Friday, October 9, 2026
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Gaston County (WNN) - Brenda Eskridge is running for the at-large position on the Gaston County School Board. For the 2026 Midterms, she will be competing against incumbent Dot Cherry. Eskridge's main motive is to help address and close the achievement gaps she sees in the Gaston County School System.
Eskridge has a background of 30 years in the healthcare industry. She feels that this has given her a handle on solving complex issues, and also feels that education and health are sister industries. She always wants people to have a good experience and wants to bring that to the Gaston County School Board.
Eskridge is a mother of three children who were brought up in the Gaston County Schools. She felt called to become involved after her youngest came home from school with alarming information.
"I am running because when my daughter was a middle schooler at Mount Holly Middle School, she came home one day and she said, ' Mom, I just, you know, I don't like when the teacher asks the students to read out loud because a lot of them can't read.' "
- Brenda Eskridge
After an initial bout of confusion, she began paying attention to the numbers and realized that Gaston County was consistently in last place. Now, for the last 3 or so years, she has attended the majority of the school board meetings. Now she's ready to get more involved by attempting to join the board.
As stated, she wants to close the achievement gap, noting a 53.5% overall proficiency compared with a graduation rate of roughly 90%. She feels this shows that children are graduating without a full comprehension of the material. Eskridge also brought up that this affects everyone, not just parents and children, because lower productivity leads to a less educated and less qualified future workforce. She worries that the state putting a 15-point grading scale into place may be too lenient and lead to inflated graduation rates.
Her opinion on technology in the classroom is multifaceted. Eskridge realizes that times are changing and some things, such as cell phones, are just a part of life. However, she does not believe they belong in schools. She also feels the reliance on Chromebooks has gone too far. While they do have a place in the classroom, some of the older proven methods are just as pertinent for education.
Otherwise, due to her own experience, she would like to see more businesses partnering with the schools. She recounted her youthful dream of owning a hair salon. Halfway through her 11th-grade year, she was able to intern at a salon for course credits, and this showed her that she did not want to do hair. Despite this, she attributes this experience to helping her grow her customer service and people skills.
She also sees an issue with transparency. She wants to see more information actively brought forth to the public. It is concerning to her that mutiple community members have recounted not receiving responses from school board members despite attempting to contact them.
"We elect them to tell the public what is going on. And I've also attended the operations meetings. And those are pretty informational. And I do see board members ask questions there. But then I don't see that information brought back to the meeting"
- Brenda Eskridge
A hot topic from the previous year was the potential closure of W. Blaine Beam Intermediate in Cherryville, NC. Eskridge believes the decision to put the school on the chopping block was too hasty. She thinks a decision like this should be at the front end of a school year and should have involvement from all parties: parents, teachers, staff, and administration, through the whole process.
The number of buildings maintained by the school system was also brought forth. She thinks this should be looked at and that potential excess could be sold off, with the money used in the areas that need more attention.
With the commissioners in control of a large portion of funding for the schools, Eskridge would like to see more communication between the two boards. When speaking on the current relationship, she stated:
"I feel that we needed to be working together, and it seemed like they were strangers and just becoming acquainted with one another."
- Brenda Eskridge
She also feels a us-vs-them mentality accompanies tension. She wants to see these parties speaking throughout the year, hopefully resolving this.
Another issue is a budget shortfall of nearly $15 million. This is another area where she feels more questions and communication are needed. With the current school year starting, she wants to know what the two parties are going to do moving forward, so we are not in the same situation next year.
You can reach out to Eskridge on Facebook or her website. The Facebook page is Eskridge 4 Education, and the website is www.eskridge4education.com. If you or someone you know is running, they can book an interview in the WNN Studio here.
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