Shamaiye Haynes and Anna London will be the next representatives for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education’s open District 2 and 6 seats.
Haynes and London were both endorsed by the local Democratic Party in the nominally nonpartisan race. Incumbent board members Thelma Byers-Bailey in District 2 and Summer Nunn in District 6 both declined to seek reelection.
District 2
Byers-Bailey is the longest-tenured member of the board. 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.”
She endorsed Haynes, a longtime education advocate in west Charlotte who founded the Charlotte Community Think Tank. So did the Mecklenburg Democrats. It was Haynes' second run for office, after falling short in the at-large race in 2023.
Her opponent was Juanrique Hall, 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. Hall carried the Mecklenburg GOP endorsement as well as an endorsement from the conservative Moms for Liberty group.
Haynes beat Hall by a margin of 74.52% to 24.48%. Haynes is an advocate of the “Community Schools Model,” an approach that treats schools as the center of a community that makes it easier to partner with families and community organizations.
“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.”
District 6
In south Charlotte, Nunn was in her first term when she announced she wouldn’t be seeking reelection. She cited career and family priorities, but also "political “dysfunction.”
Three candidates ran to replace her. The race attracted attention in part because of the controversy surrounding CMS’ contract with educational consulting firm SYDKIMYL.
London won, beating Toni Emehel and Justin Shealy with 49.85% of the vote, after an at-times tense campaign, mostly between Emehel and London.
Both London and Emehel filed to run as Democrats in the nominally nonpartisan race, but London secured the local party’s endorsement. Emehel has repeatedly accused London of “deception” and a conflict of interest because of her ties to Charlotte Works, and that organization’s ties to SYDKIMYL.
London dismissed those attacks as “distractions” and “false narratives.”
London had the local Democratic endorsement.
Shealy, a family law attorney who’s focused on child abuse and negligence cases, ran with the Republican endorsement.
Emehel finished with 23.07% while Shealy won 26.16% of the vote.
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