I'm a Cane Bay parent, running to represent District 6 — on growth, school capacity, and infrastructure that hasn't kept up.
I'm not a career politician — I'm a mom, a small business owner, and someone who has lived both sides of the education question. I've homeschooled my own children, and I've also sent my kids — and my siblings — through Berkeley County public schools. Without ever changing my address, I've been a Whitesville Elementary parent, a Foxbank Elementary guardian, and now a Cane Bay Middle parent. The lines moved around me — I didn't move. Simply put: I'm a Cane Bay parent, and I'm running to represent District 6.
That's exactly why I'm running in District 6: growth at schools like Cane Bay doesn't stay contained. It spills into neighboring schools and drives up property taxes for families across the county — including here. I understand what working families actually need: single-income, dual-income, homeschool, hybrid, or full-time public school. This campaign is grassroots, built on neighbors and conversations — not a political machine.
My children attend Cane Bay Middle, so I see this firsthand. Cane Bay Elementary opened in 2009, and overcrowding was so immediate that 5th graders were taught in portables from the start. When Cane Bay Middle opened in 2012, it was built to hold grades 5 through 8 — pulling 5th graders out of elementary early, a structure most of the country doesn't use. In most states, 5th grade stays in elementary school; that overflow doesn't just disappear, it lands on neighboring schools, stretching their classrooms, their bus routes, and their budgets too.
Growth like this doesn't stay contained to one school zone. It drives up the property taxes that fund new construction and portables, strains the schools absorbing the overflow, and leaves District 6 families footing the bill for growth that happened somewhere else on the map. My own child has described how stressed teachers seem in classrooms that are simply too full — and that pressure spreads to schools I'm actually running to represent.
It's not just classrooms. Cane Bay neighborhoods flood, and Whitesville Elementary floods too — infrastructure that hasn't kept pace with how fast this county has grown. Schools and stormwater planning aren't separate problems; they're the same problem: growth approved faster than the county has planned to support it.
Berkeley County keeps approving new housing growth faster than it plans for the classroom seats, bus routes, and teachers that growth requires — and the cost lands on every taxpayer, not just the neighborhood being built. District 6 deserves a board member who plans capacity before the rooftops go up, not after.
New development shouldn't get approved without a real school capacity plan attached — so the tax burden doesn't fall on families who had nothing to do with the growth.
Parents deserve to know — before they buy — whether a school zone is likely to change.
Smaller class sizes and real relief for teachers in overcrowded classrooms aren't a luxury — they're a necessity.
Quality child care and flexible schooling paths — homeschool, hybrid, and public — for single- and dual-income households alike.
Parents should hear from the board before decisions are made — not after.
A board member who has homeschooled and used Berkeley County public schools — both sides, not one.
Cane Bay neighborhoods flood. Whitesville Elementary floods. Growth can't just outpace classrooms — it's outpacing stormwater and infrastructure planning too.
Pull up the county's own GIS map and District 6 doesn't read as one neighborhood — it's scattered fragments: a strip near Forest Acres and Chaparral Ranches squeezed against Cane Bay, a stretch out past Betaw Lane, a sliver near Pinopolis and Berkeley Elementary. Families a few streets apart end up zoned for entirely different schools, and those lines don't stay put. I've lived it myself: without ever changing my address, I've been a Whitesville Elementary parent, a Foxbank Elementary guardian, and now a Cane Bay Middle parent.
That's not a partisan issue. It's a transparency issue: families deserve to know their zone before they buy a home, not find out after the lines have already shifted again.
Don't assume based on your neighborhood's name — look up your exact address and confirm your current school and board district.
Before it's a state or a nation, self-government is a school board meeting, a county council vote, a neighbor at the door. School board isn't red or blue — it's down-ballot.
"The people are the government. What we create we ought to be able to control."
— Ronald Reagan, January 29, 1981"SC isn't a red state — it's a nonvoter state."
"Vote your ticket if you want, but scroll all the way down and vote nonpartisan races on purpose."
Canvass, sign-wave, or help spread the word in District 6.
Request a sign for your yard or business.
Tell us what overcrowding or busing has looked like for your family.
Scroll all the way down your ballot — and bring a neighbor.
Reach out with questions, to volunteer, or to share your Berkeley County schools story.
LaKyshia Godfrey is also a small business owner, homesteader, and homeschool founder in Berkeley County. Explore her full body of work at lakyshiadgodfrey.com.