Greenville County school board elections bring new trustees

Samantha Swann, Greenville News
·2 min read

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Voters have elected four new members to Greenville County Schools' board of trustees.

Incumbents Charles Saylors and Lynda Leventis-Wells held their own against challengers, while District 18 and 26 representatives Patrick Sudduth and Roger Meek lost their bids for reelection.

College and career readiness, teacher retention and conservative policy implementation were among the key issues of those elected.

Greenville County School Board District 18

Incumbent Patrick Sudduth lost his seat to challenger Ann Marie Middleton. Middleton received 57.9% of the vote.

Middleton is a retired FBI agent and former public high school teacher. Her key issue was college and career readiness.

Greenville County School Board District 20

Incumbent Charles Saylors was reelected with 55.6% of the vote. Challenger Tim Schuyler received 44.4%.

Saylors has served on the board of trustees for 20 years.

Greenville County School Board District 22

Incumbent Lynda Leventis-Wells held her seat against opponent Laura D. Godfrey, receiving 57% of the vote.

Leventis-Wells has served on the board for 15 years.

Greenville County School Board District 24

Anne Pressley won the District 24 seat over opponent Gene Beckner. Pressley won 61.6% of the vote. The seat was previously held by Derek Lewis.

Pressley serves as the director of the South Carolina Department of Education's Office of Curricular Innovation. The key issues of her campaign were teacher recruitment and retention, graduate success, and safe schools.

Greenville County School Board District 26

Incumbent and current board chair Roger Meek lost to challenger Amanda Brett. Brett won with 2,411 votes or 38.6% of votes while Meek received 2,210 votes, and Stephanie Leonard received 1,627 votes. There were 82 write-in votes cast.

Brett is the director of client relations at Upstate Med Spa and campaigned as a conservative candidate.

Greenville County School Board District 28

Jeff Cochran won the District 28 seat with 4,964 votes, 47.5% of the vote. Brittany Hilbert received 4,298 votes. Steven Watterson received 1,184 votes, and 107 write-in votes were cast. The seat was previously held by Lisa Wells.

Cochran is a retired public school teacher. He campaigned on being against critical race theory, socialism, and progressive policies for transgender students.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville County school board election results: 4 new trustees