Randy Crow
for
New Hanover County Commissioners

 

My School Positions

 
Time for School Superintendent
to Head On Down the Road

 

In my opinion the New Hanover County Superintendent of Schools' John Morris has a big time attitude and it is time for him to find a new place to hang his hat. At a joint meeting of the County Commissioners and the Board of Education which I attended Tuesday Sept. 7, 2004, it was the school administration's position that if the school district started building Anderson Elementary School then redistricting could be put off off until after Anderson was completed. Also the school administration wants to close down after this school year Ogden Elementary and cram all the kids going to Ogden now with the kids scheduled to go to the new Murrayville Elementary scheduled to open next fall to avoid redistricting. Mr. Morris suggested that we go back to the original redistricting plan, which some blacks consider a racist pile and so I took Mr. Morris' suggestion as counterproductive.

The school district gets millions of dollars of our tax money, $68 million from New Hanover County next year, 33.5 % of the county budget, more than the 32.5% average from other high population counties, and they should use our money wisely, and a wise choice of the use of our taxpayer money, in my opinion, is to bite the bullet and redistrict so kids don't have to get crammed in Murrayvile and Ogden shut down.

If Mr. Morris can't hold himself above the redistricting pressures and will not redistrict our school district let's hire someone, preferably a local, who will.

 
 


Well, What do you know. I'm thinking Morris should hit the road and the School Board adds two more years on his employment contract. Hopefully Morris' new contract can be re-examined after the election and possibly rescinded. Some on the School Board must be in cahoots with the problem and have attitudes also.

 

9-17-04

Boy I hope the County Commissioners do not vote to supply the money to either repair or rebuild Ogden or do anything which shuts down Ogden next school year. There is no reason to force kids to be crammed in Murrayville next year. If it takes a redistricting to keep Ogden open next year then we should redistrict. Not fair to force kids to pay an overcrowding penalty because Morris does not want to redistrict.

Right now Ogden is going to be open next year which is great. Let the will of the people at the ballot box decide by who they vote for School Board and County Commissioners whether or not Ogden is closed next year.

Hopefully this rush, rush extend Morris' contract without public input and the extension of Mr. Morris' employment to four years, the maximum allowed under state law, can be re-examined after public input is sought through public notice. An employment contract for the School Superintendent should be vested in the newly elected board, in my opinion, since there may be School Board changes due to the election and extending Mr. Morris' employment contract during election season before the election gives it a suspicious feeling.

I don't think this county should spend money to rebuild Ogden right now. The money requested for Ogden should be spent building a new elementary school which will put us ahead of the curve and help attract Boeing type companies to move here in another part of the county.

Colorblind companies like Boeing are not interested in relocating to a town which can't get over bussing and racial issues and whose School Board won't redistrict because of them.

If elected to the County Commissioners I will study the Board of Education's financial statement but I think it costs $11,000.00 per year to educate each child in the county, and that is a lot of money and a lot of taxpayer sacrifice. I for one am paying $4300.00 per year in property taxes on my home and I am not impressed with Morris and some of the School Board members' attitudes toward redistricting which come across to me as cavalier.