Laurels to the excitement school officials say the Achieve3000 program has generated among young readers at Hanford Dole Elementary School. The software program is designed to allow students to read any subject matter on their own reading level. It’s long been known that children learn at different rates and read at different levels. Achieve3000 meets students where they are; then the program challenges them to improve their literacy skills. Rowan-Salisbury officials have called this the “missing piece” in the system’s digital conversion. Student test scores took a disappointing dip last year, in the first year of the conversion.

A lot is riding on Achieve3000’s ability to start turning things around. The school system has committed $1.5 million over three years to the program’s software and professional development. Rowan-Salisbury is the first Achieve3000 PreK-12 Demonstration District in the state, and is expected to host educators from other N.C. districts that want to see the program in action. Most important, students’ reading skills — and futures — are on the line.

Dart to the audacity and greed of scammers who use all kinds of schemes to take hard-earned money from gullible victims, many of them elderly. The FTC says fraudsters took $1.7 billion from unsuspecting victims last year. Authorities are usually stumped when it comes to tracking down and prosecuting these rip-off artists, but law enforcement can help you figure out if someone calling for money is legitimate.

If someone calls asking for money or telling you you’ve won a prize (you just have to send them some money to get it), ask lots of questions — name, position, return phone number and more. If the calls persist, get law enforcement involved. Detective Chad Moose with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office says that can be effective in at last one way: “Usually, once we call them back, they never call the victim again. ”

Laurels to the people behind the scenes who are busily organizing this week’s holiday parades. The South Rowan Christmas Parade takes place this afternoon at 3 in Landis and 4 in China Grove. On Wednesday, the Holiday Caravan will parade through Spencer at 2 p.m. and Salisbury at 3 p.m. They say everyone loves a parade, but those people can get scarce when it’s time to work on one. Hats off to the people who make it happen year after year. They bring smiles to countless faces.