Two of the six seats up for grabs in this year’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board elections are guaranteed to be filled by new faces after next week's election: Board members Thelma Byers-Bailey in District 2 and Summer Nunn in District 6, both aren’t seeking reelection.
Byers-Bailey is the longest-tenured member of the board. But she told WFAE in July that after 12 years serving District 2 in west Charlotte, she felt her work was done.
“I’ve been on the school board now for 12 years, run three times, and each time I ran, there was something left that I had my eyes on that I wanted to accomplish,” she said. “And I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do.”
In south Charlotte’s District 6, Nunn was just completing her first term when she announced she wouldn’t be seeking reelection. She cited career and family priorities, but also hinted at political “dysfunction.”
The departures opened up opportunities for new candidates. In west Charlotte’s District 2, it’s two people who have each made unsuccessful runs for the board before — Shamaiye Haynes and Juanrique Hall. In south Charlotte’s District 6, three political newcomers are facing off in a heated race — Toni Emehel, Anna London and Justin Shealy.
District 2: Haynes v. Hall
Haynes is a longtime education advocate in west Charlotte who founded the Charlotte Community Think Tank.
She’s running for the second time, after falling short in the at-large race in 2023. This time, she carries the endorsement of both Mecklenburg County Democrats and Byers-Bailey. She says the west Charlotte community knows she’s worked well with the outgoing incumbent.
“They know that I'm not a rubber stamp on Thelma's personality, opinions and decisions made, but also that we have worked together very constructively,” Haynes said.
Haynes wants CMS to do a better job of facilitating parental and community involvement in schools.
“One of the biggest issues, it's really a crisis, if you think about it, and that is, it takes an act of Congress to get a partnership with CMS on just the basic levels,” Haynes said. “e need to create more spaces for people to come in and help with interventions in discipline, help with academic interventions, and run programming that's more focused locally, place-based, if you will.”
Haynes wants to adopt the so-called “Community Schools” model. That envisions schools as the center of a community and prioritizes partnerships with community organizations and families.
“It kind of says teachers, you've had to worry about snacks for kids, you've had to worry about shoes and socks,” Haynes said. “You've had to worry about strong mental health concerns. Let us, as a community, see what assets we have, those that we don't have, identify organizations that can do them.”
If elected, Haynes said she would work to adopt the Community Schools model at CMS, though she argues schools shouldn’t be mandated to adopt it – rather, it should be an option for schools to use. She also wants to tackle mental health and disciplinary issues through restorative justice practices.
Hall is a diesel mechanic and football coach for Livingstone College. He previously ran for District 2 in 2022, and then for an at-large seat in 2023. He wants to improve behavioral issues at schools and “get back to the basics” of teaching reading, writing and math.
“We've gotten so far in technology, which nothing is wrong with technology, but at the end of the day, if you don't know the basics and have foundational teachings, you can't get anything done if you don't have the basics,” Hall said.
He says CMS too often lumps students together and ignores different communities’ specific needs. He acknowledged the board is limited in what it can do to influence schools, but said ideally he’d push for more youth advocate workers and peer support for students in schools.
“The biggest issue is they have to learn that each demographic have their own problems that's unique to that demographic and stop trying to lump everybody in the same category because they're not the same, period,” Hall said. “It's just not the same.”
Hall carries the Mecklenburg GOP endorsement as well as an endorsement from the conservative Moms for Liberty group, though he says he doesn’t fit neatly into any political box in the technically nonpartisan school board race – in fact, he listed his party affiliation as Democrat in his 2022 campaign filing form. He also boasted of the endorsement of Democratic County Commissioner Vilma Leake, though WSOC reports Leake has since denied any endorsement.
“I’m a people person,” Hall said. “I’m for everybody.”
Both candidates say they support advocacy efforts for higher teacher pay. But Hall also noted he believes CMS is too “top-heavy” and emphasized reallocating funds in the budget toward teachers. Haynes emphasized improving classroom culture to create better working environments for teachers.
