My campaign is focused on supporting a school community where all students and families feel safe, respected, engaged, valued and heard. Rob Elliot and I have managed our campaigns to be clear examples of this approach at work in our communities and across the county. 

Both Rob and I are eager to engage in civil dialogue on the issues in our education system and were looking forward to participating in an event this evening designed for that to occur. Unfortunately, due to the nature of recent inflammatory rhetoric and false allegations about me in social media posts around certain issues that impact our school community, we have decided to respectfully withdraw from the event. We will continue to engage all parts of our community as we head to this very important election.

We thank Black Wall Street AVL for their work to engage our community around important issues and look forward to participating in future events.

Let me be clear, I AM RUNNING for the Buncombe County Board of Education, Erwin District as an educated, involved and dedicated member of the Erwin Community. I will not be a part of an event that could be unsafe for me or those in attendance. I feel this event could have turned into something that would be detrimental to my community and the school system that I proudly support!

Let's keep this election focused on the kids! Thank you for your support!