Austin Garrison Announces Candidacy For Beaufort County School Board District 2 Seat | Eastern North Carolina Now

Open Letter to the Citizens of Beaufort County School Board District 2

BY:  The Beaufort Observer Editorial Team

Austin Garrison announced his intent to run for the Beaufort County School Board District 2 seat next year against conservative Republican incumbent Charles Hickman.  He posted his announcement March 27, 2025, on the “What’s Happening In Washington, NC & the IBX” Facebook page.

Mr. Garrison says we should not accept failure in our schools any longer, specifically referring to the SW Snowden School in Aurora.  Furthermore, he claims that the current board member, Charles Hickman, a conservative Republican has done nothing.  Specifically, he states, “No fight, no advocacy.”  He could not be further from the truth!  Charles Hickman was one of only two, yes two, School Board members who voted in opposition to closing the SW Snowden School at the School Board meeting on March 25th.  This topic was brought to the board’s attention by the “Big Cheese”, most likely due to his continued effort to consolidate schools and make it easier to indoctrinate our youth further from their homes.  All four of the RINO board members (TW Allen, Terry Williams, Carolyn Walker, and Daniel Hudson) as well as Democrat member Eltha Booth, voted in favor of closing the school.  Mr. Hickman not only advocated for keeping the school open, but he discussed the detrimental effects that would occur if the school were closed.  These include bussing children more than 35-45 miles, each way, to attend school in Chocowinity.

If Mr. Garrison were as familiar with the current corruption, incompetence, waste, fraud and abuse that reign and have reigned on the School Board for years now, he would realize that the very person he seeks to remove from office is one of only four conservative board members (Charles Hickman, Donald Shreve, Stacey Davis, and Gary Carlton).  The weak School Board, although supposedly made up of a Republican majority, continues to bow to every whim of “Big Cheese”, the Superintendent.  The only way to solve the issues that currently plague our schools is to reelect our conservative Republican members and find one more to replace Terry Williams, a weak member who caters to Cheeseman’s every order.  Until we have strong board members who truly support conservative Republican values, we will not be able to remove the “Big Cheese” from his would-be “throne”.  Unfortunately, Cheeseman realizes he has five useful idiots, and knows he is untouchable as long as they remain seated on the board.  One only needs to remember the “Big Cheese” has never received a performance review as required by statute and policy by this weak board.

Mr. Garrison is unfortunately underinformed as to the realities on the ground in our schools. If you look at the support he receives from the RINOs, it is clear to see that his candidacy is only a bid for Cheeseman to gain additional support and it is Garrison, not Hickman, who receives his talking points from others as opposed to being an independent thinker himself.  Although 40-50 citizens of District 2 attended this week’s School Board meeting, Mr. Garrison was nowhere to be found to speak with them or hear their concerns following the meeting.  Mr. Hickman, however, was outside listening to the concerns of the public until such time as he was called into “closed session” by the remaining board who were impatient to get finished and go home.  Please do your homework and connect the dots prior to voting this year.  Mr. Garrison is the wrong choice for SW Snowden, Aurora, and Beaufort County School Board District 2.