-Editorials
What Did Survey Tell Us?
Foregoing a lot of rhetoric, we think the
recent Public Opinion Survey told us one
thing above all others. It is simply this:
public relations between the local school
system ? on all levels ? and parents and
other taxpayers is in dire need of improve
ment in Madison County.
This fact is borne out in the comments
made by respondents to the survey, and by
the statements, or non-statements, made by
public school officials during interviews
last Thursday and Friday. (See article on
Page 1.)
The public had its say in the published
results of the survey (The News Record,
Sept. 17 edition). The respondents perceiv
ed politics, what they think of as unqualified
teachers, and poor administrative leader
ship as major problems in the local school
system. It is a cause for great concern that
it took an opinion poll which provided
anonymity to enable some, if not most, of
these citizens to voice their thoughts and
feelings publicly.
Public school officials were given the
opportunity to have their say last week, and
those few who chose to comment dwelled on
nitpicking about the survey per se and had
little, if anything, to say regarding the
public's attitude toward the schools or the
problems as perceived by the public. The of
ficials seemed intent on discrediting the
validity of the survey by declaring 139
responses as insignificant out of a 3,500
newspaper circulation. Again, it is cause for
concern that the officials, for the most part,
showed little interest in acknowledging the
opinions of the public.
As the prison camp foreman said to
Paul Newman in the motion picture Hud,
"What we have here is a failure to com
municate." And, as that failure to com
municate led to a lot of pain and suffering
for the character played by Newman, poor
public relations between the schools and the
people can cause much harm to a large seg
ment of this county's population ? the
students.
Terrell Bell, U.S. secretary of educa
tion, recently said that responsibility for the
quality of public education lies on the
shoulders of public educators at the state
and local levels. This responsibility is going
to weigh even more heavily as the federal
government decreases its role (and money
allocationa) in public education in the near
future. Local school officials are going to
find it necessary to rely more on local
public support, through taxes and local
revenue bond issues, to adequately main
tain the operation of the schools. Turning a
deaf ear to the public now is no way to gain
its support at election time or when the
hand is stretched out for those all-important
dollars.
Therefore, good public relations seems
to be a needed, immediate goal that would
benefit everybody concerned with the local
schools ? school officials, parents, ad
ministrators, teachers and students.
By good public relations we do not
mean a Hollywood-type "PR hype" that
sells the public a fantasy. School systems
all too often take the position that "all's
right in the world" and have a tendency to
gloss over any deficiencies that may exist.
No one likes to admit their faults, especially
in the eye of the public. But, that's exactly
to whom public educators are accountable
? the public. Consequently, any public rela
tions methods and messages should be
honest and sincere in order to bring about
strong public support that is going to be
needed in the future.
Generally, the public wants what's best
for its children, especially in the area of
education. We think people are willing to
fork out time, effort and money to assure a
high quality of education for kids. But, they
need to be given the opportunity to give that
time and effort, and they have a right to
know where every penny of their money
(for taxes, school activity fees and fund
raisers) goes. Good public relations should
mean a good working relationship between
the school and parents.
The verdict is in on the matter of needing
good public relations between the school
system and the public. Now the next ques
tion is: "Is anyone willing to listen and act
on it?"
Living And Growing
The Things We Use As
Band-aids In Our Lives
B> CARL MLMPOWER.
M.S.W.
Asheville Counseling Center
The other day my daughter
and I made a trip to Cuarlotte
during which she located a
first aid kit that I had stored in
the car. Inside the kit were all
sorts of odds and ends, but
true to ways of kids, it was the
band-aid pack that really
caught her attention. Before
the end of the trip, she manag
ed to wreck the pack of band
aids in her attempts to put one
on an old mosquito bite and
"make it better.'' It dawned
on me later that my daughter
was not much different from
many of us who call ourselves
adults.
We're a symptom relief vs.
problem relief society. We
care more about image than
quality, feeling good than be
ing good and looking effective
over being effective. There
are lots of examples of this
theme, not the least of which is
the over-the-counter drug
business that's been going on
since time began Do you have
any idea how much those peo
ple make selling us stuff that
takes away symptoms, but
rarely addresses the problem
behind the symptoms?
Aspirin, nasal sprays and
cough syrups are a few ex
amples of the goodies we
spend a small fortune on each
year. In using these
medicines, we fail to
recognize that in most cases
when we feel discomfort or
pain it 's our body 's way of tell
ing us we're not treating it the
way we should. So what's our
response1 Well, all too often
we run out and try to mask the
symptoms as quick as possible
rather than take a good look at
the way we are living and how
it might be undoing our health
and well-being. I wonder if,
over time, we pay a price for
that temporary relief?
Television is another com
monly used band-aid. How
many hours a day do you
spend with your mind on hold
while you poke your nose
The News Record
ESTABLISHED 1901 ? NON-PARTISAN IN POLITICS
Box 369 ? Marshall. N C 28753 ? Phone (704 ) 649 2741
G. NICHOLAS HANCOCK. Editor
JEAN BLANKENSHIP. Office Mgr. JULIA WILLIAMS. Advertising Manager
JAMES I. STORY. Editorial Consultant
And Columnist
Published Weekly By The Madison County Publishing Company. Inc.. USPS 388 440 Second
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Member North Carolina Press Association
through the T.V. watching all
of the intellectually
stimulating programs that are
offered? It's much like an elix
ir that numbs you to the point
you feel no pain. Even the
television producers
themselves acknowledge that
quality programs usually
don't rate very well because
they cause the audience to
think-something that many of
us are directly trying to avoid.
