Eric Hall, Elon professor of exercise science, was appointed to the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education during the April 28 meeting in a 4-2 vote. Originally, 16 candidates applied for the board vacancy, but soon afterward one candidate dropped out and before April 28 two more candidates had withdrawn their applications. Out of the 13 remaining candidates, eight spoke at the meeting.
“I'm excited, obviously, but obviously nervous too, just being something I haven't done before, but excited for the opportunity to represent my children and other children in the community,” Hall said.
During his three-minute statement allotted to each candidate at the meeting, Hall said he was looking to join the board after living in Alamance County for 25 years. Hall is also Elon’s assistant provost for scholarship and creative activity and director of undergraduate research.
He has two children at Elon Elementary and said during the meeting that through his work at Elon University and connection to the county, he felt it was important to give back to the community.
“I know the value of a public school education as that was what my background was,” Hall said. “We have made a commitment to be in this county because we see the potential in the growth of what’s here and that we are excited to be here and seeing just the landscape of higher education and of education in general.”
During the meeting, 14 community members gave public comments before each candidate spoke. Each ABSS board meeting has a public comment section where members of the community can speak for three minutes about issues within the county. Seven out of the 14 community members showed their support for former North Carolina State Representative Ricky Hurtado, one of the candidates who applied. None of the other seven community members who spoke referenced any candidate.
The two board members who voted no to Hall — Seneca Rogers and Tameka Harvey — both mentioned Hurtado as a strong candidate while the board deliberated. Harvey said she would be supporting Hurtado because county leadership is lacking in Latino representation. Out of the current six person board of education, Rogers and Harvey are the only people of color.
“I said, before I ever became a board member, one of my goals was that if I become a board member, I want to fight for the next board member to be from our Latino community, because it represents what our community looks like,” Harvey said. “We want boards to represent what our community looks like.”
Board member Dan Ingle said he supported Hall because of his role at Elon and how that could be beneficial to the board’s current needs. Last school year, ABSS faced a $25.8 million mold crisis after 32 out of 36 schools tested positive for mold. Ingle said having a board member with a knowledge of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems would be helpful.
“When you talk about things like HVAC and other things, we have a provost at Elon University, that's part of what his job and what he does a lot of other things,” Ingle said. “His name is Eric Hall. … He is a problem solver, is what I've heard.”