Halloween is over, but something scary is still happening in C.C. | Sunday Column | opinion

Chuck Thompson

3 hours ago

14 min read

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column

OPINION – Well, Halloween has come and gone. The candy has been eaten, the stomachs have ached, the sugar has run its course, the costumes have been put away, and hopefully nobody will have to explain to their neighbors why there’s a skeleton sitting in the front yard by Thanksgiving.

I decided I was going to dress up like an elected school board member this year. It was the scariest thing I could think of for Halloween.

And no, I’m not talking about how anybody looks. This isn’t about appearances, as Halloween usually is. I’m talking about the frightening realization that nine elected individuals are entrusted with making decisions involving a $212,785,463 budget for Cleveland County Schools, one of the largest employers in Cleveland County.

That’s right. More than $212 million.

That’s a whole lot of money. Enough money that if you dropped a $100 bill every time somebody said, “I think we need to look into that,” you’d still have enough left over to possibly buy a new school bus.

And yet, when it comes time to elect the people responsible for overseeing all this money, some voters make their decisions based on whether they like somebody, whether they’re friends with somebody, or whether they recognize a name on the ballot.

Qualifications? Experience? Financial management? Understanding how a school system operates? Knowledge of public budgeting?

Well, those are nice things to have, I suppose.

But apparently, sometimes all you need is a familiar name, a little drama and a few friendly handshakes.

Now, before anybody gets offended, let me explain something. I’m not suggesting every school board member needs to be an accountant, financial analyst, CEO or somebody who can calculate compound interest without using their fingers. But when you’re responsible for overseeing a $212 million operation, some understanding of how money works, a willingness to learn and the ability to tell the truth without manipulating the voters might be helpful.

Just a thought.

Let’s look at the numbers.

Cleveland County Schools serves almost 14,000 students across 28 schools and employs more than 2,000 people. That’s teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, maintenance personnel, administrators and countless others who keep the school system operating.

The adopted 2026-2027 budget, passed in October, is $212,785,463.

Approximately $132 million comes from state funding, while local funding accounts for roughly $31.8 million. The remainder comes through federal funding, restricted grants and other revenue sources.

That’s a tremendous responsibility, and it deserves tremendous oversight.

The district is also dealing with declining enrollment. School officials reported that enrollment had fallen by approximately 300 students compared with the previous year.

Fewer students can mean fewer dollars coming from the state, which creates another financial headache for a system already trying to balance its books.

And this isn’t a problem that can simply be brushed aside. Cleveland County has seen enrollment decline over time, with families choosing charter schools, private schools and homeschooling for a variety of reasons.

There are approximately 1,400 homeschooled students in Cleveland County, according to the figures discussed locally. That’s a significant number of children being educated outside the traditional public school system.

We shouldn’t automatically assume every one of those families left because they were dissatisfied with Cleveland County Schools. Families make those decisions for different reasons. But we should be asking why enrollment continues to decline and what the school system intends to do about it.

The argument to counter this is, “It’s happening everywhere.”

Well, people are jumping off bridges everywhere, too. Does that mean it should become an option here?

I’m not worried about what everyone else is doing. I’m worried about Cleveland County.

And then there’s the projected shortfall.

The district has discussed the possibility of a shortfall approaching $4 million, with more than $4 million expected to be drawn from fund balances across various accounts.

Now, before somebody tells me that dipping into reserves automatically means financial disaster, it doesn’t. School systems use fund balances for legitimate reasons, and budgets are complicated things.

But when you’re having to reach into the financial cookie jar to cover expenses, perhaps it’s time to ask how we got there and what we’re doing to prevent it from becoming a regular habit.

Remember, it’s everybody else’s fault.

Rising healthcare costs, utilities, diesel fuel, personnel expenses and other operational costs have all contributed to the financial pressure.

In fact, the district identified an estimated $1 million diesel fuel shortfall.

Apparently, even the school buses are getting expensive to feed.

At this rate, I half expect to see somebody proposing that the buses start walking.

But there’s more to managing a school system than balancing a spreadsheet.

The board also has to recognize that public education, economic development and the future of Cleveland County are connected.

Businesses considering locating here look at more than available land, tax incentives and how many buildings they can put up. They look at the workforce, the quality of education, the stability of local institutions and whether families want to live here.

