The board voted 9-0 in 2013, with two members absent, to proclaim opposition to Wade’s original bill, according to the News & Record’s report of the meeting.

Welborn also said, however, that the board had largely given up on trying to fight the change after it happened and that she wasn’t aware of any school board members currently lobbying for this change.

She said she didn’t appreciate getting reproached by some members of her party for supporting her friend and mentor, Darlene Garrett, a Democrat, in the 2016 general election. Welborn said Garrett supported her in the 2016 Republican primary, and the two see each other as strong advocates for children regardless of party lines. Garrett had been registered as an independent before deciding to run as a Democrat in 2016.

Other perspectives

Reached Wednesday, Nicole Ward Quick, the chairwoman of the Guilford County Democratic Party, said she’d spoken to Amos Quick (no relation) and Clemmons about the bill and felt confident to support it. She said she respects Quick’s analysis that a nonpartisan board would best move the schools forward for the children.