Lifelong Democrat Switched Parties Day Before Running for School Board

 Central School Board candidate Carol Burton-Norwood issued a statement on Facebook this week saying that she switched from Democrat to Republican the day before qualifying to run for the school board.

She explained that she is a lifelong Democrat who has been in the party for 35 years but since she wanted to run for the school board, she wanted her party affiliation to align with her beliefs.

Carol Burton-Norwood and her husband, John Norwood, got involved in politics earlier this year, leading the opposition to SB189 by Sen. Bodi White.  That bill was introduced by Sen. White to align the boundaries of the Central Community School District with the city limits of the City of Central. The Norwoods live in a subdivision that would have been affected.

The boundaries of the Central school district extend west across the Comite River as far as Foster Road. This creates the unusual situation where large developments outside the City of Central but inside the Central School District can be approved with no input from the people of Central.  Developments in that area are approved or disapproved by the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning & Zoning Commission and the Metro Council, rather than the Central Planning & Zoning Commission and the Central City Council.

Earlier this year, a Baton Rouge developer proposed a large development called Belle Arbor be located in an area that floods along Hooper Road west of the Comite.

The concern expressed in Central was that hundreds and eventually more new students could flood into the school district without ever having gotten approval from the Central School Board, the Central Planning & Zoning Commission, or the Central City Council.

Some members of the Central School Board opposed Belle Arbor before the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning & Zoning Commission and the Metro Council.  Central has no representation on the EBR Planning Commission.

When both the EBR Planning Commission and Metro Council approved the project over the objections of Central residents, Sen. White introduced SB 189.  The purpose of the bill was to change the school district’s boundaries and make sure new developments like Belle Arbor would not be in the Central School District.

SB 189 passed through the Senate and the House Education Committee but it got caught in the last-minute logjam of legislation and did not pass the House.

All the while, John and Carol Norwood were working to defeat SB 189.  According to their posts on NextDoor, a social media platform, they organized meetings and rallies against the bill.  

The Norwoods joined with Together Louisiana, a left-wing organization, to try to stop the bill.  Together Louisiana held a rally at the State Capitol where John Norwood spoke.

Together Louisiana is an organization founded by Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation.  Alinsky was a self-described “radical” and author of the book, Rules for Radicals.  The Industrial Areas Foundation starts groups like Together Baton Rouge and Together Louisiana to use local grievances as a way to radicalize citizens and introduce them to far-left philosophy and tactics.

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