There hasn’t been much fundraising activity in this year’s race for the Alamance-Burlington school board – although a couple of candidates in this seven-person contest have managed to amass considerable sums in their campaign coffers.
Presented below are the details that the candidates have shared with the local elections office about their campaign donations. (In addition to the contributions themselves, state law requires candidate to provide names, addresses, and employment information for their itemized donors. The information here is taken directly from the publicly-available finance reports that each candidate has submitted to the local elections office. Omissions and truncations, as well as descriptions of donors as “not employed,” have been preserved from the original records):
Seneca Rogers
At the head of the class in terms of fundraising prowess is Seneca Damon Rogers, who has managed to assemble a war chest of nearly $30,000 in his current bid for the school board.
The first runner up in six-way race for three seats on the school board in 2022, Rogers has since been appointed to a vacancy that emerged in the board’s membership with the departure of long-time member Patsy Simpson. In the meantime, Rogers has launched a well-funded campaign to retain his seat that, at last check, had taken in a total of $28,754.50 during the current campaign cycle.
According to his latest finance report, Rogers was able to add $8,421 to his campaign kitty during the “second quarter” of 2024 – a period that, as defined by the state, ran from February 18 through June 30 of this year. During these four and a half months, Rogers received $591 in smaller donations that didn’t meet the threshold to identify their contributors, while he took in another $200 from the campaign of Burlington city council member Dejuana Bigelow.
Rogers’ latest finance report also details $7,630 in individual contributions from the following 45 donors:
Benjamin Ansbacher, 1132 West Davis Street, Burlington, not employed, $200; Ian Baltutis, 702 West Davis Street, Burlington, entrepreneur with the Vibration Solution, $500 ($1,000 for the campaign); Matthew Bell, 605 Martin Street, Greensboro, consultant with REI, $500; Latoya Bigelow-Pycraft, 1284 Aster Way, Burlington, teacher for Guilford County, $100; Frankie Blackburn, 5768 Church Road, Graham, consultant with Trusted Space Partners, $100 ($200 for the campaign);
Rachel Blunk, 2416 Glencoe Street, Burlington, attorney for Shipbob Inc., $100; Cynthia Brady, 5914 Stoney Mountain Road, Burlington, not employed, $200 ($400 for the campaign); Anne Brown, 2967 Biscayne Drive, Mebane, business system analyst for a UNC System office, $100; Katie Burkholder, 103 Westminster Court, Mebane, a self-employed realtor, $250; Robert Byrd, 2826 Charlotte Lane, Burlington, not employed, $200 ($350 for the campaign);
David Carter, 503 Circle Drive, Burlington, realtor with David Carter Real Estate, $200; Barbara Clawson, 1500 Von Bora Court, Burlington, not employed, $100; Ruth Colville, 1120 Newberry Drive, Mebane, not employed, $200; Dana Courtney, 2421 Rogers Road, Graham, not employed, $150; Edward Dilone, 741 South Eighth Street, Mebane, attorney with the Law Office of Edward Dilone, $200;
Janet Ecklebarger, 604 Washington Street, Graham, a self-employed artist, $100 ($200 for the campaign); Jevon Enoch, 1313 Eldorado Street, Burlington, co-administrator of the Truly Grateful Family Care Home, $100; Anthony Foriest, 2211 Quail Drive, Graham, not employed, $200; Danny Gregory, 3010 Bluebird Lane, Apartment 301, Mebane, archeologist for New South Associates, $100; Diane Health, 3027 Maple Avenue, E1, Burlington, not employed, $275;
Jeremy Hunt, 938 Kimberly Road, Burlington, brewer with Burlington Beer Works, $100; Ricky Hurtado, 507 North Main Street, Graham, former state representative, $500 ($750 for the campaign); Jessica Johnson, 215 Paddle Lane, Mebane, a human services planner for NCDHHS, $55; Jessica Jolley, 5364 NC 119, Mebane, tech with People Programs, $100; Debra Kaufman, 207 West Holt Street, Mebane, not employed, $70;
Elizabeth Kennett, 324 West Willowbrook Drive, Burlington, clergy with WFUBMC, $150; Jay Kennett, 324 West Willowbrook Drive, minister with Hillsborough UCC, $100; Tanya Kline, 1211 Brookview Drive, Elon, not employed, $340 ($490 for the campaign); Katherine Landes, 1313 Cherry Drive, Burlington, not employed, $100 ($325 for the campaign); Jacqueline Laukaitis, 1618 Granville Street, Burlington, a medical interpreter for Cone Health, $175;
Ernestine Lewis, P.O. Box 2701, Burlington, not employed, $100; Gwen Manning, 1902 Munn Pointe Drive, Whitsett, not employed, $100; Griffin McClure, 622 Johnson Avenue, Graham, retailer with Green & McClure Furniture, $200 ($400 for the campaign); Beulah Mitchell, 30 Bent Tree Court, Gibsonville, not employed, $75; Elizabeth Osborne, 2585 Nealwood Avenue, Graham, teacher at Hawbridge, $75;
Kristen Page, 617 West Davis Street. Burlington, self-employed with Kristen Page, Inc., $200; Elizabeth Read, 2439 Glencoe Street, Burlington, assistant director of Planned Giving, $140; Marvin Rogers, 2575 Firefox Lane, Burlington, not employed, $200 ($325 for the campaign); Shekitha Rogers, 3392 Golden Oaks Road, Graham, student services with Alamance Community College; $200; Mtende Roll, 414 South Maple Street, Graham, math tutor, $175;
Maryanne Shanahan, 1618 Abberly Place, Graham, not employed, $70 ($170 for the campaign); Louise Shulack, 409 Doral Court, Mebane, not employed, $100 ($225 for the campaign); Steve Van Pelt, not employed, 2700 Jamestown Court, Burlington, $500 ($1,000 for the campaign); Lorraine Werts, 113 Somerset Court, Mebane, not employed, $125; Cindy Wright, 218 Woodlawn Road, Mebane, not employed, $100 ($200 for the campaign).
