Cynthia Stone for CMS District 5
Hello! Thank you for supporting the campaign! I excited to represent District 5. I'm in the process of changing this website to be used for information sharing purposes. Please check frequently for updates. I anticipate having a newsletter in the near future.
Please contact me directly using my CMS email: cynthiab.stone@cms.k12.nc.us.
About Me
I’m a born and raised Charlottean. Having grown up here, I experienced the growing pains of our city and school system through the decades since the formation of CMS. From walking to Pinewood Elementary as a first grader in 1961, the beginning year of de-segregation in 1970 (Go Lions!), as a CMS step-parent (Providence graduate-1999) and parent (Myers Park graduate-2010), and as an educator from 2005 - 2023.
I graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 1976 and began my professional life with the Chatham County Schools as an elementary school teacher. I left the profession in early 1981 and moved to New Jersey, enjoying a business career that ranged from sales to technical training, system implementations in the US and Europe, returning home in 1989 to continue my business career adding HR staffing/recruiting, intern program development and management, operational management and business processing/re-engineering project management to my tool kit.
Volunteering in our city led me back to education as I believe it is both the individual and corporate responsibility to eradicating poverty. I returned as a teaching assistant (2004) and then as a 1st - 3rd grade teacher at Chantilly (2005), earned a ME with a Montessori concentration in 2009 from Lander University and taught at Park Road Montessori (2012), retiring in December 2023. Serving students and families con-tinues to be my passion through volunteer work. Serving on the board would enable me to use my unique skill set to improve the school experience for students, families, and educators.
Why I'm Running
I became an educator because education is the key to eliminating poverty. Education is a right and it is our obligation to ensure that right is available to all of our young people. As Mecklenburg County aspires to become a world class community, we must have an educational system that is worthy of our citizens and that can provide a workforce that companies are seeking to hire.
Education is a right, not a privilege and it’s incumbent upon society to ensure the opportunities for education are equitable for everyone. Our society is dependent upon education to ensure our people are prepared to handle the future.
Lofty goals, benchmark scores and graduation rates are meaningless if meeting of the goals overshadows the importance of students achieving long lasting success. Too many times, teaching to improve scores sidelines teaching the skills on a comprehensive level necessary for long term academic success. I am running for the Board of Education because I have serious questions about our district’s future. Why are our professionals leaving our district? Why are our families seeking other educational opportunities for their children instead of relying on CMS? How do we ensure that our kids and teachers are safe at their schools? While physical safety is always a priority, what can we do to ensure our students and staff are emotionally and mentally well at our schools?
A problem is always fixable if the work is done to identify the nuances of the problem. We must commit to finding solutions through processes that engage a wide range of our constituencies. I have proven in a variety of situations that I can manage projects to a successful conclusion.
As any teacher will tell you, teaching is a life of service. Throughout my life I have always been dedicated to serving people where they are and in whatever capacity I can. My commitment to public service, a passion for our children’s future, and faith in the ability of a strong education to change lives is why I am running to serve my community as a member of the CMS Board of Education representing District 5.
My Priorities
Student Safety
Parents deserve to feel like their children are safe when they head to school in the morning.
And right now, many in our community question whether they can. Our Board of Education should be making significant investments to ensure student safety.
As a member of the Board of Education I will work with local public safety officials, parents, and teachers to ensure our students are safe whenever they walk into one of our schools.
Student Mental Health
Right now our youngest generation is facing an unpre-cedented mental health crisis in and outside of our schools.
Students who are members of vulnerable populations like our LGBTQ+ students, students of color, or students with disabilities are experiencing this crisis at a significantly higher rate but we cannot ignore our students who struggle with depression and anxiety.
To address this, I would work with the County and School District officials to prioritize funding for the School Based Mental Health (SMBH) Program and work with school officials to ensure this program and others are more widely available and easily accessible. I would work to find early intervention resources that identify and support younger students before a crisis level is reached.
Teacher Retention
The School Board has limited tools in our toolbox to boost teacher retention but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the problem.
While the school district cannot increase teacher pay on our own, we can address problems that teachers face when it comes to leadership support within their own
schools and other factors that negatively impact a teachers experience teaching in CMS.
As a member of the Board of Education, I will work directly with teachers to better understand what CMS could do to make our schools a desirable place to teach.
Quality of Education
As a teacher who saw CMS before, during, and after COVID-19 I can tell you firsthand that our students have experienced significant learning loss as a result of the pandemic. We need to address that learning loss by meeting students where they are academically rather than "teaching grade level" content they can't fully appreciate because they lack the foundational skills necessary to appreciate the content. While the use of technology can be helpful, the programs I've seen cannot replace direct teacher-led instruction.
As a member of the Board of Education I will work directly with our district staff to ensure we are providing the necessary in and outside of classroom resources to ensure students are actually meeting their grade level requirements rather than being passed on to the next grade without a proper skills-based educational foundation.
Transparency
Students, parents, and teachers deserve to know what’s going on in their school district. Especially as it pertains to student and teacher safety and key decisions being made by the school district.
At the end of the day we need people to have confidence in our schools and our board, and that confidence doesn’t come without basic transparency.
As your School Board member I will have an open door policy for my constituents and will always be available,
honest, and transparent with you regarding the decisions being made about our schools.