If you haven't turned your attention to the upcoming Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board race, now would be a good time. With 16 candidates seeking three at-large seats, whittling the number to the best three will take some time and commitment to find out what the candidates stand for and will do once they join the other six district members.
Candidate forums have already started. You missed one today at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum in west Charlotte. Six candidates - Elyse Dashew, Aaron Pomis, Ericka Ellis-Stewart, Tim Morgan, Mary McCray and Hans Plotseneder - showed up to get grilled on a number of subjects. Among the highlights, all but two said they would not have closed schools last fall, a move that brought howls of citizen protests and spawned anger and community divisions. Dashew said the issue was too complex for a yes or no answer - which the questioner wanted - without explanation. Morgan, a current district school board member, said he voted to close the schools to have money to return teachers to the classroom.
Next Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the League of Women Voters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg will provide an opportunity for informal interaction with at-large school board candidates at the YWCA, 3420 Park Road. Refreshments will be provided. The public is invited.
Dashew said the issue was too complex for a yes or no answer
ReplyDeleteTranslated that means she has no clue.
It isn't complex. Supposedly faced with a $100 million dollar shortfall. CMS had to make decisions to cut spending.
We all know many schools were underutilized and space was available and Waddell was built in the wrong place to begin with.
Perhaps the person asking the question understood the complexities of the issue and asked to the question to see which candidates could answer with a yes or no.
Obviously Ms. Dashew could not.