Teachers need warm accolades
It is truly evident that we have become a very spoiled society in dealing with power outages and weather issues (maybe just plain spoiled altogether), especially relating to schools.
I agree school openings should have been delayed on Friday, March 7, but even delays couldn’t foresee the power outages which later developed. Social media, newspapers and television reports became inundated with complaining parents whose children had to sit in schools without power.
They complained they weren’t called, even though there was limited phone service, and their children had to eat cold bag lunches! (I doubt students had to use outhouses or break frozen water from buckets as did past generations of school-aged children to survive every day.)
Furthermore, all students don’t have parents who can retrieve them once school is in session. We make the assumption all families have the same advantages. There are horror stories about school dismissals without parental knowledge — and children being stranded in severe weather only to wait until parents returned home.
As a retired educator, I am insulted that parents think teachers enabled their children to “suffer.” I’m sure students had nourishment and shelter. Isn’t it important that students learn the world isn’t perfect and adaptation is important in any eco-system?
When I actively taught, I loved power outage days! My class would retrieve flashlights from science kits as we worked in clusters enabling us to create new learning environments. By bringing bag lunches to the classroom, we would pretend we were having a campout. Fewer technological distractions allowed for more teaching time. I loved creating great memories out of chaotic situations.
Too bad today’s parents can’t be appreciative that their children’s teachers kept them dry and safe! Yet, we wonder why no one wants to go into teaching?
— Kim Sheeks
Rockwell

Build on forum
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Rowan County Community Forum on March 6. It was a very successful event and a wonderful start on the process for having a shared vision for Rowan County. It would not have been possible without the volunteer committee, generous sponsors and over 200 attendees from across Rowan County  
I know that there was a great deal of time, effort and energy dedicated to the event by the organizing committee. It was driven by their passion and appreciation for how important this Community Forum was and the opportunity it held for the future of Rowan County.
The Gateway community partners and the Community Forum planning committee did a great job in developing the agenda and coordinating all the activities that helped make this such an energizing event.
We are looking to all the forum participants to help us take advantage of the momentum and energy that the Community Forum generated and turn it into a strategy for building a “Renaissance” plan for Rowan County.
I appreciate everything that has been done to this point and look forward to continuing to build on the success, enthusiasm and collaboration that came out of the Community Forum.
— Mark Seifel
Salisbury
The writer is 2014 board chair for the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.

Better song
According to the Post’s story, Clint Abernathy sang “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Chinaberry Tree” at the celebration of China Grove’s 125th anniversary. What he should have sung was “Throw a Yellow Bag in the Old Driveway.” And they should have had more politicians there.
— Whitey Harwood
Mocksville