Now on Twitter: Follow the N&O editorial department at @NOopinionshop

Published Sun, Jun 27, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Sat, Jun 26, 2010 11:21 PM

Board's abandonments

Article

0 COMMENTS

Email Print Order Reprint

Share This

Text

tool goes here

Tags: news | opinion - mailbag

Leadership in a vacuum? The Wake County school board has deliberately withdrawn its longstanding membership with three major associations that advocate and support public education.

The N.C. School Boards Association's mission is to provide leadership and services that enable local boards of education to govern effectively. The Wake Board of Education apparently does not like that mission. It voted by its usual 5-4 majority to withdraw membership. Now Wake County is the only public school district in North Carolina that is not a member! Outrageous! Embarrassing! Shortsighted and sad!

The board turned its back on professionalism and credibility by withdrawing from the National School Boards Association and also the Council of Urban Boards of Education whose mission is to create opportunities for urban school board leaders to gain the skills necessary to be effective policymakers and advocates for excellence and equity in education.

To quote the National School Boards Association, "In a time of social, economic, technological and geopolitical turbulence, the local school board remains the tried and true governance mechanism for delivering excellence and equity in public education for all of our children."

Why has the Wake school board majority abandoned crucially relevant resources? They are on their own! Is that true leadership?

Mary Catharine Eberhart, Raleigh

Get the biggest news in your email or cellphone as it's happening. Sign up for breaking news alerts.

Email Print Order Reprint

More Letters

Robert T. Williams: Bring her back
Judge Kristin Ruth’s resignation (news story, May 19) was accompanied by a statement admitting that she had make a careless mistake in trusting an attorney. Now it is up to an attorneys group to recommend three names to Gov. Beverly Perdue for a replacement. Why not include Kristin Ruth as one of the three nominees?
Norma Schrader: For Korea vets
Regarding the April 28 letter from the Korean War veteran from Wake Forest: Go to http://koreanwar.defense.gov/recognition.html. You will find that we (I am one, also) have not been forgotten. A big to-do is planned for the 60th anniversary of that oft-forgotten “conflict” on July 27 at the Arlington National Cemetery.
Walter Bennett: What a pity
Bravo to the N&O for its May 21 editorial praising Judge Kristin Ruth, a truly exceptional judge, leader of the bar and public citizen. She will be sorely missed, and it is a shame that she is resigning over a practice, abused by one lawyer to her detriment, that has been going on in the court system for generations. Without it, the courts in high-volume, urban areas like Raleigh and Charlotte could not function.
Ed Nicholson: Jim Crow redux
Now that we have removed many of the constitutional rights of a large minority, it’s time to move to the next step to protect The South: We must protect us heterosexual citizens from the risk of being exposed to them in public toilets. Let’s reactivate all those “Colored” toilets from the 19th and early 20th centuries and hang signs on the them that say “Queer Only.” Maybe we should list some of the groups that are suspicious just to be even more on the safe side, such as male dancers, female athletes, neat dressers and opera singers, not to mention male teachers and Catholic priests.
Dick Sears: Moving on
Regarding the May 23 article “Hospitals bury the hatchet,” I was encouraged that positive dialogue is under way and most encouraged that WakeMed has ended its bid to buy Rex. This was a bad idea in the first place and the result obviously did not come without significant concessions by Rex and UNC. However, now it’s time to move forward, drop all appeals and allow Rex to build a 50 bed hospital in Holly Springs that would serve Fuquay-Varina, areas in Harnett County and other close adjoining towns.
Steve Hutton: More reasons to worry
Thanks for the May 7 Point of View piece by Jeffrey M. Hirsch and Sherryl Kleinman (“UNC employees are right to worry”). There are several additional reasons to be worried about a separate UNC personnel system.
Nancy E. Petty: Speak now
As a Baptist, I am deeply saddened by the messages of hate and violence that have surfaced from a few of our pulpits in past months. I know in my heart that the vast majority of Baptists do not agree with the vicious rhetoric being preached in the name of religion. Yet, when we remain silent, our voice as North Carolina Baptists is co-opted by a few radicals.
Carol Douglas: Joie de vivre
On Friday, May 11, we attended a very “Senior” Prom. The Prom was at Litchford Falls Nursing & Rehab Center in Raleigh. Most attendees were in wheelchairs or beds or used walkers. And they were all dressed up in suits and cocktail dresses. There was a band, a singer, photographer, lots of food, assorted cakes and punch. The staff at Litchford, lead by their activities director, deserves a sanding ovation. Not only because the Prom was so successful and the theme, “We’ll Always Have Paris,” included the Eiffel Tower, a cityscape and plenty of decorations, but for their dedication to our family members who live at Litchford Falls. My hat is off to all of them.
Cynthia Stammers: Oppression on tap
With respect to the new amendment to our state constitution, I will quote Thomas Jefferson: “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”
Kelly Lumpkin: Time for transit
Wake County commissioners must put a cent sales tax referendum on November’s ballot to fund expanding transit services through the doubling of bus, commuter and light rail in Wake as part of a regional transit system. The Fallon Research study overwhelmingly supports putting this on the ballot.