Chuck Hughes, Salisbury, N.C.
♦ Who absorbs the cost of a failed public school? You, the taxpayer, not the school system proper. Even then, the cost is not in dollars, it is in more important currency-poorly educated students doomed to dwell in poverty. Add to this the fact that the bill is all too often added to the economic deficits already experienced by the poorest of our county.
This leads to the issue of the alleged misinformation provided to the Salisbury Post that public schools are held responsible for charter school failures. If this misinformation was given to the Post as fact, how much misinformation is being provided to the seven Board of Education members? The board needs to ask this very important question.
Although the Post made a “correction” the following day, most people will endorse a lie if it is embedded in a front-page article while few will take time to read a day-late correction.
During my four years on the Board of Education, I often argued that it was more important to expend less energy and resources in trying to “look good” and more in trying to “be good.” I often felt that few really understood this. Still, I am not naïve; I understand the human instinct to indulge in social, economic and political self-preservation. It is an innate instinct that drives our survival. However, allowing self-preservation to drive the direction of our school system is a clear disservice to those who put their trust in us.
The truth is that when a Charter School fails, it closes. When a public school fails, it just asks for more money.
