Who is Brian Kasher, 2023 candidate for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board?

Name: Brian Kasher

Age as of Nov. 7, 2023: 62

Campaign website: www.VoteBrianKasher.com

Occupation: Management planner

Education: Master’s degree in public advocacy from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), 12/1990. Graduate certificate, public management practices, UIS, 12/1990. Bachelor of arts, organizational communication, UIS, 5/1988. AHERA K12 Accredited in All Disciplines since 1990. Certificate in Professional Development Training for Educators - USDA Graduate School

Have you run for elected office before?

No.

Please list your highlights of civic involvement

I was an award-winning national faculty of the USEPA Tools for Schools Program and provided leadership and technical training to K-12 school board members and senior executives around the country. I have served on the Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful Board of Directors, Mecklenburg County Environmental Leadership Team, Mecklenburg County Livable Communities Development Team, Metrolina Council of Government’s Clean Fuels Coalition Board, North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Oversight Committee, American Industrial Hygiene Association Consultant’s SIG Secretary. I have been a featured expert speaker at the national conferences of many national associations of significance to CMS and the school board. I am a member of the National Safety Council and National Board of Certified Safety Professionals

What are your ideas for improving student performance if elected to the CMS board?

My ideas for change will not generally translate into classroom activities. My main idea for improving CMS academic performance is to change CMS outcomes by changing the school board and executive staff culture. I want to see Board of Education operations streamlined and much more focused. We need to move board meetings out into the lowest-performing schools until we start seeing the types of academic improvement this community deserves in a few years. I also think CMS needs to find course of study options for students who are not destined for the school-to-prison pipeline, or college. A lot of good kids become bored with school and look to other activities to stimulate their minds. CMS needs to find appropriate coursework that engages youth who want to be productive members of society, but who do not want to go to college. Getting this right will naturally increase the overall literacy and success of students and CMS, too. Summer programs are important to at-risk children, as well. Too often children advance and develop during the school year and then much of that progress is lost over the summer.

Will you support the $2.5 billion bond that will be on the November ballot for school projects? Why or why not?

I do in general support a significant investment in updating and building new schools, but not this year .because of the turbulent past few years. This bond package was developed under temporary leadership without ties to the community. This is not Superintendent Crystal Hill’s vision of what CMS should be, it is Hill being told this is what CMS should do by lower-level staff and contractors who developed the plan while CMS was in an extended period of leadership limbo brought on by the sudden firing of Earnest Winston. I would be as happy as the next person to spend $2.5 billion, but I am convinced the community will get a better package once Hill is better situated in her role as superintendent and the new board is in place. I think it is important that there has never been any form of disclosure of all the school building problems, some resulting in sick children and staff, CMS has had over the years. I think we should be discussing corrective action plans for the many costly and health-impairing problems CMS has created for itself over the years as part of the revised bond package. I am of the belief that CMS needs to begin paying a high percentage of project dollars for quality assurance.

What’s your opinion on school book bans or decisions to limit the audience for particular titles. And how would you approach the problem if a parent brought a book to your attention?

My opinion on book bans is that we need to be teaching more children to read books in CMS and spending less time worrying about the potential of book bans that simply do not exist in Mecklenburg County. My slogan, “Books, Not Bans” speaks to the concept that books are what we need to focus on, not bans. The school board is the authority in this county to remove books if books are profane or violate board policy. The small group of parents who regularly perturb seated school board members about books or other topics are not a threat in any way to the children of this county. The drama is totally unnecessary. It seems appropriate to me in some cases for teachers to give trigger warnings whether there are rules that require, it or not. It’s just a decent thing to do.

How will you prioritize projects if the bond referendum is approved in November? And how would you approach deciding on major construction needs more broadly?

Once the bond is approved the board will engage financial aspects of the projects but the prioritization has been conducted. That is another reason why the bond needs to be delayed. Our community needs to take a deep look at these projects and do our best to work on more renovations. Schools that have issues need them fixed now, not years from now based on a fancy spreadsheet. Plus we need a specific line for hardening school entrances to immediately provide enhanced safety to our community’s children.

What are your ideas for CMS to foster good relationships with towns and different communities across Mecklenburg County?

CMS has properties in each of the cities and towns of Mecklenburg County. CMS must be in compliance with local ordinances to be a good neighbor first. CMS is the largest developed property holder in Mecklenburg County so how CMS maintains its properties matters in all corners of the county. I would like the school board to conduct regular meetings at schools around the county with most meetings being conducted at the lowest-performing schools. This will put the board into a mode of social-emotional learning that in my opinion would have board members coming up with potential solutions for schools, instead of being shown endless powerpoints year after year. It will also bring the board itself closer to the community in need of additional support. Until CMS develops the capacity to be transparent and honest with the community, good relationships with the larger community will continue to be elusive.

What separates you from you opponents and makes you the best choice on November’s ballot?

What makes me different from the other candidates is that in addition to being a CMS parent and volunteer, I served almost eight years as the CMS founding manager of Environmental Health and Safety and several years as an award-winning USEPA Tools for Schools faculty member. I was named a White House Champion of Change, which is exactly what I am trying to do with this election. I built CMS’ asbestos program from scratch when it was creating dangerous conditions in schools that resulted in state agency engagement. I was CMS’ first playground inspector who identified hundreds of playground hazards to be fixed. I have conducted hundreds of investigations inside of CMS that resulted in teachers, administrators, and children alike no longer feeling ill in their classrooms. I have been responsible for environmental health issues at most all federal agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. I have served as one of our nation’s leading experts in the USEPA tools for schools program that helped schools all over the United States helped children and school staff. My concern as a CMS parent and taxpayer is the school board, executive leadership, and overall public decision-making we have all witnessed over the years. It has come time for CMS to raise literacy rates where it matters so we can continue counting on county funding. Our school board needs to focus on teaching more children how to read books in our community. Our community, including CMS students and staff, deserve better decision-making from the school board and superintendent.