The 12 people seeking appointment to the remaining two years on the District 6 school board seat will make their pitch to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board at 1 p.m. today. Meanwhile, here's what they said in their applications.
Update: Board Chair Ericka Ellis-Stewart, who said last week the board could discuss applicants and even select one today, opened the meeting by saying that will happen at a second special meeting on Thursday.
This appointment will provide a gauge of how the current eight members feel about district representation. The idea of districts is to give each geographic area of the sprawling county -- in this case, the southern suburbs -- a voice on the board, even if that voice belongs to someone who might not appeal to voters countywide. The registered voters of District 6 are 41 percent Republican, 30 percent unaffiliated and 29 percent Democratic. They've repeatedly chosen Republican Bill James as their county commissioner in partisan elections, where the District 6 Republican primary winner is considered the strong favorite. They've also consistently selected Republicans in the nonpartisan school board elections. Expect to hear Tim Morgan, whose at-large election in November left the seat vacant, and fellow Republican Rhonda Lennon argue that means the board should fill the vacancy with someone of similar politics and philosophy.
On the other hand, Democrat Wilhelmenia Rembert brings extensive school board experience and has been elected countywide to the school board and county commissioners. Democrats now hold five of the eight seats (District 6 will be the ninth, and former Chair Eric Davis is unaffiliated), and Rembert's supporters will likely note she's a longtime resident and voter in that district.
Complicating the party question: In November's at-large election, the top three among District 6 voters were Republican Morgan, unaffiliated Elyse Dashew and Democrat Ellis-Stewart, according to the Swann Fellowship's post-election analysis. Larry Bumgarner, an unaffiliated voter who's applying for the seat, came in sixth among the district's voters.
Another twist: Hispanics represent a fast-growing minority in Mecklenburg County and its public schools, but so far they've haven't sought school board seats. Some in that community are eagerly watching Angelica Castaneda-Noorbakhsh, who is active in Hispanic/Latino groups and has applied for the seat. She would bring a missing voice -- but it might not be the voice of District 6, where only about 2 percent of registered voters say they're Hispanic.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Meet the District 6 dozen
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11 comments:
Ann, Dr. Rembert may have had extensive experience on the board (but not as a district 6 rep--and in her county wide position she was not sympathetic to suburban issues)but she also has a lot of experience in democratic politics and she was a big supporter of Nick Mackey. I can't recall all the details but perhaps you could come up with information on her involvement in the illegal precinct organization issue that originally empowered Mackey. Seems like this is important information for the community and board members to be aware of.
Tx, anon. If they pick someone today, we're going to be backgrounding after the fact, because there's no way to research 12 people in less than 24 hours (another reason I suspect they'll wait until Thursday, because surely the board wants to do its own backgrounding).
Shouldn't be hard to at least background this particular issue right now. I'm sure it's in the Observer archives. I think board members need to be reminded of this before railroading something through, which I hear may happen.
Don't even try and act like this thing is a horse race. The fix is in for Wilhelmenia Rembert and you know it.
11:42 I think you're right. I notice that the on-line article by Elizabeth Leland about the applicants comes up under "politics". We all know what's going on. Nonpartisan, indeed!
Still think the Observer could at least mention Nick Mackey before the decision is made.
One last thought about Rembert. Why did she wait until the last minute to file--was she encouraged to do so by someone or some group (black political caucus perhaps)? Or did she wait until there was no time for anyone to dig up her political past? Any way you look at this if she is selected it is dirty politics.But then that seems to be the norm in Charlotte these days. Does anyone care?
Yes we care and that is exactly why Dr. Rembert is the best choice of the candidates. Who brings better credentials to the board than Dr. Rembert? People seem so surprised that as a 15 plus year resident of District 6 that she is seeking the nomination. As far as the Nick Mackey show, please be careful not to confuse allegations of misconduct with substantiated facts that suuport misconduct. You are trending on a libel issue when you make emotional unfounded allegations as you have done.
What really matters here is the selection of a candidate to represent District 6 for the next two years.No matter what the politics and philosophy is of the person selected, absolutely nothing can get done without the support of four additional board members who do not live in District 6.In order to move forward with issues effecting District 6, the selected person has to be able to persuade other members to adopt their viewpoint.
The goodness for District 6 is going to depend upon which candidate has the ability to get 4 more board members to vote with them on concerns. Without that then it really doesn't matter who represents District6. Look at the current make up of the board and see what the possibilities of a majority might be.
There was a reason why Dr. Rembert was not re-elected in 2003 and why she was not re-elected to the County Commission a few years later. Could it be that the voters did not feel that she adequately represented them? Dr. Rembert made no bones about her lack of respect for suburban families when she was board chair. Why would she be a good representative for this district? And exactly what would she want to get done for this district (haven't heard her answer to that)?
Thank you, Tim Morgan, for screwing District 6 yet again.
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