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School board election a crowded field

Posted on August 14, 2009August 14, 2009 by Staff

By Beth Mechum
Staff Writer

Seven candidates are running for three seats in this year’s Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education election. Issues affecting the board of education this year include a tight budget, overseeing the expansion of the Carrboro High School arts wing, the construction of a new elementary school in the Northside neighborhood and the redistricting that will accompany the new school.

The candidates
(In order of filing)

Michelle (Shell) Brownstein

Michelle Brownstein, 43, has been on a number of boards, councils and committees related to the schools and she now wants to become more involved by running for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education.

Brownstein formerly had a private practice in general surgery and is now a health care columnist for Chapel Hill Magazine and a freelance writer.

“The inspiration to volunteer comes originally from my own kids, but all the work that I’ve done is on a much broader scale, not specific to mine,” Brownstein said. “I really want to advocate for the kids who are different.”

Brownstein most particularly wants to advocate for children who have special needs, both those who are academically gifted and those with learning disabilities.

Her affiliations include the N.C. Association for the Gifted and Talented and the N.C. Learning Disability Association.
In her campaign, Brownstein wants to be as assessable to as many people as possible; she believes it’s important to hear from parents and staff.

“I want to let everybody know that I’m interested through the Internet, my website, a Facebook group, a politician page, and be available for forums,” Brownstein said. “I definitely want people to know that I’m interested in hearing from them; it’s critical to get the vantage point of everyone.”

Gary Wallach

Gary Wallach, 66, ran for school board two years ago and was defeated by two incumbents. He said the same issues he felt were important in 2007 are still pressing in 2009.

“One of the main things is that the district is good at listing and writing reports, but they aren’t as strong at executing the plans they come up with,” said Wallach, a retired teacher. “I want to help the board focus on executing the things we’ve learned.”

He said there are numerous areas in which the school could be doing better for its students, such as meeting the needs of children with disabilities and teacher training.

The achievement gap should also be narrowed, Wallach said, especially in respect to African-American and Spanish-speaking students.

Educational equity and teacher training are the primary points Wallach emphasizes on his blogspot campaign page from 2007. He intends to update his website and continue using it as a campaign tool in addition to finding different media platforms to express his views.

“I want to use the Internet to keep in contact with various groups with similar interests I have,” he said.

MaryAnne Gucciardi

MaryAnne Gucciardi, 46, has lived in Chapel Hill for three years after spending most of her adult life in Hong Kong and Italy. Her time abroad was a big factor in inspiring her to run for the Chapel-Hill Carrboro School Board, because she’s seen, in different parts of the world, what works in education and what doesn’t.

Keeping children interested in learning will be one of her biggest priorities if elected.

“I’m interested in all the new things that are out there … to engage our children that will keep them curious or get them curious about learning,” Gucciardi said. “There is just so much out there, and there are a lot of things there that we can bring here, and I bring that diverse global perspective.”

Gucciardi is looking forward to campaigning. She’s received campaign training at the N.C. Center for Women in Public Service, and is now putting that training to work.

“Campaigning is a lot of fun because it’s a system of getting out and meeting people and hearing their concerns and issues and being able to synthesize those, and then represent the people,” she said.

She plans to use all the traditional methods when it comes to campaigning, with a goal of meeting as many people as possible.

J.M. (Joe) Green

Joe Green, 40, says his background in education as an assistant professor at UNC’s School of Education makes him want to lend his voice and experience to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education.

Green is also the director of Upward Bound at the School of Education and is a member of the Sewell Elementary School PTA.

“I thought it would be great to get involved,” Green said. “It’s really important to me that all students have access to education.”

One of Green’s primary concerns is helping students transition from elementary school to middle school, then from middle school to high school.

He said he plans to campaign in traditional ways, but also wants to utilize technology, and is in the process of working on a website.

“I want to meet as many people as I can in the area, and dialogue with folks about what they think about the school board now and where they would like to see it go,” Green said.

Greg McElveen

Greg McElveen, 52, joined the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education in December of 2008, replacing Pam Hemminger, who was elected to the Orange County Board of Commissioners. McElveen was selected unanimously by the board, which had to choose between seven applicants in November of last year.

McElveen, a former manager at IBM, said his experience in the past year forming working relationships with members of the board and community will help him if he is elected to serve another term.

“I think it’s been valuable to be on the board during a time where we’ve had these unprecedented budget challenges,” he said. “It’s been such a difficult time in determining what our priorities are.”

When first selected to the board, McElveen wasn’t certain he would run for re-election, but said he still has an interest in helping students in Chapel Hill and Carrboro succeed.

“It was fellow community members who really told me that I should apply in the first place,” McElveen said. “With my business background, I know how to make things happen, and I’m always attuned to what parents are thinking and what concerns they have, and people recognize that.”

Closing the achievement gap is one of McElveen major priorities. He said he’s seen some important polices passed and sees it as his role to help move their implementation along.

He plans to challenge those students who are doing well and those who are struggling by using innovative and creative tools, such as integrating music and art into regular curricula.

McElveen will campaign primarily by meeting with members of the community and by getting the word out through email and mail to friends and community members.

Christine Lee

Christine Lee, 47, said her experience in the various facets of school improvement contributed to her decision to run for the board.

Lee, an ophthalmologist, said that as a member of a number of school-improvement teams she’s been impressed with how the board of education has handled budget restrictions, and she wants to make sure that level of success is maintained.

“Our board members have to be careful not to cut some of the programs that are important,” Lee said. “They need to be open and fair minded, creative and innovative in finding funding for programs.”

Bridging the gap between home and school is also a main priority, because she believes parental involvement is directly related to a student’s success at school. Her primary goal is for the school system to produce high-achieving students.

“I think we need to empower all students with the necessary knowledge and skills to become active and contributing members in our global community,” Lee said.

She plans to campaign mostly through her website and an email account set up especially for the election in order to get feedback from the public, but she’s just getting started with the process.

Susana Dancy

Susana Dancy, 40, said her desire to run for the board of education is an outcome of the time she spent trying to get the current board to place the Carrboro High School arts wing higher on its list of construction items.

“I started attending school board meetings at that time to both become a voice for the arts wing and to become more aware of the process and how decisions are made and how things get done,” Dancy said.

“In the process of sitting through dozens of meetings, I became more aware of the issues that affect not just Carrboro High School but other schools in the district, in particular related to equity. So when three positions were available for the school board this year, I felt like I had something to contribute in terms of an awareness of what was going on and decisions being made at the school board level.”

Dancy said there is an enormous degree of difference between the older school buildings and the newer ones in the district, and one of the issues she’s most concerned about is getting the older buildings in comparable condition to the newer ones.

Dancy plans to use a person-to-person campaign strategy to get “the word out about what I want to achieve.”

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