Carolina Politics Online

McCrory’s campaign responded that he has been consistent on the lottery – preferring repeal but recognizing the budget complications that such an effort would cause. He has called for limiting advertising, such as the times when television ads can be shown.

“Pat McCrory thinks there needs to be changes to the lottery program as it exists, while it’s obvious that ‘Negative Bev’ once again supports a failed status quo,” McCrory campaign manager Richard Hudson said in a news release.

Charlotte Observer

No, the lottery should not be repealed and I frankly don’t know why McCrory is advocating such a position.  I do agree with him that the money could be better spent.

Money from the lottery helps pay for a pre-kindergarten program, smaller class sizes, new schools and college scholarships, though it remains a small percentage of state education spending.

My preference would be to stop funding head start programs and eliminate the small class size initiative because there is no imperical evidence that has shown smaller class sizes improve education.  I like the idea of college scholarships and frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing that expanded into a system similar to Georgia’s in which students with over a 3.0 GPA can attend any state university for free, paid for by lottery funds.

Hat Tip to NC GOP

By Linda Daves

Chairman, North Carolina Republican Party

For Mike Easley to be given the “America’s Greatest Education Governor’s Award” just proves what the NEA really stands for.  Let’s just call this award what it is: Politician Most Beholden to Teachers’ Unions and Special Interests.  When one-third of North Carolina students are failing to graduate high school, it is reprehensible that the Governor is gloating about his “successes.”  Gov. Easley’s term has no doubt been a boon to teachers’ unions, but it has been a disaster for North Carolina’s children.  What are the criteria for giving out this award anyway?  With the abysmal graduation rate here in North Carolina, I would hate to see what the situation is in the home state of the runner-up.

It is time to look at new ideas like lifting the cap on charter schools so that parents have more choices in their children’s education. It is time to think about raising teacher pay for those teachers who volunteer to teach the most at-risk students. It is time to consider expanding vocational education so that students can learn skills that will help them get a job instead of merely getting frustrated with the curriculum and dropping out. It is time for fresh vision and a renewed commitment
to excellence in education in North Carolina. Over the past eight years, that is a test that Democrats have consistently failed.

With Bev Perdue only offering more of the same for fixing the problems facing our state’s public school system, there is a clear choice in the race to become the next Governor.  Those who refuse to protect the status quo, those who reject placing the interests of powerful unions over the interests of our children, and those who believe that we can do better will choose Pat McCrory as our next Governor.  He will be an Education Governor to truly make us proud.

The uniform policy requires all elementary and middle school students to wear uniforms by the 2009-10 school year. High school students would follow a similar dress code the following year. Elementary and middle schools would need to have uniform policies settled by individual, school-based committees, and the county’s four high schools would adopt the uniform policy during the 2010-11 school year.

Board members and school officials have expressed a myriad reasons why they favor uniforms. Some say they decrease violence and conflict among students over designer or expensive clothing. Others say it prevents gang members from wearing gang colors to schools. Others say its purely academic — uniforms instill students with a sense of discipline and help them concentrate on school work.

The Beaufort Gazette

This is becoming a popular conversation across the country and I am curious as to everyone’s opinion.  The wheat side of me says yes, go to uniforms.  Kids obsess too much over keeping up with the Jones’s when it comes to clothing and appearance.  Kids from poorer families can’t afford the Diesel jeans and the $150 sneakers.  I agree that dressing better subconsciously implements a sense of discipline and kids need that.  I mean, I am a mature adult (well, an adult anyway) and I have to wear certain clothes to work.  I can’t show up to the office in jeans and a ratty t-shirt.

But, the kid in me loves the frosted side and I say you’re only a kid once and shouldn’t a child’s appearance really be up to their parents?  If some girls are going to school looking like teenaged whores isn’t that their parents’ responsibility for letting them out of the house dressed that way to begin with?

State lawmakers are considering a plan that would provide a tax credit to parents of special-needs students who send their children to private schools.

Members of the House Education Committee discussed a bill Monday that would provide up to $6,000 a year to such families. Under changes approved by the committee Monday, home schools would be ineligible for the tax credit for tuition expenses.

The Fayetteville Observer

How about go a step further and provide a tax credit to any family that wants to send their kids to private school.  If the government schools don’t begin to actually teach something all of these kids are going to have special needs by the time they graduate.

“As governor, I will not be distracted by experiments like vouchers and private school tuition,” Perdue told several hundred attorneys at the N.C. Bar Association convention in the first debate of the governor’s race. “Vouchers take money away from the public schools. I am not going to take my eye off the prize and allow vouchers to break the back of public schools.”

