Thursday, October 1, 2026
®
The World's Local News Source®
Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Born and raised in Cleveland County, local Brandon Bridges is throwing his hat in the ring to take one of the republican seats for the Cleveland County, NC School Board. He is up against eight other candidates for one of four available seats. He believes his unique perspective will bring a thoughtful approach to the board that it might otherwise lack.
Bridges grew up in Shelby, NC, and spent his entire scholastic career in the Cleveland County School system. His early education took place in the Burns district of the school system. After graduating from high school, he earned two degrees from Cleveland Community College in the more technical fields of computer security and networking. He plans on being a lifelong Cleveland County resident and feels it's his time to give back to the community.
As someone who runs a local news page, Bridges was approached by several individuals who believe the food offered at Cleveland County Schools is subpar. He noted that, with the area being mostly rural and many families living below the poverty line, school meals can often be the only access to meals local children have. As a result, he began attending school board meetings to research this himself. Another issue brought to his attention was that students are lacking access to paper and pencils. While it requires the agreement of the entire board, Bridges hopes his involvement could help quickly weed out issues related to student necessities. He also believes that, because he lacks other ties to the education system, he would bring an unbiased perspective to the board.
As with any elected board, government transparency is always a noted issue. Bridges recalls a current issue in which Cleveland County School Board members have been censored in the past for speaking to the media, possibly in violation of the board's policy. This happened once in 2023 and again recently. The more recent case was not censored, which has sparked local contention, with some saying it should have been due to past censorship. After reading the policy himself, Bridges believes that neither case should have resulted in censorship.
Continuing in the vein of transparency, Bridges says he understands that some things will go on behind closed doors, and the public won't have access to the information. While this is necessary, he also wants to see greater effort to lay out plans so the public understands the board's decisions. On this, he brings up the sale of one of the schools to a non-profit organization. Many members of the public feel that $146k was too low for a commercial building and that the price is unjustified. The board's explanation is that once the necessary repairs and maintenance have been completed on the building, they will have spent the equivalent of the property's tax value. Bridges thinks that if a breakdown of all the needed improvements the building required had been provided, it would have helped get the public on board with the decision, or, otherwise, helped determine a more fitting price.
A known issue for all of NC public schools is teacher pay. Bridges mentioned that, to his knowledge, there is a supplement to all teachers above the state pay rate in Cleveland County. He noted that much of the decision-making on pay issues occurs above the level of local boards; however, given the opportunity to support raising their pay, he would be fully on board.
The board has less to do with administration and pay at charter schools, but Bridges still believes that members of the public have the right to choose what they consider the best fit for their child's education. He is more concerned that each school, whether public or charter, has the resources the children need, such as access to nutritious foods, and the other necessities he mentioned earlier. In efforts to see this to fruition, he attended a tour of Greenville County Schools with two sitting Cleveland County School Board members to learn what has led to their own local success in these areas.
You can watch the full interview below to hear Bridges' full thoughts on each issue. Remember that the Republican candidate decision will be made on March 3rd, 2026. Early voting starts on February 12th and runs through the 28th. The mail-in (absentee) ballot request deadline is February 17th. Mail-in ballots started going out to voters on January 12th. If you are a candidate or incumbent who would like to speak publicly about your stances, email newsdesk@wisenewsnetwork.com.
For further WNN articles and news stories, visit https://wisenewsnetwork.com
For more WNN video news stories, visit YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wisenewsnetwork
Contact WNN at newsdesk@wisenewsnetwork.com
North Carolina Press Association Member
©️Copyright 2026 Wise News Network. All rights reserved.
