By Heather Ruppe
The school board have received two filings for the three open seats on the Colleton County School Board.
As of press deadline on Tuesday, two candidates had formally filed to run in the upcoming November 8th general election for school board seats 2, 4, and 6.
These new candidates are Anna Bright, who has filed to run for school board seat four, and Wayne Shider, who has filed to run for school board seat six.
So far, there are no candidates for school board seat two.
The incumbents currently sitting in these elected seats have also not yet filed for re-election. These incumbent candidates are Tim Mabry, who currently represents District Two on the school board; William Bowman, who currently represents District Four and is also the school board chairman; and Harry Jenkins, who currently represents District Six on the school board.
The filing period for these three school board seats opened on August 1st. It will stay open through noon on Friday, August 12th. Any Colleton County resident who lives in any of these three open districts can choose to become a candidate.
Once the filing period ends, the actual election for all three of these school board seats will be on the upcoming November general election ballot.
These three school board seats will represent the newly-drawn districts on the school board. These changes were signed into law by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster on June 22nd. The new school board district reflect population shifts that happened within the county: some former districts are smaller and others have more people living in them, causing the need for the change in lines.
“The new lines reflect a population shift in our county,” said Colleton County School Board Chairman William Bowman, adding the school board does not govern these changes. “Everyone will have fair representation on the board,” he said, in a prior interview with this newspaper.
Anyone wanting to file for these school boards seats, or who has questions about filing, should contact the Colleton County Board of Elections Office. This office is located at 2471 Jefferies Highway in Walterboro. Their number is 843-549-2842.
