Sarah Absher

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Sarah Absher

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Associate

Guilford Technical Community College, 2012

Personal

Birthplace

Nashville, Tenn.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Nurse

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign X

Sarah Absher (Republican Party) ran for election for an at-large seat of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools school board in North Carolina. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Absher completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Sarah Absher was born in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned an associate degree from Guilford Technical Community College in 2012. Her career experience includes working as a nurse. Absher has been affiliated with Education First North Carolina.

Elections

2022

See also: Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, North Carolina, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Deanna Frazier Kaplan (D)	18.1	66,900
✔	Submit photo	Sabrina Coone (D)	17.7	65,417
✔	Submit photo	Richard Watts (D)	17.6	65,288
		Sarah Absher (R)	15.1	55,785
		Allen Daniel (R)	14.5	53,721
	Submit photo	Michael Hardman (R)	14.5	53,481
	Submit photo	Regina Garner (L)	2.6	9,484

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 370,076
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large (3 seats)

Incumbent Deanna Frazier Kaplan, Richard Watts, and Sabrina Coone defeated Kimberly Stone in the Democratic primary for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Deanna Frazier Kaplan	29.2	14,626
✔	Submit photo	Richard Watts	28.0	14,019
✔	Submit photo	Sabrina Coone	23.8	11,932
	Submit photo	Kimberly Stone	19.0	9,523

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 50,100
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sarah Absher	20.0	9,901
✔	Submit photo	Michael Hardman	19.7	9,757
✔		Allen Daniel	15.2	7,535
	Submit photo	Robert Nunzio Capizzi	14.6	7,218
	Submit photo	Carolyn Albright	13.2	6,530
	Submit photo	Tabitha Hackett	10.9	5,390
	Submit photo	Millie Williams	6.6	3,273

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,604
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Absher's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sarah Absher completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Absher's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

It's time for conservative leadership on theWinston-Salem/Forsyth County Board ofEducation. As a mom, wife, and registered nurse, I know what it means to advocate for someone And right now our students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers need an advocate! It is time that parents had a voice in our children's education. This means no critical race or gender theory, no forced masking or remote learning. It also means ,pay raises for teachers, no wasteful spending for meaningless programs and bureaucrats. A vote for Sarah Absher is a vote for parents' rights, transparency, and common sense.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• "Remote learning" had a tremendously detrimental effect on our students--particularly those from disadvantaged background. We should not allow this to happen again
• We must pay our teachers a competitive wage in order to attract and retain the best and brightest. The proposed budget for the 2022-23 school year is nearly $750 million. We need to cut wasteful spending and administrative bloat, and focus on the core mission of our schools.
• Transparency is a must. From the White House all the way down to local school boards, trust in our institutions is at an all-time low. One way to earn back that trust is to be radically transparent. Allow parents and guardians to know exactly what their sons and daughters are being taught. Let the taxpayers know exactly how their money is being spent. As Justice Brandeis famously said: "sunlight is the best disinfectant."

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As a mother of two, I am passionate about providing a quality public education to our sons and daughters. A key component of this is earning the trust of parents and guardians, and being transparent regarding what is being taught to their children.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I have immense respect and admiration for President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Both were strong, firebrand conservatives who were unafraid to challenge the establishment. Together they helped to put the final nail in the coffin of Soviet Communism, while bringing their respective nations out of economic recessions.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have been a tenacious advocate for my patients, and I will bring the same tenacious advocacy to the School Board .

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I was 16 years old when the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Before becoming a nurse, I was a phlebotomist (a medical assistant who draws blood from patients) for approximately a year.

What is your favorite book? Why?

That's a tough question, but I'd say All the King's Men. The prose is first-rate, the characters leap off the page, and the story is gripping. Also it grapples with the tension between ethics and politics in a masterful way.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Gimme Shelter

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

Oversight is critical. Given the 80+ schools in our district and its proposed budget of nearly $750 million, it is imperative on the board to ensure that the budget is allocated wisely and in such a way that ensures our sons and daughters are best prepared for college or the work force.

Who are your constituents?

My constituents are the men and women of Forsyth county. Even if you didn't vote for me, I will be your advocate.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I will tirelessly and zealously advocate for the stakeholders of the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System. For example, with our proposed budget for the 2022-23 year of nearly $750 million, it will be my personal mission to scrutinize that budget to identify wasteful spending that can be reallocated to areas such as teacher and staff pay that will directly and positively impact students.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

One group that is often overlooked--unfortunately--is school staff, such as cafeteria workers and others. Such individuals are critical to students' school experience, and they often have a unique perspective about what is going on in a student's life. We as board members should proactively work to form relationships and open lines of communication with school staff.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

Certainly diversity--particularly diversity of perspective and viewpoint--is helpful in terms of improving students' experience. At the end of the day, our primary goal should be to recruit and retain the best teachers that we can. And one way to do this is to cut wasteful spending so that we can attract the best teachers.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

Bureaucracy is certainly one. Teachers are also often expected to compete additional training that may not be directly tied to pedagogy, but rather is focused on trendy issues such as "equity," "inclusion," and the like.

Tell us your favorite joke.

A thief stuck a pistol in a man’s ribs and said, “Give me your money.” The gentleman, shocked by the sudden attack, said: “You cannot do this, I’m a United States congressman!” The thief said, “In that case, give me my money!”

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

Parental involvement is critical to student success. And a key way to get parents involved is to increase transparency, and make it easy for parents to see what their sons and daughters are learning.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools school board At-Large

Website

Facebook

X