To the Editor:

I am a product of Haywood County Schools and have two now-grown daughters who were educated in the Haywood school system. I have also taught social studies in public schools in North Carolina and Maryland.

I have been proud (most of the time) of the administration and teachers working for our children in this county, but the recent statements by Bill Nolte (interim Superintendent of Haywood County Schools) both saddened and angered me. 

Really, more folks should read the Constitution of the United States. It is quite a remarkable document and does not consist of the Second Amendment only. (And by the way: the Second Amendment addresses the necessity for a “well-regulated Militia”— a sort of National Guard — and says nothing of an individual’s right to bear arms. But that’s another letter.)

The First Amendment guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Lately I have written several grievances to our North Carolina representatives, but all I received for my effort was a form letter which in no way related to my questions. A majority of Americans want reasonable protections in place to prevent our children from being murdered in their classrooms, and when our legislators are ignoring us, “peaceable assembly” is a last resort.

The Haywood County Schools administration under Mr. Bill Nolte recently missed an excellent opportunity to teach students a lesson in government under our Constitution. Those who wished to walk in recognition and memory of the murdered students in Florida should not only have been allowed, but encouraged to do so; those not in agreement with the walkers would not have been forced to do so. Each group should respect the other as American citizens, expressing our rights under the Constitution. Classroom lessons and class discussions about the First Amendment and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” could have followed, to the benefit of those who agree and those who disagree.

Again, the Constitution contains not only the Second Amendment. There are other guarantees before it, among them, freedom of speech, of the press .... oh, never mind. Google it.

Wanda Taylor

Waynesville