Thursday, January 5, 2012

Stinson-Wesley is surprise D6 choice

The CMS board has chosen the Rev. Amelia Stinson-Wesley, a Pineville minister and nonprofit director, to fill the District 6. She was one of two Democrats who applied. See the discussion below:

4:40  Ericka Ellis-Stewart says she's heard that D6 is conservative, Republican, white district. "Based on the numbers, that is true."  But we have four localities -- Charlotte, Pineville, Mint Hill and Matthews -- and "it's not just a one size fits all."  She says it's about who puts needs of children first. "I would like to support Dr. Rembert ... at the same time, we have individuals like Rev. Stinson who have worked in the community."  That's a majority for Amelia Stinson-Wesley. She gets five formal votes.

4:38  Eric Davis says "we lack significant analytical skills" on the board. Also wants to honor district approach. He had three finalists -- Bolyn McClung, who withdrew; Wilhelmenia Rembert, whom he admires; David Knoble, who is his choice. Considered Stinson-Wesley but doesn't think she matched Knoble.

4:35 Richard McElrath says he gave star ratings as he reviewed applications. "I ended up with four stars by one name, and that name was Amelia Stinson-Wesley." Said he'd like to see a Latino member but "there's going to be time for those other issues."

4:30  Tim Morgan says David Knoble interviewed principals, teachers and families about needs of D6. He says only four of 12 applicants bothered to call Morgan beforehand, and Stinson-Wesley wasn't among them. Morgan calls her "very nice, very well spoken, but folks, I don't know where she really stands on D6 issues. She has not run this campaign like an election, which I think is necessary." Morgan defends Knoble's interest in privatization of some CMS services.

4:27 Mary McCray, who lives in D6, says Stinson-Wesley shows calm passion and is best choice.

4:25  Joyce Waddell: Stinson-Wesley showed good knowledge of issues, passion for education and passion for District 6.

4:25  Tom Tate says he was surprised on reviewing notes to realize he preferred Amelia Stinson-Wesley. Says she showed good mix of concern for D6 and whole district and "said she wanted to see our students soar."

4:20: Rhonda Lennon says it's not about who she likes, it's about what voters of District 6 want. Says south suburbs have been "woefully neglected" in school construction. She supports David Knoble.

4:20 p.m.  Process is generating debate. Davis, Tom Tate and Rhonda Lennon it's important to explain thought process. Approved unanimously -- and Ellis-Stewart immediately calls for a vote. Davis breaks in and says his motion was to explain before voting. They're starting.

4:10 p.m. Tom Tate nomintes the Rev. Amelia Stinson-Wesley, a Democrat. Tim Morgan nominates David Knoble. Stinson-Wesley appears to be the compromise, after suburban opposition to Wilhelmenia Rembert.

Eric Davis asks that each member speak about the choice. Richard McElrath objects to the idea of compelling anyone to explain a vote.

4:05 p.m  Bolyn McClung withdraws from consideration because he has made donations to current Chair Ericka Ellis-Stewart, former Chair Eric Davis and Tim Morgan. Ellis-Stewart notes that the question has been raised about whether it's a conflict to vote for a donor, and says "I will say that for me personally, that does not represent that our votes can be bought."

Morgan praises McClung for withdrawing to protect public trust, and says "a cloud of impropriety" will hang over the process if board members vote for donors. Wilhelmenia Rembert, viewed as a leading contender, gave to Ellis-Stewart.


3:55 p.m.  Negotiations are going on up to the last minute. Board members Tom Tate, Eric Davis and Rhonda Lennon have emerged, while the others are still, in Lennon's words, "huddling."  They can't legally hold a closed meeting to discuss a school board appointment, but they can confer in small groups in back rooms and halls. Tate says he doesn't anticipate a unanimous vote.

The room in the Government Center is starting to fill with applicants and a few observers.

40 comments:

AnswerMan said...

Bolyn should get a medal. What a chess move!

AnswerMan said...

It's over. Stinson Wesley if Tate supports her...

Wiley Coyote said...

...only thing left is to hire a Super...

When will we see the white smoke?

The special interest group(s) are already salivating.

Anonymous said...

No surprise here. The Democrats refused to support the best candidate. Stinson Wesley doesn't represent District 6 in any way, but it assures Stewart a majority vote without collaboration. Not good for CMS. As usual, Tom folded.

Anonymous said...

I can't find her name registered as a voter. Could be just a unique way she is spelling it (with the dash or without).

Anonymous said...

And Timmy did support d6 in any way? Yeah ok.

Anonymous said...

