Four candidates running in Aiken County school board special election

Mar. 31—Some residents of Aiken and Saluda counties will have the opportunity to elect their next representative on the Aiken County Public School District Board of Trustees April 11.

Four candidates — Tony Kirkland, Drew Klapko, Kim Livingston and Deborah Tyler — received the required number of petition signatures to run on the ballot for the seat vacated by Sandra Shealy.

Shealy, who was elected to the school board in 2017, resigned for personal reasons during the Jan. 10 school board meeting.

The seat represents northern Aiken County and southern Saluda County. (Residents of southern Saluda County send their children to school in Aiken County.) Municipalities included are Wagener, Ridge Spring, Salley, Monetta, Perry and Windsor. High schools included are Wagener-Salley and Ridge Spring-Monetta.

Tony Kirkland

Kirkland, 62, is a Wagener native. He said he graduated from Wagener-Salley High School in 1978. After high school, Kirkland said he attended and graduated from USC Aiken.

He said 2023 marks his 40th year as a registered nurse. Kirkland said he worked at Aiken Regional Medical Centers for 20 years, University Home Health Services for eight years and he currently works at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.

Kirkland said he has been married to his wife, Gale, for 43 years. The couple have two sons, Justin and Kyle (both graduates of Wagener-Salley High School), and five grandchildren.

"My father was a middle school principal, my wife used to teach school, I have several family members that teach in Aiken County and I've been concerned with not just our schools here in Aiken County but the way education has changed," Kirkland said. "We can't change the way education is as a whole but at some point the parents and grandparents — a lot of kids are being raised by their grandparents — need to get involved with the school system like it used to be. That's going to be my focus."

Kirkland said he also wanted to improve the district's test scores, make sure the district's disciplinary policies are being followed and improve the lunches at the schools.

He also said he wanted teachers to be local residents.

"It was that way when I was in school," Kirkland said. "If you cut up at school, you saw your teacher at church on Sunday and she told your mamma and your daddy and when you got home you got your butt cut."

Drew Klapko

Klapko, 34, is a Baltimore native. He said he graduated from high school in Hartford County, Md. and came to South Carolina to play baseball at Lander University in Greenwood. At Lander, Klapko said he met his wife, Pam, and after they graduated he got an engineering job at the Savannah River Site — Klapko majored in mathematics — and his wife got a job in Columbia.

He said the couple settled on the Wagener area because his father-in-law had hunting land in the area and they were already familiar with it. Klapko said the couple purchased land and built a house on it.

Klapko added he worked as a systems engineer for Savannah River Remediation for three years before joining Hubbell Power Systems as a supervisor/engineer in 2016. He said he is currently operations manager for the company.

He added he has a mechanical engineering degree from Clemson and served for several years as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve.

The Klapkos have four children: Betty Jo, Andrew Jr., Jethro and Bristol.

"I have four kids that are currently in the schools, my wife is a teacher at the elementary school in Wagener, I have two nephews in the schools, I have friends whose children are in the schools, friends whose children have graduated ... I'm invested in the schools," Klapko said. "I know that as a board member as policies come up there's no better way to have an impact on your community than representing them on the school board."

Klapko said he wanted to get to know the other board members and work on three things: reducing classroom disruptions, improve teacher retention by improving the school environment and improving and insuring technical education in District 1.

Kim Livingston

Livingston, 54, said she spent most her childhood in Ridge Spring but added her parents purchased a business in Central Georgia when she was in sixth grade. She said she lived in central Georgia, graduated high school there and spent her first year of college at Georgia College (now part of Georgia State University) before returning to the Aiken area.

She said her stepfather had a stroke and she ended up moving back to help her mother.

Livingston said she graduated from USC Aiken with a degree in psychology, worked for a little while at Farm Bureau Insurance, returned to USC Aiken and took enough education classes to enable herself to take the Praxis exam and obtain a teaching certificate.

She said she taught first and third grades at Ridge Spring Elementary School for eight years followed by about five years at Aiken Elementary School teaching fourth and fifth graders and five years as a literacy coach at Wagener's Busbee Elementary School.

