Freshman Alamance-Burlington school board member Chuck Marsh – who joined the board in December 2022 – has announced this week that he won’t seek reelection to a second term in 2026.
Marsh was elected to the school board, along with Dan Ingle and Dr. Charles Parker, in November 2022 and took office the following month. The terms for the three newest school board members are scheduled to expire in November 2026.
Marsh posted the announcement on his Facebook page earlier this week, explaining, “That’s a long ways away, but I’m gonna focus on my last 3 years on the board with out [sic] the worry of having to run for reelection. It’s freeing to not care about Re-election and just telling the truth!!!
“I’m going to laser focus on pointing out what’s wrong on both sides of the isle [sic] and promote the folks who are great leaders and the future of Alamance County,” he wrote.
The Alamance News attempted to inquire with Marsh about his announcement by phone; he did not answer the phone call, and his voice mailbox was full. Nor was Marsh present during the school board’s latest meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Marsh also alluded to the possibility that he may switch his voter affiliation from the Republican Party – the local chapter of which endorsed him, along with Ingle and Parker, in last year’s school board race – to unaffiliated.
“I use [sic] to be and [sic] independent and switched to Republican when I ran for the school board, but I’m considering switching back after the month long battle we had with our very own party to try to fix our schools after years of neglect,” Marsh wrote in announcing his intention not to seek reelection to a second term.
“I love many folks within the GOP, but I’m not a fan of someone telling me I have to get along while the person I’m to get along with is allowed to be an [expletive deleted]!” Marsh elaborated. That statement was an apparent reference to an August 30 joint meeting with Alamance County’s commissioners that became particularly contentious as Marsh traded barbs with commissioner Bill Lashley over his criticism of a 4-3 vote by the school board in October 2021 to carve out $10.5 million from federal Covid-19 stimulus funding – about a third of the $37.5 million set aside for air quality upgrades in August 2021 – in order to give ABSS employees a bonus.
“After being on this board for just shy of a year,” Marsh wrote, “I’ve already grown tired of having to beg folks like Bill Lashley and [commissioner chairman] John Paisley for money that has been earmarked for ABSS and hear them tell the current board and staff that the reason we’re in trouble is because Ryan Bowden and his three Amigos voted to take care of our staff!”
