School Board Candidates Debate at Lenoir Senior Center

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

School board candidates took opposing stands on the proposal at the Lenoir Senior Center Tuesday night.

Some believe the plan for a 12-month school schedule could eliminate the need for trailers that now house the overflow of students and “would help overcrowding by reducing the number of students in daily attendance at the school by 25 percent,” said candidate Henry Lane. (See Sidebar for more)

Some believe the new schedule would be costlier than adding permanent buildings because of the large substantial increase of cost to educate children year-round.

Others expressed dissent that the plan would put different schools on totally different schedules causing difficulties that this community does not want to have to deal with, said Board President Elton Fay who is one of the candidates.

Although overcrowding in schools has become worse, the costs and expenses of this year-round proposal may be too costly for the senior citizens to handle.

Sidebar

Candidates running and their position during the debate:

School Board President Henry Lane- Says he believes “a changing tide” is coming when it comes to using trailers as classrooms. He believes that a year-round schooling would decrease the needs for trailers and adding a multitracking schedule would help reduce the overcrowding in the school by 25 percent.

Board President Elton Fay- He believes that year-round schooling is impractical because the cost of educating our children would go up substantially and that would also means totally different schedules for students of different ages which puts a burden on the community.

Larry Dorman- Says that he would focus on eliminating overcrowding in the schools and increasing teacher pay.