The Beaufort County School Board will welcome one new member this December.
Carolyn Walker beat Bill Sprenkle to take the District 7 seat vacated by county commissioner-elect Robert Belcher.
“I am so excited to start serving on the board… and so grateful for everyone who voted for me. I hope to make them proud,” Walker said Tuesday night. “I know I have a lot to learn, but I am excited to get started.”
As president of several parent teacher organizations and a member of the Beaufort County Education Foundation, Walker said she would often get calls from parents who looked to her as someone who could help.
“And I hope I still get them (calls),” Walker said. “I really want to do my best to get more parent involvement.”
Walker will be sworn in at the December meeting.
“We just want to welcome her to the board and look forward to any insight she can bring,” said school superintendent Dr. Don Phipps.
In District 5, incumbent and current chairman of the board F. Mac Hodges earned more votes than the combined total of his two opponents.
“I’m deeply humbled by the confidence that the voters in District 5 have in me,” Hodges said.
He said he was glad to have the election behind him so that the board could put politics aside and work on giving every student in Beaufort County the best possible education.
Hodges joined Phipps in welcoming Walker to the board. He said Walker will have a lot of reading to do in order to get up to speed, but he and fellow board members would do everything they could to help.
In Districts 1, 3 and 9, board members Eltha Booth, Barbara Boyd-Williams and Mike Isbell ran unopposed.