Lexington, SC 10/15/2024 (Paul Kirby) - Lexington father, businessman, and resident David Terry is running for Lexington School District One’s Board of Trustees. He is one of 9 candidates vying for four seats that will be voted on during the November 5, 2024, General Election. There are 10 names on the printed ballots because one candidate, Adriannah Greyson, withdrew after the ballots were printed. A vote for Greyson simply won’t be counted and you could consider it wasted. Since School District One’s Board of Trustees are voted on at large and not in districts, the top four candidates that receive the most votes will win one of the four seats that are up for grabs.
The four seats are available for two reasons. Two of the incumbents whose terms are coming to an end have decided not to run again, and two of the incumbents whose terms are expiring will have to win again in this election if they want to continue serving another four-year term. This is a non-partisan election so none of the candidates must declare as Republicans or Democrats although by reading the biographies and questionnaires they’ve filled out on various websites including the district’s, most appear to be Conservative Republican or Conservative leaning Independents. There are none that have come out as Democrats and it would be a tremendous climb to victory if anyone had. Lexington County is very Conservative and only has one declared Democrat that holds a public office that lives inside Lexington County. That is Senator Nikki Setzler of West Columbia. Setzler is retiring this year after serving in the state legislature since the mid-1970s.
Terry himself is a product of Lexington District One Schools. He grew up in the Red Bank community and attended the White Knoll High School feeder schools. He graduated from White Knoll High School and lived in the Red Bank area of Lexington County the first 26 years of his life. He and his wife Brittany now live in the Mallard Lakes subdivision off Sunset Boulevard in the Town of Lexington with their 2 sons, 5-year-old Hudson and 7-year-old Mason. Mason is on the Autism spectrum and is in the second grade at Lexington Elementary School. Hudson will start Lexington Elementary in the next few years.
Terry says that he was motivated to run for school board in part because of the issues that his family had when Mason, his oldest son, began attending school. At the time, he was non-verbal because of his Autism. Terry and his wife did research that suggested that if Mason was added to a class of students his own age and without disabilities rather than a special education classroom, he would greatly benefit from the actions, words, and interaction with students without a disability. Basically, it was the Terrys hope that when Mason was around students with no learning disability, he would begin to model or mimic other students and thus move forward with his struggle with Autism. Terry, Britany, and Mason, met with district officials at an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meeting and it was agreed by all that this could happen.
Once IEPs are in place, the law says they are to be followed and whatever accommodation is in them should be put into place if the school district can reasonably provide that accommodation. Since Mason’s IEP simply meant swapping his classes around, no one thought this accommodation would be unavailable or even difficult!
Unfortunately, this never happened for Terry's son Mason. After many calls and meetings, the Terrys’ finally had to retain lawyers that got involved in the situation with their son Mason Terry. “As a child without learning challenges, I received an excellent education from Lexington School District One. For the most part, I believe we still do a great job teaching kids who are lucky enough not to need IEPs or some type of special accommodation. However, I have heard from a number of other parents who say that when their child requires something other than the curriculum the district uses to teach most other children, things can get off track very quickly and those children often get ignored, pushed to the side, and left behind by District One,” he continued. “To this day, we wonder if Mason would be talking and interacting as well as he is now if we as a family weren’t financially blessed enough to be able to hire the legal help we used to get Mason where he needs to be.”
Terry currently serves as a project manager for Johnson & Lesley Construction, a site contracting business that does work across the Midlands. Currently, they are working on projects such as a large, new apartment complex that’s being built near the campus of the University of South Carolina. His education brings about mixed feelings for Terry. He has a degree in English in Secondary Education. His original plan was to teach in the public-school systems at the high school level. After completing that degree, he was unable to find a teaching job and he decided he’d attend USC Aiken and study for a business degree. He eventually gained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from LSU Shreveport. “Although I am glad I have my education, I only taught in public schools for a couple of years. I believe I could have saved money if I knew then what I know now. I think that many young people often find themselves in a great deal of debt with degrees they don’t use in their day-to-day lives and jobs now.”
Terry currently owns a small business as a second form of income. He repairs and customizes tennis rackets. He simply does this in his time off and it has given him a unique perception into what it takes to budget for and manage the cost of buying high-end materials and giving exceptional customer service. “I think that all politicians should have to have owned a business at some time. It really is a great education in much of what offices like the School Board of Trustees face on a daily basis.”
