NCPTA Announces the 2019-2021 NCPTA Officer Slate
The NCPTA Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the Slate for State Officers for the 2019 – 2021 term. The Nominating Committee will present the Slate to delegates at the NCPTA State Convention at General Session I on Saturday, May 18, 2019.
President: Connie Cabbs, Mecklenburg County
Connie Cabbs is a native of Charlotte, NC. She is married and has 3 children. As a license real estate broker for the past 15 years, Connie enjoys the personalized service she provides for her clients. With her knowledge in the real estate industry, Connie helps her clients make informed real estate decisions. She takes great pride in providing an unparallel customer experience.
Outside of her profession, Connie enjoys serving her community. She enjoys working at food pantries, setting up shelter for families in transition, and volunteering at local schools. As a PTA member for 16 years, Connie has served in many roles. She has been a local unit President, a Council President for two years, and served on the NCPTA board of directors for two terms. She volunteers in local schools providing support where needed.
Connie is a true advocate for students and educators. She spends much of her time volunteering in schools and developing relationships with parents, school leaders, and community partners; to strengthen the presence she feels is needed in her school community. She believes that engaging and empowering others creates an environment where everyone feels of value and of worth.
Whether in her profession or as a volunteer, Connie is passionate about serving others, bringing people together, and creating an environment where everyone sees themselves as a stakeholder.
President-Elect: Francelia Burwell, Durham County
Francelia Burwell has been involved and served in leadership roles with PTAs in Fairfax County, VA (secretary, historian) and Durham County, NC (president, vice president, communications committee chair, 8th grade Avid parent liaison, principal selection committees, site based decision making committees, school improvement teams, DPS budget advisory committee, DPS branding committee, DPS strategic planning committee, DPS Advanced Academics Team, and a member of numerous district & state led parental focus groups) for more than 20 years. She has served as VP, a two-year term as President, VP of Community Engagement and is currently serving another year as President of the Durham Council of PTAs.
She brings passion and enthusiasm as she embarks upon year two of a two-year term as a member of the NCPTA Board of Directors, the NCPTA Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair, and a past NCPTA Membership Committee Co-Chair, as well as a past member of the Events, Founder’s Day, and Membership Committees. Moreover, Francelia has represented NCPTA by the appointment of the State President on the PTA Monthly ESSA Calls, National PTA Convention Workshops, and the Executive Service Corps Board Leadership Bootcamp.
Francelia focuses on engaging and inspiring families to become involved in their children’s education through the PTA. She has worked with many teachers and principals to identify potential leaders among families and to nurture their efforts to build PTAs. She utilizes her experience to help cultivate partnerships between schools and families as a means of supporting and empowering underserved and underrepresented students and their families, thus helping each child to perform to his/her full potential.
She has a proven reputation throughout the community while actively building and strengthening relationships with PTA and the larger community through grant opportunities and partnerships. Under her leadership, Durham Council of PTAs has successfully secured several National PTA and foundation grants as well as provided technical assistance and support to local units to secure grants.
Francelia, a native of Virginia, is a loving wife to Tony Burwell, Sr of 26 years and a proud mom of two sons and a daughter (graduates of Durham Public Schools). She is a member of the Parent & Family Advisory Council for UNC Greensboro, where her daughter is currently a freshman. Francelia is a successful entrepreneur, tax professional, and Senior Vice President of a multi-million dollar corporation.
Secretary: Meredith Rouse Davis, Wake County
Meredith Rouse Davis was elected to the North Carolina PTA Board of Directors in June 2017 and currently serves as chair of the Advocacy Committee and as Federal Legislative Chair. As a PTA member, she is focused on enhancing children’s success by encouraging parents to become actively engaged in, and advocating for, their children’s education.
Davis has had a wide and varied career in marketing and communication, which began in New York State and continued in Maryland before relocating to North Carolina. She is a marketing communication vice president for Local Government Federal Credit Union, where she works to help improve the lives of North Carolinians. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and a volunteer with the Girl Scouts. Her previous affiliations include serving on The Governor’s Workforce Development Board for the state of Maryland, serving on the boards of the Maryland Mentoring Partnership, the Montgomery County Mentoring Task Force, and serving on the WMHT Community Advisory Board and Board of Trustees. Other past affiliations include: member of the National Association of Environmental Professionals, Women’s Press Club of New York.
Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Russel Sage College in Albany, N.Y. Davis and her husband Chris reside in Cary with their two children, both of whom are in Wake County schools.
In addition, the following two people have submitted required materials indicating intent to run from the floor for the position of president.
Donald Barringer, Cleveland County
Donald Barringer, native of Charlotte, NC is currently a resident of Shelby, NC and also known as “the connector” or “influencer”, a leader since third grade, and has been a member of PTA since High School (over 22 years ago). It was because of his mother’s 20 years as a PTA member that he became a part of what she enjoyed. A fun fact; he completed a US Army Golden Knights tandem jump with past PTA President Otha Thornton. Within PTA, he served as a teacher representative, education partner with the local Council, NCPTA Board of Directors, and served as chair of Nominations & Elections, Community Engagement & Membership, Co-chair of the Events, Advocacy, Founder’s Day, Teacher Training, and the Executive Committee. The past two years he has supported NCPTA School of Excellence schools helping NCPTA receive it’s largest amount of SOE Designations since the program’s existence. As an Organizational Leadership Doctoral student, he wants to support PTA and education based organizations to become better and greater utilizing the human resources and community partnerships to help make every child’s potential a reality. He has taught a variety of education courses, recruited educators, and conducted professional development for people ages 2 to 72. Donald has served as a teacher, curriculum developer, union leader, the first African-American and NC Teaching Fellow Teacher Advisor to NC Governor Bev Perdue, and a higher education administrator. If you enjoy reading and want to know more about Donald’s passion for volunteering and PTA Check out page 25 in Spring 2018 Our Children Magazine to learn more about “The Donald”.
