From Staff Reports

Buncombe Forward, a conservative polical action committee, endorsed three candidates who filed for seats on the Buncombe County Board of Education on July 20.

The trio, which pledged to reform the “dysfunctional county school system and start putting our kids first,” includes Jerry Green, Dan Hale and Amy Church, Buncombe Forward noted in an announcement.

BF Executive Director Robert Malt, who accompanied the candidates to the filing, said his group stands for fiscal responsibility, educational freedom, free markets and common-sense environmental policy. 

“We have heard from many parents who are very unhappy with the current dysfunctional school board,” he noted in a statement. 

“Among other things, the current board has consistently worked against transparency and accountability, has been fiscally irresponsible, has been unresponsive to parents’ concerns and has engaged in questionable hiring practices. Special-interest influence and a general lack of oversight have left our children at the back of the bus.”

He added that the trio of BF-endorsed candidates “have pledged to reform the current dysfunctional county school system, and start putting our kids first.”

Green, 66, is a recent retiree after 34 years as principal at Black Mountain Primary School. He is vying for the at-large seat on the board held by Dusty Pless.

“He was one of the most beloved, respected and effective principals in the Buncombe County school system in recent memory,” Malt noted. “As principal, he made it a practice to know the name of each of his students, and hold everyone to high stanards.”

Green also has advanced training in accounting and many years of experience in school administration. He and his wife Ivy live in Asheville.

In an interview with the Daily Planet, Green said, “I’ve been in the school system for nearly 45 years. Because of that, I think I can make it better. I think we have a good system and I think it can be better.” To that end, he would like second languages taught “down to the primary level.”

Hale, 42, who owns a building and remodeling business in Black Mountain, is a candidate for the Owen district seat held by Chip Craig.

“Dan’s commitment to Black Mountain’s schools has been demonstrated by his dedication of time and interest, and he has pledged to exhibit this same care and dedication as a member of the Buncombe County School Board,” Malt said.

Hale and his wife Yvonne are the partents of two daughters who attend Black Mountain Primary, in the first and third grades. He is the president and owner of Winterpast Inc. in Black Mountain.

Hale told the Daily Planet that his main reason for wanting a seat on the school board is his two daughters. “I’d like to help the schools to be better for learning ... It’s sad they’d run out of basics — pencils, paper ... Bottom line, I’m just looking to support the teachers, so they can do a better job.”

Churchill, 41, a respiratory therapist in Mission Hospital, is seeking the Roberson distrct seat held by Steve Sizemore.

She and her husband Ben live in Arden with their daughter, who will enter the sixth grade at Koontz Intermediate School.

“For several years, Amy has been actively working to improve the schools in the T.C. Roberson District,” Malt noted. 

“She is fully committed to making sure Buncombe County Schools challnge our students with high academic standards, and provide abundant options for advanced academic achievement,” the BF chief said.

Churchill told the Daily Planet that she is running for a board seat because “I care about my daughter’s education.” She said she would like to “raise the bar on the quality of education — to get all they’re entitled to ... to get a quality education.”

When pressed to be more specific, Churchill said, “It (the education system) could be better. In other countries, they teach at a higher level. Here, they teach to the middle level.

“I do think it’s important for them to hear” the voices of parents. “I’d be a representative to the Roberson district — and not so much the Central Office.”

Churchill said she would give Buncombe schools a grade of a “B,” noting that the current school board “is like anything else — people who are for the status quo.”

She added, “When I talk to my fellow parents, they’d like to see more opportunities ... They’d like to improve what we have, instead of adding more buildings and unnecessary people.”

Churchill said she knows Reynolds district school board member Lisa Baldwin, who often challenges the status quo and casts her votes in the opposite direction of the majority. “I respect her very much. I think she’s on the right track. I think she’s the (lone) voice of the parents” on the board now.