Charlotte Observer

I do not support vouchers either, but not for the same reasons as Perdue.  I am opposed to vouchers because once you start giving private schools public money it’s just a matter of time until the state will start to enforce its will over the schools.  Hence, they will no longer be private, so what’s the point.

McCrory did not respond to her voucher comment during the debate, but afterward told reporters that he would talk more about his views on vouchers later in his campaign.

He did say he favors giving parents more choice in where to send their children to schools. He also favors the state allowing more charter schools – schools run with public money but who are given more independence to develop their own programs – to be opened in North Carolina.

This is a more positive direction to move in.  Parents need to have a choice as to where their kids go.  It shouldn’t be delegated by where they live.  I think public school funding should come from the state level.  The state should determine a set amount as to what it costs to educate each child and then the money should follow the child to whatever school the parents decide to send them to.  This will encourage competition between schools for better education because each school will want that money.

June 21, 2008

For immediate release

Paul Terrell calls on the state legislature to increase all teachers’ salaries 10%.

Raleigh, NC- Paul Terrell a candidate for State House district 33; calls on the state legislature and Governor Easley to immediately increase all teachers’ salaries 10%.  In addition Paul Terrell calls for a supplement of 5% to be paid to each teacher who signs a five year contract to teach in a district with a 15% turnover rate the previous year.

“Our state invests a great deal of time and money professionally in our teachers.” Paul Terrell said. “We need to ensure that teachers feel appreciated and want to stay here where they can provide a quality education to our children.” Paul Terrell also notes that, “The pay raises that are being proposed for the teachers do not even offset the increase in gas, food, and other living expenses.”

It is time for Rep. Hackney, Rep. Blue, and Senator Rand to actually listen to the people of North Carolina. The number one concern amongst people in a May poll commissioned by the Civitas Institute was “Improving Education”.  This is striking considering a majority of those polled called themselves Democrats.

Perdue has pledged to offer two years of free tuition to build a more-educated work force as many old-economy, factory-style jobs are being lost to foreign operations, she said.

The mayor said he would support offering targeted scholarships to help fill labor gaps in areas where the state is lacking, such as in mental health. But he doesn’t support a broader plan because it would end up costing taxpayers too much, he said.

“It’s not free; someone’s going to get the bill,” he told the group of employees.

Charlotte Observer

There is no such thing as a free ride.  Someone is paying for it.  Perdue is your typical sleaze politicians telling people that if they to go the polls and vote for her she’ll give them someone else’s money.  There was a day when politicians like this used to be tarred, feathered and run out of town by an angry mob with torches and pitch forks.  Then we became “civilized.”

This plan would be extremely expensive for North Carolina and every resident and worker in the state will get stuck with the bill.

CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman has been huffing and puffing about the $18 million the County Commissioners refused to give him of the $28 million increase he requested for the 2008-09 school year. I’m glad they didn’t cave in to his threats of cutting teachers’ positions and other “programs” (he’s never specific). While I still think that the $10 million they agreed on is too much, they were correct in significantly paring down his request. In his two years as superintendent Gorman has not shown himself to be any agent of change. While he pontificates on how the school board should have their own taxing authority to be able to raise the money they “need”, he and the board have shown themselves to be anything but responsible stewards of the money allocated to them to run the school district.

While Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools faces a budget season that Superintendent Peter Gorman has warned could lead to potentially devastating cuts at the schoolhouse level, the district’s Communications Division engine steams forward, fueled by a nearly $4 million budget and a staff of just less than 30 employees.

The Communications Division is the umbrella group for the district’s Public Information Department, CMS TV3 and the Department of Strategic Partnerships. Since the 2004-05 school year, its budget has more than doubled, exploding from $1.73 million to the 2007-08 adopted budget of $3.57 million.

And it’s not done growing. Under the Communications Division’s proposed 2008-09 budget, its total take would have jumped to a whopping $3.84 million, to include the addition of a so-called World Class Service branch. That proposal got nixed during discussions leading up to the superintendent’s approved budget, when several school board members said the World Class Service expansion was overblown.

Rhino Times

This is a perfect example of misplaced priorities and mismanagement of school tax dollars. Why on Earth does CMS need to have a gargantuan budget dedicated to communications? The purpose of the government schools is to supposedly educated peoples’ children so why is a media department taking priority over buses and classrooms? This department has significantly grown under Gorman’s watch.

