Tag Archives: Buncombe County

Another NC Reading Assignment Questioned

Posted on April 30, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Former Buncombe School board member, Lisa Baldwin, recently raised an issue with school staff at her child’s high school.

The reading assignment was the book, The Kite Runner, and was given to her child in their 10th grade Honors English class.

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

Posted in EDUCATION | Tagged | 7 Comments

Politicking In Buncombe County Schools

Posted on October 25, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Those following this blog know I’ve written about multiple instances of politicking in North Carolina involving our schools. The latest instance comes from Buncombe county. USA Today is running a story about the misuse of school email for political purposes there.

Excerpt:

ASHEVILLE – A Buncombe County school employee who reportedly forwarded an email to fellow employees asking them to vote for school board candidate Cindy McMahon “exceeded the reasonable use of email” by a school employee, according to a school system spokesman.

School board member Lisa Baldwin, who is running against McMahon, sent the email to the Citizen-Times on Friday.

The email appears to have originated from former school system employee Carmen Murray, using a Gmail account. Murray sent the email to two employees at Sand Hill-Venable Elementary School. In the email, she encouraged employees to vote for McMahon. “We simply must remove Lisa Baldwin from our school board immediately,” the email read.

USA Today doesn’t publish said email, but I will.

KEEP READING…. SEE THE EMAIL….HIT THE TIP JAR Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS | Tagged , | Comments Off on Politicking In Buncombe County Schools

About That Buncombe County “Prayer” Bruhaha

Posted on May 30, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

So, it would seem someone has their panties in a wad that kids prayed at a Veterans Memorial event:

ASHEVILLE – Christian prayers at a North Buncombe High Band Boosters event honoring veterans violated Buncombe County Schools’ religion policy, school officials say.

The event on Saturday sparked complaints from some students and at least one parent.

“This was a flagrant breaking of policy,” said Ginger Strivelli, a Pagan and the mother of a student who was at the event.

Strivelli helped push for the policy a couple of years ago after her son came home from North Windy Ridge Intermediate School with a Bible. School officials said Gideons International left the Bibles at the school for students.

Saturday’s event was not on school property. It was held in the field near Dollar General on Weaverville Road.

The North Buncombe Band Boosters hosted the ceremony to open its “Field of Honor” flag display. The display aims to honor veterans. It is also a fund-raising event for the band, which will travel to Hawaii to perform at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade.

“The event, while not on campus, included all members of the (North Buncombe High School) marching band, so it is against the policy as it’s a school-related function,” Jason Rhodes, spokesman for the school system, said in an email.

Ginger Strivelli is a Pagan eh? Isn’t Paganism sort of a big tent of multiple beliefs? Apparently tolerance for Christians isn’t one of them. I find this story somewhat amusing along the line of, “tolerate me while I rage on you with intolerance” kind of thinking. Here’s a novel concept, don’t participate? If someone praying is offensive to you, they aren’t the problem. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885) | Tagged | 2 Comments

NC Civics Test Question On The Constitution

Posted on May 19, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

With all the crazy examples of ‘modified’ teaching of the U.S. Constitution floating around out there coupled with the fundamentally flawed and experimental Common Core Standards, parents these days have to scrutinize what is being put to their kids more than ever. Take the example sent to me from Buncombe County, North Carolina. In April, a 9th grade student in Buncombe county schools found themselves answering “E” to this question:

8. Which best demonstrates the US Constitution is a “living” document?

A. Over 20 Amendments are added to the Constitution each year.

B. Extends rights of criminals so that they can have equal justice under the law.

C. There have been 27 Amendments added to the Constitution.

D. The President, with the help of his cabinet, can make revisions to the Constitution.

Sigh. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Why Does Buncombe School Board Hate Kids?

Posted on April 13, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

I have to shake my head when it comes to the protectionism of the status quo on vouchers that would benefit low income kids from school boards like Buncombe. They then doubled their dumb by refusing to seek clarification of the Common Core — something that even the NC General Assembly has chosen to do.
After sometimes heated debate, the Buncombe County Schools Board of Education passed a resolution Thursday night expressing opposition to what some members called “vouchers” for private schools.

The board also narrowly voted against passing a resolution to seek clarification of federal Common Core curriculum standards, as well as an assessment of those standards and the financial impact they have.
Read more… Continue reading →

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Occupy Monday Protester To Fill Late Senator Nesbitt’s NCGA Seat

Posted on April 5, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Terry Van Duyn has finally won an election. In 2012, she ran for Buncombe county commissioners in District 3 and lost miserably, coming in dead last out of 4 candidates. She’ll be filling the seat of the late Senator Nesbitt (NC-49) for the rest of what remains of his term. Here’s Van Duyn on the campaign trail in April 2012. She was Occupy Monday before it was all the rage:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9niuHGq5HIs]

Van Duyn wasn’t a shoe-in however, because it took three rounds of voting to get a majority… Continue reading →

Posted in ELECTIONS, NC NAACP, NCGA, Occupy, POLITICS NC | Tagged | Comments Off on Occupy Monday Protester To Fill Late Senator Nesbitt’s NCGA Seat