Advocates see threats to public education in current legislatio­n

They had to keep rolling out chairs Tuesday night for what was billed as a “Conversation about Public Education in North Carolina,” held at the Asheville City Schools board room on Mountain Street. A larger-than-anticipated audience of 60 people — educators, elected officials, parents, advocates — came to talk about the status of public education, and to offer some opinions. And in a nutshell, the program message was that the status of public education in the state — which has been quantifiably climbing for years — is about to take a drastic plunge. (photos by Max Cooper)

Invest in children, invest in the future

I’d like to call your attention to another Big Idea in the works for 2012, The Success Equation: a movement to reduce the incidence and impact of child poverty and create a community where all children thrive [”Big Ideas for 2012,” Jan. 4 and Jan. 11, Xpress]. Scientific research on toxic stress and brain development, […]

Candidates need to address poverty, affordable housing and homelessne­ss

The future of Asheville’s success will depend largely on how well we can expand opportunity to all children and families and nurture their success. To realize such a vision, our city leadership will need to focus attention on low-income and working families. Too many families are experiencing poverty in Asheville — dramatically increasing their risk […]