Dr. Terry Stoops says that nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does the word “education” appear. “The founders were very strongly opposed to the idea of the federal government having any involvement in education because they understood that if you are able to capture the hearts and minds of the children, that is the road to tyranny,” said Dr. Stoops.

Stoops, who was the invited speaker at last Saturday’s meeting of Macon County FreedomWorks, is the Director of Education Studies at the conservative John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina-based free market think-tank. FreedomWorks is a conservative, non-profit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. The promotion of school choice to increase parental control and competition in education has been a core issue of the organization since it was founded in the mid-1990s.

Almost every year, students from Franklin High School’s Agricultural Education class travel hours across the state to participate in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) state landjudging contest which is held each year in a different location. This year, however, FHS was the host of the event for schools from around the state.

“It was a nice change,” said Devon Deal, FHS Agricultural Education teacher and FFA advisor. Deal also noted, however, that it took a lot of work by a lot of people to put on this year’s competition in Macon County.

Like teachers around the nation, many teachers in Western North Carolina are frustrated with years of unfunded federal mandates that force them to teach to standardized tests and follow rigid curricula.

Last Thursday, a group of 18 teachers and teacher assistants from Macon County traveled to Tuscola High School in Asheville to attend a meeting with U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler (D). All together, more than 75 educators – teachers and administrators – showed up for the meeting to discuss education policy in general and the federal No Child Left Behind Act in particular.

California company will run month-long specialized summer program at East Franklin

A group of 21 Macon County teachers has volunteered to participate this summer in a specialized literacy training program that will be organized by a California-based education company.

The five-week professional development program will train teachers in special techniques and methodology developed by Lindamood- Bell Learning Processes. The program will include four weeks of intensive classroom instruction with a group of 50 students from around the county.