School-calendar law unfairly burdens the mountains

Posted on by Susan Andrew

I am writing to ask our state legislators for their help in changing the school-calendar law in North Carolina. Schools in the mountains are unfairly burdened by the calendar law, and the "waiver" system currently in place does not provide sufficient relief. In the event of winter weather like we've had this year, Buncombe County schools cannot afford to run school on Saturdays and the other days required for make-ups. It is apparent that, true to state history, this legislation did not originate in the mountains, yet it is an undue burden here.

Even more to the point: The tourist industry has no business writing school legislation. Naturally, there are countless industries that would profit by shaping the school system this way and that. Schools are for children, period. The profit motive is the wrong motive to shape our school system.

I am asking you to consider something bigger: Purge state laws of the influence of money-grubbing private entities where our public schools are concerned. Private industries profiteering on the backs of children and their families is an unacceptable practice that needs to be exposed and stamped out wherever it occurs.

— Susan Andrew
Asheville

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