School Board Debate Gives Senior Citizens Chance To Be Heard

Senior citizens in Lenoir School District worry that a proposal for year-round schooling might hit them in the pocketbook.

School Board members debate in front of senior citizens
 at Lenoir Retirement Community Center.
Photo: Google Images

School board candidates are still campaigning for the upcoming election, discussing important issues and offering their stances to the citizens gathered at the Lenoir Retirement Community Center.

Where at previous debates the main topic of conversation had been a bond on the upcoming April ballot, this debate offered an opportunity to hear the candidates’ opinions on the year-round schooling issue.

One candidate, Henry Lane, believes that year-round schooling would eliminate the need for trailers that currently house the overflow of students.

Lane also advocated a multitracking schedule that would help overcrowding by cutting daily attendance to the school by 25 percent.

Other candidates opposed Lane, suggesting that the new schedule would be more costly than adding permanent buildings.

Current Board President Elton Fay was one participant in the debate that stood against Lane.

Fay said that Mr. Lane’s plan doesn’t factor in that “the cost of educating our children would go up substantially.”

Other members of the debate, Kerry Corino and Larry Dorman, offered their opposition as well, adding that the plan would put different schools on different schedules.