How much money is spent on CMS’s different programs? There must be close to 100 different departments in the district, many which are not directly related to the basics of education. Are all of these departments even effective at achieving their stated goal? How many administrators and other non-educating personnel are employed and what is the effect of their salary and benefits expenses on the district? My personal favorite is the district employed “Diversity Specialist.” How much money is he drawing in each year to essentially do nothing productive? Shouldn’t the school board be looking at these departments before teachers and buses?  These are the questions that need to be asked.

As I noted earlier, Gorman and the school board are pushing to have the state grant them their own taxing authority. Bill James said it best on the consequences of such a decision.

“They hide behind the phrase ‘it’s all for the children,’” James, a Republican, said. “I’m not about to give them taxing authority when they fail to address the core reason for their being, which is to close the achievement gap and produce intelligent, articulate children. CMS isn’t doing that and in my opinion they don’t deserve to be awarded because they can’t be trusted. Giving CMS taxing authority would be a recipe for disaster.”

Precisley. If they can’t succeed now with the billion and a half dollar budget they are currently using why should they be trusted with the power to waste even more money? I’ve lived in areas where school boards have taxing powers and it is exactly the disaster James described. The Pittsburgh Public School system in Pennsylvania has a budget that is higher than the city’s and one third of the students enrolled never end up graduating. They have taxing power and they tax the hell out of the city residents and it makes no difference.

The school district should not be granted this authority under any circumstances. The County Commission needs to be involved to act as a buffer. If the school board is given this authority they will rapidly increase their expenditures which will result in higher taxes that will push residents and businesses out of the city turning a once vibrant town into a run down shell of its former self. It’s already happened to major cities all over this country.

In case you missed it six people were arrested last Saturday at Fort Mill High School’s commencement, for what you may ask?  Not for fighting.  Not for causing a disturbance.  They were arrested and charged for cheering or clapping when their child’s, niece’s, nephew’s name was called.

Now, I have attended graduations where there have been a few obnoxious people in the crowd, but nothing overboard.  That can be handled very simply by escorting the disruptive person out the door.  That’s all.  Nothing else needs to be done.  For the Rock Hill Police Department to actually take these people to jail is over zealous and I think every single one of them should fight these arrests and sue the city for a civil rights violation if necessary.  These people can be fined up to $1,000 and spend 30 days in jail.  For clapping!!

So bear that in mind the next time you hear about what a wonderful city Fort Mill is to raise a family and what a spectacular school system they have.  You may want to think twice about living there.

High schools will be required to have defibrillators under a new law that goes into effect this fall, despite Gov. Sanford’s veto of the proposal. The Senate and House overrode the veto Thursday, hours after Sanford vetoed the bill. Sanford said only about one death a year would be expected to occur in a South Carolina high school.

Aiken Standard

This is ridiculous. Once again the state legislature is playing the role of over protective nanny and costing taxpayers a nice chunk of change. When was the last time you heard of someone at a high school going into cardiac arrest? As Sanford pointed out, the average is about one death a year across the state.

This waste was sponsored by 11 House Democrats:

• Michael Anthony - Union
• Jimmy Bales - Eastover
• Bill Clyburn - Aiken
• Kenneth Hodges - Green Pond
• Lonnie Hosey - Barnwell
• Leon Howard - Columbia
• Joseph Jefferson - Pineville
• David Mack - North Charleston
• Dennis Moss - Gaffney
• Robert Williams - Darlington

And the Governor’s veto was overridden by your “fiscally responsible, small government” Republican majority.

McCrory to Speak to Alma Matter

Gubernatorial Candidate to Address Ragsdale High School Graduation Breakfast

Charlotte, NC – Tomorrow, gubernatorial candidate Mayor Pat McCrory will speak to the Graduating Class of his alma matter, Ragsdale High School. During this Senior Breakfast, Mayor McCrory will address the students, and encourage them to pursue their goals and dreams.

“I’m thrilled that I have the opportunity to speak to the Senior Class of my old high school; and I’m honored they invited me,” said Mayor McCrory. “I’m always happy to return to my hometown to see old friends, and to meet new ones.”

“Our students are North Carolina’s most valuable asset. They are our future doctors, lawyers, business people, teachers, and world leaders. As Governor, I will work hard to ensure a brighter and more productive future for our students and our State,” concluded McCrory.

This private breakfast will begin tomorrow, June 5, at 9:00am, and McCrory is scheduled to speak at 10:15am. The event will be held at Jamestown Presbyterian Church, 1804 Guilford College Road, Jamestown, NC.