Who? Rev. Sharpton-Wesley???

Wiley Coyote said...

Mecklenburg ACTS

We oppose the use of standardized test scores as an integral part of any teacher pay system developed by Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS).

Amelia Stinson-Wesley, Pineville Elementary, 28134

Founded World Connections For Women... I can't find much of anything about it:

World Connections For Women Inc in Pineville, NC is a private company categorized under Organizations.

Our records show it was established in 2000 and incorporated in North Carolina.

Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $74,000 and employs a staff of approximately 1.


Amelia Stinson-Wesley, ’90:

Rev. Amelia Stinson-Wesley has used her Bachelor of Arts in religion and psychology in a variety of ways. She has worked as a pastor and a missionary in locations such as Cambodia, India, Thailand and Australia, founded two non-profit organizations, and directed a battered women’s shelter/rape crisis center. Currently, she is a stay-at-home mom and founder/director of World Connections for Women, an organization that works on sustainable development projects in developing countries. Of her work, she says “The most rewarding aspect of my non-profit work is being able to travel to developing countries and feeling like I’ve truly helped make a positive difference in the world.”

Anonymous said...

So, hers is one of those non profits that benefits to provide the founder a job, income, travel expenses. Nice choice, CMS.

Anonymous said...

Make that "exists to provide...."

Anonymous said...

Alright, if Tom "I know nothing" Tate and Tim "I wish I knew something" Morgan approved this lady then we are all in for quite a ride.

Anonymous said...

OH MY GOSH, Another Reverend to join the unholy alliance with Tom Tate. Hey, just throw in Andy Baxter who knows nothing about test metrics and you will have three of kind.

Anonymous said...

If District 6 feels underrepresented they can blame Tim Morgan. His plan to keep his seat and get another without the voters was foiled. Not sorry.

Anonymous said...

Demo or repub, I don't care. We need a stop to this testing madness. Hopefully the new board will do this. It would appear that Tim Morgans power play failed and Rhonda Lennons 'silent majority' has spoken. Trouble is, she didn't like what they had to say.

Anonymous said...

School board is supposed to be non-partison and the district seats are supposed to represent interests of those in the district. Even the Charlotte Observer (not a conservative paper) had an editorial today that a Republican should be appointed to represent us in District 6. Unfortunately the radical Dims on the school board didn't see fit to follow this advice. It shows even more that Charlotte is becoming like Detroit or Atlanta and only interested in the inner city, minority interests. That plan to have all of Charlotte south of Pineville-Matthews Road form a new city is sounding better every day. Charlotte government and CMS sure want our money to bail out all their pet projects but don't want to serve our interests. S Charlotte CMS schools have gone downhill in many respects in the last several years due to poaching of teachers and administrators for minority schools (yeah like that will make a difference for those kids). Fine - drive all of us to private schools and let the overall scores decline and the minority population of CMS go up. Seems that is the only agenda the school board has.

Anonymous said...

So now we have 3 liberal black educators. 1 liberal black non-profit executive. 2 liberal ministers. 1 liberal white guy from Wells Fargo. 1 liberal woman who sells real estate. 1 nervous liberal guy who's brother runs the Charlotte Chamber.

Perfect.

Anonymous said...

Private School or Weddington - here we come. Thank you CMS school board for being so stupid.

Anonymous said...

And here's one white family who may not be fleeing after all- now that the pro-testers are in the minority. Looks like Tim's plan totally backfired on him.

Anonymous said...

Bubbly is popping at the Observer, Democratic Party, West Charlotte, East Charlotte, North Charlotte, Foundation of the Carolinas, all the many education parasite groups, and Jabril Hough's house.

A better statement could not have been made to District Six, except for closing the schools.

Pamela Grundy said...

The Mecklenburg ACTS campaign against testing madness had strong support among District 6 parents, many of whom were Republicans. On this crucial issue, Rev. Stinson-Wesley is definitely more representative of District 6 parents than Tim Morgan was.

Christine Mast said...

@5:09, here's the link to her voter information:

https://www.ncsbe.gov/VoterInformation.aspx?id=8FE37DA216F877209FBA690FB404C062CA34E351D1A9C29A

Full Name: AMELIA STINSON-WESLEY
Street Address: 805 MAIN ST
City: PINEVILLE
Zip Code: 28134
County: MECKLENBURG
Gender: Female
Race: White
Ethnicity: Not Hispanic or Not Latino
Voter Reg. Number: 000099887056
Registration Date: 11/09/2006
Party: DEMOCRATIC
Precinct: PCT 225
Eligible To Vote?: Yes

Anonymous said...

