The CMS school board will soon look different. Will it have the same flaws?

It took a fair few setbacks and stumbles, but change is finally coming to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

Voters ousted three of the four incumbents who sought re-election, a historic shake-up that proves the public’s patience with CMS has worn thin. A total of five newcomers were elected Tuesday, meaning fresh faces will comprise the majority of the board.

In District 1, Rhonda Cheek, the board’s longest-serving member, faced four challengers. Public education advocate and former CMS teacher Melissa Easley emerged as the winner. Stephanie Sneed unseated District 4 incumbent Carol Sawyer in a contentious race that epitomized the battle between old and new. And in District 6, Summer Nunn defeated Sean Strain, one of just two Republicans on the board, by a wide margin.

The only incumbent to prevail Tuesday night was Thelma Byers-Bailey, the board’s vice chair. Districts 3 and 5 had no incumbent running.

The election was a referendum on the state of CMS, and the answer was a resounding thumbs-down. Voters were obviously fed up, and who can blame them? It’s been a rough few years for the district. Culture wars and pandemic pressures have fueled the public’s frustration with district leadership, on top of pressing concerns about student achievement and safety.

Change was a common theme reflected in the dynamics of this year’s elections. All 18 candidates who competed in the six races emphasized the need to improve student outcomes and hire a new superintendent who can position the district for success. Unlikely alliances — Black faith leaders and conservative moms, a real estate executive and a Charlotte pastor — formed in an effort to replace members of the existing board.

The new board will be sworn in come December, and it will likely be a hectic transition. Adding to the chaos is the fact that interim superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh, who was appointed after the board fired Earnest Winston in April, will be making an early departure. Hattabaugh’s last day is Dec. 31, and it’s not yet clear who will take his place as the board searches for a permanent district leader. Experience isn’t everything, but there may be a few hiccups as the newcomers settle into their roles.

We welcome change at CMS, especially on the school board. Over the years, the board developed a reputation for arrogance and secrecy, and its relationships with surrounding towns and other public bodies are sometimes fraught. It’s not only that the school board is ineffective — it’s also lost the public’s confidence, and sticking to the status quo isn’t going to fix that.

Still, the election results do deliver one thing missing from the school board in recent years: accountability. Incumbents were supposed to be up for re-election in 2021 — school board elections, like municipal elections, occur in odd-numbered years — but census delays and redistricting forced last year’s elections to be postponed.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the new board will be better than the current one. We hope the five newcomers, each of whom campaigned heavily on the current board’s flaws, will avoid making the same mistakes. We also hope that the four incumbents remaining on the board will get the message the public sent Tuesday.

But already, there’s talk of mounting pressure to name Dennis Williams, a leader of the African American Faith Alliance, as superintendent. Much of the current frustration with CMS has stemmed from its propensity to engage in backdoor dealings and make major decisions without the public’s input. Board members owe it to the community to conduct a thorough search process — in good faith — before making any public or private decisions about the next superintendent. That would be a good signal — and a good start — for a board that wants to do things differently.

Too often, school board governance in Charlotte has been about politics and distractions, instead of what matters most: the students. CMS has suffered because of it. We hope the next school board will change that.