Newly elected, yet familiar, Board of Education members sworn in

List of early graduation candidates approved

ALBEMARLE – The Stanly County Board of Education met Tuesday, December 6, where the new board members were sworn in, and elections for chair and vice-chair took place. 

The meeting opened up with the swearing-in of the newly elected members of the Stanly County Board of Education, with current board member Dustin Lisk winning election to his first four-year term and Robin Whittaker having been elected to the seat previously held by Anthony Graves. 

“I want to thank the people of Stanly County for putting me here,” Lisk said. “You got to see seven months roughly of me after being appointed to replace Mr. [Jeff] Chance. I intend to work hard and represent every single person in this county, regardless if you voted for me or not. I care about the future of this county and this school system. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of things to be proud of. We’ve got funding needs, facilities needs, and curriculum needs. Every student in this county deserves the same opportunity regardless if you live on the western end, the northern end, the southern end, or Albemarle. We all deserve the same opportunity, and I intend to spend my next four years fighting for that.” 

One of the areas Lisk focused on in his statement was a better collaboration with the county commissioners. 

“We’ve got to have a stronger relationship with our county commissioners,” Lisk said. “These two boards have to work hand-in-hand to tackle some of these issues that we have, and we can’t do it without them. We have to work with them. I intend to have a strong relationship, and I hope this board feels the same way.” 

Whittaker, who had previously served on the Stanly County Board of Education, also made a statement with regard to her reappointment. 

“It’s been 12 years since I sat in this seat, so a lot has changed in that time, but a lot has also stayed the same,” Whittaker said. “To the citizens of Stanly County, I just want to thank you for putting your faith and trust in me. I decided to serve again because I am concerned about our schools, concerned about our students. I want to just make things better for them. I’m just excited to be serving on the board again, and I’m looking forward to the progress that I know this board is going to make over the next four years.” 

After the swearing-in of the members, the board then voted unanimously to reelect Glenda Gibson as Chairperson of the board and Carla Poplin as Vice-Chair. 

“Thank you, board members, for your trust in me,” Gibson said. “I certainly will work hard and try hard to do the job. Congratulations to Mrs. Poplin and to Robin and Dustin on being elected. We have a good board, and I’m looking forward to working on the challenges we face and the progress we will make.” 

The board did not take up much in terms of action, but one thing that they did do was approve a list of early graduation candidates. 

“We have additional candidates for early graduation,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Amy Blake-Lewis. “FRC is the diploma type, and that refers to ‘Future Ready Core.’ That means that these students have at least reached the minimum of the 22 hours required. If you see OCS, it indicates that they are an Occupational Course of Study student that has served in our Exceptional Children’s program and those are some adapted credit requirements.” 

The new Stanly County Board of Education will next meet January 3.