Facing the voters: Rodney Fitch - School Board

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent

Rodney Fitch

Rodney Fitch, who just recently turned 60 while on the campaign trail for school board, has been a resident of Cleveland County his entire life. He served on the school board once before and is now looking to rededicate his time, in retirement, to serve as a member of the board of education once again.

A native of Upper Cleveland, and a graduate of Burns High School, Fitch recently retired from the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office in 2024, after 30 years of service to the county. But Fitch’s professional career began with working in textiles for 12 years before he went to work for the county.

He said now that he is retired, he has more time to dedicate to the school board, if elected. He wants voters to know that he won’t have the distractions of work to get in the way of having to make a workshop or committee meeting, being able to dedicate his time and energy to Cleveland County Schools.

During his previous time on the school board, Fitch chaired the safety committee.

“With all of my experience at the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, we made a lot of improvements to our schools, adding metal detectors to our high schools, camera systems to schools that didn’t have them and added to those that did,” he noted.

Fitch also said they implemented a student ID badge.

“We did a lot with that, and I was there when we implanted PALS,” he added. 

PALS is a reading program to help bring students up to the reading level of where they need to be.

Several underperforming schools were raised by work performed when he was previously on the board, according to Fitch.

“I was just one of nine, but you can’t do anything with just one. It takes all nine, but at least five to pass,” he explained. “It really is a team effort.”

Public service is his reason for running again - serving the citizens, “Most of my life has been public service and I want to give back to the community that has been good to me” he said.

Fitch also felt it was important to mention that he never moved away Cleveland County, and he feels now that he has the time to focus on the school board since he is retired, explaining that it would be his way of saying 'thank you' and giving back by serving on the board of education.

While he believes improvements have been made across Cleveland County Schools, he also said the board shows several noticeable areas of improvement.  

Positivity, professionalism and respectfulness seem to be missing from the board, at times and this behavior affects the county’s financial future through industrial growth all due to embarrassing moments during school board meetings.

“We need industry in this county, and when industry is looking to open something, they look at our school system and when they watch or read about our school board meetings; they’re not bringing their industry to our county,” Fitch explained. “But if we could be more professional in our meetings, we would be setting ourselves up for success by setting a good example, but right now we’re giving them a reason not to come here.”

(Rodney Fitch continued below..)

He continued, “As a board, we have to respect other board members' opinions and we can’t just go irate because we disagree or don’t like what we hear.”

In the future, if elected, Fitch wants to continue concentrating on underperforming students.

“If we don’t catch them in the elementary school, it’s hard to catch them up in the later grades, and turn our schools into high performing schools,” said Fitch. “68% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunches, which shows you the poverty level in Cleveland County.”

“So, people wonder why we have so many issues in our schools because we’re dealing with a poverty level that is higher than I think most people realize; and single parent homes, where parents are having to work 12-16 hours to make ends meet." he said. "That’s why it’s so important to me because the only meal or the only discipline they get is at school.”

“I want to bring positivity, respect and professionalism to the board. I think we can all agree to disagree We shouldn’t make the school board the greatest show in town, we need understanding and professionalism and bring safety and care up to a level where everyone is pleased with the level and I hope to do to the best of my ability to serve the students, staff and parents across Cleveland County.”

“You can’t go backwards, you always have to go forwards,” Fitch said in conclusion, at the end of the interview.

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent. 

The Shelby Independent.