April 19, 2022

There was talk about cooperation among the three local elected bodies – school board, city council, county commissioners. There was also talk about dissension among top staff at the county and city that gets in the way of that intergovernmental cooperation.

There was no talk about Republicans. But after May 17 there will be a slate of Republicans nipping at the heels of the four survivors among the Democrats for election or re-election to at-large seats on the Charlotte City Council.

This group of candidates spoke to 149 Forum participants, the largest crowd since attendance records started to be kept in 2008. Some may have been drawn to the event for what spontaneously occurred afterward – another hour of soul-searching, introspection and discussion on the future of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Not long after the Forum closed for the week, the CMS Board of Education fired Supt. Earnest Winston and settled on former interim Hugh Hattabaugh to run the district, beginning Monday and running through June 2023. Board Chairperson Elyse Dashew talked about another national search.