Growing up in Guilford County, Ebony Burnett attended more than a dozen schools within the school district.
“My family was in transition,” she said. “I was sometimes homeless. I would go and live with my aunt, who was a Guilford County Schools teacher.”
Now, she’s using her personal story, coupled with decades of experience in youth development, to run as a Democrat for the District 4 seat on the Guilford County Board of Education. The seat is currently held by Republican Linda Welborn, who is not running for re-election this year.
Early voting for the primary starts February 12 and runs through February 28. The primary is on March 3 and the general election November 3.
“Being able to see both sides of the world gives me a unique perspective,” Burnett said.
Burnett attended High Point University and NC A&T State University.
A mother of two current GCS students, Burnett currently works as the vice president of strategic partnerships for shift_ed, a local organization that works to set up children for success in the workforce. Prior to joining shift_ed, Burnett worked for a decade for the YMCA of Greensboro. It was through that organization that she found her footing for youth development.
She started out as a volunteer and then as a camp counselor who witnessed the difficulties some of the children were experiencing in their lives. Eventually, she became the youth development leader at the Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA. She helped lead the organization through the pandemic, setting up remote learning and working with the health department on safety measures. She then joined the larger YMCA of Greensboro network in 2021, helping oversee all of the YMCA facilities across Guilford and Rockingham Counties.
Burnett led advocacy efforts around students’ needs in Guilford County, including advocating for a nurse in every school, universal meals for all students, and increasing funds for public schools.
“I want to help be a part of changing systems,” she said.
Her priorities include looking at every policy through an equity lens, she said. That includes racial, language, and income equity. There are more than 120 languages spoken within the school district, Burnett said, but school policies are only available in English. She would push to make sure the policies were in at least the top five most spoken languages.
She would also push for allocating funds to different areas within the district.
“To make sure funds are going to the schools that need those resources the most,” she said.
She also wants to ensure every school has free meals for students.
“I’ve lived in extreme poverty and no heat and infestations and those kinds of things,” she said. “Even if students don’t have things within their home, they can get those resources at their school.”
One of the most important factors for a child is having someone they can trust within their school system, said Burnett, whose campaign slogan is “Champion for Children.”
“Every child in their school needs to have a champion they can go to when they feel uncomfortable,” she said. “Studies show that as long as they have one caring adult in their life, their likelihood of success skyrockets.”
The district could prioritize this by making it a campaign where students identify one adult at their school with whom they feel safe, Burnett said.
Having a school resource officer in the schools is fine, Burnett said, but they should be a last resort. If every student had a trusted adult they could go to, instances of violence or disruptions would decrease.
As someone who previously worked in a charter school, Burnett said she believes in public schools now because of the standards set by the district.
“Some charter schools are doing the work, but there are inconsistent standards,” she said. “And the district has higher standards, but we receive the same amount of dollars per student; it’s unfair.”
To help alleviate some of the financial pressures, Burnett said, the district could get innovative with certain expenses, like getting a lawn service to sponsor a school by providing free landscaping.
In a time when diversity and equity policies are being challenged at the national level, Burnett knows they can feel like divisive topics. But she thinks change is coming.
“I honestly think we are in a unique position and primed for change within District 4,” she said. “Although we have a Republican-leaning district, we have quite a few unaffiliated voters.”
If she makes it to the general election in the fall, those are the voters she’ll try to reach. And she’s got skin in the game, too, as a mother of two kids in the district.
“The work that happens on the school board will have a direct impact on my life, my kitchen table, my car rides home,” she said. “I have a unique understanding of what happens in the district.”
Correction: The original version of this story misstated the year Burnett began working with the larger YMCA of Greensboro network. It has been updated.
