The Executive Roundtable’s letter to the Commissioners started the School Merger “ball” rolling. Actually, it was a done deal from the start. Only the City of Kings Mountain’s school board caused a problem. They sued the County. And lost. Then KM packed the merged School District Elections with Kings Mountain candidates and turned out big time to elect a majority on the merged Cleveland County Schools Board of Education. This lasted until the 2020 Elections stopped that run of corruption. (Only to start another it seems.)
But, the “Devil” is always in the details. The School Tax that the original Cleveland County School Board got passed, the tax whose purpose was to raise money to build auditoriums and swimming pools at Burns and Crest High Schools got twisted up into the merger. First, the School Tax got raised to 15 cents per hundred dollars valuation and all the money from all the districts got mixed into one big pot. And Kings Mountain and Shelby were in control of that one big pot. Out the window went plans to build auditoriums and swimming pools at Burns and Crest High Schools. And the rural dummies in Cleveland County were too stupid to do anything about it. Also, since the School Tax was now funding all schools, the Cities of Shelby and Kings Mountain taxes, overall, went down while taxes for county residents’ taxes went up. This was around 20years ago. Most people have forgotten about this hoodoo of county residents and their children.
Since the merger of the School Districts there was some “talk” about building Auditoriums at Burns and Crest High Schools. (Never any “talk” about including swimming pools that would actually equalize the facilities at all four high schools.) This talk was always around school board election time, beginning with the 2013 Elections. The talk was just that, talk. Most of the voters in the County stayed home and the majority of the Shelby-Kings Mountain tax and spend incumbents won re-election. Their kids already had swimming pools and auditoriums. And the county taxpayers were helping pay their bills.
It was the same for several more elections. Talk about auditoriums, tell what a good job they were doing and us dummies kept on re-electing them. Or, by staying home for the lack of ”our” candidates running for the school board.
Now comes the 2020 Elections. Thanks to Tim Moore the School Board elections are now partisan and held during regular election years. It was also President Trump’s reelection year and the turnout was going to be huge. And it was. And a New School Board Majority was elected by a huge majority. That is history now.
Where was all the talk about auditoriums during the 2020 Elections. We all knew the old school board majority were desperate to get reelected. Especially Shearra Miller, Richard Hooker and Roger Harris. If any one of them had gotten reelected, the OLD school board majority held. Why were they not talking about auditoriums? This will take some serious evaluation and research. And who does that better than MOI? (Moi is French for “me.”)
And, now for the answer. An answer that is obvious since the NEW School Board Majority has informally announced through their mouth piece, the Shelby Star, that they are fixing to spend $28 million on brand new auditoriums on schools that are over 50 years old and Cleveland County Schools as well as the Commissioners are broke. New school board chairman Robert “Baby Jesus” Queen (a new nickname-by popular demand) says. they have a $15 Million government grant and CCS will pay the rest.
One thing is totally sure, “Baby Jesus” Queen’s school board majority has been in office for only 55 days. Fourteen of those days were over the Christmas and New Year’s Holidays. Add another day for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Holiday. Add another 16 days for weekends, and you have at lease 31 days that absolutely nothing could have been done to ask for, justify and receive a $15 million State Grant in the remaining 24 days spread over 2+ months. In the middle of the COVID Pandemic.
There is NO WAY that the NEW School Board Majority could pull off a $15 Million government grant for new auditoriums for Burns and Crest High Schools in this short a time frame. Impossible would be a better word.
Only one thing was possible. The OLD School Board Majority, feeling the heat of their 122 combined years of a continuously declining Cleveland County Schools as well as the major competition from Republicans, themselves applied for the grant. Hoping it would come through in time (before the 2020 Elections) and they could make their brags tell all the old lies and get reelected. But the Grant, coming through when it did and the NEW School Board Majority having to keep it under wraps for long enough that nobody would figure out what actually happened was too big for me to figure out what happened.
So, Williams, what did actually happen??? Only one thing is possible, says I. Speaker of the House Tim Moore, as well as Representative Kelly Hastings and Senator Ted Alexander held up the Grant long enough for the Republicans to get elected and take all the credit for new auditoriums at Burns and Crest High Schools. A well-deserved political dirty trick that took out five old-time Democrats on the School Board. Well deserved and about time, I would say. But still, a political dirty trick just the same.
But now, reality has to sink in for Robert “Baby Jesus” Queen and his new school board majority. There are major financial problems at CCS that may make them look like fools.