To schedule an interview with Mayor McCrory or to attend the breakfast, members of the press should contact V. Tom Gardner, Director of Communications at 704-714-4344 or tom@patmccrory.com.

RALEIGH - Those seeking a bachelor’s degree in the state’s public and private colleges and universities would be required to spend 20 hours a semester tutoring or mentoring students in public elementary, middle or high schools if legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand becomes law.

Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the legislation would serve a twofold purpose: to instill a sense of community and responsibility in college students and to provide help to struggling public school students.

The N&O

Volunteering in your community is a great thing.

Being made to volunteer by Mommy Government is smiley-faced fascism. It’s not the government’s job to act like Jiminy Cricket and make sure everyone does their good deed for the day. And it sure as hell isn’t the government’s job to instill anything in anyone- except an appreciation for individual liberty, which is sorely lacking these days precisely because of people like Rand.

Besides, if he’s really that concerned about improving public schools, he ought to support privatising the whole damn thing.

Rand’s legislation seeks to honor two students recently killed by gunfire in the Triangle: UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Eve Carson and Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato. The community service program would be named after them.

Great. It seems to me a more appropriate honor would be to fix the piss-awful court and parole system in this state, seeing as how they’d both still be alive today if it worked properly.

District 3 Incumbent State Representative B.R. Skelton (R - Six Mile) is in a huff over a mailer sent out to the district by the South Carolinians for Responsible Government hitting him on his record of sponsoring a bill to raise the state gas tax by five cents per gallon. Skelton’s response was as follows:

In a recorded telephone message received at Pickens County households on Tuesday, Skelton said that the statements in the mailers are an “absolute lie” and that South Carolinians for Responsible Government is “a shell group set up to ruin our educational system in South Carolina.”

There are a few things to note at this point. One, SCRG is a group with the ultimate goal of school choice. School choice would greatly improve our education system by allowing parents to choose which school their children will attend, including allowing poor families in the inner cities to take their kids out of those failing schools as well as the dangerous ones and sending them to a school with better performance . School choice will breed competition among schools and provide for an improved standard of education. This is what Representative Skelton says will ruin education? I wonder how much money he is receiving from the teachers union.

The second point to be noted is that the claim in the mailer is truthful. Representative Skelton sponsored House Bill H. 3648 that would have increased the gasoline tax by five cents per gallon. It appears that it is Representative Skelton who is the liar. That is further supported by his subsequent statements to The Independent Mail when he said:

Skelton said, “I may have voted to increase the gas tax, but only a nickel a gallon. That was more than offset by reducing the tax on food sales. In addition, the state will bring in $50 million in additional revenues from the gas tax on out-of-state tourists and truckers.”

So now he admits that he did do exactly what they accused him of. He has a flimsy excuse too. How are people helped by lowering one tax if you’re going to turn around and raise another?

Trey Whitehurst who is Skelton’s primary opponent said that Skelton was also part of a plan to raise the retirement benefits of retired state legislators. According to the Independent Mail, Skelton did not comment on that.

As the June 10 South Carolina primaries draw near, the candidates are scheduled to address the Pickens County Republican Party at Liberty Middle School starting at 6:30 p.m. today.

The League of Women Voters will conduct a forum for candidates for elected office Monday starting at 6 p.m. at the Clemson-Central Library, S.C. 93, Central. Skelton and Whitehurst plan to be present to speak and to answer questions.

So to rehash all of this, Skelton thinks our already ruined public education system is just hunky dory and that attempts to improve the joke we call public education will be what actually ruins it. He sponsored a bill to raise taxes. When called out on it he himself lied about it by claiming the accusation was a lie, but then he later admitted that he did indeed do it. He also refuses to answer a question on his actions to sweeten his own pot after he retires from the legislature, which may end up being this year pending the results of June 10th.

The verdict is clear to me. B.R. Skelton is a RINO scumbag who needs to be given the boot.

Taylors Elementary School has joined the ranks of Greenville County schools that will offer single-gender classrooms in the next school year.

Taylors is one of a growing number of schools across the state and nation to test the waters of single-gender education.

Critics say the move toward single-gender classrooms will erase the progress that has been made in gender equity in education since the Title IX act was passed in 1972 barring discrimination based on sex in any activity that receives federal money.

Supporters say the initiative takes advantage of natural differences between the ways boys and girls often learn best.

