Mazaleski: People outside Burke have no right to judge us

By: Leigh Mazaleski | Morganton News Herald
Published: November 08, 2009

Valdese, NC --

To those people in surrounding counties who insist on submitting letters about Burke County's current state of unrest, mind your own business. How can you sit on the sidelines spouting judgments about the ongoing exchange of angry words?
Unjust actions by the elected board have caught the attention of media, as well as the schools' accreditation council. Of course this is ugly. We are citizens who are embarrassed by those who are supposed to represent us. As if there aren't enough negative stereotypes out there about people from the South, now here we are in the news with one board member who forwards racist e-mails and a board chairperson who doesn't even hold a college degree.
We are parents who are concerned about the educational well-being of our children. Our children's college futures are at stake. Also, because of all the financial hardship the board has brought to our already-struggling school system, we now must worry about the trickle-down effect on each school.
What would you, citizen of another county, have us do? Sit back, gossip in the church parking lot and wait for change to flash across our TV screens? We cannot afford to become complacent. It was voter apathy that contributed to this mess in the first place.
Unless you have children in the Burke County schools; unless you are concerned about whether there will be enough money left to insure quality educators, reasonable class size, art and music education, teacher assistants, and experienced special educators; unless you are Burke County taxpayers who don't want to see their money wasted, kindly keep your opinions about our situation to yourselves.

Mazaleski: People outside Burke have no right to judge us

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