Only one seat on the Dare County Board of Education is contested in the upcoming election, making it a smooth sail to a seat on the board for two newcomers.

Anthony Fletcher, a Buxton newcomer, is challenging two-term incumbent Joseph G. Farrow Jr. for a seat in District 4.

Fletcher said his 20 years of experience with budgets and budget constraints and with personnel management gives him the insight and skill to make him a valuable member of the School Board.

Fletcher, a general manager at Midgett Realty, said he is responsible for a $16 million budget. He also runs two real estate development companies for Midgett.

"That's basically the strength of my work history," he said.

With contracting enrollments, Dare County schools will be facing funding shortages, he said, and his expertise would be useful on the board.

Fletcher also said more parental involvement is needed in the schools on Hatteras Island. The business community has to be more engaged with the students, said Fletcher, who supports mentoring and apprenticeship programs with area businesses for students.

He said he has the professional contacts to help make them work.

"There's a lot of opportunity we can give them that they don't have right now," he said. "A lot of children, when they're going to college, they have no idea what they want to do."

Fletcher said he would be better than his opponent at reaching out to the community.

"My communication style is much more different than his," he said. "I'm more open-minded and willing to listen."

Farrow said much has been accomplished during his tenure. Dare County's test scores are at an all-time high, the drop-out rate has gone from 96th in the state to the third-lowest. A drug-testing program was implemented. New schools have been constructed, and others have been renovated.

"Under my eight years, the school system has flourished," he said. "The public, I think, has confidence in the School Board for the first time in a long time."

On Hatteras Island, an intervention center for students with problems has been opened at the high school. Next year an alternative school will be opened at the old weather station on Buxton Back Road.

An in-school suspension program also will start next year on Hatteras Island.

But Farrow said there's a lot more to do.

With all the new buildings, maintenance funding must be adequate to "keep our facilities in tip-top shape," he said.

The schools also have to stay one step ahead of the evolving times.

"We need to continue to implement technology in our curriculum," Farrow said. "We need to make sure our technical curriculum is relevant to what our students' needs are."

Farrow said the school system has to look again at the programs that provide career skills for the future employment of its students.

"We need to lay the groundwork for them," he said.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com