On the heels of new academic data showing Haywood County Schools ranking seventh among the state’s 115 districts, school board elections will bring four seats before voters.

This is probably the only election story you’ll read about a county tax collector’s race in North Carolina, because Haywood is the only county in North Carolina that elects a tax collector.

Three incumbents, along with two challengers, are all running for the Haywood County Board of Commissioners this year, and there isn’t enough room for all of them. Voters can select up to three candidates and in doing so will determine whether or not the county continues moving in the same direction or embarks on a different path.

When the Haywood County School Board announced that it had chosen Trevor Putnam as the system’s new superintendent, I can’t think of a single person who follows education news in this region that was surprised. People were making that call even before Superintendent Bill Nolte announced his relatively sudden November retirement.

After nearly 10 years in office, Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher announced his retirement in Mach 2021, giving prospective candidates more than a year to contemplate their campaigns. Almost immediately, five men from two parties stepped up, seeking to replace him.

Bethel Middle School teacher Sally Hundley was named Haywood County Schools’ 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Haywood County was recently awarded another substantial grant to help address the affordable housing crisis, but the way the county plans to use the grant means its impact will be felt far into the future.

A few months after a devastating Pigeon River flood in 2021, some friends of the Canton Area Historical Museum gathered at the flood-ravaged building to study a couple of photographs that had been donated to the museum. One of these was obviously an early panoramic view of Haywood County’s Sunburst logging village that once thrived where the waters of Lake Logan are impounded. However, the other photo required a bit more thought and analysis to finally conclude whence it was taken.   

Just over a month after Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte announced his impending retirement, the Haywood County School Board has chosen to forgo a search process in favor of its established succession plan and selected its new superintendent — Dr. Trevor Putnam.

Two weeks after rejecting misinformation from the public about Haywood County’s non-existent syringe exchange services, commissioners began their Sept. 6 meeting with an informal conversation that suggests they’ll begin to scrutinize syringe service programs provided within the county by third-party nonprofits.