Background:
The Shelby Star, often called the “Shelby Daily Liar” might ought to be called the “Shelby Copy- Cat” for a number of reasons. First, the Shelby Star is no longer in Shelby. Second, I seldom, if ever, see a Star reporter at Commissioner’s Meetings or School Board meetings anymore. Thirdly, the articles the Star does put out regarding Commissioners or school board meetings appear to me to be just copies of press releases put out by the County Manager or the CCS Superintendent’s offices that only contains “good news.” (or is good news only because the “bad news” has been left out). This “copy-cat” looking stuff put out by The Star started several years ago when Cleveland County Schools were (and still may be) paying the Shelby Star Editor (Skippy Foster at the time) hundreds of thousands of dollars in so-called “consulting fees.”
Let’s start with the February 14, 2022 School Board meeting and the quickly published Star article titled “Two Shelby Elementary schools to permanently close, here’s what we know.” Note that I purposely held off writing about this issue until now. Just to see what kind of “spin” CCS and the Shelby Star would put on this subject. And, they did.
Not only did the Shelby Copy-Cat put some big-time “spin” on this article, they added in a major dose of Rogue Republican dirty politics in the process. But don’t believe me, read it for yourself by Clicking on the link to the article that I have included for your convenience at the end of this article. I have also included a link to the CCS School Board Meeting Broadcast for the February 14, 2022 school board meeting. Start watching the CCS video at about the 50-minute mark to go straight to this point of the school board shenanigans.
Most of the Star’s “spin” on the article previously named was in what was left-out. In the discussion of the closing of Marion and Graham Schools School Board member Phillip Glover stated that he had been involved in previous with previous school boards in the reassignment of students and the bottom-line decision was always based on what was in the best interest of the children that were involved. Glover went on to say that the so-called “Guiding Principles” that CCS gave to the Architects doing the assessment never spoke one word about evaluating what was in the best interest of the children. Glover also stated that even these “Guiding Principles” given to the Architects were never voted on by the full school board. (Glover did not exactly say this, but the biggest point was why CCS was asking Architects to evaluate and recommend which students went to what schools to begin with. Chew on that waste of taxpayer money while you are at it.)
Glover’s questions and comments, clearly and totally pertinent to the discussion. ended drawing the school board into various other discussions, with Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen finally calling on Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher to explain the Middle School vs. Intermediate School Model, totally ignoring what was in the best interest of the children.
So, Dr. Fisher goes into one of his prolonged diatribes that go round-and-round in continuous circles, also totally ignoring what was in the best interest of the children.
At one point, Fisher tries to falsely explain that newer facilities provide a better learning experience for children. I could hold back no longer. I chimed in from my front row seat and asked “What about our OLD high schools?” (Referring to all our old, 57+ years-old High Schools; Burns, Crest, Kings Mountain and Shelby that Luke Queen and Supt. Fisher told the Commissioners “have some useful life left in them.”) School Board Chairman Luke Queen immediately slams his gavel down and threatens me with expulsion from the meeting because I had “interrupted the meeting.” Interrupting with good old “common sense” always makes Luke Queen mad as Hell. You can see this episode (there have been others too) of Luke’s explosion on the CCS video, but you cannot hear my question unless you turn the volume way up high. BTW, notice that my question about the old high schools was never answered. Like I said, “common sense” always makes Luke Queen mad as hell.
$200 REWARD OFFERED:
At this point I would say is a good place to announce that I am offering a $200 reward to the first person that can take this question:
How does it benefit the children to shut down two Shelby Schools???
And find the ANSWER in either the February 14, 2022 School Board meeting or in the Shelby Star “Copy-Cat” article that is provided below.
Folks, I have offered $100 rewards many-many times before and NO-ONE has ever been able to collect a penny. Now, I am doubling this reward and I fully expect NO-ONE will collect a penny. And, why is that? I believe there is NO BENEFIT to the CHILDREN by closing down Graham and Marion Schools in Shelby. But, in the thinking process, I dare everybody in Cleveland County to try to earn these two crisp $100 bills that I have set aside to pay off this reward.