Hopes: Innovation and outside of the box thinking is what Donald does, and has brought to our NCPTA and PTA family. He enjoys finding opportunities to reach people in places that are unchartered territories to provide maximum exposure and support to future volunteers because they are the future of PTA. PTA has a rich history from its humble beginnings of two segregated organizations to now a unified organization that is in a “relevance” slump, but full of opportunities waiting on leaders like you, and others who do not know the value of PTA to help ignite the PTA flame across our state. With the the reputation that PTA has Donald hopes to connect that historical greatness to communities we have not yet touched through internal and external programming, targeted special events, connecting and training PTA leaders and future leaders, all with added southern hospitality. He looks forward to having discovery conversations with members across the state and learning your views on why we are #PTA Proud and your vision for a better PTA.
Experiences:If he’s not lost you already, please continue reading about Donald’s volunteer “job” with PTA where he serves as member of the NCPTA Board of Directors (2010-13 and 2017-present). Donald’s experiences come from local, council, state, and national PTA include engagement where he where he has created and conducted workshops, helped plan the 2018 State Convention, was selected to present on a National PTA panel for School of Excellence at National PTA Convention 2018, this year, he was selected from his own proposals to facilitate a National PTA Meet-up focusing on the “T” in P”Teacher”A, and serve on a Panel of other state leaders on Excellence and Engagement within PTA. He currently serves as NCPTA’s Membership PIT Crew Team Leader (18 month commitment), has co-written NPTA/Durham Council of PTA Aetna Foundation Healthy Food Grant, National PTA STEM Tech Night with Bethedsa Elementary School), serves on the NCPTA Gates Foundation PTA Grant “From Report to Results” (18 month commitment), and serves as a mentor to several PTA leaders across the state. Donald’s crazy about membership, and has membership across the World and our state in over 10 PTAs. The work Donald does for PTA is not about him because he’s done every job he’s wanted in life, but it’s it’s about the future children, families, and communities to ensure that it’s a better place than he found it. He cares about deeply about NC and when you see him, ask him about the most important factor in his life right now (he has pictures).
Professionally:We are almost at the end, so hang on in there. For his job, which allows him to volunteer, professionally, Donald is the Education Enrollment Development Officer at most recent NCAA Big South Championship Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, which is nestled between Charlotte and Asheville. He recruits, travels, advises education majors who wish to pursue their Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in education. He has a supervisor “boss lady” who has approved and supports his candidacy for NCPTA President and is willing to share Donald with over 900 PTA units and Councils across our state. His experiences of recruitment in education stem from being an undergraduate Eagle Ambassador at North Carolina Central University, serving as a Teaching Fellows Director at NCCU recruiting high schools students into the statewide teacher preparation program, recruiting traditional and non-traditional students for the Michigan State University College of Education NOYCE SETS-UP Master’s Program, and working with undergraduate and graduate recruitment, retention, special projects for the Dean of the School of Education at NCCU. In all levels of his work, Donald always produces, achieves record growth, and builds sustainable and memorable relationships. Education is his passion, and PTA has been a part of each life milestone in his life. Donald hopes to take his passions of life and pour them across NCPTA land and beyond to help create PTAs of great worth who are making every CHILD’s POTENTIAL A REALITY!
Harold Dixon, Mecklenburg County
Harold C. Dixon, is a native of Goldsboro N.C. and a Graduate of Johnson C. Smith University. He received a certificate from Central Piedmont Community College in Effective Teaching. Harold is presently employed with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a Family Engagement Specialist and has been with the school district for 32 years. He travels across the state of North Carolina conducting numerous workshops ranging from “How to Have an Effective School Leadership Team”, “The Importance of Family Engagement” to “How to Continue Learning at Home” and “Engaging Families in the New Age Era”.
Harold C. Dixon is the first African American male president of the Mecklenburg PTA Council. Under his leadership many trainings, programs and leadership development opportunities was instituted. Under Harold’s leadership, council membership and budget tripled and the Mecklenburg PTA Council Male Engagement initiative “Be There Dad” was started and received the NCPTA Oak Leaf Award in April of 2015. Under Harold’s Leadership, the Mecklenburg PTA Council had the largest Reflections Arts program in the state of North Carolina producing many students who have won at the national level.
Mr. Dixon is a former workshop presenter for the North Carolina Congress of Christian Education and a former intern for the National Congress of Christian Education. Mr. Dixon has received numerous awards and recognitions including the “NCPTA Distinguish Service Award”, the highest award in PTA and the 2016 “Growing the Dream Award” presented by the City of Charlotte. Harold serves on many boards and organizations: NCPTA Board of Directors, former Chair of NCPTA conventions and events. Harold also is the former Chair for NCPTA Male Engagement Initiative. Mr. Dixon is a member of The Young Black Leadership Alliance Executive Leadership Team, and he served on the board of directors for The North Carolina General Baptist Home & Foreign Missions Convention. Harold served as the Host / Ambassador for the 2015 National PTA Convention held in Charlotte NC. During the 2016 National PTA Convention, Harold was voted in and installed on the Nation PTA Nominating and Leadership Development Committee.
Harold is the former youth pastor for the Saint Paul Baptist Church and Saint Luke Baptist Church. Harold is currently the Assistant Director of Music for the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. He is also the proud father of his daughter, Alexis M. Dixon.
Harold has a passion for children and young people and believes that if there is to be a dynamic positive change in today’s society, it will come through our youth.