The Greenville News

From what I’ve seen of this so far, I think this is a great idea.  Schools that have experimented in this have been reporting major in improvements in student learning.  Boys and girls are different, bottom line.  It doesn’t matter how hard the far left wants to try and force that reality to be otherwise.  It is what it is and people have to stop pretending that these differences don’t exist.

I commented on this the other day.  I say go for it.  I support his right to wear them as well.

The legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in North Carolina said Friday that a Pembroke student may have a legal right to wear feathers on his graduation gown.

Katy Parker, a lawyer from Raleigh, said she thought that Purnell Swett High School senior Corey Bird could make a case to wear the feathers for religious reasons.

“We would encourage the family to contact us,” Parker said. “In this case, it looks like he has a First Amendment right to wear the feathers. It is a free exercise of religion because part of this student’s complaint is that this is a spiritual and religious issue.”

The Fayetteville Observer

The actions of a Columbia high school principal has brought some negative nation wide attention to our state. Eddie Walker, Irmo high school principal announced this week that he would be stepping down as top dog due to the district permitting the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at the school. WLTX 19 received the written statement from Walker that was dispersed to the school faculty. Below is an excerpt:

However due to a recent conflict involving my professional and religious beliefs I sent Dr. Angela Bain a letter of resignation effective June 30, 2009. On May 14, 2008, I was instructed by email to allow the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High School. On May 15, 2008 I told Ms. Ann Pilat to allow the formation of this club for the 2008-2009 school year. Allowing the formation of this club on our campus conflicts with my professional beliefs and religious convictions. I considered resigning this year but reconsidered because to not fulfill my written contract for the 2008-2009 school year would also conflict with my professional beliefs and religious convictions. In my opinion failure to fulfill my contract would constitute a breach of trust with School District Five of Lexington and Richland County, my student heroes, returning Irmo High School employees, and new employees who have chosen to work at Irmo High school for the 2008-2009 school year.

The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity. In fact our sex education curriculum is abstinence based. I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High school implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes.

I don’t agree with Mr. Walker’s decision, but I have a great deal of respect for a man who holds such strong convictions that he will walk away from his life long career when he feels those principles have been compromised. That’s a rare individual indeed. Frankly, I wish we had more educators like Principal Walker, who are committed to many of the traditional values of our society. The way it stands now academia has morphed into a radical leftist cesspool that is brainwashing our youth and teaching them to be stupid and non-productive adults so that they will have to rely more on Washington than themselves.

Principal Walker makes a good point. Does a club, sexual in nature, belong in a high school? There are plenty of parents out there who would object to this. However, at the same time we need to be practical. We have to stop pretending that teenagers don’t know what sex is, aren’t going to do it, and are oblivious to what it means to be homo or heterosexual. This club isn’t going to turn anyone gay and quite honestly I doubt it will even have that much of an impact. Kids that age are extremely judgmental of each other. You have to wear the right clothes, the right shoes. I would surmise that being a liberal for the pro-homosexual agenda probably isn’t the big cool thing to do that’s going to get you elected Prom King or Queen.

Furthermore, I also find Brent Childers’, Executive Director of Faith In America, statement to be confrontational and not productive to the issue at hand:

It is a shame that the principal at Irmo High School in South Carolina decided to place religion-based bigotry and discrimination over his former commitment to his students and staff,” said Faith In America Executive Director Brent Childers.

“We truly believe it is unfortunate that this principal cannot see the immense harm that is caused when a social climate of rejection, condemnation and violence is justified with misguided religious belief. To make such a choice over simply allowing gay youth a forum to meet and talk, alludes to the apparent deep-seated prejudice that must exist in the religious mindset of this person.

“It is unfortunately very similar to the time in our history when segregation in schools was once allowed to flourish because of the deep-seated prejudice that existed in our institutions and the religious mindset of many people during that period.

While condemning the decision of Walker to resign and accusing him of bigotry, Mr. Childers engaged in a bit of his own. He painted an entire religious group as being bigoted and their beliefs, which have been around for thousands of years, to be misguided. Who is Childers to judge? Isn’t that exactly what he is asking Walker not to do? Whatever religious persuasion one follows it is a set doctrine of beliefs. We don’t modify religion to satiate today’s societal appetite of expectations. If that were the case, what would be the point? I think Walker handled himself well and very professionally. He stated his reasons to resign nonconfrontationally, whereas Childers engaged in a mean spirited attack.

I can just imagine Childers preparing his reply, a prissy little man huffing and puffing atop his pedestal because someone has the audacity to exercise his right as an American to disagree with how Childers thinks the world should be viewed. It’s pretty clear who is holding the hatred in his heart.

