Folks, as I state in Part I, Robert Queen and his Rogue Republican pals Kevin Whisnant, Guy Smith and others were sitting in the back heckling some candidates and apparently communicating answers to other candidates using hand signals. Also, Senator Ted Alexander, another Robert Queen pal was sitting about midway and also was rudely and shamelessly heckling candidate Danny Blanton.
Also, most of the answers at a candidate forum consist of candidates saying they support transparency, cost effectiveness, everything is in the best interest of the children, motherhood, the flag and apple pie. Just like Robert Queen, Rodney Fitch, Joel Shores, Ron Humphries and Greg Taylor claimed at the 2020 School Board elections candidate’s forum. Only to break their promises almost minutes after being sworn in. And their lies get worse every single day.
These are the reasons that I am only hitting the important parts of each school Board 2022 Republican Primary candidate’s answers. Also, the most telling question and answer deserves every voters’ close attention.
But first, let’s do some preliminary “evaluation” of the 2022 School Board Primary Election Candidates.
As the seven candidates were all sitting up on the dais before the questioning started, I made a telling discovery. The three candidates that I have come to know, Danny Blanton, Ronnie Grigg and Annette Fain were of the age that I would call mature, seasoned and wise. They had attended many school board meetings in preparation for their understanding of the ins and outs of CCS. AND, where the problems are. They were there to hear persons speak to the board about problems and issues and observed that the School Board had done nothing about anything.
Three other candidates, Aaron Bridges, Dale Reviere and Glenda Womack appeared to be about the age of my oldest grandchild. Maybe younger. Still fresh and unexposed to sublime corruption, and even the overt corruption that lies at the heart of so many bad things in government. Not yet understanding that the real world has problems that you don’t learn in high school history books. Perhaps even refusing to believe the evil that actually exists around them until they see it for themselves. And, therefore, they would have a very steep learning curve on this Cleveland County School Board run by Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen. Especially with all the Queen secret stuff, fake committees and his tall tales and outright lies. Maybe these three have good intentions, but they are still “babes in the woods” was my first thought. Also, I have seen these three at only the last couple of school board meeting. But had not yet put their faces with their names. But knowing that they could be easily swayed by the straight-faced lies of those that are prone to telling lies.
The seventh candidate, Walter Spurling was also unknown to me, even though he said he lives in Fallston. And, the upper end of Cleveland County sorely needs better representation on the School Board and other county agencies as well. Spurling also said that he had been in the military for 26 ½ years, taught 3 ½ years at Crest High School and was presently teaching at Cleveland Community College. So, he is “no babe in the woods.” But the Rogue Republicans endorsement of Walter Spurling gives me cause to wonder about this candidate. Wonder a lot. I would pay close attention to Mr. Spurling’s answers to the forum questions. Later I found out that Walter Spurling, now at CCC was actually teaching high school students, that, to my knowledge, are at least partially funded by Cleveland County Schools. It appeared to me that Mr. Spurling has a built-in conflict of interest if he was elected to an oversight board that was supposedly overseeing his own job. And especially his job performance. Also knowing that the CCC Board of Trustee appointments, by North Carolina law, requires a separation of five years between being an employee at CCC and being appointed to the CCC BoTs. And figuring there may be such a similar law for CCS employees becoming school board members, raises an ethical concern about Mr. Spurling’s particular employment situation.
All candidates seemed to agree that:
Boys should NOT go to Girls restrooms and Girls should not go to Boys restrooms
Make things better, but there was no time to explain what things need to be made better.
See individual listing below for individual responses.
Editor’s Note: Folks, Remember that these candidates are all answering questions asked by WeRCC. There are many issues at CCS that WeRCC did not ask about. If YOU have special issues and concerns, I recommend calling the candidates themselves. If you don’t get good answers from a candidate, don’t vote for that candidate. More on that later.
Danny Blanton, always an advocate for children, explained that he had taken an 11-year-old unwanted orphan into his home, adopted him and raised him as one of his own. That child is now 33 years old. Danny, as a school board member, wants to make CCS responsive to the needs of educating children instead of trying to indoctrinate them in such things such as Critical Race Theory. Blanton wants pornographic books removed from school libraries, facilities “fixed” and moldy conditions repaired and the mold eliminated. Blanton wants the School Board to work with the Commissioners to PLAN on future needs and states that the CCS Planning so far has been nonexistent or inadequate and unfair. Blanton also wants all CCS schools to have a uniform curriculum. Blanton has 9 years’ experience on the school board.
Ronnie Grigg has already shown that HE will NOT participate in the unethical and probably illegal acts being attempted by the Rogue Republicans led by Robert Queen. Grigg states that he does NOT like the “Direction CCS is going and there are lots of problems to take care of. Grigg says that the School board should be more diligent in overseeing the Superintendent to ensure he is following policy and school board (all of the board members) instructions to ensure CCS is being properly run and operated. (Amen to that!) Grigg advocates parents deciding on “school choice,” and if CCS loses students, will ensure that the school board investigates to understand why and what to do to remedy the situation. Grigg also believes that CCS should work better with the Commissioners. (Something probably impossible as long as Robert Queen is the School Board Chairman.) Grigg says that he does NOT make promises he can’t keep. And that he would listen to the people.
