Editorial - January 2003

North High nets some top teachers

January 31, 2003 - The opening of a new high school is a rare and exciting event for Lincoln County. North Lincoln High is just brick and mortar, but what will happen in its classrooms and auditoriums and athletic fields in the years ahead will dwell in the minds and hearts of the thousands of students it will serve. North Lincoln begins serving those students in August of this year.

It’s especially encouraging to know that a highly respected band director from East Lincoln High School will join this new faculty. Neil Underwood, long recognized as one of the outstanding band directors in the state, will take his expertise and leadership to the new school. He has spent the past 20 years building the band program at ELHS into one of the best programs in the state.

Underwood is one of the estimated 24 teachers who will transfer with 450 to 500 students from East to North next year. Lincolnton High is expected to export a similar number of teachers and students. The tentative assignments for those positions won’t officially be approved by the school board until April.

North’s principal Rick Freeman was thrilled to get Underwood.

“We will need things to set North Lincoln’s personality,” Freeman said. “To have a good, quality program like the band, that will really help our identity get going.”

Freeman, a Georgia native whose own experience as a principal spans some 22 years, said the community served by North will also be pleased when they learn of some of the other top quality teachers coming to the school.

The 21,000-square-foot school on Lee Lawing Road in the Pumpkin Center community will house a total of 1,200 students, relieving overcrowding at both of the other high schools.

We look forward to a new era in education with some highly qualified faculty at the helm. Get used to the “Knights” of North Lincoln. You will hear a lot about them.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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