I can’t state a company’s decision to locate elsewhere to school board disagreements without evidence establishing that connection. But I can tell you that public confidence matters, and constant public controversy certainly doesn’t help a community trying to attract businesses and families.

Parents want to feel confident about their children’s education. Businesses want confidence in the communities where they invest. Taxpayers want confidence that the people spending their money understand the responsibility.

Those aren’t unreasonable expectations.

And while we’re discussing the children, let’s remember that school board members are supposed to be working together for their benefit, not treating every disagreement like a personal grudge match.

We’ve watched enough public disagreements, accusations and arguments to understand that this board has had its share of drama.

If you hear something enough times, or repeat something enough times, eventually you’re bound to believe it.

But the facts are the facts.

Then there’s the question of commitment.

I’ve heard a candidate discuss the possibility of running for sheriff in 2030 while also talking about how serving on the school board is all about the children.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with considering another public office. People are free to pursue whatever opportunities they want. But it does raise a reasonable question about priorities and commitment.

I told him I thought he should think carefully about it.

If you’re going to campaign on the idea that serving children is your priority, voters have every right to wonder whether you’re committed to seeing that responsibility through or whether the school board is simply another stop along the political highway.

To me, that raises questions about priorities. And those questions deserve answers.

But here’s where things get interesting.

At the October meeting, the board adopted the enormous budget unanimously.

No disagreement. Finally, they agreed on something major. Surprisingly.

Usually, this board has been split 5-4 on a lot of matters. Disagreement is normal, and sometimes necessary, but there’s a difference between thoughtful debate and consistently opposing an idea simply because it came from someone on the other side of the table.

And the public notices.

Nine Republicans can sit around a table and still find plenty of ways to disagree with one another. Apparently, party affiliation doesn’t come with an instruction manual for getting along.

Meanwhile, people will defend their favorite candidate, ruin friendships and attack other people for having a different opinion on social media about a candidate like it’s their favorite WWE wrestler or football team.

It’s brutal.

And the board members will attack each other and grab the metaphorical microphone like it’s hanging in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania.

Which is why I think each board member should walk in to their own intro / theme music before every school board meeting with pyrotechnics and an announcer. Let’s at least make it entertaining.

I also wonder how many of the sitting board members who aren’t up for election will actually want to run again. That’s speculation, obviously, but why would anybody voluntarily subjugate themselves to the insults, arguments and public criticism that seem to accompany this school board?

I truly believe serving on the local school board has got to be one of the most difficult elected public positions in the state.

I’d rather run for governor than school board. It’s a little gentler than the circus that sometimes takes place in those meetings.

Remember the superintendent search?

After Dr. Stephen Fisher’s retirement following 12 years in the position, the board spent several months searching for his replacement.

On October 5, it selected Dr. Chris Bennett in a 6-3 vote.

Ronnie Grigg crossed the neutral zone and joined the usual five to vote in favor of hiring Bennett, temporarily breaking up the four horsemen.

Grigg later rejoined his usual crew by voting against Bennett’s employment contract.

Bennett’s annual salary was set at $205,000, and his four-year contract passed by the familiar 5-4 vote.

There’s an important distinction here that voters should understand. Selecting someone as superintendent and approving that person’s employment contract are two separate votes.

A board member can support hiring someone while having concerns about the terms of the contract.

Some board members questioned the hiring process, the contract provisions, the authority granted to the chairman and whether performance goals and a probationary period should have been included.

That’s legitimate territory for public discussion.

However, it also illustrates just how divided this board can be, even when making one of the most important decisions facing a school system.

If you want to understand why people are concerned about the direction of Cleveland County Schools, you have to look beyond the latest vote.

Enrollment has declined substantially over the past decade. Financial pressures continue and the board has spent considerable public time arguing over matters that should be handled with professionalism and transparency.

Meanwhile, some candidates have built their campaigns around the idea that houses are going up everywhere, insisting the school system is growing, or will grow, as the student numbers continue to drop massively every school year.

It doesn’t matter if someone builds a 40-story glass skyscraper apartment building in downtown Fallston, if the student enrollment numbers keep shrinking every year, something is obviously wrong.

I didn’t write this to tell you how to vote. I’m asking you to use your deductive reasoning and find the truth for yourself rather than simply accepting what somebody tells you.