NOW, what are the real reasons Cleveland County Schools, Luke Queen, Supt Fisher and a few others want to re-organize the Shelby School Zone by shutting down Graham and Marion Elementary Schools. If you are honest and know a little about Shelby and Cleveland County, YOU will also conclude that I am 100% correct.
Racism and Plantation Politics (Intermixed with a large dose of Corruption):
The City of Shelby population is around 59% White and 41% Black and miscellaneous other non-white races according to the 2022 Census.
The “Wealth Distribution” in the City of Shelby is estimated to be 85% in the White Community and 15% in the Black and other races community.
The reassignment of large numbers of students such that Graham and Marion Elementary Schools would be totally emptied and their large contingency of black students moved to other schools would necessarily include bussing of those black students to selected schools with large contingencies of white students. Similar to the hated bussing of black students in the 1970s and 1980s to enforce court ordered integration of students.
However, there are differences now:
In Shelby, it has been well noted fact that 75-90% of students that ride school buses to school are black and 75-90% of the students that arrive to school in cars are white.
Charter School Pinnacle Classical Academy does NOT have school bus service. Pinnacle also has a much higher white to black student ratio that the general population in Shelby.
Jefferson School is alleged to have many white students that live closer to Graham and Marion Schools, but are enrolled at Jefferson.
Considering these are already well-established trends, it is obvious that Cleveland County Schools-Shelby Zone have taken steps to avoid provable Overt Racism. But have established an “socio-economic underground culture” of racial based separation in what I typically call “Plantation Politics.” Plantation Politics also calls for recruiting and promoting “willing” black community leaders (Uncle Tom’s or Coons as some would call them) to appease and “quieten down” the overall black community.
Since this type of socio-economic racial separation has already occurred long ago in the CCS-Shelby School attendance zone, one has to wonder why Cleveland County Schools, under the leadership of Robert “Luke” Queen, Supt Fisher, Rodney Fitch, Joel Shores and Ron Humphries have taken such extreme and secretly designed steps and schemes to continue busing black students around within the Shelby School Attendance Zone. Closing two Shelby Elementary Schools in the process. And don’t try to say it is to save money. CCS has always wasted money. The answer has to be elsewhere.
It has to be some additional sort of corruption that CCS is trying to hide. And hide well.
I believe I have figured it out.
CLEVELAND COUNTY SCHOOLS-SHELBY ZONE HAS TOO MANY FAILED SCHOOLS!!!
According to the North Carolina State Board of Education/Department of Public Instruction rules, if a North Carolina Public School fails to meet certain education standards or measures of accomplishment for several years in a row, the “State” will come in and take over operation of that school. If you remember, when the James Love School failed to meet those standards, CCS schemed to build a “New” North Shelby School that they attached to James Love Elementary School. Of course, that did NOT improve education at James Love, it merely caused James Love to be re-categized in such a way that the State did not have to come in and take over James Love. And it cost taxpayers $16.5 Million to build the new North Shelby School
Sources and information indicate Graham and Marion Schools and perhaps the schools that Graham and Marion School students will be moved to were failing to meet the State Standards. If you mix in and consider the long time COVID related school closings, it is well within the range of possibility that every public school in Cleveland County (except Pinnacle Classical Academy which did not close) has failed to meet those State standards. Also, CCS has long been teaching Critical Race Theory, in its many forms, to students instead of sticking to the basics-Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
Now, throw in the fact that the CCS hired Architects were told what to do in regard to the Shelby student reassignments, nobody in the Shelby attendance Zone was contacted and during the phony Public Hearing on this matter only one person spoke up regarding reassignment. And all she said was that she “did NOT know what was going on.”
A modern-day Shakespeare might say this about the CCS School Board Chairman and Superintendent, “There is method to their craziness!!!”
Editor’s Note: This article is getting long. So, I will cover the dirty political tricks done by the Rogue Republicans and the Shelby Star in more detail in another article.
Stay Tuned!!
The School Board Broadcast link is shown here.
The Copy-cat Shelby Star article links are shown here or here.