‘Change across the board.’ What message did voters send by ousting 3 CMS incumbents?
Voters showed they wanted a different tone, focus and results when they ousted three of four Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education incumbents Tuesday, said District 5 candidate Trent Merchant.
Incumbents Rhonda Cheek, Carol Sawyer and Sean Strain lost their seats, while the school board’s vice chair Thelma Byers-Bailey held on to her District 2 seat.
The results followed controversial decisions about learning during the pandemic, particularly whether to teach students in classrooms or send them home for virtual learning, record-high numbers of guns found on campuses during the 2021-2022 year, poor performance on tests, growing achievement gaps and the firing of former Superintendent Earnest Winston.
“They wanted literal change across the board in terms of focus, tone and results,” said Merchant, who lost to Lisa Cline in District 5 Tuesday and served on the board between 2006-2011.
The combination of mounting issues and Tuesday’s results show parents “are genuinely concerned about the future of our children,” said Brooke Weiss, chair of Moms 4 Liberty – Mecklenburg. Her group has drawn the most attention recently for its criticism about about reading material in classrooms.
“If we can set politics and culture wars aside and respect the dignity of each other as human beings while engaging in reasonable dialogue, I know that we can find much more in common with each other than we have been led to believe,” Weiss told The Charlotte Observer. “I am optimistic that we can come together as a community for the sake of all students, and that this new board can truly focus on bringing about meaningful change.”
Jennifer De La Jara, an at-large school board member whose seat wasn’t on the ballot this year, said the results weren’t a referendum only on pandemic-related decisions
“So while there was a lot of noise about a possible backlash, both incumbents who pushed for a return to in-person learning lost. It appears public safety was and still is important to many,” De La Jara said of Strain and Cheek.
The new board will be sworn in Dec. 13. On the agenda for the coming months: a superintendent search, 2023 bond campaign and figuring out a way to bridge the achievement gaps that are the widest they’ve been since at least 2003.
“Where we go from here is after we’ve listened to the community engagement around the desires for the superintendent, we build consensus around selecting an effective superintendent,” De La Jara said, “I’m excited about what our new board will accomplish. We have a lot of important work to do”
Board composition
The school board races are officially nonpartisan on the ballot, but party politics can play a role outside of the voting booth.
Two of the seats held by people registered to vote as Republicans — Cheek and Strain — flipped to Democrats. Cheek lost to Democrat Melissa Easley in District 1; Strain lost to Summer Nunn in District 6. Democrat Stephanie Sneed beat Sawyer, a Democrat, in District 4.
Cline will be the only Republican. Gregory “Dee” Rankin, a Democrat, won District 3.
The current school board includes eight women and one man, and that won’t change with the new board.
With Strain losing his bid for reelection, Rankin will be the only man on the board after he took District 3 in a lopsided race: Rankin had 76% of the vote over Steven Rushing.
Every race had male and female candidates except for District 4, with Sneed, Sawyer and Clara Kennedy Witherspoon.
An educator’s voice in CMS
Wins for Easley, Cline and Rankin also mean three veteran educators join the board, giving teachers a louder voice.
Cline spent her career in a wide range of teacher and leadership positions within CMS, including stints as an assistant principal at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, West Mecklenburg and Ardrey Kell high schools.
“We are all so blessed to live in Charlotte with so many amazing diverse parents, teachers, and students,” Cline said, “and I am eager to start working on their behalf.”
Easley was an educator for 14 years — 10 of which were in CMS as a science and social studies teacher.
“My win says that the community agrees that teachers should be part of the decision-making process,” Easley said. “Bridging the communication gap between what happens in the classroom and discussions and decisions made on the board is going to be critical in changing the culture in CMS.”
Rankin is a former CMS educator and a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association Educators, said Amanda Thompson Rice, CMAE’s president. She’s optimistic about the election results.
“I’m very optimistic in the fact that the people who have been elected have the mindset to change the trajectory of our schools and the success level of our students no matter the zip code or background,” Thompson Rice said. “We, as teachers, are always ready to jump in and collaborate. We know that this work — changing our school system — takes the community, parents and schools all working together.”
The first step
Rankin, the former chair of the education committee for the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and member of the CMS Equity Committee, said Wednesday he’s just trying to take it all in.
“It is clear the community was looking for a change on the board,” Rankin said. “I am looking forward to working with my fellow board members and meeting the needs of the families of CMS.”
Thompson Rice called the election ground zero for new board members. Getting elected is only the first step, she said.
“Be willing to listen and respond. Listen to our retired and current educators,” Thompson Rice said in an interview with the Observer. “And listen to our students. How are students are feeling when they’re coming to school? How are they leaving to serve in the community? The real action is at the school level. I invite everyone to come and work in your neighborhood schools and schools outside your neighborhood. Our students have to see that as a community we care about them.”
