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Decreasing enrollment, funding challenges, and teacher shortages – if you pay attention to the headlines about public schools in North Carolina, you’re familiar with the obstacles our students and school districts face.

Yet at the same time, there’s a great deal to be proud of with our state’s local public schools: all-time highs in four-year cohort graduation rates, record participation and earned credentials in career and technical education, and best-ever enrollment and performance in Advanced Placement exams, all in the 2024-2025 school year.

In this episode, we’re joined by staff from the NC Department of Public Instruction to talk about the department’s new Public Education Champions Network, which serves to highlight our schools’ achievements and, in their words, build the “strongest coalition of public school advocates this state has ever seen.”

Listen in as NCSBA’s Ben Christoph sits down with NCDPI Chief Communications Officer Mark Dessauer and Strategic Partnerships Manager Molly McGowan Gorsuch to talk about the new program and why public education champions are vital for the success of our state’s students.

NC Public Education Champions Network

 Achieving Educational Excellence Strategic Plan

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

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With nearly 500,000 students in rural areas in North Carolina, our state is responsible for educating more students in rural communities than almost any other state in the country.

These students and the schools they attend need distinct types of support and leaders who recognize how to best help them succeed.

On this episode, we are joined by someone who has built a career in equipping school leaders to meet the needs of their school communities through partnerships.

Dr. Matt Militello is the founding director of the East Carolina University International Education Doctoral program and holds the Wells Fargo Distinguished Professor position in Educational Leadership at ECU. As part of his work, he has secured millions of dollars in grant funding to train school leaders in Northeast North Carolina and expand partnerships among school leaders there.

Listen in as NCSBA’s Ben Christoph sits down with Matt to talk about how school district leaders in rural areas like northeastern North Carolina and beyond can build strategic partnerships to meet the unique needs of their school communities.

Learning about community schools in Wales (EdNC Article)

ECU College of Education Rural Education Initiative (Program Website)

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

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Overseeing student accountability, achievement, and success are core parts of being a local school leader. Although this principle is simple enough at face value, it can be complicated to put into practice.

On this episode, we are joined by an expert who is known for bringing practical solutions to the world of student support and achievement.

Dr. John Hodge is the Chief Inspiration Officer of An Achievable Dream, a nonprofit organization that partners with public school districts in under-served communities around southeast Virginia. He’s also the co-founder of An Achievable Dream Urban Learning Leadership Center, providing education consulting to school districts across the country.

NCSBA’s Ben Christoph sits down with John to talk about the best ways school district leaders can facilitate student success and support school accountability. 

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

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Respect, trust, and teamwork. These three words are taught and lived out every day in our public schools but often get lost in business between school boards and county boards. What can local leaders do to overcome differences, align their priorities, and – most importantly – get results for students in their district?

In Dare County, they have answered this question through a series of meetings they call the 5-on-5 Committee. Dare County School Board Chair David Twiddy, Board Chair of the Dare County Commissioners Bob Woodard, and Dare County Commissioner Mary Ellon Ballance recently sat down with NCSBA’s Justice Warren to discuss the county and school district’s ongoing collaboration on annual budget talks and the positive outcomes for their students.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

Follow NCSBA on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more updates.

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The best leaders know how to make the right connections and build strong networks in order to get the best results. This is especially true in the work of a school board member, where partnerships mean success for your district and better outcomes for students.

To zoom in on one example of a North Carolina school district partnering with other local leaders and entities, we’re joined by Wade Auman, a deputy superintendent with Montgomery County Schools.

Wade discusses how he and his district’s leadership have built partnerships with their local county commissioners and community college in order to expand their career and technical education offerings. Listen in to the conversation between Wade Auman and NCSBA’s Christine Scheef. 

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

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Are you prepared to respond to a reporter’s phone call about a polarizing post made on your school district’s Facebook page? Does your school board have a plan for communicating with your community about upcoming district budget cuts? How will you talk with the students and families affected by the proposed closing of their school?

Are there issues that concern you—even if they haven’t yet reached the public eye?

To answer those questions and more, we’re joined by Thom Fladung, a managing partner for Hennes Communications. Thom has more than 33 years of daily newspaper and digital media experience and shares his expert insight on managing communications in today’s landscape.

Listen in to the conversation between Thom and NCSBA Assistant Director of Communications Ben Christoph.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

Follow NCSBA on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more updates.

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While many schools take a break for summer, hunger never takes a day off. That is why you’ll find approximately 3,000 meal sites operating in communities across North Carolina during summer breaks. These meal sites serve students over 80,000 meals on a daily basis to those in need and, in turn, give families full stomachs and peace of mind.

In this episode, guests from the NC Department of Public Instruction’s Office of School Nutrition and Auxiliary Services join the show to spread the word about these programs in greater detail. These experts in nutrition, Senior Director Rachel Findley and Section Chief of Outreach and Promotion Lynne Privette, talk with NCSBA’s Ben Christoph about the needs, goals, and challenges of running these nutrition services.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

Follow NCSBA on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more updates.

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In a time when opinions are polarized, headlines are muddled, and unity seems like a bygone idea, how is anyone supposed to get a persuasive message through to people? When narratives cast public schools as “failing” and families feel that they are in need of alternatives, how can local school district leaders and public education supporters make a stand?

One school district in North Carolina has found a way to establish their voice and cut through the noise, resulting in a more informed community. In turn, these community members are more willing to carry the message about the highlights and benefits of their neighborhood public schools. In Rutherford County Schools, they have made the declaration that “Education Matters” as they seek to make their public schools the premier choice for families.

In this episode, Superintendent of Rutherford County Schools Dr. David Sutton joins the show along with the district’s Director of Marketing and Community Relations, Ritchie Garland, to talk with NCSBA’s Ben Christoph about the inspiration, planning, and progress of a campaign that is raising the discourse about local public schools.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

Follow NCSBA on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more updates.

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To lead effectively, you’ve got to know who you’re leading. Where are they from? Where are they going? What brings them to your community? In order to make sound policy decisions and forecast budgets that respond to the evolving needs of students and their families, local leaders need objective and reliable data. This information is critical in explaining why many school districts are experiencing shrinking enrollment numbers.

On this episode of The Board Table, Dr. Nathan Dollar, director of Carolina Demography, joins NCSBA Assistant Director of Communications Ben Christoph in a discussion to help North Carolina leaders make sense of population-level changes throughout the state. Using his decades of experience in research and tracking population trends in this state and abroad, Nathan shares his deep understanding of our state institutions and the complex issues shaping population changes.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

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Each state in the union has outlined their own set of foundational liberties, rights, and opportunities that guide the everyday lives of generations to come. Though each state contains its own distinct set of obligations for its respective government, there are common threads, and an important commonality is that of education. In all 50 states, each constitution establishes the promise of an education for each of its residents and cements the importance of access to learning into their founding documents.

To explore this principle and discuss the historical context and implications of a state government’s obligation to provide education, an expert in constitutional law joins us at The Board Table. Our guest, Derek Black, is a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law where he is also the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law and directs the law school’s Constitutional Law Center. A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, he has published extensive research that has been cited by federal courts and various briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has written multiple books on the subject of education and law.

For more information on Derek Black, visit derekwblack.com.

NCSBA is the professional organization that represents local boards of education in North Carolina. It is a member-driven association that supports the school governance team—school board members, superintendents, senior administrative staff and board assistants—in its complex leadership role. We help develop, communicate, and advocate for the perspective of North Carolina school districts.

Follow NCSBA on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more updates.