CCC Executive Vice President:
Dr. Shannon Kennedy has followed a different path to her position as CCC Executive Vice President and allegedly has made statements that she will be the first woman President of a Community College. With the sooner or later departure of President Thornburg, Kennedy may be expecting to take over as the President of CCC as soon as Thornburg is gone.
To my recollection, Shannon Kennedy’s rise to power at CCC began with her role as a reporter for the Shelby Headline News, produced by CCC. Then Kennedy attended Gardner Webb, got her Doctorate in something, took a position at Gardner Webb, left Gardner Webb under unclear circumstances and was hired in a relatively low position at CCC sometime around 2007. But Kennedy didn’t stay in that relatively low position very long.
Thanks to CCC President Steve Thornburg, Kennedy’s career at CCC went up like a rocket. A career that went up too fast to escape attention. A career that went up allegedly too fast to stay inside CCC promotion policies. A promotion that went up to the Executive Vice President Position when there allegedly was no such position at CCC. Word is Thornburg promoted Kennedy into that Executive Vice President Position by creating that position without Board of Trustee approval and without advertising and interviewing a top level position as CCC administration HR policy required. Word is when the Board of Trustees did learn about what Thornburg did, they went along because they thought they would look stupid letting such a thing happen right before their closed eyes. Well, here it is a few years later and the whole CCC Board of Trustees sure looks stupid now. Along with the School Board and Commissioners too.
Anyway, Dr. Thornburg basically turned the overall operations at Cleveland Community College over to Dr. Kennedy, perhaps at the ambitious and aggressive Kennedy’s insistence over the bedazzled Thornburg’s compromised judgement. Dr. Kennedy basically just took over the power structure at CCC and like the old saying goes, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Anybody that balked at doing things that were improper were immediately replaced by those who were willing or coerced into doing things that were improper. And so it goes, Cleveland Community College was morphed a good place to work, to teach and to learn into a place where most everybody was job scared, afraid to teach like they should teach and where the learning was dumbed down and unqualified students were put into programs that they did not qualify for. All in the name of more funding. More funding for CCC as the more students, qualified AND unqualified students could be run through and CCC could gain more funding, whether or not the students learned anything or not.
I have researched the CCC Board of Trustee minutes of meetings and other CCC documents and can find no information that shows the office of Executive Vice President ever existed, was properly created or properly filled. Perhaps such information exists and is just too deep in the records to find easily. It is just as likely or maybe more likely that the information I have provided in this article is totally correct. Thornburg, Kennedy, Trustees and anyone else, provide information that shows the things at CCC described in this article were actually done correctly and I will publish every word. If not, just pack your bags and move out from Cleveland College. That goes for Board of Trustees too.
Folks, it has become obvious to me and many more than Dr. Steve Thornburg, Dr. Shannon Kennedy and a few other supporting cast of characters should be run off from Cleveland Community College. Thornburg is on his way out and Kennedy should be right behind. Followed closely by the majority of the Board of Trustees who refuse to do their jobs.
Stay tuned for article Part X of this sickening saga of scandals at CCC and the foolish Board of Trustees that refuse to do the right thing. Part X will concentrate on the problems at CCC have gotten to this point-the Board of Trustees themselves. The School Board and the Commissioners role in all of this will be published soon. Also a rundown of the problems, the history and the cover-up.
Also, stay tuned for other articles about other news and situations going on in Cleveland County, NC and the USA that need your attention. Read the phony accounts that may dribble out from the Star at your own risk. But remember, Cleveland County can only become a good place to live, work and worship by fixing the many problems and keeping them fixed on a continuing basis.. And most problems can only be fixed by your vote on Election Day. And good, honest and ethical people running for office.