School Board needs new blood to fix what’s broken

If you rushed out to the polls on the first days of early voting, you can stop reading now.

Your choice has been made — probably weeks ago.

But if you haven’t braved the polling place yet, or if you are unsure about what names you will pick when you go to make your choice for the Wayne County Board of Education, please, read on.

You should know something right off the bat — we are concerned about the future of this county’s schools.

It’s true they have been a disaster for years, a characterization we don’t use lightly, but one that is validated by ugly school report card scores, deteriorating facilities and, yes, a financial debacle that, without a bailout from an unprecedented pandemic and federal relief package, might well have buried our district.

Like you, we have heard the excuses. You know, “it was the superintendent,” COVID, money issues that forced larger class sizes, “everybody in the state is struggling,” blah, blah, blah.

We have also heard comments from teachers, school resource officers, bus drivers and other staff who have refused to return to local campuses because of everything from an increase in behavior problems and lack of resources to an expensive pre-packaged curriculum that is taking the teacher out of teaching.

For all those reasons, we are worried — and we think you should be, too. This no longer impacts only the students and their families.

Wayne County Public Schools has been put on notice by the Air Force, too. And before you say, “We’ll never lose Seymour Johnson Air Force Base,” former military leaders and longtime SJAFB advocates disagree. (More on that later.)

That is why it is so important that before you cast that ballot you think about a few things.

When an organization fails — and make no mistake, the Wayne County Board of Education has, for years, absolutely failed to act in the best interest of the taxpayers — those charged with making the decisions are held accountable.

A football team endures a losing streak? The head coach gets canned. A military operation goes awry? The commander is relieved of his duties.

Some of it is about saving face, sure. But it’s also about a public display of accountability.

We can think of no better lesson for the young people attending our public schools than a similar display on Election Day. Actions — or in this case inaction — have consequences.

Voters attempted to do just that after it was revealed that over a four-year period, WCPS went on a budget slide that ended with a $5 million deficit. But when the absolutely horrifying condition of the county schools’ financial situation — and the massive debt and bad decisions that somehow escaped the notice of the entire Board of Education, including its chairman and members of the Finance Committee — came to light, only one member of that board had a formidable opponent standing in the way of his re-election.

And Ven Faulk, who wasn’t even a board member during the trainwreck, was voted out. But the chairman, who wasn’t yet up for reelection, kept his spot — as did other members of the board who signed the checks and voted to RENEW the superintendent’s contract even when they were told about the stunning budget mismanagement.

They did not know about the financial missteps, they said.

We need better controls, they chirped.

And when, after being hammered in the press, the superintendent lost his job, the board announced a plan to fix the financial situation.

It was an expensive plan. They brought in consultants — good ones — who told them how bad the situation was and the steps that were necessary to fix it.

And one of those recommendations was spending less on the school board’s attorney, who, during his tenure, has deposited MILLIONS of your tax dollars.

The numbers were crunched, and the district was saved.

But don’t let them fool you. It wasn’t because of the board’s keen intellect and sound decision-making. It was thanks to COVID-19.

Don’t listen to what anyone says. WCPS used COVID money to cover line items — per federal and state guidelines — and that allowed other funds to be used elsewhere. And the COVID closures also saved money on everything from gas for school buses to energy costs at the dozens of campuses across the district.

And if they had not had that COVID money, we would still be in trouble. The board’s own consultant said as much. Publicly.

But because we had to use those funds to shore up our finances, we could not do what other districts did — use the money those COVID checks freed up to hire and to keep the best staff (in the classroom and inside Central Office) and to improve the education of Wayne County’s students.

And the children — and the teachers and staff who serve them — are the ones who paid, and still pay, the price.

There are larger classes and fewer teachers.

The budget is tight — tighter than it needs to be.

But that is what you have to do when you drop the ball, again and again — and hire the wrong people, again and again.

Last June, the board announced Wayne County Public Schools had paid back its state loan, and the millions owed to the School Nutrition Fund (another shockingly bad and unchecked decision) and had its budget back on track.

But there are some things they are not talking about.

Here they are:

Let’s start with who remains in the attorney slot. Richard Schwartz is the man whose firm has, during its tenure, billed the school district MILLIONS — including tens of thousands of dollars in money spent answering school board members and staff’s questions.

Who continues to champion him — even in the face of astronomical bills and real questions about the charges the school district is paying and has paid?

That’s right. The same chairman of the county school board who “didn’t know” the district was barreling toward financial ruin. Chris West.

West ran originally to clean up the county schools — to get them back on sound financial footing.

Instead, he oversaw a financial disaster.

He hired badly — and continues to do so.

The buck stops with the boss. And West has been the boss for years.

He also seems to have a rather cozy relationship with the county’s attorney — and it makes us nervous. And it should make you uncomfortable, too.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the most recent vote to renew Schwartz’s contract — again — even in the face of billing concerns and the undeniable expense of keeping this man as the board attorney, is the behind-the-scenes wrangling West used to put Schwartz back in the spot.

He called on members of the board, in writing, to meet with Schwartz during the bid process so the attorney could “explain” why his bills have been so high.

He knew that if he held meetings with more than three board members at a time, he would have to have the discussion in public, in front of the community. So, he slithered around to avoid having a public discussion.

Based on emails released by WCPS in response to a New Old North records request, only one board member, Jennifer Strickland, declined to attend the meetings — outright and in writing — citing the public’s right to know what was being discussed.

