Guest Author's blog
Guest Post by Paul Jones
nomerger.org - Foushee and Hemminger
Sierra Club - Brown and Hemminger
Independent - Brown and Carey
CH News - Carey and Hemminger
Breakfast Club - Carey and Foushee
I have I'm sure missed several -- Teachers Associations, Soccer Alliances, and others that didn't get my attention. Several for the Town Council race seem to be missing this time out or I missed them. Housing, Police, CAN, Neighbors Near Campus, Tax watchers. Many of these had not much of a stake in the County race, but others did. Did they matter? Did any of the endorsements matter?
Paul Jones is the director of ibiblio. He is married to Chapel Hill Town Council Member Sally Greene.
Guest Post by Terri Buckner
The Chapel Hill Libraries and town manager, Cal Horton, are at odds about the value of internet filters.
The Children's Internet Protection Act, upheld by the Supreme Court a year ago, requires libraries to install filters or lose federal money.
We don't think filtering works very well," said Robert Schriner, library board chairman. "We don't think it does the job, and it basically interferes with getting access to real sites. It has been shown to filter out sites that are perfectly legitimate."
... Town Manager Cal Horton, on the other hand, will recommend to the town council that some computers with filtering turned on must be made available through the library. "Parents could choose whether they want their children to have filtered or unfiltered Internet sessions."
"We see it as a service," Horton said. "We know that filters are imperfect mechanisms, but we see this as providing a service."- News & Observer, 6/24/04
To filter or not to filter....what do you think?
Guest Post by Joe Capowski
The Sierra Club will sponsor the first forum for candidates for Orange County Commissioners tomorrow night (Weds) at 7pm at Chapel Hill Town Hall. It will be televised live on cable channel 18 in Chapel Hill and on corresponding channels in the rest of the towns and county. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to submit questions, so please come. Also, all seven candidates have indicated that they will participate.
Guest Post by Graig Meyer
In the recent WCHL forum on education, an unidentified caller ($50 says it was Gloria Faley) chimed in at the last minute to challenge the notion that we live in a "diverse" community.
Initially I thought "right on" when she pointed out that our town's population is overwhelmingly white and affluent. But then I thought, "Hey, one of the reasons we moved here was for the diversity."
Are we diverse or not?
If you go by population numbers, we're not as diverse as Durham but we're more diverse than many other NC towns. What really bothers me is that people from different cultural groups don't really seem to know one another. Do many members of our white, affluent population maintain friendships with many Latino immigrants or African-Americans who live in Northside.
If we were truly diverse, wouldn't we know each other better and talk a little more?
Graig Meyer coordinates the Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate Program in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System.
Guest Post by Eric Muller
In last Wednesday's Chapel Hill News, school superintendent Neil Pedersen wrote the following:
We take th[e] goal for equality a step farther by advocating for 'equity,' which means that students deserve to receive whatever resources are necessary to meet common educational goals. In some cases, equity will lead to some students receiving more resources than others in order to meet the same, high educational goals.
In last Friday's Chapel Hill News, editor Ted Vaden wrote the
following about the perception that recent and proposed changes in gifted education have led to a "dumbing down" of the curriculum:
This is an unfortunate perception, because it proceeds on an assumption that advancement for one group of students - low-performing African-Americans and Latinos - can come only at the expense of others, particularly more advanced students.
Pages
About Us
OrangePolitics is a not-for-profit website for discussing progressive perspectives on politics, planning, and public policy in Orange County, NC. Opinions are those of their authors. Learn more.
Community Guidelines
By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
