Lexington, SC 10/08/2024 - Dana Homesley is running for a seat on Lexington County School District One’s Board of Trustees. There are four total seats up for grabs on November 5th, 2024, during the General Election. Two seats are open because the board members holding those positions have decided not to run for reelection. The other two seats are held by trustees whose terms are expiring and they will have to try and win another term. Terms last 4 years.
Homesley grew up in Irmo but has called Lexington home since 2011. She is a graduate of Clemson University, with a major in History and a minor in Political Science. She is married to David, her college sweetheart, and they have been together for almost 18 years. Homesley has a third grader and kindergartener who attend Lexington Elementary, where she is secretary of the PTA, member of the School Improvement Council and Moms in Prayer group.
Homesley said she made the decision to run for school board “after attending board meetings and seeing for myself just how divisive these meetings were and how little trust the public had in the school board members elected to represent them. Our school board members have made it clear they don’t want to hear what citizens have to say.”
For the past 3 years Homesley said she has regularly attended meetings and devoted much of her time to learning everything she could about school board governance, policies, and laws. Homesley said when she attends a meeting she usually leaves with more questions than answers and when she reaches out to board members, if she receives a response, it’s from one or two members and her questions remained unanswered.
Homesley said, “I don’t consider myself a politician. School board is the only ballot I have ever put my name on. After trying to communicate with this board, having my mic cut off during citizens’ participation and watching this board claim to be transparent, civil and open to questions, while their actions tell a different story, I feel like the only option is to run for school board. The people need a voice, like they had when Jada Garris was on the board, and right now I don’t feel like they have one.”
Homesley said for the last 3 years she has submitted Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests, sharing that information with the board and the public through a Facebook page she co-founded, Informed Citizens of Lexington County School District One, which has over 4,000 followers. Through a FOIA to the SC Department of Education she learned that the district knew that the cost of the transportation facility was going to triple – from $3 million to $9.5 million - months before administration brought that information to the board for an “urgent” vote.
Through another FOIA request, Homesley said she recently learned that employees at the district office had received raises ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. She said, “I put hours of work into compiling salary data and sharing it on my Informed Citizens page. I will continue to share information that you won’t find anywhere else.”
Homesley said she’s not a “yes woman”, but she won’t vote “no” just to be disagreeable, but because she has educated herself. “I’m not going to vote to approve a tax increase when I know we have a surplus of millions each year. I’m not going to sit quietly while our board approves a budget that includes the state-required minimum salary for teachers. I intend to prioritize paying our custodians, food service workers and instructional assistants a livable wage. There is no wonder we can’t fully staff our support positions. These same workers that influence our children’s lives on a daily basis can go work at Chick-Fil-A and get treated better and paid more!”
Homesley said she believes that the school board not only needs to focus on recruitment and retention, but they also need to ensure the schools in Pelion, Gilbert and White Knoll have the same access to a high-quality education as the schools in the Lexington area.
Homesley said most board members spend more time patting each other on the back than taking care of business. She said board members should always ask, “What would be most helpful for students? And have we asked the community and staff how they feel about this?” Instead, she said, “What we are being told is, ‘When we want your opinion we will give it to you.’”
Homesley closed by saying, “Our students deserve board members that advocate for them. Our staff members deserve board members that do what is best for the Lexington One community as a whole, not just what is in the best interest of the people at the top. They also deserve a safe place to voice their concerns without fear of retaliation. Citizens deserve responses to calls and emails from individual board members. When people take the time to show up to a meeting and stand in front of the board with questions and concerns as their last-ditch effort, the least the board could do is ensure that someone follows up with them.”
“The notion that if the board ignores people they will just go away, has proven to be untrue, yet as new board members are elected, they fall in line. I will never stop speaking out about what I have witnessed – not when my speaking time is cut short and I am told to sit down, not when a certain board member encourages people to take a chill pill and choke on it and not when I’m ignored.”
“When elected, I will follow up with citizens that take the time to speak during board meetings. I will serve the community through proper policy, fiscal transparency, and responsibility, all while keeping the citizens informed so that they are able to provide input and feedback. I have committed myself to this work because I believe in this community and our children.”
You can learn more about Dana Homesly by going to her website at www.HomesleyForLexington1.com. You can also follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DanaHomesleyForLexington1SchoolBoard/
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