Additionally, for Childers to compare this with racial segregation is completely over the top. Nobody chooses their race. As for the homosexual community, the jury is still out on that one. What Childers and others like him are seeking isn’t equality, but rather a legitimization of their lifestyle in the eyes of society.

Walker appears to be a decent educator. Perhaps over the next year he’ll change his mind, providing the school would renew his contract after the current media onslaught brought upon them. I’m sure some pro-gay liberals would picket and protest if he were to attempt to stay. What’s been done is likely done, but I hope he’ll continue his career in education at another school in the future.

RALEIGH - Wake County school leaders on Thursday lost, at least temporarily, the right to send children to year-round schools over parents’ objections.

The school system’s plans were put on hold after the state Supreme Court blocked a Court of Appeals ruling that eliminated the need for parental consent to send children to year-round and modified-calendar schools. The previous ruling cannot take effect until the high court decides whether to review the case.

…

“This creates more turmoil for parents in Wake County and the school system,” said Ann Majestic, the school board’s attorney. “We will cope as best we can.”

The N&O

Awwww. Are those big mean parents making your life hard, Ms. Majestic? Would you like a tissue?

Give me a break. Year round school would make life hard for thousands of parents in Wake County, many of whom were completely ignored by these so-called “school leaders”. Honestly, this is just another in a LONG list of reasons why we ought to just privatize the whole damn thing. Give parents vouchers and let them pick what school they want their kids to attend. Instead of letting public schools trample over parents’ rights, let’s put the parents back in charge. What a concept!

Kathleen Brennan, a co-founder of Wake CARES, praised the Supreme Court’s decision. She said she’s hopeful that the court will hear the group’s appeal.

“We think it’s a good sign that they gave this stay and we’re hopeful they will take a closer look,” Brennan said, “But whatever the court rules, we feel the school board should be concerned with the wishes of thousand of families who say they cannot make it work.”

They should, but they aren’t. That’s the problem.

One of the presidential candidates is right in saying that our politics needs to change in the way it works. The current party in power has been accused of entrenched corruption and good old boy networks. This has allowed our government to pass laws that are a detriment for all of our citizens and permanent residents.

I am a “Blue Collar” worker who feels it in the pocket for every cent that gas prices go up. My standard of living goes down every time a Raleigh, Wake County, or the State of North Carolina raises our taxes 3 or 4 times the rate of inflation. I am living the middle class dream that is slowly being ripped away from me piece by piece by our state governments policies. I fully understand what everyone is going through unlike my opponent who is a wealthy lawyer.

What has our present government given us?

• Thousands of lost well paying and middle class jobs
• Rising out of control healthcare costs and its availability
• A failing mental care system despite its workers hard work
• A probation system that is a joke and increasing gang crimes
• Government corruption and the wasting of our tax dollars
• Schools that result in failing children and the inability to keep them in school.

What needs to be done in the North Carolina House of Representatives

• Work to create well paying jobs and cut taxes on the workers of NC
• Make healthcare more affordable and easier for workers to purchase
• Pay our teachers better and give them the tools to interest our kids
• Protect our neighborhoods from crime and its citizens who live there
• End government corruption and the waste of “our” valuable tax dollars
• Return to caring for the mentally ill who cannot care for themselves

We can do all the above and more through small and efficient government. The freeing up of billions would enable us to take care of our civic responsibilities and allow the tax payers to keep much more of their hard earned income.

A rumor about a gun at River Oaks Middle School prompted a lockdown and ended with the recovery of a broken cap pistol Wednesday afternoon, Dorchester District 2 school officials said.

Students told faculty around 3 p.m., shortly before dismissal time, that another student was talking about having a gun, said Pat Raynor, district public information officer. Officials shut down the campus and called for help from school resource officers at Fort Dorchester High School across the street. They eventually located the student in a classroom along with the toy gun, which he claimed to have found on a school bus.

Raynor said the student was suspended from school pending a discipline hearing next week.

The Post and Courier

I realize that with the several incidents over the past 10 years of kids bringing guns to school and shooting someone you have to be careful, but I can’t help to think that the administration overreacted here.  Was it really necessary to shut down the campus and call for law enforcement?  These kids have schedules as to where they are supposed to be.  Why didn’t they just go to where he was scheduled to be and take him to the office and then handle it.  Why create such a dramatic scene over what was essentially nothing?

So the student gets suspended for one week because the faculty overreacted and now looks foolish?

I am so glad I am not a kid in 21st century America because these schools are like prisons today.