Tim Merrick (New Hanover County Board of Education, North Carolina, candidate 2024)

Tim Merrick

Democratic Party

Candidate, New Hanover County Board of Education

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 5, 2024

Education

Graduate

New York Chiropractic College, 1991

Personal

Birthplace

Pontiac, Mich.

Religion

Unitarian

Profession

Retired

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Tim Merrick (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Hanover County Board of Education in North Carolina. He was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.^[source]

Merrick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Tim Merrick provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on May 18, 2024:

• Birth date: February 18, 1958
• Birth place: Pontiac, Michigan
• High school: Plattsburgh High School
• Graduate: New York Chiropractic College, 1991
• Gender: Male
• Religion: Unitarian
• Profession: Retired
• Incumbent officeholder: No
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

General election for New Hanover County Board of Education (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for New Hanover County Board of Education on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
		Jerry Jones Jr. (D)
	Submit photo	Judy Justice (D)
		Tim Merrick (D)
	Submit photo	Nikki M. Bascome (R)
	Submit photo	David Perry (R)
		Natosha Tew (R)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Hanover County Board of Education (3 seats)

Jerry Jones Jr., Judy Justice, Tim Merrick, and Cynthia Munoz ran in the Democratic primary for New Hanover County Board of Education on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate
		Jerry Jones Jr.
	Submit photo	Judy Justice
		Tim Merrick
	Submit photo	Cynthia Munoz

---

	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Hanover County Board of Education (3 seats)

Nikki M. Bascome, Kimberly McDuffie Murphy, David Perry, Natosha Tew, and Aubrey Tuell ran in the Republican primary for New Hanover County Board of Education on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Nikki M. Bascome
	Submit photo	Kimberly McDuffie Murphy
	Submit photo	David Perry
		Natosha Tew
	Submit photo	Aubrey Tuell

---

	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Merrick in this election.

Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Tim Merrick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Merrick's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a parent of special needs children, I’m a retired chiropractor who was brought up by educators. My mom taught me 1st grade, my dad was my principal. My grandfather testified in Brown v Board of Education. I was taught that public education is the promise to lift every child up regardless of what they look like or where they come from.

I’m running to create safe learning environments for our children. Safe from violence, bullying, and exclusion. I’m running to support our educators and staff, without which there is no education. They need to be paid and respected as the professionals they are. I’m running to ensure a responsible budget is passed. One in which our funds are spent in the classrooms and not the back rooms.

I have extensive board experience, and will bring good governance back to our school board.

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?

• Safe learning environments.

  Safe from violence, bullying, and exclusion. Children can only learn when they feel safe and included. It’s not enough to have deputies in the building. We need each child to belong and be welcomed.

  Adequate staffing is essential to deal with behavior issues as teachable moments, before they become punitive, perpetuating patterns.
• Supporting our educators and staff. We have some of the lowest teacher pay in the nation. Together with an extremely low level of trust with the central office, our teachers are quitting or relocating at record levels. Teacher morale is dangerously low. Our children carry the burden of this negative environment. Our schools are not factories. We must trust our professional educators to use their skills to reach their students, rather than enforcing a one-size-fits-all educational method.
• Fully funding our classrooms. Our State allotments are woefully low. Nearly the lowest in the country. We must therefore spend wisely, with an emphasis on student facing positions. However, we must also advocate for the funds we need to provide a quality education to our students. Our Superintendent and School Board have complacently accepted our lack of funding by each year cutting teacher positions, increasing safety concerns. They refuse to even negotiate for adequate funding. Our State and County are both capable and culpable for ensuring adequate resources for our schools.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Our Policy Committee has become an avenue of political extremism, which has no place in our schools.

I’m passionate that our policies protect the rights and opportunities of every child, whether they are rich or poor, black, brown or white, gay or straight.
Our children are not political. They should not be the pawns of culture wars.
Banning books, dismantling DEI, weakening Title IX, are all attempts to politicize our schools and our children.

Age appropriate learning about the realities of our world help prepare our students to succeed in today’s society.

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

I have strong sense of fairness. I can see both sides of a debate and help to also see common ground which I am powerfully moved to create. I believe in democracy and can temper my opinions to work with others.

Beyond this I have excellent pattern recognition and can appreciate the issues from a contextual standpoint.

According to Aristotle, politics is the application of ethics within a broader community. I believe my own ethics and my ability to work with others’ makes me an excellent candidate for public office.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The School Board, like a board of directors, is responsible for hiring and managing the CEO-the School Superintendent. The board sets policy in service of providing a quality education to every child, and ensuring fairness.

Beyond that the Board oversees the budget, and negotiates indirectly with the State, and directly with the County to ensure proper funding.

The School Board also serves as ambassadors for our schools in our community.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Oversight of our schools wherein we close the literacy gaps and are known not only for our students’ excellent scores, but for their success in the community and world.

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

I remember, and as a young child I conflated, two historic events. One was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the other the trial of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa.
When the headlines in the Detroit News read “HOFFA GUILTY” My young mind thought he had assassinated JFK. I learned to read before kindergarten but apparently lacked the capacity to follow national news. LOL

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

Besides paper routes and babysitting that began around age 11 (as educators, my parents were not wealthy!), my first real job was a short order cook at IHOP at 16. I worked for the summer and the owner pleaded with me to stay during the school year. But as I was taking both Junior and Senior classes so I could graduate a year early, I was unable to keep the job.

Who are your constituents?

Every citizen of New Hanover County has a stake in what happens in our schools, regardless of their party affiliation or whether they have children in our schools. Our local economy and our culture are deeply impacted by the products of our educational system—our students.

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

I intend to hold regular information sessions open to the public so that they understand what is taking place on the board and so I can learn their concerns.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

We need to begin the budget process earlier beginning with our vision. We need to hold our Superintendent responsible for providing different budgets based on those priorities, and sooner so that we can negotiate more effectively with the County.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

Adequate staffing is essential. While SROs are important for reacting to issues once begun, we need to address the causes earlier in the cycle of violence. With enough adults, we can not only reduce instances of violence, we can use them as teaching moments.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

Having mental health counselors in our schools is essential. I’m grateful the county will be hiring at least some next year. We need to reduce the wait time for students and families to be seen by counselors. And we have some schools that need wraparound services to address and prevent mental health issues, work within our community and get assistance from community based organizations.

What are your preferred strategies for faculty, staff, and administration recruitment?

It’s important from a governance perspective to understand the place of a school board. Faculty and staff recruitment are the responsibility of the Superintendent. The Board would only intervene within their role of overseeing the Superintendent.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Our government needs to operate in full view of the public, unless individual rights would be denied by doing so. Closed session meetings should only be utilized for this reason. Unlike our State Legislature that voted to keep their documents secret, I believe every document should be available through a timely public records request.
I also believe every document discussed in public meetings should be available to the public during the meeting so they can be informed and included.

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.

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