Zenobi
When Andrew Zenobi looks at the Cherokee County Board of Education, he sees a part of himself in current member Jeff Tatham.
“Even if he disagrees with something fundamentally, if someone gives a better reason as to why it should happen, he will vote and say, ‘That was a good argument ... I will change my opinion,’ “ Zenobi said. “That’s how I like to see myself.
“We (too often) just say, ‘We’re doing it because,’ and I don’t like the whole, ‘Because I said
so.’ I never liked it as a kid, and I don’t like it as an adult.”
Zenobi has gotten an up-close look at Tatham and other school board members since last summer, when he became a regular attendee of their monthly meetings. The Republican candidate hopes to soon become part of the decision-making process himself in the board’s District 2 post, which is being vacated by Jeff Martin, who is not seeking re-election.
Zenobi ultimately would like to see each school system have the ability to set its own course, with as little state and federal oversight as possible. While that may be a popular talking point in an area like Cherokee County, Zenobi is hardly a cookie-cutter candidate.
He is eager to tackle complex topics such as the differences between equity and equality, and how teachers’ experiences in college can later shape the worldview of their students. He fears school systems no longer encourage students to reach their maximum out of distorted perceptions about equity and equality.
“People leave, they go to college and, if we’re being honest, college values are not the same as small-town Murphy values,” Zenobi said. “Those people then become teachers and place the values they learned in college on children and ... I’m seeing that now with my daughter in middle school.
“In my opinion, equity is (defined as) everybody is only allowed to reach the maximum of the lowest person. We see that in elementary school, where school is slowed down to the lowest person in class, so the smarter children aren’t allowed to excel.”
Zenobi remodels homes for a living and serves as a coach in the Cherokee County Soccer League. He and his wife have a daughter in sixth grade, who has broadened his perspective on certain issues. While Zenobi is not opposed to anti-bullying campaigns, he said his daughter brought up a key point that he agrees with.
“She’s like, ‘We learn a lot about bullying, but in the real world there are going to be bullies, so why don’t we learn how to deal with it?’ ” Zenobi said. “That sparked a thing in me of, well, ‘Why aren’t we doing resilience training?’
“Overcoming things is important. Whether or not you want it to be true, there are bad people out there, and we’re going to have to deal with them in our lives.”
When it comes to the hot-button issue of school consolidation, Zenobi prefers tight-knit community schools, but he is practical about the financial challenges the county is facing.
“In general, I’m not actually for school consolidation, the idea of it, but I understand financially it’s probably the best option,” Zenobi said. “I always tell people I’m a terrible politician because I’m not going to say, ‘Over the next two years I’m not going to fix the last 20 years of financial waste in spending, or mismanagement of funds, or whatever that may be.’ That’s not realistic.”
Zenobi has many other topics he’s passionate about, from his desire to see North Carolina adopt a “Parents Bill of Rights” similar to ones passed in other Southern states. He would also like to see homeschooled students allowed to play sports on public school teams.