Despite having no recommendation to do so from its policy committee, legal advice outlining the complications of such a move, opposition from principals at both high schools and calls for caution from several board members, Haywood County’s school board decided to enact a policy that will require students who transfer from one high school to another to be ineligible for athletics for one full year. 

While a majority of North Carolina voters chose Republican candidate Donald Trump for president of the United States, many split their ticket to elect Democratic candidates to top state offices.

For the second time in two years, Macon County voters have rejected the implementation of a quarter-cent sales tax to bolster funding for local public schools. However, the margin of defeat for the referendum is shrinking. 

The race for state superintendent will determine who will support and advocate for the state’s 2,500 public schools and lead the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). This election cycle, it also a race in which experience in public education is pitted against an outsider to the system.  

A recent town hall in Cullowhee laid out a heartbreaking problem in our public schools, as well as a sensible solution. The problem is hunger. The solution is to provide free meals to all students in our public schools. But, how do we get there? 

Every student in Haywood and Jackson County Schools can expect no cost breakfast and lunch in the coming school year, and Macon County is not far behind in meeting that mark as well. 

The Jackson County Board of Education has signed a resolution urging the North Carolina General Assembly to prioritize public education over funding an expansion to the private school voucher system. 

There are some things John Hood (SMN, May 29) and his ilk don’t want you to think about in their relentless promotion of “school choice” and “educational freedom” — their feel-good euphemisms for the transfer of your taxpayer dollars to private, church-related and “charter” schools. Hood, who pops up everywhere these days, is a paid mouthpiece for the libertarian-conservative and free-market agenda of Art Pope (remember him?) — and it shows. 

As the July 1 budget deadline for Child Care Stabilization grants approaches, it appears the Republican-led North Carolina House and Senate are struggling to agree on how to spend the $30 billion or so taxpayer dollars slated for the upcoming fiscal year. 

Jackson County Public Schools announced that current assistant principal Joey Robinson has been named the new principal at Smoky Mountain High School. Robinson will step into his new role on July 1.