What do CMS board candidates say about superintendent, low test scores?
The African American Caucus of Mecklenburg County Democratic Party hosted a pair of virtual school board candidate forums this month.
There are 18 candidates vying for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ board’s six district seats. Election day is Nov. 8.
The school board races are nonpartisan, which means party affiliation won’t appear next to the candidates’ names on the ballot.
During the virtual forums — held Sept. 15 and Sept. 22 — candidates were asked questions on everything from what they will be looking for in a new superintendent to low test scores among Black and brown students.
The Charlotte Observer tuned in to all four hours of the forums and has distilled highlights from each candidate. Here’s who’s running and what they said. Questions and responses were edited for succinctness and clarity.
District 1
District covers north part of Mecklenburg County.
Candidates: Rhonda Cheek (incumbent), Melissa Easley, Hamani Fisher, Bill Fountain and Ro Lawsin. Lawsin was not present for the forum.
Question: What qualities are you looking for in a new superintendent?
Cheek: “The first thing we need is somebody with absolute integrity. They have to be visionary. They have to be somebody who has shown they can do the job. We need to have someone who is politically savvy and knows how to work with multiple stakeholders. I don’t mean politics. I mean political savvy like know how to work with stakeholder groups like business leaders, parent groups — all the different groups. We need someone who is smart enough to hire top people in each of the specialty areas (academics, operations, finance).”
Easley: “The biggest thing we need to look for is someone who is a visionary, willing to think outside of the box that has experience working with teachers. You’re going to work with a teacher differently than a student or parent. Someone who is willing to sit down and have those conversations. Also, someone who wants to work with the board.“
Fisher: “Everything rises and falls on leadership. If the school board is in charge of hiring, as well as governing the superintendent, it has to fall on leadership. We need to look for someone who has a record of being a superintendent of a school district of this size. One who will be able to deal with learning loss. They need to have a history of working with the community so that we can formulate a culture that promotes a healthy work environment, accountability, student-focused learning, high student achievement and parent and community engagement.”
Fountain: “You want to make sure they’ve had some innovative decisions they have made in the past. Coming in with a proposal, almost like a business proposal. So I would like to see on this search have plans (that say) how are we going to get our students back on the course. Also, making sure this is transparent make sure that everybody has a good view of what these different candidates are going to have.”
District 2
District covers from uptown Charlotte, west to Gaston County.
Candidates: Thelma Byers-Bailey (incumbent), Monty Witherspoon and Juanrique Hall.
Question: What are your thoughts on the firing of former Superintendent Earnest Winston last April?
Byers-Bailey: “I was not pleased with the way it turned out. And I think I expressed my displeasure on the night we made the decision. Looking forward in the future we as a board need to get more community input and ask the community, (parents) and faculty what they are looking for in a superintendent.”
Witherspoon: “I had concerns initially, from the very beginning. You could almost anticipate that it would end in the way it did. I’m just being honest about that and I hope the community has learned a valuable lesson. That’s why we need a new board and that’s why I’m running.”
Hall: “He was overwhelmed. He was up against a lot. There were a lot of decisions he couldn’t make himself and he needed help making them. I think he should’ve just said he wasn’t up for the task.”
District 3
District covers parts of east Charlotte and extends north to the Cabarrus County line.
Candidates: Gregory (Dee) Rankin and Steven Rushing. Rushing was not present for the forum.
Question: Thoughts on improving test scores, particularly amid Black and Hispanic students who are less than 40% proficient in reading?
Rankin: “We can move the needle, but it’s not going to change overnight, and I hope that everyone can understand. You have to be transparent with parent(s) and community leaders that this is going to take time.”
District 4
District starts on the east side of I-77 and stretches to the county line in eastern Mecklenburg County.
Candidates: Carol Sawyer (incumbent), Stephanie Sneed and Clara Kennedy Witherspoon.
Question: What’s your big idea to close the achievement gap?
Sawyer: “The board has adopted goals and it’s monitoring progress. Third grade reading is one of them with a laser-like focus. We need our community to help us get our kids to school on time, to help us encourage our families to have their students in school every day. We have a problem with student attendance. And in third grade, that’s not the child’s fault. That’s a family problem that needs to be addressed community-wide.”
Sneed: “I’ve addressed the school board many times on the lack of focus on this and it’s particularly geared toward equity and closing these achievement gaps. I say it’s a top-down approach and it has to start with the board, with the selection of the superintendent, the administration (and that) goes down to the teachers. We often times we have a deficit approach in regards to students that are low income and of color. That has to change.”
Witherspoon: “I believe in a framework that the district is currently using — the MTSS system (multi-tiered system of supports.) School data tells you whether the school is serving students and serving students well. You look at the school data and begin looking at what the issues are. And if you look at the data, it will tell you. CMS has that data. If schools really use that data the way it should be, we can turn our low-performing schools around.”
District 5
District covers Myers Park area, Providence High and Matthews.
Candidates: Lisa Cline and Trent Merchant.
Question: How can the district recruit and retain effective teachers?
Cline: “We have to pay better if we want to recruit the best. We need to get out there and start recruiting and make it beneficial for teachers to come here. We have to make it so a teacher is not working two side jobs (to make ends meet.)“
Merchant: “We’ve got to find ways to support teachers ... and take some of that side (administrative) work off of them so that they can focus on teaching. Teachers need to have the room to be creative. Micromanagement is not going to get us out of the hole that we’re in.”
District 6
District covers the southern part of Mecklenburg County.
Candidates: Sean Strain (incumbent), Summer Nunn and Michael Watson
Question: How would you lobby for Leandro school funding?
Strain: “I welcome the increased funding but CMS is not short of resources. It’s short of leadership. But I would welcome the additional investment in our students’ futures.”
Nunn: “Besides lobbying the Mecklenburg delegation, which is in our corner, (we) actually (have to) create outreach to the other communities. We have to get a little creative, and we kind of have to show them that putting your money in our kids is the best thing.”
Watson: “We have to partner with our community to make sure that we have the proper funding, and there are creative ways to do that. But I think it’s important that the general assembly uphold its obligation.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 2:21 PM.
