Come Tuesday, Ericka Ellis-Stewart and Mary McCray will switch sides - and thousands are watching to see what it means for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

During the past year, both were leading critics of school board actions. Ellis-Stewart, as a Harding High parent, took issue with the handling of school closings. McCray, who led the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, challenged decisions on testing and teacher performance pay.

Once they're sworn in as at-large board members - joining Tim Morgan, who will move from representing District 6 - they'll be the ones facing the spotlights and making the tough decisions. They'll plunge into a superintendent search, budget planning and an appointment to fill Morgan's district seat.

Both are known as hard workers with an extensive knowledge of education. Both have a reputation for staying calm in the midst of heated disagreement. And as the top two countywide vote-getters, both have been mentioned as contenders for the chairmanship.

Their election means the board will have a stronger African-American presence than it has since 2003, the last time black board members held countywide seats. It also means Democrats hold at least five of nine seats, compared with four now. While elections are nonpartisan, many expect the party shift to signal changes in board philosophy.

How that plays out, though, remains to be seen.

Ellis-Stewart a perfectionist

When the board decided last month to delay a staff report on the effects of this year's school closings, Ellis-Stewart started making notes.

Harding, the school she fought to save, has been through turmoil this school year as it lost magnet students and picked up neighborhood students from the now-closed Waddell High. But she started jotting down things she wanted to know about other schools in transition, too.

"I probably sent them a total of three pages of questions" in preparation for Tuesday's meeting, Ellis-Stewart says.

That attention to detail is what propelled Ellis-Stewart, a political newcomer who ran her own campaign, to the top spot on the ballot. She says she set a goal of winning 33,000 votes, interviewed people about what it would take to get there and started lining up volunteers, networking for support and targeting precincts where she could win.

She ended up with 35,341, landing in the top three in most precincts. But she wouldn't let her crew start celebrating until all the votes were in.

"I tend to be a perfectionist," Ellis-Stewart said.

Ellis-Stewart works for UNC Charlotte's business college and has a daughter at Piedmont Middle. Her son was at Harding last year, but this year moved to the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, a public boarding school in Durham. She says that wasn't motivated by the changes at Harding, but by an opportunity to attend a highly competitive specialty school.

Tuesday, Ellis-Stewart will join her colleagues in discussing how the closings and mergers have played out at more than 30 schools. Most of the students affected are from low-income minority families, and she says it's important to her to ensure they're better represented than they were during last year's decisions.

But that won't be her sole focus, she says: "I'm there to help people, whether it's a Harding parent or a parent from Huntersville."

Departing board member Joe White, who was on the receiving end of Ellis-Stewart's criticisms last year, initially balked at endorsing her, fearing she was a single-issue candidate. After a long talk, she won him over.

"I never heard Ericka say anything, whether I agree with her or not, that she didn't say it well," White said.

"She's just the perfect lady. I think she has great potential as a politician."

Teacher McCray: I'm open

As head of a teachers' group, McCray was highly skeptical of the way CMS tried to launch performance pay. Her dismay at the district's effort to take away teachers' vote on changes to the pay scale prodded her to run for school board.

But as she prepares to claim the seat she won, she hardly sounds like she's bracing for battle. Instead, she says CMS leaders are moving in the right direction.

McCray praises the efforts of Daniel Habrat, the recently hired human resources chief, to form new teacher advisory groups. She says teachers now tell her "we feel like we're being heard and we're not afraid to voice our opinion."

McCray, who has a daughter teaching in CMS and a grandson who's a student there, says she's willing to work with her new board colleagues on a better plan to reward teachers for classroom gains.

"I'm for accountability," she said. "I would want my grandson to have an effective teacher."

As head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, an affiliate of the National Education Association, McCray got used to scrutinizing politicians. Now the public eye is on her. Even before taking office, she's been described warily as a union boss (the CMAE cannot exercise collective bargaining in North Carolina, a right-to-work state) and heard people speculate that she's out to bring back busing for desegregation.

Not true, she says.

"Kids have been moved too much. When you do all of this moving and reshuffling, you're uprooting kids. I still believe in the school that's closest to you."

But to make neighborhood schools work, McCray says, CMS needs to improve schools in many neighborhoods.

Judy Kidd, head of the Classroom Teachers Association, and Randolph Frierson, who took McCray's place in CMAE, say they think McCray's presence on the board will help teachers. Frierson says McCray can fight hard without making personal enemies.

"She's always had a calm demeanor," he said. "She can stand ground comfortably."

Departing board member Trent Merchant, who spearheaded the performance-pay push, voices respect for the woman he sometimes clashed with: "She can speak with a lot of authority and gravitas."