Second CMS school board member says she won’t seek reelection in 2022

Calling it a privilege to serve “Team CMS,” Margaret Marshall announced on her campaign Facebook page Friday she will not seek a second term as the District 5 representative on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

Marshall, who is in the fifth year of a four-year term because of the delay in Census data involving redistricting, said the work has been interesting and challenging. But she said it’s time to give someone else an opportunity to serve in the seat.

Six school board districts, including Marshall’s, will be up for election in November. Longtime school board member Rhonda Cheek, who represents District 1, announced at a board meeting this month she will not seek reelection. In November, winners will be elected to a three-year term instead of the normal four.

“Whether I voted to slow the reopening of schools during the pandemic or speed them up – and I did both – I likely made some portion of Mecklenburg County angry,” Marshall wrote in her Facebook post. “And while anger towards School Boards and school systems is much talked about in the press both nationally and locally, I constantly meet people who appreciate all the wonderful things their child’s school does for them and who passionately want our amazing students in CMS to succeed in life.”

Marshall, who is registered unaffiliated, was elected to the school board in 2017. She has served as parent-teacher association president of Alexander Graham Middle and Myers Park High School and was a founding board member of the Myers Park High School Foundation. She has also served on the board of the East Mecklenburg High School Foundation and the YMCA’s Community Impact Committee, where she led the task force to create the Howard Levine Early Childhood Development Center with the Renaissance West Community Initiative.

She’s also tutored in math at several district elementary schools.

In her announcement, Marshall praised teachers, district staff, custodians, bus drivers and cafeteria workers for their service to the district, particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic. She also said it’s been a “joy to interact” with the students who are “the centerpiece of all that we do.”

“When I began this work, my wise father told me that ‘the problems you will encounter have been here for a long time; you won’t solve them all by yourself. You are part of a team,’” Marshall wrote. “This team has navigated – and is still navigating – through one of the most perilous times in public education.”

Marshall said it’s a hard truth that CMS needs to recruit and retain well-trained professionals to educate and support children and “pay them at a level that recognizes the vital role they play.” She called on the community to help meet the emotional needs of children.

“It is complicated and sometimes messy work, but it is so important to the health of our community,” she said about her time on the board.

Marshall is a native of Lexington, which is northeast of Charlotte in Davidson County, and graduated from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

“I so appreciate my community allowing me to serve in this capacity, and I encourage others to step forward to do this important work as well,” she said. “ We can do hard things together as a team.”

Filing for school board seats starts July 25 and ends at noon on Aug. 12