Reelection bids: Six WS/FCS board members on fixing finances and regaining trust

Six incumbents of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education are running for reelection. In interviews with WXII 12’s Kelly Kendall, they answered questions about the district’s $45 million budget crisis, preventing another one and regaining the public’s trust.District 2 Republican Robert Barr emphasized the need for board members to receive accurate financial information from district leaders and the newly created Audit Advisory Committee.”I just think what we can do is just step up our reporting, make sure that the external committee is a strong committee that can connect with the school board,” Barr said. Get the latest news stories of interest by clicking hereCurrent board Vice Chair and District 1 Democrat Alex Bohannon said the board needs to be more deeply involved in the district’s finances.”We also have to make sure that the board is apprised of every single facet of our finances,” Bohannon said. “And then taking an even closer look and a closer role in the operations of our finances.”Fellow District 1 Democrat Trevonia Brown-Gaither said moving forward, she would fix a past mistake of hers.”If I’m elected back to serve on the board, I would be more diligent,” she said. “I would stay on staff. If I ask a question, I don’t care if I asked 20 times, I’m going to get my answer.”Keep up with the latest news and weather by downloading the WXII app here.District 2 Republican Susan Miller said looking back at the crisis, accountability should have been Step 1.”All along, as soon as we found out what was going on, the CFO should have been terminated,” she said. “I also made a motion to terminate the superintendent.”Democratic at-large member Richard Watts emphasized the need for board members to have a solid understanding of North Carolina public school finances. “I think what else needs to happen is our new superintendent has a course called Basic Finance 101,” he said. “I think we must make sure we all truly understand what it is, what our finances are and how we get there.”District 2 Republican Steve Wood pointed to declining student enrollment as a key area of focus for the budget.”We need to continue to look at that situation where I mentioned, where we have a growth in the non-student-facing positions. There’s not been a growth in this district,” Wood said.If reelected, these board members would face the challenge of rebuilding trust with educators, parents and students across the district. WXII asked them how they would regain it.Barr suggested making the finance committee meetings a part of the regular board meetings.”It’s going to have to be a part of the regular board meeting on the agenda,” Barr said. “And I think that will build public trust and just have more public reporting of where we are financially.”Bohannon said intentions need to turn into action.”We have to make sure that we’re being intentional with working with the superintendent to do what it is that we say we’re going to do,” he said. “So, if we’re going to prioritize certain things within our budgets, to build back the positions that we’ve lost, we need to do that.”Watch: NOWCAST streaming newscastsBrown-Gaither stressed the importance of open discussions.”We can’t just dismiss the hard talk just because the public and media are going to be there,” she said. “We just can’t take away and not do that. So, one of the things is having those hard talks as a board for sure.”Miller said attention cannot be diverted from the budget crisis despite the district’s improving finances. “I kind of hear that rhetoric from a few people, like, ‘We’ve basically paid off the debt. Let’s just move on,’” she said. “Well, that’s not how life works. We need to really continue to look at what has happened, how it happened and how we can prevent it from happening in the future.”Watts said the community will have a complete picture of the district’s finances moving forward.”We’re going to have accountability from our superintendent, accountability from our CFO, accountability from our finance officers, as well as having an external audit. Everything will be posted online,” he said. “So, it’ll be total transparency in our budget process.”With much of the debt resolved, Wood said he is taking a forward-looking approach.”We shouldn’t be afraid of what’s—live in fear of what’s happened in the past, but be positive about what’s going to happen in the future,” he said. Watch the complete interviews with these candidates by clicking on their names below:Robert BarrAlex BohannonTrevonia Brown-GaitherSusan MillerRichard WattsSteve WoodSee their responses to the WXII 12 News WS/FCS Candidate Questionnaire by navigating through the infographics below:NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Watch NOWCAST TV | Local News | National | News We Love |