Annette Fain, in response to a Democrat “talking point” statement made by candidate Walter Spurling that he “would NOT Burn the house down in reforming CCS, stated she “WOULD burn the house down if that was what was necessary to wipe the slate clean of all the scandals, problems, lawsuits, and failure to do the right things that plague CCS to the core. Although Ms. Fain was using Spurling’s choice of words, a better analogy is that corruption is like cancer. If you are diagnosed with cancer and have to undergo surgery, you want the surgeon should remove ALL of the cancerous tissue instead of leaving parts of the cancer to continue to grow. Ms. Fain also stated that the School Board should develop better relations with parents; instead of having law enforcement remove them from School Board meetings as Chairman Robert Queen just did at the April 11, 2022 school board meeting. Ms, Fain emphasized several times that there should be more parental involvement and the School Board should encourage parental involvement instead of discouraging it.
The following are the candidates illegally endorsed by Robert Queen and his Rogue Republican pals.
Walter Spurling made a point in telling everybody about his military experience and how he had travelled around the world 3 ½ times. Apparently, Walter was in the Navy. The last time a Navy man told me how many times he had been around the world, he then stated, “and the farthest I got in every port was the first bar I came too.” And the first bars are usually right there, the first things outside the Main Gate of the facilities that a US Navy Ship would dock at. Mr. Spurling also stated that he had all kinds of leadership training while in the military. My knowledge of Military Leadership Training is that, unless YOU are the Admiral in Charge, you are mostly taught to follow orders. (Crudely stated, in the military you “kiss the asses of those with a higher rank and kick the asses of those with a lower rank.) Spurling said he would communicate with the Commissioners, then work through the superintendent and school board lawyers. Spurling correctly said that CCS should maximize vocational training at every high school. Mr. Spurling also stated that his experience at Crest High School showed him that working with parents was not very successful. When you call parents participate, they don’t show up. Spurling stated his code was Honesty, Loyalty and Integrity and that he was NOT a liar. Spurling said he wanted to make things better, while “some want to burn the house down.” Observations of Mr. Spurling during the forum as well as talking to people afterwards, indicated to me that Mr. Spurling comes off as a know-it-all who prefers to talk instead of listen. Exactly like School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen. Perhaps that is why parents didn’t much like getting associated with Mr. Spurling.
Dale Reviere is a former US Marine. So, we know, despite his youth, Mr. Reviere is a Patriot who has served his country when so many others do not. Mr. Reviere wants more parental involvement and participation at CCS, with the School Board and in the classroom working with students. Mr. Reviere stated he moved to Cleveland County because of the “exceptional schools” and other CCS phony “talking points.” Apparently, Mr. Reviere is NOT knowledgeable of CCS’s low test scores, many scandals and high teacher turnover. Certainly not about the retaliation, nepotism, favoritism and the hiring and promotion of unqualified people for high level positions. Mr. Reviere stated he didn’t like School Choice, but apparently believing, incorrectly, that the term “School Choice” meant that a parent could chose which school their child goes to within CCS. Others of the younger candidates also had similar misconceptions about this term as well as “Opportunity Scholarships.” To me, this meant that the WeRCC folks had let Robert Queen and Superintendent Stephen Fisher draw up the forum questions. Hey, I go to all the School Board meetings, for the past nine years, and I also didn’t know what an “Opportunity Scholarship” was.
Glenda Womack is a young mother of three-an elementary school, Middle School and High School age child. Glenda says she is “a good organizer and will stretch a dollar hard.” She was asked to be on a school committee and did get involved. Stressing that CCS schools should “ask” parents to get involved.” Mrs. Womack stated several times that “being a mom” was something she considered an asset. She said that she believed in “Pro Choice” when asked about School Choice. Apparently not understanding exactly what the term “School Choice” meant. Or I was confused in the way she answered that question. Mrs. Womack wants the School Board to set policy so they will “stop problems.” She stated that she wants to protect children from all the “craziness” going on and put her own kids in private schools in 2020 when CCS schools were shut down due to COVID. Mrs. Womack was especially emphatic that no boys should be going to girls’ bathrooms. I bet Mrs. Womack would NOT have agreed, like the previous school board agreed in a lawsuit settlement to allow a Kings Mountain High School male transgender student use the girl’s bathrooms. Even though it was against North Carolina law. But was not very well presented to the School board at that time by CCS’s slick Raleigh lawyers. I attended that lawsuit hearing. Not a word was said in Court. The lawsuit settlement was agreed to behind closed doors and the judge signed off on the agreement papers and that was that.
Aaron Bridges is also one of the younger candidates and is alleged to be very close with Rogue Republican Ron Humphries. And was the first successful recruit in the Rogue Republicans’ plan to get rid of Danny Blanton in the 2022 school board Republican Primary Elections. Mr. Bridges stated that school cafeterias/better food, more security cameras and metal detectors were his top three priorities at CCS. Mr. Bridges also did not understand the term “school choice” as used by the WeRCC moderator. I also don’t think WeRCC understood their own question regarding school choice. Besides, deciding “School Choice” is beyond the authority of a local school choice in the first place. Bridges wants the County Commissioners to work more with the School Board. (Note that three of the Commissioners were present at this WeRCC Candidates Forum.) Mr. Bridges wants to “take politics out of schools.” However, it was noted by some observers that the Robert Queen contingency seemed more active with their “hand signals,” gestures or whatever, when Mr. Bridges was speaking.
Folks, this is also getting long. It is time for a Part III article. Make sure you stay tuned for Part III because it will be where the rubber finally meets the road in YOU selecting those Republican School Board candidates that YOU should be voting for on this 2022 Republican Primary School Board Election.
Again, Stay tuned folks. The best is yet to come. You will soon learn exactly what each of these candidates will do if elected to the CCS School Board. We are almost there. And YOU NEED TO KNOW the facts of life about the CCS school board.