Well, well. What a surprise. First, they revalue suburban towns' property for far more than its "fair market value" in order to give a boat load of money to the failure that is CMS. Then, they deny the suburban towns fair representation. They only things that are "marked to market" around this vast wasteland are CMS test scores among Vilma's base, the "poorest of the poor."

Anonymous said...

MeckActs is in no way representative of District 6. They are representatives of the extreme left-wing of the Democratic party.

Mainstream Democrats today believe schools need to be reformed and improved. They don't espouse the failed policies of the past 50 years of US education policy.

Unfortunately, I fear our new BOE will be a strong representation of MeckActs.

Anonymous said...

I'd still like to know why Rembert wanted the board post. She had to know how opposed to her most in her district were. She did not respect the views and concerns of the district's families(remember her reference to suburbanites as "privileged" and only looking for convenience). Yet she continued to lobby for the position anyway. What kind of person would do a thing like that? (except a very political and manipulative one) And Erika still wanted to support her?

We've had a lot of publicity over the past ten years about lack of community trust. Does anyone believe the school board dems are trying to create trust? Don't think so!

Anonymous said...

The Tipping Point is a great book.

The powers here, should have learned the way of shoving it down the throat, with out choking those of us here in District Six.

But we do have so many people who are not tired of being sick and tired, so this may not boomerang on them.

Pamela Grundy said...

I will repeat, the Mecklenburg ACTS campaign against testing madness had strong support among District 6 parents, many of whom were Republicans. Rev. Stinson-Wesley's decision to sign our petition indicates that her views on this issue are in alignment with those of many District 6 parents. In this regard, her appointment is a positive development for District 6, and for the rest of the district as well. I recommend that posters wait to actually learn about her positions on other issues before jumping to conclusions about the kind of representative she will be.

Anonymous said...

Stinson-Wesley was overheard Tuesday commenting to another audience member at the board presentation that she was "so unqualified compared to some of these other people here, they have such good qualifications. I am just excited to be part of the process" Giggle Giggle....

Anonymous said...

Pam...do you and Tom Tate smoke the same thing......she doesn't represent the voters or taxpayers in D6, plain and simple. Testing aside. She is a tree hugging liberal who would rather give away the D6 money than spend it on the kids in D6

Anonymous said...

The Petition, signed back in 2005, to break up CMS, had it most signatures in District Six.

Someone should do a study on the willingness of voters today.

But in the mean time, how do we spin this slap in the face at District Six?

Anonymous said...

@7:56-So you feel you've been denied fair representation? You're going to be represented in a very fine manner. Give her a chance. And if you do continue to feel you've been denied fair representation, you have only Tim Morgan to thank for it.

DistrictSix said...

Just enjoy the water, as it heats up.

The wonderful payoff is coming soon.

Pamela Grundy said...

@8:20

Why do you say "testing aside?" Whether or not our kids are tested to death, to the detriment of real learning, is one of the central issues in the future of public schooling.

Wiley Coyote said...

Testsing isn't going away, at least in the near future because the Obama administration is pushing it.

1 to 5 more years of Obama means 1 to 5 more years of testing.

Better get used to it.

Anonymous said...

Prediction, Tim Morgan will run for some other office before his 4 years of at-large are done. Curious how his lap dogs who were prevalent on these boards during the campaign have not said a single word during this replacement process.

But how disappointed are all those voters who gave Ellis-Stewart 30k votes in the election? While she just proved she's not a Chamber lap dog, her vocal support for Rembert is telling. Buckle in folks, it's about to get turbulent.

Anonymous said...

Woo- hoo. Pamela's back!

Wiley Coyote said...

Woo- hoo. Pamela's back!....

....and there is joy in Whoville tonight.

Pamela Grundy said...

Perhaps someday this Forum's resident Grinch will venture from his cave and join us.

Anonymous said...

Anytime I see "Reverend" in front of somebody's name I know to hold on to my wallet.

Wiley Coyote said...

...the Grinch walks among you....

Anonymous said...

I agree with Pamela that Stinson-Wesley herself should not be criticized without knowledge of her positions. As a public school parent in district 6 she may be very much concerned about issues important to the district. The question is--does she have the skills to effectively represent us? Or was she selected by the majority because they believed she would be a lap dog for the new majority?

I also think it is perfectly legitimate to question how the selection was made. Agree very much with a poster somewhere who questioned Tom Tate's reason for supporting Stinson-Wesley: "because she wants to see all students soar". A nice thought but pretty hackneyed at this point.

Sharon Starks