THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605050071
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SERIES: Decision '96
LENGTH: Long : 176 lines
BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 2
David Jonathon Daniels
Age: 48
Home: Kill Devil Hills
Occupation: Founder/pastor of Outer Banks Worship Center in Nags
Head. Executive director, Dare County Teen Challenge Drug & Alcohol
Rehabilitation Center.
Education: B.A., Southeastern College, Lakeland, Fla. Ten hours
completed towards master's degree, Regent University.
Family: Wife, Ellie. Children, two boys and one girl.
David J. Daniels says he has always worked hard for children
through his church. In seeking his fourth term on the Dare County
Board of Education, Daniels says he wants to keep improving
education for all county children.
``Our country is really a mess,'' he said. ``If we don't get
control of our children in the schools, we're going to lose them.''
Daniels said he is enthusiastic about implementing character
education into the curriculum.
He said children have lost perspective on such character-defining
traits as honesty, respect and kindness.
``Kids need to learn that they are accountable,'' he said at a
recent Dare County League of Women Voters forum. ``They need to know
how to work, get there on time, respect authority and stay with a
task.
``I want them to be prepared for leadership in a challenging 21st
century.''
Daniels also said the school district must decide how to deal
with growth. He said he has always supported construction of a high
school on the beach, but if voters turn down a bond referendum, the
school board must have a back-up plan.
Pamela ``Susie'' Walters
Age: 37
Home: Nags Head
Occupation: Secretary/treasurer Seamark Foods; former finance
officer, Manteo Middle School, and substitute teacher.
Education: Associate degree in general education, College of the
Albemarle.
Membership: College of the Albemarle Foundation Drive; Friends of
Nags Head Woods, chairwoman; Kitty Hawk Methodist Church; First
Flight Middle School PTA, Dare County High School Task Force, 1992;
Friends of Jockey's Ridge.
Family: Husband, Tim. One son, 24, and one daughter, 13.
Pamela ``Susie'' Walters believes that Dare County Board of
Education could do with some new blood.
Walters wants to provide a comprehensive curriculum to all
students. This is her first bid for public office.
``I believe the health of our community is determined by the
health of our children,'' Walters said. ``We must work cooperatively
to educate our children.''
As owner and operator of Seamark Foods, Walters said she has
supported technology in the schools through the Seamark Foods'
Computers for Kids program, which has donated more than $20,000
worth of computers to local schools.
If elected, Walters said, she would place a district policy
manual and school budget in each school. She also said the board
should write a hiring policy.
``The board sets policy,'' she said at a recent Dare County
League of Women Voters candidate's forum. ``I feel they should work
to develop a policy to hire personnel.''
Walters supports an additional high school. She also believes
teachers and parents should have input into the design of the
structure.
AT-LARGE CANDIDATE
Kenneth D. Johnson
Age: 57
Home: Colington Harbour
Occupation: Retired Marine Corps officer, substitute teacher Dare
County Schools, 1983-1996
Military: Marine Corps; Marine, Navy, Army and Air Force
schools.
Education: M.S., management, 1975, Naval Post Graduate School,
Monterey, California; B.S., 1961, Carroll College, Waukesha, Wis.;
Command and Staff College, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Va.
Membership: Active in the Dare County Community Crime Line for 10
years. Member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for 13 years. Served on
the Board of Directors for Colington Harbour Association and Duck
Woods Country Club.
Family: Wife, Mary Ann. Two daughters and one son, all Manteo
High graduates.
Newcomer Kenneth Johnson, an at-large candidate for the Dare
County Board of Education, believes he could offer a strong school
discipline policy.
Johnson has been involved with the schools since he moved here 14
years ago. He has done everything from driving a bus to overseeing
Manteo High's in-school suspension program to substitute teaching.
``I think they need somebody that's spent some time in the
classroom and understands how children behave and how they think,''
Johnson said. ``And who understands what teachers go through.''
Speaking at a recent League of Women Voters forum, Johnson said
his experience in both schools and the military gives him a unique
perspective on discipline.
Another issue that Johnson says is of paramount concern is the
construction of an additional high school to alleviate overcrowding
at Manteo High School. Although he agrees more room is needed,
Johnson suggested renovating First Flight Middle School as a
cost-effective solution.
``I think two high schools are wrong,'' he said. ``It's going to
cost the taxpayers too much money.''
Clarence Edward Lewis
Home: Manteo
Occupation: Maintenance worker for the National Parks Service,
Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Military Service: Retired 1991 - Army
Education: Elizabeth City State University, three years of
technical education. Returning as a student in the fall.
Membership: Dare County Chapter of the NAACP. Serves on the
Manteo Police Advisory Board and the Manteo Board of Adjustment.
Previously served three years with the Manteo Fire Department.
Family: Wife, Ruth. Children, Angelica, 19, and twins Michael and
Michelle, 17.
Clarence E. Lewis says he's a man of modest means, and as
candidate for the at-large seat on the Dare County Board of
Education, does not have the funds to print a campaign brochure.
And the retired Army officer says it's for families of modest
means that he is making his first bid for public office.
``You'll find students whose families are in high-income
brackets,'' Lewis says. ``Those families have big bucks, there's
plenty of clout. Their children tend to be pampered within the
school system.''
Lewis, a Manteo resident, said some students are graduating from
Manteo High School unqualified for college.
Counselors and teachers have to do a better job of tending to
kids in lower-income brackets, he says. Lewis, 49, also wants to
eliminate what he sees as racism in the schools. As a black man with
two children in high school, he has been told of racist graffiti,
gestures and slurs.
Although Lewis supports two high schools, he fears that building
a new school on the beach will result in segregation, he said at a
recent Dare County League of Women Voters forum.
``Manteo people are of all races,'' Lewis said. ``There are no
blacks on the beach.''
Sam Twiford Jr.
Age: 52
Home: Manteo and Kitty Hawk
Occupation: Owner/Manager of Twiford Funeral Homes. Licensed real
estate broker and insurance agent. Former college instructor of
business law, principles of management, psychology. Dean of students
while teaching in Georgia.
Education: East Carolina University, B.A., art. Graduated cum
laude from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.
Membership: Past president of North Carolina Funeral Directors
Association. Serves on the Dare County Technology Advisory Board.
Family: Wife, Claudia. Children, two sons, Sam and Jake.
Sam Twiford Jr., an incumbent in the at-large seat on the Dare
County Board of Education, says up-to-date technology in the schools
is one of the most vital ways to take children into the 21st
century.
``I believe very strongly in technology and I would like to be
re-elected so we could follow through in our school system,''
Twiford said. ``I think Dare County Schools are right at a point
where we can really push ahead and become one of the best schools in
the country.''
Addressing voters at a recent Dare County League of Women Voters
forum, Twiford said he supports community involvement in the design
of a new high school. Although he supports separate high schools, he
said they must be part of a comprehensive program.
But questions about how the community will deal with overcrowding
at Manteo High School must be resolved soon, he said. ``We have to
deal with the issue. We have four trailers out there now.''
KEYWORDS: ELECTION NORTH CAROLINA DARE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
RACE PROFILE PLATFORMS by CNB