Watch the meetings. Read the minutes. Look at the votes. Ask questions.

And don’t forget that the superintendent hiring process created a potential legal issue for the school board.

One board member questioned whether proper procedures had been followed. That’s a serious accusation, one that could create a legal headache for the school system.

Chairman Joel Shores asked the board member who made the accusation to send an email explaining the alleged violation to the other board members and then the email would be shared with the news media.

As of October 31, at 11:11 p.m., The Shelby Independent had not received that email; my guess is because it hasn’t been written.

If someone makes a serious accusation involving public business, the public deserves to know the reasons for it; or was it just more theater?

You can’t accuse your own board of violating proper procedures and leave everybody wondering what happened and expect the issue to disappear.

That’s not transparency.

And here’s something else people need to understand: Education and economic development are absolutely connected.

The whole point of education is to prepare students for life, equip them with the knowledge and skills to become productive adults, and give them opportunities to succeed.

Those children eventually become the workforce, business owners, taxpayers, voters and community leaders of tomorrow.

Businesses need educated workers, industry needs skilled workers and families want good schools. Communities need all three.

Let’s not forget the Marion Elementary School controversy.

The sale of the former school property to the One More One Less Project, a religious nonprofit, generated considerable public attention and questions about the process, the potential sale price and whether traditional competitive bidding should have been pursued.

Residents raised concerns about preferential treatment and the financial implications of the transaction.

The issue of selling the property had been a closed topic for a few years when the possibility of reopening Marion Elementary was presented to the public.

Some board members supported the idea of keeping the school and reopening it, and residents were encouraged to consider that possibility.

But reopening an older school isn’t simply a matter of unlocking the doors, turning on the lights and putting a welcome sign out front.

Some board members misled the public into thinking keeping Marion and reopening it was a possibility, The district would have needed substantial funding to make that happen.

However, later we all find out during the budget approval meeting that CCS not only needed the $500,000 from the county they the commissioners later gave to CCS, but also needed approximately $4 million from fund balances to help meet the district’s financial obligations.

Those are numbers taxpayers should pay attention to.

How did these board members who wanted to keep Marion and reopen it expect to renovate and reopen a school if they badly needed $500,000 from the county on a $212 million dollar budget?

The board has also had disagreements over school calendars, public policy and other matters that have generated plenty of discussion around the county.

Now, don’t get me wrong, disagreements are part of public service. I would be more suspicious if they all agreed all the time. Board members aren’t supposed to agree on everything, but to constantly have what seems to be a 5-4 vote on so many important decisions should raise more eyebrows than it does, but people don’t seem to notice how weird that is.

But there’s a difference between having disagreements and making sure the public’s educational tax dollars are handled responsibly.

And that’s the point.

I’m not writing this because I dislike public education. I graduated from public school and want to see our future generations do well.

Schools are among the most important institutions in any community. Teachers deserve support, students deserve opportunities, and taxpayers deserve to know their money is being managed responsibly.

The people entrusted with those responsibilities should be held to a high standard.

A school board seat isn’t a popularity contest with a nameplate, although some people seem to think it is. It’s a position of public trust by making responsible decisions and not vote for or against something just because another board member did, or didn’t.

When voters walk into the voting booth, they aren’t simply choosing somebody to attend meetings and vote on small things. They’re choosing people who will help determine how more than $212 million is spent, how thousands of employees are supported, how schools are managed and how the future of an entire generation of children is shaped.

That’s a pretty important job.

So, the next time you see a school board candidate’s name on the ballot, perhaps ask a few questions.

What do they know about managing public money? What are their priorities? Do they understand the challenges facing the school system? Can they explain how they intend to address those challenges?

If they can’t manage $100, how do you expect them to manage more than $212 million of other people’s money?

And, perhaps most importantly, do they understand that the money they’re spending belongs to the taxpayers?

I also believe you should vote for whoever you feel called to vote for. Don’t let anybody pressure you into supporting someone you’re not comfortable supporting.

Who cares what they think about you?

It’s an election, not a crime - yet.

However, why anybody would want to stay on, or come back to, the board of education after a decade of shrinking enrollment, enormous budgets, financial pressures, grandstanding and what sometimes resembles an episode of professional wrestling is beyond my level of understanding.

