Conditions at Knox should have been targeted sooner
My greatest respect goes to Joy Jenkins for having the courage to not only speak up but to get others involved in the work of helping transform Knox to a school that will be conducive for learning.
I worked at Knox for many years as a substitute teacher. The school has been run down and dilapidated for a long time. Many have asked why the administrators did nothing to resolve this problem. The question should be, why did the school system ignore the requests and work orders? I personally witnessed (former principal) Gerald MoragneEl’s frustration one day about conditions that were harmful to students. The custodian explained that he had put in a work order twice but would do a third one.
The big wheels are not oblivious to conditions at Knox. They do not care. I was working the day they found the snake in one of the classrooms. Roaches were always crawling around in class and in the bathrooms.
These people don’t play fair. The students deserve better. Knox is at the very bottom in test scores. They are considered a low-performing school. Wonder why? What is going to be done about it? Is a new central office going to help students or will it be a place of luxury for the superintendent’s team?
It’s a crying shame that RSS insinuated the head custodian and former principal Rodney Burton were somehow responsible. Ridiculous! The school was run down before Burton got there. The same with the head custodian.
Think about it. If the custodians never got enough points to get the bonus money until William Perry got there, then he had to raise the points. So as bad as the school is now, one can only imagine how filthy it was before. Does anyone really believe the central office didn’t know?
— Diane Sturdivant
Salisbury
Sentencing questioned
On New Year’s Eve 2010 I had too much fun and wrecked my car. I was charged with DWI, the first time in more than 21 years. I’m truly sorry for my actions and apologize to the people of Rowan County. I’ve completed my 72 hours of community service, 40 hours of alcohol and substance abuse classes. I received two years of supervised probation and loss of license for one year.
So a farmer and county commissioner has two DWIs in less than seven years and gets less for more (two years unsupervised probation)? Apparently, Judge Thomas Foster Jr. thinks the individual is someone very special and does not deserve the standard punishment given in this county: jail time, for two DWIs that close together. Just let me get caught again … you can rest assured that I will get jail time. As a Navy veteran and citizen of the county, I felt this should be reviewed (or reimburse me for the costs associated with supervised probation and community service).
— Greg Tano
Salisbury