Exclusive: CMS board chair Elyse Dashew says she won’t seek reelection in 2023

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board chair Elyse Dashew will not seek a third consecutive term, she told The Charlotte Observer Tuesday.

Dashew is nearing the end of her second term on the school board — she was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2019. Her tenure includes serving three years as vice chair and chair for four years. The board, which saw five new faces after last November’s election, voted in December to keep Dashew chair for a fourth and, now, final year.

“I have had experiences where people see the world differently, and truly want what’s best for kids,” Dashew said about her decision not to seek reelection. “In these situations, we can have tough conversations, do the hard work of listening with empathy and humility, and then push through to where we’re working together towards a common value.”

The board will have three at-large seats open in the November election, and Dashew’s decision guarantees two new board members. Jennifer De La Jara already announced she won’t run again for the board. Lenora Shipp occupies the third at-large seat and is running for reelection.

Seven people have filed for the three seats so far.

While her name won’t appear on the school board candidate list this year, Dashew, 53, indicated a willingness to serve the public in other ways after “a sabbatical.”

“I have poured 110% of myself into this work, and I am ready for a sabbatical,” Dashew said. “I have a lot left to give. We are living in times of great change and great challenge. How can I take these hard-earned lessons and battle scars and apply them in new ways to serve students? What can we do differently as a community to shore up our public schools? I have a few ideas.”

Superintendent turnover and a pandemic

Dashew’s tenure included helping govern the district through a revolving door of superintendents and a global pandemic.

During her time on the board, CMS saw four superintendent changes: Ann Clark resigned; Clayton Wilcox resigned in 2019 after the school board suspended him; and board members fired Earnest Winston in April 2022.

In November 2019, the Observer reported Wilcox allegedly made comments and jokes some employees considered offensive to African Americans, Koreans, Mexicans and women. Wilcox also bypassed the standard contracting process and ordered district employees to spend nearly $2 million to buy technology over the objections of senior administrators concerned about his relationship with the company’s founder.

Board members fired Winston over concerns about Winston’s slow implementation of district safety measures, questions of judgment related to Title IX issues and the slow or delayed implementation of key decisions, according to records released from Winston’s personnel file.

At the time of Winston’s firing, Dashew said, “We believe a different leader is needed to shore up this district. Student outcomes are what matter most. We are confident this is the right decision at the right time.”

More than a year after Winston’s firing, the board named Crystal Hill the new superintendent in May. That’s a decision Dashew is confident about.

“Despite an adversarial state legislature and a brutal media market, 17 sitting superintendents from around the country read our job profile, watched our board meetings and said, ‘That’s the kind of board I want to work for,’” Dashew said of the latest superintendent search. “With all the superintendent searches going on around the country, I don’t think anyone had a stronger pool than we did. In that strong pool, Crystal Hill rose to the top as the best match for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.”

Dashew also chaired the board when district staff and parents called decisions over pandemic learning and when to return to in-person learning “controversial.” As was the case across the country, CMS students suffered academically, culminating in poor test scores.

“The pandemic dealt us a chaotic set of cards,” Dashew said. “So much was out of our control as a school district and a school board. We rallied to keep teaching students during the shutdown, serve millions of meals to children who otherwise would go hungry, deliver and maintain thousands of hot spots and computers, keep students and staff safe to the best of our ability … all while public health guidance kept shifting and our constituents’ anxieties were through the roof.”

Dashew says during the height of the pandemic it dawned on her board members needed to discern what was in their control.

“Then, whatever that was, do it to the very best of our ability,” she said. “That calling has kept me going through the hard times.”

It led the school board to adopt its Student Outcomes Focused Governance framework — what Dashew calls “a game changer.”

“It has given us a way to get the board and the community focused on academic performance,” she said, “to prioritize our energy on areas of highest need and highest leverage (and) to get everybody rowing in the same direction with a shared value of setting students up for the best outcomes possible.

Dashew says the framework has given board members a way to set political distractions to the side.

Building partnerships across Charlotte

Dashew told the Observer she helped bridge gaps between the school board and elected officials from towns in Mecklenburg County.

“We are now in a place where we are working together on behalf of the students,” Dashew said. “In 2017, many would have said this was impossible. I am proud of this diplomacy. I am grateful for the support that we now enjoy from the towns and hope we can continue that healthy partnership for years to come.”

Dashew says CMS also built a better relationship with the business community.

Last summer, the district and Charlotte Executive Leadership Council announced a partnership that included the commitment of more than 1,000 volunteer tutors, a tutoring workshop and executives serving full-time in CMS.

What’s next?

Dashew, whose family owned a publishing business, moved to Charlotte in 1995. She has two grown children who graduated from CMS schools.

She plans on finishing out her school board term and then taking time off to recharge, rest and tend to her own well-being. She believes now is a good time to step down.

“This board has the tools to do the hard and humble work of governing wisely, and that is what gives me the peace to know that this is the right time to hand off the baton,” Dashew said.

Dashew serves on the executive committee for the Council of the Great City Schools; the board of directors for DreamKey Partners; the Charlotte Advisory Board for NC Outward Bound School; the board of trustees/advisory council for the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and is a community advisor for the Junior League of Charlotte.