After teaching for just a couple years, Terry was offered a job at USC in their Tennis Program. “Tennis was something I enjoyed and the job they offered me was one I really couldn’t refuse,” he said. “Once I got into the job, I realized that my previous education didn’t matter. I had to learn to function within the systems the University already has in place. If I had to do it all over again, I’d look hard at what I was studying and spending my educational dollars on.”
Along this same line Terry said, “I think at Lexington District One, we need to reprioritize our efforts on how our students select what they plan to do after graduation. We need to try harder to help students understand that college isn’t the only path. I don’t believe we are putting enough emphasis on the potential careers and the needs in the trades and the military.” Terry stated. “There are so many jobs now that require technical training and although the Lexington Technology Center (LTC) does a good job of educating its students in trades, we’ve probably outgrown it in some areas. We likely need to look at a similar facility in the White Knoll or Pelion areas of the county. I believe that if we expand the curriculum the LTC has to offer, increase the size of labs like the one used for the welding program, businesses in Lexington County will get on board and help with staffing and equipping these programs.” “We have so many businesses that need people who are educated on skilled trades,” Terry said. “Just think about the trade of truck driving as an example. Although most trucking companies want drivers that are over 25 years old or older. We could start those students after graduation by helping them get their initial CDL and driving school buses within our district to gain experience.”
He also talks about educating students more on the real benefits of military service. “For a student who wants money for more education, job training, and hands on experience, the military is often the way to go,” according to Terry. “The military will turn an 18- or 19-year-old kid loose driving a huge construction low boy trailer loaded with equipment that weighs 50 or 60 tons. We just looked for a driver who has these types of skills at work. It took us weeks to locate one even though we were offering more than competitive wages. A young person who had moved tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, or construction equipment for the Corp of Engineers would have been someone we looked at very closely,” he concluded.
Terry further said that the military gives benefits that few people ever consider. “I have a coworker who was in the Marine Corps. He banks at Navy Federal Credit Union which is open to him because of his military service. When he told me what the interest rate on his credit card was, I thought I had misheard him. The rate was unattainably low for a regular consumer at any other financial institution,” he said. “Many students considering military service need to know about all the benefits they would enjoy even if it’s not something super patriotic or exciting. Sure, they can win medals, be respected as a warrior, or get their name in the local paper as a hero, but they can also go to college on the GI Bill, get free legal advice, qualify for lower interest home loans, get larger and larger family allowances as their family grows, and all types of things. It really is amazing the incentives given in order to maintain America’s all volunteer military,” according to Terry.
When asked how he would plan to support the district’s Strategic Plan, he offered an answer that’s a common one for many of the candidates that are running in this election cycle. “I think that plan is a thin document that requires more work as time goes by. The board can support the district’s strategic plan by being good stewards of the resources we currently have and deploying them to areas that offer the opportunity to impact our students’ success. To do so we need to be competitive in the salaries we pay our teachers and staff compared to neighboring districts.” Terry continued by saying, “We also need to support and respect them in their instructional and disciplinary methodologies. We need to ensure they feel safe going into their school buildings on a daily basis. When I was finally able to secure a job as a teacher, I chose middle school because I believed it was a safer environment with the younger kids as compared to high schools.” Terry went on to say making a teacher more secure may be just the thing we need to help with retention and recruiting. “This may be something as simple and as small as a panic button worked into a key fob, additional SROs based on student population, or something else that’s cost friendly but teacher friendly too. If we can take even one unnecessary stress off those teachers, it may show we care and are thinking about our employees.
Although Terry has talked about several items that would cost the School District money, he wants to assure the public that he’s not talking about raising taxes to fulfill these ideas. “I think financial transparency is the key here. With my work as a project manager on large jobs, I think we could make enough cuts on things like bells and whistles at the district level.” He continued by saying, “I think we spend a great deal of money on things that improve aesthetics and do very little for function. I plan to work with other board members to identify these and reclassify and use them on real staffing, projects, and programs that can make a difference.” He went on to conclude that by managing waste, District One could have a great deal to put back for more important needs.
If you would like to learn more about David Terry, go to his campaign by following his campaign Facebook page which is located at David Terry's campaign Facebook page. You can also email him at deterry4lex1@gmail.com. He is excited about speaking with all the stakeholders for Lexington School District One.
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