Cherokee County Board of Education | Cherokee Scout, Murphy, North Carolina

There is only one local seat with more than one candidate up for grabs in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, general election, with Cherokee County Board of Education member Arnold Mathews, a Republican, facing unaffiliated candidate Paul Wilson. Both are former principals of Martins Creek School.

The candidates were provided a list of questions by the Cherokee Scout, which is being published in advance of early voting, which starts Thursday.

Arnold Mathews

District 2

Tell us about yourself: I am from Haywood County and lived there until I left for college after graduation. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Western Carolina University in 1985 and taught French and Spanish in Haywood County. I later earned my Master of School Administration degree from WCU in 1998 and then moved to Cherokee County. I am married to Patricia Mathews, retired principal of Peachtree Elementary School. We have three children who attended school in Cherokee County and graduated from Murphy High School: Colton Mathews, Caleb Mathews, and Abigail Mathews. We live in the Peachtree community and attend Peachtree Memorial Baptist Church, where I serve as the Minister of Music, a deacon, and the Sunday school director. I worked in Cherokee County for 17 years, serving as an assistant principal at Hiwassee Dam School and Murphy Elementary School. I later served as the principal at Martins Creek School and Murphy Elementary School.
If you have something in your record that is problematic, such as a felony conviction, please explain. N/A
What are the three main points you want voters to know about your goals if elected or re-elected? Cherokee County Schools needs to pick up the pace if we are going to be able to meet the expectations of our mission statement.

here needs to be more equity in academic programs and athletic opportunities for our students. With limited funds, it is extremely difficult to meet this goal.

Our individual schools receive very little money to operate. I would like to see our schools receive more from the Small Schools Funds that are given to our school system each year. Most of the money is used for salaries.

What areas of public policy are you particularly focused on? There are many policies that govern our school district. One of the responsibilities of the school board is to create and review policies. There is often a misunderstanding as to the responsibilities of the school board in the day to day running of the school system. Hopefully a better understanding of the policies would help to make this more clear to the public. The policy manual itself is vast and involved; however, I encourage the public to review the policies that are available on the website cherokee.k12.nc.us.

I also believe we as board members need to have more dialogue taking place at our board meetings. When we are able to talk and share our thoughts with each other, there are fewer misunderstandings. Our conversations also help the public to have a clearer picture of what our beliefs and goals are as individuals and also as the school board as a whole.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder? I worked in the school system as an assistant principal and principal for over 17 years. I also had three children go through the school system as students, graduate, and continue their education at a four-year university. I know firsthand what is needed in the schools and can also attest to how prepared my own children were as they continued their academic careers. The preparation could have been better. I was also fortunate to be able to teach Spanish in Union County, Georgia, for six years before I decided to retire again. This experience afforded me the opportunity to experience the school as a teacher again after serving as an administrator for so long. It was definitely eye opening and helpful in understanding the struggles our educators face each day.
What is something that has been a struggle in your life? I was bullied unmercifully as a child by some of my peers (and even some teachers) and have had to come to terms with these battle scars over my 60 years of life. As an administrator and as a teacher, I have always tried to be aware of the struggles students face as they attend school. I have consistently tried to advocate for the students to make sure they feel safe in school and are able to focus on learning instead of simply surviving to the next day. As a school board member, I will continue to fight for these students and will also try to make sure our school personnel are treated fairly.
What do you perceive to be Cherokee County’s greatest challenges over the next decade? We are doing very little to change our instruction and expectations as far as preparing our students for life in the 21st century. There are some changes, but not enough. As a former language teacher, I believe we need to have a stronger emphasis on learning other languages and cultures. We as a school system are falling behind in making sure our students are prepared as is presented in our mission statement:

“Cherokee County’s Board of Education’s Mission is for every student to graduate from high school and to be globally competitive for work, post-secondary education, and prepared for life in the 21st Century.” The consolidated high school would have helped to bridge the gap as far as being competitive with other students throughout the nation. Unfortunately, this school did not happen, so now we are forced to figure out what might work to help our students achieve success.

Wild card: Provide any additional information you deem relevant here. I encourage the public to contact the teachers, superintendent, central office, and board members if there are questions. Oftentimes, there is misinformation on social media that could be cleared up with an inquiry to the appropriate person. There are times I have been tempted to comment on various posts, etc. when I see the information is not accurate; however, I make the decision not to comment because I believe it might encourage further dialogue that is false or combative. I encourage the public to have good working relationships with the staff of the schools and other educators that are involved in trying to do what is best for students. I am not saying everyone is perfect, but there is often a lot of miscommunication.

Paul Wilson

District 2

Tell us about yourself: A lifelong native of Cherokee County, I attended Martins Creek School, then Murphy High School. Growing up, I loved playing baseball, particularly pitching. I grew up in a musical family and began performing mostly gospel music at 17. I graduated Young Harris College second in my class, UNCA Magna Cum Laude and WCU first in my class with a Masters in School Administration. I taught two years at Andrews Middle, followed by around 10 years at MCS before being selected for the N.C. Principal Fellows. I served one year as the AP of MCS, followed by three years as principal of Ranger School and 12 years as principal of MCS. At 36, I started playing tennis and have loved it ever since. It’s a lot like pitching, except with running!
If you have something in your record that is problematic, such as a felony conviction, please explain. Other than speeding tickets when I was young, I have no infractions.
What are the three main points you want voters to know about your goals if elected or re-elected? I would like to help solve the bus driver shortage for CCS. I would like to increase transparency and communication between the district and citizens, especially for parents/guardians. I would like to help the district find a way to move forward, taking full advantage of available state grants, while not putting benefits for one community ahead of the needs of other communities.
What areas of public policy are you particularly focused on? I would like to help ensure that the district follows its own policies, just as schools do. I would like to bring back some practices that were recently removed, such as emailing the board bullets to all district employees to make it easier for them to stay abreast of important information. If I am elected and able to stay on the board long enough to generate support for the idea, I would also like to explore restructuring the board to ensure that every school is able to elect at least one representative, even though all board members should advocate for all students.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder? I think my experience working successfully with students, parents, and staff would serve me well as a board member. I have worn many hats within the school system, which should help me identify with and better relate to all employees. I use a first-things-first, systematic approach to solving problems, and I think that is essential for solving any complex problems or issues. Stakeholders always told me that communication with parents was my biggest strength as a principal.
What is something that has been a struggle in your life? Other than the loss of students and the loss of loved ones, the biggest struggles in my life came in stressful situations of school leadership that involved many variables,
when it was extremely difficult to identify the best solutions for everyone involved, while always placing the best interests of students first and foremost. In those times, I believe the Lord helped me and my colleagues make the best decisions.
What do you perceive to be Cherokee County’s greatest challenges over the next decade? Obviously, the biggest challenge will continue to be utilizing limited funds to effectively operate multiple schools across a sparsely populated, low-income county that is geographically vast. If we build new facilities, whether or not consolidation is involved, it will be a challenge to ensure that the location, design, and configuration are all carefully planned and communicated to maximize a quality learning experience for all students involved. Nothing should be left to chance or hope.

Another key challenge will be proactively maintaining our facilities, both old and new.

Wild card: Provide any additional information you deem relevant here. I would like to help usher in new ways of finding and recruiting promising young teachers for our district.