I am a resident in Wake County School District 5, and I attended the forum at the UU Fellowship on Wednesday. I also attended the forum held earlier for District 3 candidates.I see a pattern emerging from the school board candidate forums, which are presented by nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations. As reported in The News & Observer, of the candidates on Wednesday, Cynthia Matson was mostly civil towards her opponent, Jim Martin, during the question and answer periods (most of the forum time).
I say “mostly” as Matson frequently used facial expressions or shook her head to silently express her disagreement when Martin was speaking.
However, at the end of both the District 3 and District 5 forums, candidates who support the current school board majority used their summation remarks to go into attack mode. On Wednesday it was Matson, who not only went on the offensive, but became offensive in her manner of attacking her opponent.
We need less partisanship such as Ms. Matson displayed Wednesday, and which has permeated our present school board since 2009. At the same time that she (in the height of hypocrisy) was attacking Martin for being partisan, she displayed a high degree of partisanship and ideology. I hope she will try to stick to the high road for the remainder of this election campaign.
Martha Brock
Raleigh
