Meredith Ballew, candidate for Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education
Voters who live in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district will fill four open seats on the Board of Education in November.
Incumbent board members Rani Dasi, Deon Temne and Ashton Powell are running against 11 challengers in the Nov. 7 general election.
The challengers are Meredith Ballew, Vickie Feaster Fornville, Barbara Fedders, Jane Gabin, Solomon Gibson III, Mariela Hernandez, Honoria Middough, Renee Peet, Michelle Rissling, Taylor Tally and Allison Willis.
It may be one of the largest group of candidates to ever run in a Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board election. Five other candidates who filed in July, when the conservative Moms for Liberty group was said to be fielding potential candidates, withdrew before the November ballots were printed.
Board member Jillian La Serna is not running for re-election.
Early voting in the nonpartisan Nov. 7 election starts Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 4..
To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit co.orange.nc.us/1720/Elections or contact the Board of Elections at 919-245-2350 or vote@orangecountync.gov.
Name: Meredith Ballew
Age: 47
Occupation: Nonprofit professional, and stay-at-home parent
Education: Chapel Hill High School (1994); Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature with a Sociology Minor, Vanderbilt University (1998); Master of Public Administration in Public Policy Analysis and Non-Profit Management; NYU (2002)
Political or civic experience: In my kids’ previous public school district, I served on the PTA Executive Board for 6 years, as PTA president for 2 years and on the School Leadership Team. Since moving back to my hometown of Chapel Hill, I served as an active member on the Special Needs Advisory Council (SNAC) and as SNAC school liaison at Scroggs Elementary. Professionally, I have held leadership positions in several nonprofit organizations, including the YMCA, a post-9/11 development organization, and a parks conservancy.
Campaign website: meredithballew.com
Why are you running for school board and what makes you the right candidate? Current board members: Please also explain the delay in announcing your re-election campaign this year.
As a native of Chapel Hill and proud Chapel Hill High School alumna, I would be honored to use my skills and experience to serve the district that nurtured me, taught me to think critically and gave me the tools to succeed in higher education and life. In addition to holding professional and volunteer leadership roles in various nonprofits and the PTA, I hold a master’s degree in public policy and nonprofit management. My background and experience have equipped me with the knowledge and ability to stay abreast of the many complex issues facing our district, and I look forward to furthering progress in issues of equity, academic excellence for all, disability services, and teacher recruitment/retention.
What are the three top challenges facing the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools? Choose one and explain how you would address it.
The top three challenges faced by our school district are:
▪ The opportunity/achievement gap
▪ Teacher/staff recruitment and retention
▪ A lack of innovation and community collaboration in disability service delivery.
I would advocate for the implementation of proven strategies, such as co-teaching and increased individual instructional time for struggling students. I would also encourage more meaningful collaborations with university and community partners, such as TEACCH, the School of Education, and local tech companies and nonprofits to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and foster a more inclusive environment for all.
What do you think about the state’s 2021 Science of Reading law and Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling training, and how both initiatives are being implemented in the district? What would you do to improve student reading and literacy outcomes?
In my experience, no single literacy instruction methodology is a magic bullet in terms of fostering excellent readers. Some students do well with the balanced literacy approach, while others require significant phonics-based instruction. If the legislature continues to be unwilling to pay teachers a reasonable salary and continues to funnel funding away from public schools into private school vouchers, no legislation dictating a certain instructional methodology will work as intended. Well-researched, scientific-based instructional practices MUST be paired with sufficient resources for supplemental reading coaches and increased individualized instruction to achieve satisfactory proficiency.
What do you think about the district’s work to close the achievement gap? What would you do if elected?
I am heartened to note that CHCCS Leadership has voiced a clear commitment to closing the persistent achievement gap. To further their efforts, I would support policies including:
▪ High-quality, universal Pre-K
▪ Comprehensive equity and anti-bias education for students, faculty and staff
▪ Concerted efforts to hire/retain diverse faculty, staff and administrators
▪ Increased instructional time for struggling students
▪ Universal, year-round free breakfast and lunch for students
▪ Free and accessible early childhood, afterschool, and summer programming
▪ Equity-based framework for resource allocation, disciplinary policy and instructional methodology (including gifted student identification)
How can the school district bring people with different viewpoints together to find common ground and workable solutions?
The degree of vitriol in our current public discourse is disheartening to see, and the CHCCS district is sadly no exception. In the future, I would like to see a more deliberate collaboration between students, families and the district, alongside an effort to make board and committee meetings more accessible to all, including those with disabilities and language barriers. My entire career has been spent working with a variety of stakeholders with disparate priorities in nonprofits, schools and government agencies. I hope to bring these collaborative skills into my work with the school board to find common ground and maximize outcomes for all students.
The Orange Report
Calling Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough readers. Check out The Orange Report, a free weekly digest of some of the top stories for and about Orange County published in The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. Get your newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday featuring stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here. For even more Orange-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "Chapel Hill Carrboro Chat."
