The Rhino’s John Hammer further analyzes state Sen. Trudy Wade bill to transform the Guilford County Board of Education. Hammer echoes the point I made last week —anything to give the school board races a little life:
It’s not an election if nobody runs, and one reason candidates don’t run is because they know that the districts have been drawn so they can’t win.
It’s obvious from looking at the November ballot that something needs to be done, but nobody was doing anything. If the school board even considered making any change so that someone who was not a member of the school board club could join then they didn’t talk publicly about it.
Some people don’t want a partisan board, but nobody is running in the nonpartisan races. If the board is partisan, whatever party holds a seat, there will be pressure for the other party to find candidates to run against them. The parties should not only recruit candidates but encourage people to vote.
Maybe most people are satisfied with what we have — a wimpy school board that projects catastrophic funding cuts every that never seem to play out. As I also pointed out last week, remember what happened to the board’s lone budget hawk — he lost.
Then again, as the Rhino’s Paul Clark suggests –not without a touch of sarcasm —- maybe the board’s silence during Monday’s legislative meeting means they support Wade’s bill.
