RALEIGH — The Wake County School Board chose a Wake County Democrat Party official to fill the remainder of former board member Lindsay Mahaffey, who abruptly resigned in August.
Jennifer G. Job (pronounced Joe-buh) is the Wake County Democrat’s regional vice chair for Apex, a position from which she said she would resign. She will fill the remainder of Mahaffey’s District 8 seat term, which runs through November 2028. Mahaffey had been reelected to a four-year term in November 2024.
The selection was made Nov. 25 following a set of 14 interviews lasting over eight hours. There were 17 applicants at the start of the process, but three applicants withdrew their names. Job was picked after a single round of voting by the majority Democrat board.
The Democrats on the board — Chair Chris Heagarty, Vice Chair Tyler Swanson and members Lynn Edmonds, Christina Gordon, Sam Hershey and Toshiba Rice — all voted for Job. Republican members Cheryl Caulfield and Wing Ng voted no.
Job’s resume is extensive, with recent entries including running a progressive political campaign group that represents the left-leaning activist group “Red, Wine, and Blue.” Her resume includes teaching in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools and various education-related research projects.
One such project was a 2017-18 entry titled, “Educating in the Age of Trump, which encompassed surveys and interviews with professors and teachers on the “impact of the 2016 presidential election on education, especially focusing on how students of color perceived their space in the aftermath.”
During her interview, Job claimed schools were facing a “shrinking budget” and that “more and more money is going to private school vouchers and charter schools.”
In North Carolina, charter schools are public schools that receive fewer dollars than their traditional district counterparts but have greater flexibility in budgeting and how subjects are taught.
The state has a grant system called the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which gives funds on a sliding income scale to any student in the state to attend the private school of their choice.
According to mid-November data from the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, which oversees the grants, the OSP has hit a new record of 103,400 recipients. For context, if the OSP’s enrollment were taken as a single district, it would be the third largest behind Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The state’s statistical profile data shows Wake County’s average daily membership this fall stands at 160,489 and Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s at 140,801.
Job said it was important to have an educator on the board because “we are seeing people who are thinking that public school is not providing what it should for students.”
Job also said she believes “public education is the most important good that the government provides.”
When asked if she would be able to honor the 30 hours or more a week required of board members, Job replied, “I have spent 30 to 40 hours a week working as the regional vice chair for the Wake County Democratic Party.”
Caulfield asked Job what knowledge she had about the duties and roles of a board member and how she would collaborate with stakeholders. Job said it was an “awesome responsibility,” and gave basic responses about the superintendent, district stats and budgeting. She then focused on an “overlooked” item of “protecting the Civil Rights” of students when it comes to Title IX and Title X.
Job also cited a “strong relationship” with Wake County elected Democrats, such as Sen. Sydney Batch, Rep. Jule von Haefen and Wake County Commissioner Cheryl Stallings as proof of being able to work with stakeholders.
Job added she would “plan” on working with Republican Rep. Erin Paré and other town officials as well. She also noted von Haefen wrote her letter of recommendation for the board seat.
On budgeting priorities, Job pointed to having an “AI Framework” before accusing the state and federal government of failing to be clear on what funding Wake County Schools will get. Job said one of her priorities was “interschool knowledge transfer,” which was described as an in-house best practice exchange instead of sending teachers to outside programs to augment teaching styles to improve student proficiency rates as well as closing achievement gaps.
Job was asked about school choice being used to attract “all families” to the district, and she responded that she is the “poster parent” for magnet schools in her community and moved there to get her child into Farmington Woods Magnet School. She also mentioned busing being an issue for magnet schools.
“I do want to end by saying though that the words ‘school choice’ are very fraught,” said Job. “And I think it’s very important that we make sure that we don’t fall into a trap of thinking that the neighborhood schools are bad while the magnet schools are good. They’re different. They offer different things. So we still need to make sure that the neighborhood school is as good as possible for every kid.”
The Wake County Republican Party issued the following statement after Job was selected:
This week the Democrats on the Wake County School Board went through the motions, pretending they were considering a range of candidates to fill Lindsay Mahaffey’s seat for District 8. Out of 14 candidates WCPSS chose Jennifer Job, an official from the Wake County Democrat Party and someone who represents Red, Wine and Blue which is a far-left activist group advocating for sexually graphic adult material in schools. Every time there is an appointment of a new school board member everyone knows a moderate or conservative will have zero chance.
The Democrats on the Wake County school board don’t hide their activist agendas, and some of their outrageous statements have gained national attention. WCPSS Democrat school board members consistently stack the board appointing only Democrats who fit their agenda which includes allowing boys in girls’ sports in locker rooms, putting DEI over a quality and fair education and the protection of inappropriate content in schools.
Wake GOP is thankful for Cheryl Caulfield and Dr. Wing Ng who consistently push back against the Democrat board members to remove politics from the classroom and we know that even in the face of the consistent political posturing to advance far left advocacy in our school system they will continue to stay strong to be the voice for all parents who simply want their children to get an education.
