Seeking appointment

In addition to current members Martha Geitner and board Chair Shaunda Sandford, who are seeking reappointment to Asheville’s board of education, 11 other local residents are seeking a seat: Pepi Acebo, Jessica Chale Byrd, James C. Carter, Shakira N. Davidson, Jennifer Farmer, Melissa Kedis, Ed Manning, John A. Mosconi, W. Scott Powell, Kelly Stamey and Katherine Wienberg.

On March 4, the five current school board members held a Q&A for applicants. Acebo, Carter, Kedis, Manning, Mosconi and Wienberg attended the session.

Board members cited the time commitment and the extent to which the role constrains what they’re able to discuss with community members as realities that have surprised them about the position. They pointed to achievements in expanding pre-K classrooms in the district and initiating the ICS Equity program to shift the system’s culture as recent accomplishments of the board.

At the same time, all current members cited the district’s persistent and alarming achievement gap between white and black students as the board’s main focus and challenge.

“It is awful to have the highest achievement gap in the state. Asheville is my home. I am native to Asheville,” said Sandford. Her initial resolve when joining the board to “save all the children” and “stop the nonsense that was going on” has given way to the realization that “I have to follow that chain of command and do things the correct way and hope that eventually it will have an impact on our achievement gap,” she said.

The ICS Equity program, Geithner said, “is not the be-all, end-all of everything. It’s giving us the opportunity to make the changes we need to make.” Drawing on the system’s teaching and administrative staff, she said, the board is “doing the best that we can do with what we have, and that is excellent teachers and real need and want to make things better for each and every child in the system. And we are moving forward with fidelity to make those things happen.”