But then again, I don’t want to rule the world, especially not a school system.

I don’t think my ideas are better than anyone else’s, and I certainly don’t think I could do a better job than everybody else.

People who read things they don’t like will sometimes send me emails saying, “I could do a better job than you. I should start my own news site.”

Go ahead. Nobody is stopping you. I welcome it. You might do a better job than I do. I might decide to retire from journalism one day, and somebody needs to do what I do. I hope you do well.

But I still don’t understand why anyone would want to serve on the school board, much less indefinitely, or after having already served, been voted out and then be determined to come back.

It’s like volunteering for jury duty. Who is that crazed to take on that kind of responsibility, criticism and public scrutiny?

To me, that’s a little wild... But, c’est la vie, it’s not my job to understand why people are so determined to serve on this school board, especially after everything they’ve already gone through.

I can’t help but wonder… Is it ego? Insanity? Boredom? Social status? Power? Fun and games? An actual calling to civic duty?

Some people seem to enjoy fighting just for the heck of it and the applause that follows.

Oh, right. I almost forgot... It’s all about the kids.

It’s a revolutionary concept, I know.

And while we’re on the subject of public service, several school board members also serve, or have served, on other boards and committees.

There’s nothing wrong with serving on multiple boards. In fact, community involvement is generally a good thing. But it does make me wonder how much time some people spend making decisions on behalf of other people and whether they ever get tired of it. What’s the obsession with being in charge?

A couple of days ago I tried to take a picture of the candidates that were at the Board of Elections but some of them acted like children themselves. I was so frustrated by the time I left I’m thankful I don’t have to do this again any time soon after Nov. 3.

It was like herding cats. I’m serious…

One school board candidate stomped off saying he didn’t want to be in the same photo as another school board candidate and another one protested blaming one for all his problems but eventually got in the photo anyways. It took 10 minutes to take 4 seconds worth of photos.

And the democrats walked off and clearly didn’t want to be in the same photo with the Republicans, even though they didn’t say it, it was obvious, so I can’t wait to hear about how they’re going to represent all of us. I had to take separate photos while one school board candidate was still stomping around and halfway across the parking lot by this point.

I was ill and my heart started to hurt by this point but this is what I deal with here in Cleveland County.

Why do I do it? Well… it’s all about the grown-ass kids who are old enough to be my parents and yet behave like 9th graders in front of the Board of Elections.

Personally, I’d rather be pistol-whipped and mugged in a dark alley than run for and serve on the school board.

Holy crap.

If you think I’m joking, you’ve obviously never interacted with some of these candidates, never been lied to straight to your face when you already know the answer and never carefully watched some of these meetings or heard about what some parents and/or voters say to the school board members; not to mention all the bad press they get from just reporting on what they do and say, most of the time from verbally fighting with each other.

Like I said, I just write what happens.

Halloween is over, the ghosts have gone home, the jack-o-lanterns are starting to look like crackheads and science experiments, and the candy aisle at the grocery store is probably getting ready for Christmas soon.

However, if you thought the scariest thing you experienced this Halloween was a haunted house, you might want to take another look at the Cleveland County Schools budget.

There’s something considerably more frightening about entrusting more than $212 million in public money to people who are elected, sometimes, simply because somebody likes them.

And that’s no trick.

Sleep tight, Cleveland County. Your school board is meeting and making decisions that affect us all; now and for the next generation.

Excuse me while I go take my heart meds; just writing about this stressful bunch of grown children who want to (only God knows why) serve on the school board, has my chest hurting.

If you ever see me staring off into oblivion, with a look of fright on my face, shaking my head and sighing heavily, I’m probably having flashbacks to a conversation or an event involving school board candidates.

They stress me out, but that’s what it’s like when you’re dealing with grown adults acting like spoiled little narcissists who love the drama as much as they do their final vote count, and for some reason want to be in charge of educating the future adults of tomorrow and deciding where to spend $212 million (including the $500k from the board of commissioners and the $4 million from their “uh-oh we spent too much” savings fund).

I’m sure all the school board members are very good with their own personal finances and that has absolutely nothing to do with CCS financial problems, and that $212,000,000 budget is in good hands.

Don’t worry, we’re going to be fine. Our future workforce is in their hands. Theres absolutely no reason to panic.

Happy November!