He was part of the group pushing to reduce the coaching stipend in the county while on the school board a few years ago. It was reported that he preferred a larger reduction because good coaches do it for the love of coaching. I do not know if it is correct but have been told that he thought zero stipend was the best option.
Three Things Needed At Albemarle......
- Thread starter Buddy Rich
- Start date
Poole did speak toward keeping Albemarle open. However, there is no way he will support redistricting, which in my opinion is an absolute necessity to keeping AHS open in the long term.
Poole has also opposed every study that has been performed since he first came on the BOE in the 1990's that recommended any changes to the school system structure at all, despite the fact that such studies were done by outside agencies that specialize in long term educational planning.
If Poole were the lone regressive voice on the school board, it would not worry me too much. But he has a bunch of cronies now that will walk in lockstep with him, all promising the public "no more school closings".
My question is, what is the BOE going to do if they don't receive better funding from the County Commissioners and from Raleigh? If they don't, it's going to be impossible to continue to operate the current number of schools that exist in the county.
A number of sad statements from Poole's time on the BOE include:
- As btango stated above, Poole proposed abolishing coaches supplements in the county after the economic downturn in 2008, saying "we can find volunteers to coach sports teams"
- Making a statement to a group in Oakboro that if he had his way, "we would go back to twelve K-12 schools in Stanly County"
- His statement on a facebook post this past spring that should he be elected, "those in the school system who have openly supported plan A or plan B should not plan on long-term employment with Stanly County Schools."
