Comments by Jack Maggio | Eastern North Carolina Now
Browse all Comments by Jack Maggio...
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Commented on Why Ethics, We Have the Law?Did the voting community of Washington not vote in the members of both boards that you seem to have such an issue with? I seem to remember that the husband/wife members you are speaking of were just part of the ballot and they were reelected. If this was such an issue, should this have not been looked at prior to the election? I had been following the page for a while, but it seems that recently it is just targeted attacks at certain individuals.
Commented: Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 @ 9:28 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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The opposition to building a new school with a $42 million state grant seems misguided to the growth of our community. While Beaufort County must contribute $10 million, the project is estimated to be under its $52 million budget. Other counties are moving forward with similar projects - Martin County is building a new high school and Washington County recently opened a K-12 school. Why should Beaufort County return this grant money and miss the opportunity to improve our infrastructure?
Having volunteered at Eastern Elementary, I've witnessed firsthand why replacement is necessary. I encourage those that oppose the building to spend a day reading to some of the children to experience the classrooms and the building for themselves. The concerns about cross-town busing are unfounded given the compact size of the city school district. Most Eastern Elementary students live nearby, and this commute is notably shorter than what high school students already manage with their extended schedules. A more pressing concern is the suspicious timing of the four-acre property ownership change, which was close to the timing of the grant award. Why has that been discussed by the commissioners?
Commented: Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025 @ 1:10 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Isn't that water over the dam at this point? When the Commissioners and School Board voted to accept the money the state superintendent said it was mainly awarded due to the plan on consolidating grade levels in the attendance area.
Commented: Thursday, June 27th, 2024 @ 9:07 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Commented on Eastern Elementary Construction, DisgustingThe reason the state superintendent awarded the grant was the consolidation of the schools due to the research that changing schools so often was not suitable for the students and families to build relationships with the educators in the school. The area you are talking about on the west side of town, isn't the line for Pactolus right there? While there are problems with the building, I am not sure turning down $42 million in grants is good for the community. Isn't there a way to resolve this and still get the community a new school?
I remember prior to Covid when the NC State team came in and presented on the schools' future. No one was happy then because they recommended consolidating the high schools to have only two at most. Since the county is already limited in how much can be spent on schools, I am not sure how Beaufort County could afford to build multiple schools or have the staff needed for the proposed community schools Hood is discussing.
Commented: Monday, June 24th, 2024 @ 9:52 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Commented on Malicious damage to our schoolsWish they would release more information, they can't release student information due to privacy laws, but they can about the key. I have spoken with very reliable people that the key did not come from an employee. In a time when you can go to a kiosk to get a key made, the old fail safe of marking a key doesn't really work.
Commented: Monday, June 10th, 2024 @ 7:29 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Commented on School construction. The public deserves better from the School Board and CommissionersJust to be clear, the county is not spending $50 million in county tax money. BCS received a grant for $42 million from the NC Department of Public Instruction and then the county committed $10 million. DPI has specific requirements to receive the grant, just repairing schools would not have met those requirements. I do agree there needs to be oversight in the project, but I feel getting a brand new school for $10 million dollars is a deal for the county tax payers.
Commented: Saturday, June 1st, 2024 @ 8:15 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Commented on The inappropriate instructional materials imbroglio shows how sloppy our school system is being runI disagree with the assignment in every way; it should not be part of the BCS curriculum. The issue is it was not part of the BCS curriculum; it was part of the BCCC curriculum. Has anyone asked Dr. Loope, who oversees the community college professors, why this was allowed? While the Early College is a part of BCS, the principal only has the right to question BCS employees, not BCCC employees. The students in the Early College only take classes with BCS employees during their freshman and part of their sophomore year. The rest of the time, they are in BCCC classes. That is why parents send their students out there to get to college classes early. While I think few good decisions are coming from the BCS superintendent, this is one case where questions are being asked of the wrong people. I would like to know what BCCC's stance on this is.
Commented: Friday, October 27th, 2023 @ 6:08 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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Commented on Support parents’ bill of rights? Gov. Cooper says you are a ‘bigoted, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist’Stan Deatherage, we are new to the area, but isn't School Choice already available to the parents of Beaufort County? There is the charter school available and we talked with other parents who receive the grant from North Carolina that pays their children's tuition at Pungo. We ultimately chose our local school since we have the K-8 in one building available and have been pleased, versus having to go to the schools within Washington. I was not sure if there was more to school choice?
Commented: Sunday, March 5th, 2023 @ 6:01 pm
By: Jack Maggio
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