District 6: Emehel, London and Shealy
Meanwhile, in South Charlotte, the District 6 race has attracted attention in part because of the controversy surrounding CMS’ contract with educational consulting firm SYDKIMYL.
Three board members, including Nunn, last year voted against an expansion that would have increased that contract from $325,000 to $500,000, questioning the firm’s efficacy and its ties to Raki McGregor, then a close advisor to Superintendent Crystal Hill and husband to SYDKIMYL founder Kimberly McGregor. That contract has since expired and CMS has signed a new, $180,000 contract that fell below the threshold to come up for a public vote over the summer.
McGregor’s public support for certain candidates, including London, prompted suggestions he was seeking political payback against those board members. He’s denied this, and CMS and SYDKIMYL have boasted academic gains at 10 of the 12 schools where the firm has worked.
District 6 candidate Emehel doesn’t buy it. She’s campaigned heavily on the contract’s controversy and ties to her opponent, London — London is the president of Charlotte Works, where Raki McGregor is board chair. The McGregors recently sent Emehel a cease and desist letter, citing “false and defamatory statements” about SYDKIMYL and Charlotte Works.
“So there is a concern that me mentioning the conflict of interest and the underlying objectives of her candidacy could create a rift, which it should, because there are certain things that have not been disclosed,” Emehel said.
In a statement, the McGregors have said the letters were sent to “protect the McGregors and their businesses’ longstanding reputations for integrity, service, and leadership with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community.”
Emehel says she and her children are CMS grads and she boasts corporate, volunteer and child advocacy experience. She says she wants to keep big business out of schools and focus on partnering with local, community-oriented groups. She wants to scrutinize how CMS spends the money it already has. That includes taking a closer look at things like the SYDKIMYL contract.
“It’s like a cancer,” Emehel said. “It spills over into everything that our school system has because you have bad actors that are coming in and trying to monopolize and cripple the budget through their personal desires.”
London has the local Democratic endorsement. She’s fiercely denied anything improper about Raki’s support – at a recent WFAE candidate forum, she dismissed Emehel’s attacks as “distractions” and “false narratives.” She told WFAE she has nothing to do with the SYDKIMYL contract, and said she’d talked to multiple legal counsels about her position with Charlotte Works and was assured there was no conflict of interest.
“All of them said, ‘Anna, these roles are actually complementary, and if you were elected, this would be an incredible opportunity for Charlotte Mecklenburg,’” London said.
Through Charlotte Works, which is the region’s workforce development board, London says she’s already partnered with CMS to help prepare students for life after graduation by connecting the district with the business and higher education communities. Continuing that work to support CMS grads would be her top priority, she says — along with improving transparency and communication in the district.
“As I've gone across the district, across the entire county, but definitely in District 6, and I've heard from parents that one of their biggest concerns is communication issues and building back trust,” she said.
She also has experience working with representatives across different levels of government — from city council up to the federal government.
Shealy, meanwhile, is running with the Republican endorsement. A family law attorney who’s focused on child abuse and negligence cases, he says he’s seen firsthand how schooling factors in.
“And so I understand the dynamics that are at play, the concerns that parents have with CMS schools, and I wanted to utilize that skill set and run for the board,” Shealy said.
He says he’s focused on improving student achievement and praised the board for setting ambitious academic goals. He wants to continue the board’s advocacy efforts for higher teacher pay. Safety is also a major concern.
“So in my district specifically, obviously, CMPD is one of the law enforcement, but Pineville is part of our school district as well. And so building relationships with those two entities to help staff our schools with student safety resource officers,” Shealy said.
Shealy told WFAE he had no concerns with the SYDKIMYL contract specifically, but does believe the latest iteration should have come up for a public vote by the board.
All three candidates said they support higher pay for teachers and called for advocacy at the state level. London also proposed working closely with Mecklenburg County to find ways to increase local funding and to seek out public-private partnerships. Shealy and Emehel both suggested looking for cuts that can be reallocated to teachers in the current budget.
