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Rebecca Buffington 98.8% 16,790      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1.2% 206 Total Votes 16,996 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014 District 9 Guilford County Schools, District 9 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Amos Quick III 99.5% 20,717      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.5% 108 Total Votes 20,825 Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2014

What was at stake?

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2016

Issues in the district

Transgender bathroom law

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R)

North Carolina passed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (HB 2) which stated that individuals in government-operated facilities had to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender stated on their birth certificate on March 23, 2016. The law was passed by the legislature in a one-day special session and was signed into law that night by Governor Pat McCrory (R). The bill reversed an earlier ruling that allowed transgender individuals to use the restroom of their preference, and it offset local ordinances in the state that let transgender citizens do so.

On March 30, 2017, the North Carolina State Legislature approved and Gov. Roy Cooper (D) signed a repeal of HB 2. HB 142 repealed HB 2 but created a three-year moratorium on local anti-discrimination ordinances and prohibited local ordinances related to bathroom access. The state house approved HB 142 by a 70-48 vote and the state senate voted 32-16 to pass the measure.

HB 2's effect on NC school districts

When HB 2 was signed into law, many school districts in the state struggled to formulate a response, especially since Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. North Carolina school districts were unsure of how to balance these two laws. In the Wake County Public School System, Wake County sheriff Donnie Harrison said he would consider pulling deputies out of schools if the district did not decide on a consistent transgender bathroom policy. Harrison said the district did not have a uniform policy on the use of bathrooms by transgender students, which was causing confusion and unease among parents.

According to Lisa Luten, a Wake County Public School System spokesperson, transgender student issues with bathrooms and locker rooms were handled on a case-by-case basis. "No child has ever been at risk based on how we have handled this issue,” Luten said. “Because this issue is still being debated in federal courts, the school system is unable to create a formal policy.” (Note: The court ruling on HB 2 was made on March 30, 2017.) The district's superintendent James Merrill said that transgender bathroom questions ought to be addressed by administrators rather than student resource officers. According to Nathan Smith, the director of public policy for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the consequence is that many schools decide their transgender bathroom policies on a case-by-case basis, leading to conflicting rules between school campuses.

Backlash

On July 21, 2016, the NBA announced it planned to move its All-Star Game from Charlotte, North Carolina, which was scheduled to be held there in 2017. According to the Charlotte Observer, this decision would cost the city approximately $100 million. On September 12, 2016, the NCAA moved seven championships that were scheduled to be held in the state during the 2016-2017 school year. Two days later, the Atlantic Coast Conference made a similar decision, revealing it planned to move the men's football championship game scheduled for December 2016 from Charlotte.

Want to see how this election related to state and national trends on this topic? Ballotpedia tracked this issue in the 2016 election cycle so you can see the connections and impact on this race in context.

Click here for The Bite on this topic.

About the district

See also: Guilford County Schools, North Carolina

Guilford County Schools is located in Guilford County, North Carolina.

Guilford County Schools is located in Guilford County, North Carolina. Guilford County was home to 517,600 residents between 2010 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the third-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 72,081 students.

Demographics

Guilford County outperformed North Carolina as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 33.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 27.8 percent for the state. The median household income in the county was $45,050, compared to $46,693 for the state. The poverty rate in the county was 17.3 percent, compared to 16.4 percent for the state.

Racial Demographics, 2014
Race	Guilford County (%)	North Carolina (%)
White	57.9	71.2
Black or African American	34.2	22.1
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.7	1.6
Asian	4.8	2.8
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Two or More Races	2.3	2.1
Hispanic or Latino	7.8	9.1

Party Affiliation, 2013
Party	Registered Voters	% of Total
Democratic	169,490	48.0
Republican	95,453	27.3
Libertarian	1,299	0.4
Unaffiliated	83,452	23.9

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Guilford County Schools' 'North Carolina'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Guilford County Schools elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Guilford County Schools	North Carolina	School Boards
Guilford County Schools elections (2014) List of school districts in North Carolina	North Carolina school board elections, 2016 Public education in North Carolina Local ballot measures, North Carolina	School board elections, 2016 School board elections, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2015

External links

Suggest a link

• Guilford County Schools
• Guilford County Board of Elections