Tamika Harvey
Another relatively active fundraiser in the school board race has been Tamika Lashea Harvey. According to her latest campaign finance report, Harvey has taken in a total of $3,712.95 during the course of her bid for the school board, including $3,540 in the second quarter of 2024.
Harvey attributes her second quarter receipts to the following 24 donors:
Michelle Alston, 3992 Shonnete Drive, Burlington, CAN with Divine Home Care, $25; Rachel Blunk, 2416 Glencoe Street, Burlington, attorney for Shipbob, Inc., $500; Lentishia Bradsher, 813 Williams Street, Burlington, AFL provider for Still Family, LLC., $50; Anne Brown, 2967 Biscayne Drive, Mebane, business analyst for UNC, $50; Dana Boylan-Walker, 1322 Hanford Hills Road, Graham, accountant for Galloway Ridge, $100;
Dreama Caldwell, 2805 Holmes Road, Greensboro, nonprofit manager for We Are Down Home, $100; David Carter, 503 Circle Drive, Burlington, realtor with David Carter Real Estate, $1,100; Jamel Coble, 731 Ben Court, Graham, inspection manager for T.S. Designs, $20; Barbara Daye, 809 Ray Street, Graham, not employed, $50; Courtland/Stacey Grimm, 118 Fieldstone Drive, Burlington, teacher with the Alamance-Burlington school system, $250;
Diane Heath, 3027 Maple Avenue, E1, Burlington, not employed, $75; Jamoni Jones, 733 Grover Lane, Burlington, not employed, $10; Angela Kalo, 105 Claystone Drive, Gibsonville, CSR for Wayfair, $5; Tanya Kline, 1211 Brookview Drive, Elon, not employed, $340; Becky Mock, 5563 Thom Road, Mebane, retired, $50;
Ron Osborne, 2585 Nealwood Avenue, Graham, retired, $25; Angelina Patterson, 813 Williams Street, Burlington, healthcare worker for Creative Directions, $30; Lydia Paylor, 4416 Landi Lane, Mebane, sales logistics for T.S. Designs, $25; Kaleigh Plumb, 6913 Big Woods Road, Graham, not employed, $25; Tammie Staten, 3253 South Church Street, Burlington, home care with Making Visions, $500;
Pamela Thompson [no address or employment information given], $50; William Traynor, 7 South Shore Drive, Pelham, New Hampshire, self-employed, $100; Carrie Varnedore, 102 Eastway Lane, Graham, accounts for LabCorp, $10; Colleen Walsh, 404 Aspen Court, Graham, music teacher with the Skylark Music School, $50.
Rest of the field
There hasn’t been much to report from the other five candidates in this year’s race for the school board.
Sandy Ellington-Graves, the current chairman of the Alamance-Burlington school board, hasn’t filed a campaign finance report since the spring of 2022, when she reported a balance of $683.22 in her campaign coffers.
Peter Morcombe has reported two donations worth a combined sum of $150 for both the second quarter and the campaign as a whole. The candidate credited himself with the first contribution for $100 and attributed another in the amount of $50 to Sarasvati Ishaya, a teacher from 903 West Club Boulevard in Durham.
Tara Raggett filed a finance report in December of 2023 that merely disclosed a $5 donation she made to her own campaign to cover her candidate filing fee.
Corrie Shepherd has reported a single donation of $2,000 from Kim Geary of 217 East Summerbell Avenue, Elon. A pharmacy technician with Total Care Pharmacy, Geary reportedly made this contribution during the second quarter of 2024.
Avery Wagoner filed a second quarter report that showed an opening balance of $57 and no receipts to his campaign.
Meanwhile, incumbent school board member Donna Davis Westbrooks has filed the paperwork to indicate that her campaign will neither take in or expend more the $1,000 threshold necessary to make regular financial reports to the local election office.