Shopping sprees, purchas
ing a fancy new car and get
ting drunk on a Friday night
are other examples of fre
quently used symptom
relievers. All of these and
others can have the effect of
temporarily making us feel
better, but how about over the
long haul? No, probably not.
These, like most other distrac
tions, get old and have to be
replaced with new distrac
tions that will, for a short
time, make us feel better.
True satisfaction, comfort
and security in life comes not
from prusuing temporary
relief, but through a search for
personal improvement, depth,
quality and purpose. Tem
porary patch jobs just don't
cut it. Any carpenter will tell
you that. Over the long run
they cost you more and create
more headaches than they
save. So give it some thought.
Search beyond the symptoms
for the source of your discom
fort. Deal with that source and
you'll have a more permanent
peace It may be more dif
ficult than pursuing symptom
relief, but borrowing an
analogy, at least you won't
cover the cancer up to the
point it's too late to treat.
Heard and Seen *
By POP STORY
French Broad River Week was a great
success from all I can hear. The climax of
the celebration in Marshall was the
presence of the huge Channel 13 balloon
Saturday morning on the island.
Bill Norwood, "Mr. Bill" skillfully
operated the balloon and several members
of the Marshall Volunteer Fire Department
assisted by handling the ropes to be sure the
balloon didn't blow down the river.
Everything went off smoothly until 11:30
a.m. when the wind made it impractical to
continue taking passengers up for the short
rides. Hundreds of kids and several adults
enjoyed the balloon ride, including this
writer.
I've been up in small and large
airplanes and helicopters but this was my
first trip via balloon. I enjoyed the ride very
much and I enjoyed talking with Norwood.
Several of us tried to get Dave Wilson,
"Shorty"' Rector and others to go up but
they declined saying they preferred to stay
on the ground. Fire Chief Jackie Davis and
firemen Frankie Davis, Ray Crowe, and
others preferred to keep charge of the
ropes which "anchored"' the balloon.
Softball games were enjoyed Saturday
afternoon and "live" music was enjoyed
Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. All
in all, it was a fine day. Congratulations to
those in charge of "Riverfest" and thanks
to Bill Norwood and WLOS? TV for bring
ing the balloon to the island.
My friend, Judson Edwards, underwent
successful cataract surgery last Friday at
Johnson City and expects to return to his
home at Beech Glen this Thursday.
Judson's vision hasn't been too good for a
long time although he could see the checker
board well enough to most always win. Now
with corrected vision in his right eye he just
might keep from winning any games.
Maybe Carroll Radford and I together can
at least get a few draws. We'll just have to
wait and see.
Eddie Stines told me a few days ago
that he, too, is enjoying his Cable TV and
the added channels it affords. Lonnie Plem
mons says he's interested in a cable TV
after reading my column last week. All
those who have Cable TV like it but wish the
company would add Channel 17 to the list.
"TOMMHT3&CIR 5eCReraWY<3TT
Due to our &Baeron5,THep3Uxw#(G uams .r
At NCAE Meeting
Local Teachers' Group
Adopts Information Project
The local chapter of the
North Carolina Association of
Educators (NCAE) met Mon
day at Madison High School
and adopted a yearly project
designed to disseminate news
and information concerning
the local schools to the people
of Madison County.
Saying the teacher
organization "Needs to com
municate with our parents
more than we are doing,''
NCAE President Rozella
Ramsey described the pro
ject, titled Mutual Concerns
For A Complete Community
Information Service," and
called on Marshall radio sta
tion WMMH and The News
Record newspaper to assist in
the county-wide effort .
Mrs. Ramsey said the main
vehicle for informing the
public about the workings of
the local schools will be a mon
thly newsletter published by
the Madison NCAE unit and
circulated to parents through
students at school The first
newsletter, scheduled for Oc
tober, will feature basic
statistical facts about
Madison schools and how they
compare to surrounding
school systems, Mrs. Ramsey
said.
Dean Shields and Karen
Rice of WMMH - Radio told
the local educators they were
welcome to conduct inter
views and present individual
talks over the local station.
Shields suggests the educators
plan on producing a weekly
program which could be
broadcast two or three times
on a given day.
Editor Nicholas Hancock
told the group The News
Record would be "happy to
cooperate" with the organiza
tion by publishing the monthly
newsletter and other infor
mative articles submitted to
the newspaper. "However, we
ai*e limited as to the size and
number of articles we can
print sometimes because of
space limitations determined
by advertising,'' Hancock
said.
According to Norris Gentry,
local NCAE vice president,
the local chapter of profes
sional organization represents
90 percent of the regular
classroom teachers in the
county. Other local NCAE of- (
ficers for 1981-82 Wanda
Capps, secretary; and Tom
Wallin, treasurer.
Current officers of the local
Association of Classroom
Teachers (ACT) are Robena
Adams, president ; Isabella
Maynard, vice president;
Jamie Briggs, secretary; and
Sandra Randolph, treasurer.
The Political Action Commit
tee of Educators (PACE)
chairman for the year is Bar
bara Ray.
Correction
l^sl week. Tin* News Record Incorrectly s'a'fd the
school board approxed an electrical maintenance lint
tract with Garland Adams for Madison llit*l. Stkm l.
Mr. Adams informed us that his contrail is f< r
mainlrnancr of the pneumatic controls sjiltlrm a1 'he
high school. The pneumatic controls regulate heating,
cooling and other related equipment, he said.
The error in the report resulted from an inc<>rrec'
entr\ in the minutes of the school hoard meeting wl .id.
stated Adam s contract was for elecrica!
maintenance.