Editorial - July 2003

Back to School

Published July 30, 2003

It’s back-to-school time and Lincoln County officials sound very positive about the upcoming year. You can read their comments in today’s annual Back to School supplement. Everyone’s excited about the debut of North Lincoln High, the first new high school for Lincoln in some 35 years. The students are drawn from a wide attendance area centered on Pumpkin Center and stretching from the outskirts of Lincolnton east to Lake Norman. The school is designed for 1,200 but will open with only 650 students, and no senior class this year. But this inaugural student body will give birth to new programs and organizations that will serve the community for generations to come.

St. James Elementary, located just outside of Denver, will relieve overcrowding at the four other eastern elementary schools. The school has room for 700 but the first year will enroll about 400.

Lincolnton High and West Lincoln High will have their first varsity soccer teams this year. West Lincoln is also adding an ROTC program. East Lincoln Middle has a brand new technology lab.

Of course it takes more than brick and mortar to make an educational institution, and Lincoln County seems to be on track with the most important ingredient — good leadership and innovative ideas.

In the supplement, Glenda Walker, principal at Rock Springs Elementary, talks about new clubs on video and cuisine. A multicultural fair has been added to the school’s calendar of activities.

First-year principal at Battleground Elementary, Victoria Walker, who says she is very pleased to find herself surrounded by a quality teaching environment, will introduce diversity training at her school. Catawba Springs students will find their school has interesting new additions — a sound stage for the drama club and a climbing wall in the gymnasium.

Lincoln Charter School will be adding the 11th grade this year, and plans improvements in reading programs at both campuses. The new gymnatorium opens at the Lincolnton campus.

Top officials in the school system will be looking beyond the new programs and facilities to more demanding academic performance. Superintendent Jim Watson talks about that challenge in his column today.

As we start this school year the administration seems to have the vision needed to meet the accountability standards Watson is seeking. We hope the same is true for the students and their parents.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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