Livingston said she then became a literacy coordinator with the district and then took a job working in the South Carolina Department of Education Office of School Transformation.

She added she also later earned two masters: one in education (USC Aiken) and one in administration and leadership (Southern Wesleyan University).

Livingston said she has been married to her husband, Jimmy, for 35 years. The couple has three children, Taylor, Paul and Sammy, who attended Aiken County schools.

"I have thought about this for a long time but I couldn't do that when I was working in the district," Livingston said. "When I left the district, I always thought maybe I'll run for school board if it ever comes up. So, it did come up. For me, it's way to give back to the community — I've worked in both of these schools — and it's a way to serve."

Livingston said her goals are putting students first, thinking about the community and being a good collaborator and listener to it and listening to teachers about how to improve teacher retention.

Deborah Tyler

Tyler, 56, is also a Wagener native. She said she graduated from Wagener-Salley High School. Tyler said she worked for the school district and then entered Limestone University where she received a bachelor of science degree in business administration.

At the school district, Tyler said she started as the secretary of the purchasing department. She said she worked for the district for 16 years. Tyler said she took a job working for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services as a procurement specialist. Tyler said she then worked for the South Carolina Department of Transportation as a procurement manager before returning to Aiken school district where she served as procurement director.

Tyler said she retired in October.

Tyler and her husband, Ronnie, have two children: Rontreal and Ronnie. Rontreal played wide receiver at The Citadel and Ronnie, the younger, played wide receiver at Maryland.

"We've always been passionate about the success of children, even children in smaller communities," Tyler said. "We were blessed in being able to get them [her children] into good colleges which kind of secured their future and I just want to make sure that every other kid has that opportunity if they so choose to."

Tyler said her goals include improving teacher retention and improving the performance of elementary school students. Tyler said she wanted incorporate more career and technology opportunities for students in District 1. She added she wanted to work with her opponents if she won to keep improving the schools.

How to vote

Early voting began at 8:30 a.m. Monday and continues through 5 p.m. Thursday April 6.

Aiken County residents wishing to vote early can do so at the Aiken County election board office located on the bottom floor of the Aiken County Government Center located at 1930 University Pkwy in Aiken.

Saluda County residents wishing to vote early can do so at the Saluda County election board office located at 702 Batesburg Hwy. in Saluda.

Election day voting will begin at 7 a.m. April 11 and continue through 7 p.m. at 15 precincts.

Aiken County precincts are Monetta 21 (Ridge Spring-Monetta High School), New Holland 24 (New Holland Fire Department), Oak Grove 30 (Oak Grove Baptist Church), Perry 31 (Perry Town Hall), Salley 32 (Old Crescent Vocational School), Shaws Fork 33 (Shaws Fork Baptist Church), Tabernacle 36 (Couchton Fire Department Substation No. 2), Wagener 39 (Courtney Senior Center), Ward 40 (Jerusalem Baptist Church), White Pond 42 (Summer Grove Baptist Church), and Windsor 43 and 82 (First Baptist Church Windsor Activity Building).

Saluda County precincts are Richland 15 (St. Williams Catholic Church), Ridge Spring-Monetta 16 (Ridge Spring Civic Center) and Ward 20 (Mine Creek Baptist Church).

To find a voting precinct and to determine if a voter is eligible to vote in the election, a registered voter can log onto SCVotes.gov and scroll down the page until they locate and click on the "Check My Registration" option below a gold "MySCVotes" tab.

The voter will be asked to enter their county of registration, their first name, last name, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number on the next screen. There is also a robot test that could be required to move forward.

The next screen provides the school board district the voter lives in (Only residents of District 1 can vote), the location of the voter's polling precinct and an option to open the location in Google Maps for directions.

Polling precinct locations are also provided on a voter's registration card and unless the precinct changes places within days of the election, any changes in location will be mailed to the registered voter. If the precinct changes locations within days of the election, notices will be posted at the previous precinct that provide the new location.

Once a voter arrives at the precinct, they will need to provide photo identification to vote. Accepted photo identifications are a South Carolina driver's license, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles identify card, U.S. Passport or federal military identification.

How to find results

Results will be published online at aikenstandard.com and in the April 13 edition of the Aiken Standard.