The Wake County Board of Education appointed Jennifer Job to its District 8 seat during a special called meeting last week, filling a vacancy that had been open since August.
Job replaces former board member Lindsay Mahaffey, who stepped down late this summer. District 8 includes much of Apex and nearby western Wake communities.
The oath of office was administered to Job at the board’s meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Complaints that Job, a leader in the local Democratic Party, was chosen for partisan political reasons have been circulating in the community — and were voiced by some at the meeting Tuesday.
Jennifer Dearman, who was one of 14 applicants for the position, addressed the board during the Public Comment period. She criticized what she called a lack of transparency in how the selection process was handled and said the decision was unduly influenced by partisan concerns.
She said the “R” on her voter registration (which indicated affiliation with the Republican Party) effectively ruled her out as a candidate before the process even started.
Dearman said it was clear that the board had made up its mind that it would select Job even before the interviews with applicants were conducted.
Board members Cheryl Caulfield and Wing Ng echoed some of Dearman’s objections in their own comments at the meeting.
For her part, Job in brief comments Tuesday expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve on the school board. She said her decision to seek the appointment was not motivated by partisanship but by 18 years of experience in the classroom as a teacher.
Chris Heagarty, who was chair of the board when Job was appointed and passed the gavel to newly elected Chair Tyler Swanson on Tuesday, pushed back hard against allegations of partisanship and lack of transparent.
Heagarty said there is a dangerous trend in the country of questioning the legitimacy of duly held elections, and he “will not stand” for the integrity of this process being challenged.
He said board members read all the resumes that were submitted and asked meaningful questions during the interviews with the applicants.
Heagarty said he was as surprised as anyone that Job was elected on the first ballot. The reason he voted for her was the way she answered questions during the interview, he said.
Heagarty said he had no idea who he was going to select before the interviews were conducted.
Job brings a long background in education to the role. She previously taught in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and later served on the faculty at both UNC–Chapel Hill and Oklahoma State University. She holds a doctorate from UNC–Chapel Hill’s Culture, Curriculum and Change program.
School board leaders said Job will serve out the remainder of the term, which ends in December 2028. She is expected to step down from her current post as vice chair of the Wake County Democratic Party in order to assume her new responsibilities.
