The Chesterfield County Citizen

Last week, I wrote a Letter to the Editor of The Link in Cheraw, South Carolina.  It expressed my opinion on the Board of Directors of NETC and the reasons I believed they should all be replaced.  The Link, following their normal policy of never publishing anything that might be considered controversial, refused to print it.  Well, people, this is precisely what I wrote.  Please, tell me if you think it is that controversial.

Now is the time to complete the overhaul of Northeastern Technical College and replace the entire Board of Directors.  Until our legislative delegation and investigative reporter Jody Barr revealed the desperate state of affairs, the public would never have learned of the impending denial of accreditation for NETC.  Until this time, the board had not taken any action to remedy the situation, and even then, when presented with this information, it took hours to terminate Mr. Wagner, NETC’s president.  But, despite Mr. Wagner being the cause of this dire predicament, they were still going to allow him to remain until the end of the semester!  Only public pressure forced the board to terminate Mr. Wagner’s employment immediately.  This whole embarrassing situation shows that the current board is reactive, not proactive, a known formula for failure.

Sometimes one has to look to those who might not have the educational laurels, but rather the knowledge that comes from common sense, and one of those people was my grandmother.  One of her favorite words of wisdom was “A new broom sweeps clean.”  It is time for Governor McMaster to remove the whole board and replace it with members who will not only hire the new president of NETC, but will oversee that person’s performance to ensure that NETC once again becomes the educational institution that will help the counties of Chesterfield, Dillon, and Marlboro give our young people the education that will provide them with the tools to succeed in an ever more competitive environment.

Now I ask you, is this controversial?