Opinion

Good job! Needs work ...

By Lightning Editorial Board, Published: July 4, 2020

Good job! As we reported last week, the UNC Board of Governors appointed one of our own, Peter Hans, to lead the 17-campus UNC system.

Among the high-ranking appointed leadership roles in the state, presidency of the UNC system may be the most important. Regarded as one of the finest systems of higher education in the nation, the UNC system has always been an invaluable asset of North Carolina, from renowned research universities like UNC at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University to up-and-coming innovators like Western Carolina to historically black universities like N.C. Central and Winston-Salem State universities. And there may be no more challenging a time to lead the disparate campuses, given decisions about reopening classrooms and dorms, a crippled economy that has slashed tax revenue and the social and racial unrest that as rocked cities and towns. A graduate of Hendersonville High School, Hans told us years ago that he still considers Hendersonville home. Former state Sen. Tom Apodaca, now an influential Raleigh lobbyist, is a friend, supporter and confidant. Best of all, Hans is known as a nonpartisan problem solver who will forge a path to pragmatic solutions. It’s not by accident that his appointment to lead UNC won enthusiastic praise from the right, the left and the middle.

Needs work … The comment by a county Planning Board member to opponents of a proposed asphalt plant in East Flat Rock that “direct communications with a Planning Board member is wholly inappropriate” unnecessarily sewed confusion among the public and made the Planning Board look defensive. Fortunately, County Attorney Russ Burrell saved the day (Good job!) with an unequivocal email telling all Planning Board members that they can expect to be lobbied about controversial rezoning requests and that comments sent to a private email account are not exempt them from the state public records law.

Good job! In another confirmation of the excellence of the Henderson County public school system, new teacher Julie L. Hart has won an appointment to the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, a highly regarded organization that teaches teachers. A graduate of West Henderson High School and 2019 graduate of UNC Asheville (yep, she learned this teaching gig fast!), Hart in addition to her board service will teach 90-minute blocks of class covering weekly mentor meetings, creating unit lesson plans using Next Generation Learning-Focused Lesson Plan, collaborating with educators of other core subjects, parent communication and modeling the Leader In Me initiative. After teaching seventh grade this past year at Apple Valley Middle School, Hart will teach at English at North Henderson High School this coming school year.