DAVID WARNER STOPS IN TODAY (Candidate Board of Education) Horry County District 10 4/27/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The 2026 election season is here.

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And the Liz Callaway Show with Nick Summer are bringing you the voices and candidates. We're helping you make informed decisions for this year's midterms and statewide campaigns.

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Right now on the Liz Callaway Show with Nick Summer.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

All right, and joining us first up is David Warner. He is the candidate for District 10 Ory County School Board seat. And I see you everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

I guess so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

And you've been very politically involved. Um you've been very vocal about um you well, you were heading up Moms for Liberty, local chapter. And then you've also run for school board before, and you've been very vocal for um children who have special needs. And um, you know, listen, I people who with I have a child with special needs, so not in this well, actually she was in Oregon County School District too, but it is hard to get everything you need. So tell us a little bit about why you decided to run again.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, absolutely. So um, as you as you just mentioned, I've spent you know, several years working uh to ensure that our schools have uh age appropriate material in front of our students, ensure that um the curriculum is is uh is appropriate. Um, but really, you know, I have children within the district. I I have you know, me and my wife, we've been married in uh 18 years. Um we're we're dedicated to making sure that our schools are going to be um a place that's safe for our children and and for the future generations. And so uh this is the future of our country and it starts right here at home in Ori County.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So, what are some of the things that you are looking at the Ori County School Board and saying, you know what, I need to throw my hat in the ring and you know do do this for for the good of all children and families, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

I think it's so imperative that we have people that have courage that is willing to stand up uh to the system, to the educational establishment, to ensure that that the material and the things that are going on are appropriate, that there's transparency on our school board. And so um I just I I I just know that I have that ability. I'm not afraid. They came after me when I um was challenging curriculum and things in the within the district. Um if you search my name, you can easily see that the uh news was not really friendly, except for you guys, were pretty friendly to me.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Um yeah, we had you on a couple times. Like, what are you doing, David? You know, because they were talking about we were talking about CRT back then.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah, we we played some recordings from back then, and that was uh pretty uh wild things that were happening here, that uh New York style type of curriculum that was here at in our schools here in Warry County, and and we were able to actually that principal stuff down um not long after our interview. Um, so I think it's uh imperative that parent we have uh parents on the school board, that parents have a voice on the school board board that understand that it is our fundament fundamental right as parents to direct the upbringing of our children. And if you don't understand those basic things, um then I don't think that you're gonna be a very good voice for our families.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

So are you saying that the current board members or some of them are lacking in that area?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, I I think that some of them definitely. I mean, there are definitely people on the board who have not made parents a priority and and given us a voice that we need. Um we always hear, well, parents are involved. Well, parents aren't involved for a reason. Um, and if you're not able to put yourself in our shoes, then um then it makes it hard for you to be able to see what is really needed to make for sure that we have parental involvement and that we understand that at the very core that parents are the center of uh of these children's uh the decision making regarding these children.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Well, they should stay that way. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So um my question to you is because some people don't understand what the exact role is of a school board member. So, what is your understanding of what the role would be and how you would address transparency?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, so we there's one person that you employ in the school district, the board, and that's the superintendent of schools. And I think we have a really incredible new superintendent. I'm excited to hear some of his um his vision for our school district. Um but we do have um and and so and they have different roles, obviously, as far as different committees and things that they head up. Um and so I think that some of those roles need to be filled with parents um that are there fighting for our values and what we believe in, especially as conservatives.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Okay, so what do you see going on now that is lack of transparency?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah, I I'll give you a great example. So um a book um that I challenged uh just a few years ago that was a book at Daisy Elementary School of a little boy that was transitioned from a boy to a girl mermaid. Um and one of those goes Yeah, I challenged uh if you go back and you look at Seriously?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah, I know being trans transitioning to a girl wasn't enough.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

So, anyways, uh yeah, it just it never stops, um, as we all see on the news every single day. Um, but that committee was not made up of very many parents at all. Um and as and the educators definitely have the hand over parents, and we understand that that's obviously their place, but we should at least have an equal role on those on those committees, and um, we're not given up given those opportunities. Um, and so I I'll I'll just tell you this. I was in I was voted in by my school to be on the school improvement council. Guess what happened? They did not even call me to let me know that I was on it. I had to find out from the state later on, and what happens is if they don't want you on that committee, then they appoint somebody if you don't show up. So that's convenient. And come to find out I wasn't the only one, it was the other parent as well that was on that uh committee as well. So we need a voice on the board. We need people that are willing to to say no when the time is to say no, and to be willing to challenge inappropriate things and not just the inappropriate things, but transparency across the board.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

