Comments | Eastern NC Now

Why Borderhawk?
Its because the complications of Government has outgrown the intelligence of most of the people who are running our Govt. Their brains cant cope with the entanglement of so many newly adopted agencies and all the rules that go along with it. And its even worse for those
getting old. It's easier to just vote yes, and throw the money out the window. Easy come, easy go!

Commented: Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 3:41 pm By: Washingtonian

There is a more recent revision to 3100 that Steve Rader introduced as a board member and got passed unanimously. The earlier one that Donald introduced before Steve was on the board was drafted by Steve, who was not a board member at the time, and introduced by Donald. Those revisions were drafted to address citizen concerns that came up during the curriculum process for social studies. Steve has a lot of experience in state government with drafting state government rules which is very useful in drafting of school board policies since they follow the same process. It is also helpful that he is a lawyer. He is probably the only board member with that skill set.

I regret that some conservatives seem to have soured on Donald. Donald has his own set of principles and most of them are conservative. He has been very helpful to the cause when it comes to curriculum.

Commented: Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 2:37 pm By: Conservative Voter

Steve has done an outstanding job standing up for education, we taxpayers, and a more fulsome society yet to be created.

Commented: Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 11:49 am By: Stan Deatherage

I learned a very long time ago that what the schools wanted, was my child, my money, and for me to BUTT OUT!
How do they get parents to butt out? Well one easy way is to inflate grades. You young parents should know that if your child is getting A's, B's C's on the report card, dont believe that they are doing that level of work. They are NOT. Not even the A students.
I recall my son was in a 9th grade level math class and that N.C. required students to take a state issued exam on that subject at year end. I called to ask how my child did on that state exam, the employee said he got a C on the class, I said, but what did he do on the state exam? She replied, Well he failed that!
I exclaimed: THEN, what good did it do him to give him a passing grade? He doesnt know the subject!

Commented: Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 11:09 am By: Befuddled

Bath parent: You certainly do not teach civics or history or you would know that it is the responsibility of elected officials to keep the pressure on the education system to make sure they are actually educating children.

You are clueless a to what my responsibilities are to the public. Defending the "relaxed elected officials" shows me that we are not getting our money's worth from you.

Commented: Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 6:58 am By: Hood Richardson

Bath parent, that is not what I said. One teacher had indicated there was a time that it was not taught like it is now. She did not say how long ago that was, and I did not ask, because my interest was in what is being done now. I have not indicated any personal knowledge of whether and to what extent cursive has been taught in the past, although it seems to me that was likely a problem in our state at some point for the legislature to pass the law mandating the teaching of it. I am aware that a family member who is a high school student says many of his classmates do not read and write cursive. As I suggested, we need to work on more ways for students to use cursive during their school years to maintain that skill. It may well be that it is being lost through lack of regular use.

One thing you will find about me is that I am future focused, not dwelling on blame games from the past. I liked what I saw and heard with what our teachers are doing now with cursive writing and I want to build on that into the future.

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 9:31 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Steve funny how you say cursive was not taught and now it is? So now you are on the board and know the truth and not listening to Hood you believe it!! Mmmmm The funny is a previous comment you said cursive was not taught but started back teaching. That is accusing teachers of not teaching standards I hope you got proof because we are licensed to teach the standards. If not you are now doing the Hood thing talking before you think

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 7:09 pm By: Bath parent

County voter, you are correct that teaching cursive writing is required, as is teaching the multiplication tables. This was mandated by the state legislature in statute, rather than from DPI. School districts are required to make certifications to the legislature annually.

Given the polling of college freshmen who say they cannot read and write cursive, I wonder if some districts may just go through the motions on cursive, or perhaps not teach it at all. In our state, beyond that certification, there is no further process to determine if cursive is actually being taught.

I was pleased with our own teachers that when I commented on the cards with cursive letters, they tended to be spontaneous in expressing the importance of teaching cursive. I believe our own teachers are genuinely committed to doing so.

One aspect, though, is that when one learns something but does not use it, their skills tend to get rusty. I would like to see us develop some methodologies that would promote students using cursive to a sufficient extent throughout their school years to maintain their skills.

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 6:51 pm By: Steven P. Rader

So Stan, who is the one that advises the Mayor, that Govt should be cancelled due to weather? Was it the last decision made by the outgoing City Manager?
Inquiring Minds want to know!

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 4:17 pm By: Washingtonian

My point is made when the statements are made that we are back to teaching it again because we did not teach it for a while.

Bath parent, you must be in the education system or you would not be one of the cheer leaders for Cheeseman at the school board meetings. Then, tell me what part of the un-education do you contribute?

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 3:22 pm By: Hood Richardson

I.Q. levels are dropping precipitously, which, for the most part are based on logic.

I took an I.Q. test about two weeks ago just to see how much I might have slipped at 3 score and ten, a test which nearly turned my brain into mush. While I experienced this arduous task, with all those secret doors one must discover to find the answers, I wondered just how well today's students are doing on these same type of tests.

My conclusion, once I discovered my percentile score: Not too good. No 70 year old man, regardless of how highly active as I am, should score that much higher than so many, so much younger, with their highly active nimble brains.

Our education industry is in dire need of a revamping by the natural forces of competition.

Commented: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 @ 11:15 am By: Stan Deatherage