CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two seats on the Kanawha County Board of Education are up for grabs during the primary election on June 9.
The winners, one in District 1 and one in District 3, will start four-year terms in July as school board races do not have general elections.
Candidates in District 3, Emily Lanham, Barry Holstein and Jim Crawford are vying for the seat held by Crawford. The St. Albans native has been on the board of education since 2000 and has served in Kanawha County Schools as a teacher, coach or board member for 58 years.
Crawford told 580-WCHS that part of the work he is proud of the most during his time on the board is improving facilities around the county, for academics and athletics.
“We’ve put auxiliary gyms on all the high schools, we put new bleachers at all the high school and middle school fields. We have introduced new technology to the schools which have been very valuable to us during this pandemic,” he said.
The longtime board member who went to Winfield High School and West Virginia State University said the work should speak for itself when the voters head to the polls.
“I stand on what I have done and my integrity and honesty with the people. I return all my phone calls and I don’t ever tell somebody I can do something when I can’t,” Crawford said.
His opponents both come from Cross Lanes. Holstein, 51, was raised in Hernshaw and went to East Bank High School. He told 580-WCHS he retired after 21 years in the Army and Army Reserve now works for the U.S. Treasury Department.
Holstein said the teacher strikes inspired him to run for a board seat.
“It gave me an opportunity to get involved and learn what is really going on, what are the challenges in our school. Once I learned about those things it became a passion of mine to be involved and see what I can do to help,” he said.
Holstein said he is the “choice for change” in the election with initiatives in career tech options in middle schools, a county-wide bullying prevention program and online public access to spending.
“I believe it is important to engage students at an earlier age to identify those areas the student may have an interest in. Sometimes it’s not always college and I think that is great,” Holstein said of his middle school plans.
Prioritizing spending on heating and cooling in classrooms is also listed on his website as a major initiative. The school system is currently underway on an HVAC system overhaul at George Washington and Capital high schools along with new field turf at every high school. HVAC improvements to 15 schools will occur as a result of the school system’s excess levy passed in 2018.
Lanham, 38 of Cross Lanes, has five children in Kanawha County Schools. Her family moved back to West Virginia in 2015 when she planned to become a teacher but was appalled at the teacher pay scale.
She said teacher pay is part of her campaign for the board seat.
“They are taking care of our future. They are taking care of the next generation to come. To not give them adequate compensation for that is just appalling,” Lanham said.
She believes it is time for the board to shake things up with a new set of eyes. She said if elected, she wants to change the ways the board holds public meetings and get the community moved involved.
“I want to hear from them and I want to collaborate with the other board members. I want to make sure they hear the same things I am hearing and vice-versa. We are going to be able to work better as a team if we know what is happening and root out the issues,” Lanham said.
The three candidates join incumbent Ric Cavender and Jennifer Bulger, who are running for one seat in District 1, on the ballot. Voters must choose no more than two candidates but only one from each district will be elected.