North High provided
wonderful experience
Recently we moved to Salisbury. We were hesitant about North Rowan High because it did not offer enough Advanced Placement classes. Redistricting promised to help, but unfortunately, the only redistricting that actually occurred hurt North, causing enrollment to drop. Even so, my son has had a great experience at North. Mr. Bass is a wonderful principal who knows each student personally. Some of the teachers we’ve had at North are the best educators that any of my three sons ever had. Any time I’ve been at the school, the students have been well-behaved and friendly. Mr. Bass has some innovative ideas, such as “Dress for Success.” Corrine Makalucy has gotten the PTSA going and is bringing our problems to the forefront.
I challenge the community and school board to jump in and help! One looks at the test scores and deduces that North is not doing its job. However, many of these students come into North not even reading at their grade level. How much can a high school do in such a short time to boost freshmen for their testing? North needs parent involvement, community involvement and support from the elementary and middle feeder schools. The school board needs to have the spine to redistrict fairly, and the community needs to learn to embrace their opportunities and bond together to make all our schools the best they can possibly be.
My son will be leaving North this year. Not because the school is poor, but because he has had fantastic teachers and administrators that have helped him to achieve his goal of attending the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics. I thank Mr. Bass and the entire school for a wonderful experience, and I hope to jump in and help North Rowan in the future, even without my son there!
ó Shirley Price
Salisbury
Absence of justice
I am writing in response to the June 4 article that seems to explain that taking indecent liberties with a child amounts to a mere 30 months worth of probation in at least one horrible example of injustice. The reality of anyone getting probation for such a crime seems foul to me, despite how old and supposedly respected they are. Would we have seen such a ruling for someone younger or who possibly had not been a churchgoer? What about someone who was not wearing their bright badge of white privilege? So many questions arise that it boggles the mind. I imagine the pain and suffering that the victim will continue to experience is merely less important to account for than the inconvenience and shame of the man who was “embarrassed” to be there before the judge. That is what this punishment says, be it cynicism or not.
The reality is that victims of abuse never truly get better, and their abusers never truly unlearn the patterns of behavior and thought that led them down that horrible road to begin with. Both brains are forever wired differently. While I thought it impossible to be any more frustrated, I was proved wrong by comments to the story. Whether you are Christian or not, believing that he will be forgiven by God somehow is offensive to all victims of abuse everywhere. The Goddess does not approve of or forgive that level of malice. You may be able to understand how a person could make such a horrible choice, but to say it was forgiven? Shame on any and all of you who feel that way. Shame as well on any institution that can allow a meager price to be put on such an exploitative tragedy.
ó L. Ray Porter
Salisbury