Don’t believe us?

Here is the email exchange:

Why?

We can already hear the excuse.

“Our attorney wanted to discuss specific cases that resulted in the high bills and you can’t do that in public because the information is confidential.”

Hogwash.

Ask any attorney you know if there was a way to hold that discussion in public — to give taxpayers the answers they deserve about Schwartz’s bills — and they will tell you there was absolutely a way to do it without disclosing sensitive information.

Hasn’t this board learned that dancing in the shadows leads to disaster?

Guess not. The alliance between West and the board attorney is, seemingly, more important.

But isn’t it strange that a few weeks later, Schwartz offered what has been characterized as the “low bid” for legal services? 

In truth, it wasn’t the low bid. Not even close. But when they based the potential expenditures on Schwartz’s average billable hour total (287) — a number Strickland rightfully called “asinine” — the nearly $400,000 base salary Schwartz’s firm quoted WCPS somehow seemed reasonable to a 4-3 majority.

Guess what?

Despite months of public outcry, Schwartz is back on the job. 

On a positive note, not every board member was fooled. Craig Foucht and Strickland — proven conservatives who clearly understand fiscal responsibility — and Len Henderson voted against rehiring Schwartz.

Naturally, we think the others made a bad decision based on a miscalculation of costs. We need to watch carefully to see what Schwartz’s bills are in the coming months. Otherwise, we might find ourselves in yet another financial debacle — and our students will pay the price.

No excuses. No, “we did not know.” No passing the buck.

Accountability and action. That is what we want, and that is what we think you should want, too.

To get there, we need strong leaders who understand what is at stake — and who are willing to stand up, who are not content just to vote “with the party” or because someone told them how to vote. We cannot afford to continue the way we are going.

All you have to do is to look at the recent U.S. Air Force school rankings and the latest round of test scores to see that.

And just so we’re clear, opening a new school on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base doesn’t render the AF report obsolete or shield this community from the wrath of a future BRAC.

In fact, it’s because the local school district is in such bad shape that SJAFB leaders demanded Wayne School of Technical Arts be created in the first place. 

We’ve talked to people who were involved in those discussions. West didn’t, as he claims, bring a school to Seymour Johnson. It was forced upon WCPS by military brass who were tired of sending their airmen’s children to underperforming schools.

Now, some good news. We have been surprised, pleasantly, by the courage of one of the board’s newest additions — Foucht — and not surprised about the complacency of others.

And that is why we think you need to shake up the board, to make sure that we have a group of people prepared to move this county’s schools forward — not one that’s busy making deals for people based on what college they went to, what family they were born, or married, into or what Greek organization they belong to.

Step One: Chris West needs to go. 

He has not lived up to the promises he made when he first ran for office. He has not fixed the district’s budget. He has not even been close to fiscally responsible.

It’s what happens when a politician forgets whom they work for. In just about every case, when an elected official has been in office too long, he or she starts being more concerned about his or her “position,” importance and influence than about the people he or she serves.

Politics, even in a nonpartisan race, becomes the watchword.

We have heard some disturbing things about the West-Watts contest — nasty rumors being spread about the challenger who, while WCPS was racking up a $3.4 million deficit in 2018 under West’s leadership, was being named Rosewood Middle School Teacher of the Year; and a recent WCPS graduate who was allegeledly forbidden by a local political party to campaign for Watts. 

We hope what we’re hearing isn’t true — that it’s simply a misunderstanding.

We hope.

Desperate attempts to retain power won’t change the facts. We believe this community is smarter than that.

West has served since 2010. And that is not something to overlook. Despite his many shortcomings, he deserves thanks.

But there comes a time when new blood is essential.

Now is that time.

And lest you think we are not all-in on the moves to fundamentally change how we educate students and what we prioritize in our schools, let not your heart be troubled.

We need to protect our schools from the idiocy that is poisoning education — and from the underqualified administrators who have replaced teaching with an expensive curriculum that the men and women leading our classrooms haven’t even been properly trained to implement.

Our schools need to be focused on our students and facilitate their learning the skills they need to move on to post-secondary education or a job. No distractions. We need to get control of our classrooms and our school yards.

We need to discuss — and believe us, we will — the bizarre curriculum choices being made on Royall Avenue that are doing not one thing to improve achievement in classrooms, despite the “growth data” any teacher would tell you is illegitimate.

That is all that matters.

But to do that, we need fighters.

We have one now in Foucht.

We need more.

And, by the way, we also do not need a board member who is a rubberstamp for a party line — and who, frankly, does not seem to understand much of anything he votes on.

Wade Leatham was a bad political appointee and a poor replacement for Rick Pridgen, a man who might have had some positions we disagreed with, but who was not afraid to ask questions and did.

But we all know why Leatham was chosen. He was a sure thing for Chris West — a guaranteed vote.

Leatham is a veteran and a man who deserves respect for his service and his willingness to take on a board seat. And he has made several personal contributions to schools without fanfare or notice that should be commended.

He is a decent man, but he is not what this board needs — not now when we are facing so many serious concerns and decisions with potentially disastrous consequences to be made. 

And there are others who need to go, too. But their terms, unfortunately, aren’t up this year.

But rest assured, we will be watching, and reminding you when their names return to your ballots why they, too, should have to answer for the financial — and academic — disasters that have been plaguing this district on their respective watches.