Last Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

It’s been on mind all this week, between new reports remembering that day and also my own personal thoughts. I was 14 years old and in eighth grade on April 20, 1999. It was spring break. My parents, little sister and I piled into the old minivan in Upstate New York and headed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

The Haywood County school system presented its proposed local current expense budget to Haywood County commissioners April 15, and at least one school board member is optimistic about how it was received. 

A substantial and somewhat surprising gift by two Haywood County natives has the potential to contribute to the community for generations to come.

Both my parents were teachers. My earliest memories are of my dad sitting at our dining room table grading papers or writing grants. Once I started school, my afternoon routine was to hang out in the media center at my mom’s school, munching on snacks from the vending machine, while she wrapped up for the day. 

North Carolina’s rigid school calendar law has been in place since 2004, but over the past few weeks, a pair of resolutions — one passed by the Haywood School Board, the other by Haywood County Commissioners — have again expressed a desire for changes in the “one size fits all” calendar. 

It’s likely to be another tough budget year as Macon County commissioners are faced with a growing list of capital and security improvement needs, increased health care costs and stagnant property values.

It’s $13 million now, or $40 million later, according to a presentation by Haywood Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bill Nolte intended to give Haywood County commissioners an idea of what it will take to address the district’s classroom and administrative needs for the next several decades. 

It took a while, but after a surprise addition to the Haywood Board of County Commissioners’ agenda, no small amount of debate and an unusual procedural move, Haywood County Schools will move forward with a land acquisition it’s been eyeing for more than a year. 

More than 150 Haywood County Schools fourth- and fifth-grade students chased after zooming robots at the Wolfpack Robothon on Friday, November 30.

Swain County voters have typically been adamantly opposed to any sort of tax hike, whether it’s a property tax or a sales tax, which is why many were pleasantly surprised to see a quarter-cent sales tax increase approved following the Nov. 6 election.