So, what are some of your platform points? What are you going to do if you're a school board member?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Well, I'm gonna ask, uh I want to ask about everything. I mean, I think that when we run into an issue, I mean, a great example would be the new building, uh, new property we bought on Highway 90. You know, who owned the property before? Um, did that person have an invested interest in the school board at any point in time? I would never vote if the property was owned by somebody who used to work for the district or was working for the district, or in this case was the strategic planning um person for the district and previously. I would never vote for that. Like that's crazy to me to think that we would have insiders, that we would be buying land from insiders within the district. And I think that that's incredibly important that we are taking the time to stand up as community members, protect those tax dollars, and ensure that the money is going the right way. The other thing about money that I think is incredibly important is what organizations are we paying money to? Um, if those organizations do not align our val to our values as a district or as a county, we should not be paying money to those organizations. And that money should go back to the classroom where we're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Is that happening?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Absolutely. There is many organizations. You can go through the transparency report right now online.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Can you give me one example that parents may not know? Because you you just alluded to that property there. You believe there might be some.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

I would I I I would say that in my position as a board member, if there was any question to the problem with that, I would say no. Because I do believe that there's plenty of property out there that there are people um well, first of all, they should have a long time ago grabbed land before we get to you know to the place we're at today. Um but um the school say uh South Carolina School Administrator Association is one example. Um if you look on the website right now, there's a$30,000 charge to that uh organization. I don't believe that those organizations re represent our val the values of our county. Um and I would say that they need to prove to us what kind of educational value and how it benefits the students directly.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

And so And what does that administration do?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

The School Administration Association um provides a lot of training um and and those type of things. I would really um encourage people to go onto the transparency report and just scroll through it yourself. Go through It's not transparent enough or well it's transparent, but there is not there's not details about how each one of the items are being spent.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

So you think it should be more transparent?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

It should be more and more transparent. Just calling it a transparency report doesn't make it transparent. Um we call it things a lot of things, but that's that's that's not gonna be um but yeah, so and I think that going through that and looking at it yourself, look at it, ask yourself are all these trips uh uh trips that we should be spending money on, are are the things that we're spending money on um are they going to uh directly impact the students? And the answer to that is no.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Not always so so so are you thinking doge doging when you look at these transparency things, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, I mean in a in a way, I think that it's I mean, I think that's your responsibility as a board member is to make for sure that the money is being spent correctly. Um make it.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

And being ex being put to the people as being spent correctly.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Going right back to the student where it belongs. I think that's the most important thing. As when we're we're top heavy right now, our district office is very large. Um we have a large di uh um district, but that doesn't mean that that money should be all spent or a lot of it should be spent at the district office. It should go right back to our classrooms.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So we have the budget blinds text line open 843-798-talk 798-8255 if you have any questions or comments for this Ori County School Board candidate running in district ten, David Warner. Um are you running against an incumbent or uh no Neil James is not rerunning.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Um so I have two opponents.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

You have two opponents. Okay. So what sets you apart from your opponents? Why should someone vote for you if you would like to spend the last few minutes here asking for the vote?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I am the only one that's running in this district that is not connected to the system in some sort of way. I do not have any family who work for the district or work in a any type of an administrative role role or educational role at all. Um and I think that's extremely important because I think that it can be easy to be uh we can look across the district and see where people have gotten raises within our district um that have family members who work within the district. And so it is imperative that we have somebody who represents parents, who demands transparency at every level of our school district and ensures that our parents are represented. I think that's so important because right now we do not have that.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

I've seen you at many events uh as you're out there campaigning. What are people saying to you is worrisome to them about what's going on right now with the Ori County schools?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Well, people are concerned about their tax dollars. They're seeing a county that's growing. Um, they're seeing a budget that's growing uh exponentially. And so people are very concerned about their money and the their home values. They're seeing in Loris, a middle school, um, a significant issue with reading scores, uh, some of the worst in the state, actually. And so they're doing some things to try to rectify that, and I'm and I'm happy that they're doing that. I think that it's uh important that that our kids can read. Yeah. And so um we sh those areas are more rural areas, uh and so um we need to spend the time and resources to make for sure that they can all read.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

All right. We have um, you know, I if if you have any questions, you can text us on the budget blind sex, and we have about a minute left. Um, so where do you want people to go to find out more about you, contact you, express their concerns to you? Maybe they have a specific situation, maybe they want to make you aware of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, absolutely. If you go to winwithwarner.com, that's my website. And if you go to facebook.com slash win with warner, you can find out. So uh at the end of the day, uh that's that's my my message. It's it's time to win um in Orie County, and we can do it together. I won with special needs kids. We just got our bill across the finish line uh for kids with with with autism. And there's been several other things we've done as far as getting books removed, over 300 books that have been removed from our district because of our efforts. And um, and we're gonna keep winning in Ori County if you elect me on uh June 9th.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

All right. WinwithWarner.com. David Warner, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, all right. Well, good luck to you. Like he said, June 9th is the primary. Um, so make sure you go out and vote because the primary is very important. Is this a um like a partisan race?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

It is a partisan race that people get that messed up, but it is a partisan race.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

And um that's why there's that's why you're in the primary, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

And yeah, and we need we need Republicans to get out because there are Democrats trying to vote in our elections. So please get out.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Interesting. All right, there you go. David Warner, thank you so much.

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The Liz Callaway show with Nick Summer. Stand by to be back in the field.