Seven candidates for four Fort Mill School Board seats will appear at a public forum Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. at Nation Ford High School.
The event comes less than three weeks before the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election. The Fort Mill Schools Teacher Forum is sponsoring the forum, YoCo News reported. The district will livestream it on its YouTube channel for residents who cannot attend in person.
Three incumbents are on the ballot: Michele Branning, first elected in 2014; Joe Helms; and Lipi Pratt, elected in 2022 and currently vice chair. Wayne Bouldin, who has held a board seat since 2009, did not file for re-election.
Four challengers round out the field: Larry Barnett, Keith Griffin, Brandon Langford and Melissa M. Maynard.
Fort Mill trustees are elected districtwide to four-year terms. No party labels appear on the ballot. Every voter in the district picks up to four candidates, and the top four vote-getters win.
The board hires and evaluates the superintendent, adopts the annual budget that sets the school portion of local property-tax bills and approves construction projects and attendance-zone changes affecting families across Fort Mill, Tega Cay and surrounding unincorporated areas.
Several candidates have already outlined their priorities. Barnett, a 40-year Fort Mill resident, Vietnam veteran and former business owner, is campaigning on classroom discipline, financial accountability and the proposed Silfab Solar facility near district schools. "I am running because I want today's students to have those same opportunities, while making sure the decisions we make do not price families and taxpayers out of living in Fort Mill," Barnett said in an Oct. 7 candidate profile in the Fort Mill Sun.
Griffin, a retired educator who spent 34 years in the district as a teacher and coach at Fort Mill High School and later principal at Gold Hill and Springfield middle schools, has said he would take a broad approach to the board's work. Langford, a Charlotte bank financial professional and chair of the Pleasant Knoll Elementary School Improvement Council, has focused on student growth, school safety and budget oversight. Branning, the 2024 president of the South Carolina School Boards Association, has said she wants to provide continuity as the district works under new leadership.
No candidate profiles for Helms or Maynard appeared in the Fort Mill Sun's spotlight series as of Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The district's announcement did not specify which candidates have confirmed attendance or describe the forum's format.
Nation Ford High School is on A.O. Jones Boulevard. Voters can confirm their registration and find their polling place at scvotes.gov.
