Who is Hamani Fisher, District 1 CMS Board of Education candidate?
Name: Hamani Fisher
School board seat you’re seeking: District 1, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 46
Campaign website: Fisher4CMS.com
Email: Hfisher@Fisher4CMS.com
Occupation: Pastor/president
Education: BA of sociology, BA of biblical studies
Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought): No
Please list your highlights of civic involvement: Member of Mecklenburg County Task Force to Stop the Violence; member of Village Heartbeat Initiative hosted by the Mecklenburg County Health Department; member of Chief Johnny Jennings Faith Leaders and Community Roundtable; senior director of the Young Scholars Summer and Winter Enrichment Camps; Visionary for the Feast of Freedom Mobile Food Distribution Initiative, President of City Dive Inc.
What qualities, skills and experiences do you think would make a good superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools?
I believe the next superintendent will need to possess the skill set to lead the CMS educational system in diminishing the learning loss that our students have experienced in recent years. I also believe that it will be critical for the next superintendent to possess a philosophy of formulating a culture that promotes a healthy work environment, accountability, student focused learning, high student achievement and parent/community partner engagement.
CMS, along with other districts across the country and state, has lost a lot of teachers. What are your ideas to keep teachers in CMS classrooms?
Provide incentives and salaries commensurate with degrees and specialization. Collaborate with others to increase respect for teachers. I would also like to create forums to build a greater bridge of trust and advocacy for teachers. We will be able to forge greater support for our teachers, by understanding and building solutions to eradicate the barriers that hinder our teachers from progressing in their profession.
What solutions would you offer to improve student and employee safety on CMS school campuses?
I desire to introduce programs early intervention for children at risk academically, socially, and emotionally, I desire to collaborate with CMS leadership, teachers, safety experts, and community leaders to find the right solution. We must come up with a plan of action that will reduce risk while building trust and confidence. Involving students, parents, and families for short and long-term solutions is key to reducing risk and building trust and confidence.
How do you define CMS’ achievement gap? How can CMS bridge the achievement gap, raise test scores and get the 50 district schools off of the low-performing list?
The achievement gap is the disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students — usually divided by race/ethnicity,gender. One of the ways that will give us the most traction in bridging the achievement gap is to strengthen the relationship between the students, parents and teachers. It takes a village to properly educate a child and it is going to take a collaborative approach by the tripod of education to fix this problem.
Why should voters choose you over your opponents?
I have served in the space of education and advocacy for children and families for a very long time. I desire to collaboratively work with other board members, community residents and partners to reconstruct a bridge of trust with CMS and construct a system of advocacy that will reflect the educational values of our community. We must lead with the philosophy that our public education has to be centered around all students and their educational achievements.
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 7:58 AM.
