RFP Staff
♦ Yesterday ROWAN RURAL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS, many sporting red shirts, packed the School Board meeting at the Wallace Educational Forum on 500 North Main. Some 14 Rowan Rural Save Our Schools supporters spoke at the meeting’s public commenting period against school system’s redistricting plans. The plans promise to close Morgan, Faith, Mt. Ulla, and Enochville elementary schools along with Cleveland and Woodleaf elementary schools already scheduled for consolidation.
Brooks Overcash, a 9-year old student at Enochville Elementary and 2nd speaker up, stirred the crowd when he said: “If you close our school, you close our community.” Tough act to follow.
Leaders, all familiar to ROWAN RURAL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS and to a growing legion of public support across Rowan County and Salisbury, spoke out against the school’s redistricting plans and SfL+a architects byzantine “research” that would ship youngsters on endless bus rides to lower performing schools and toward Salisbury. The parents and their supporters say: “No can do–not happening.” The Bringer of All Light is rumbling in the heavens.
The case against school redistricting is a slam dunk and if the nightmare scenario is ever actualized, it will no doubt lead to a human wave motoring out of Rowan to higher ground in other counties, far from the Salisbury’s corruption and greed and a bottom-rated school system.
Todd Paris, Andrew Poston, Michael Julian, Mike Lyerly, Doug Cline and others at RRSOS who became overnight household names throughout Rowan County for their school system activism. Many of RFP’s thousands of readers across the region are surprised by the school board’s announcing their redistricting plans prior to an election and then attempting to distance themselves from it when they saw the massive outcry against it. Their original hardline allegiance to the redistricting plan is not forgotten or is Wagner’s claims on Charlotte TV that RRSOS gatherings threatened violence. When Cox, Hughes, and Wagner announced their original support for redistricting, observers saw their position as a mindless lemming leap into a sea of public anger unlikely to waver come election time.
Yesterday Andrew Poston announced his intention to run for the Southeastern Board of Education Seat (currently occupied by Susan Cox) and Michael Julian announced his run for the Board’s Eastern District Seat (For the moment occupied by Chairman Josh Wagner). RRSOS is currently vetting worthy candidates to replace Chuck Hughes who swore undying allegiance to the redistricting plan.
The current BoE will be conduct meetings across Rowan County to discuss the issues and allegedly hear feedback. The first in the series of meetings will take place on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at West Rowan High School where the BoE will attempt to discuss the merging of Cleveland and Woodleaf. RRSOS will speak out about at the county-wide consolidation because that’s by far the more pressing issue.
Is this meeting for the parents and taxpayers? Or is it for the BoE only?
A Potential Conflict of Interest Revealed in Rowan-Salisbury Schools Preliminary Redistricting Investigation:
