After so many superintendents, it’s the CMS board I’m beginning to question

CMS hiring

I don’t think people are talking enough about how interim superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh will be the eleventh Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent since I started teaching in Mecklenburg County in 1995. How can any organization hope to be successful with that much turnover at the top? There is obviously a problem with the CMS board’s decision-making and hiring practices.

Anthony Yodice, Charlotte

Earnest Winston

So, was former CMS superintendent Earnest Winston’s firing entirely his fault? Or, like millions of other people was his job affected by the COVID pandemic? Maybe the CMS Board should have given him another 12 months to repair the new damages first and then the old issues that brought him on board in the first place. Unfortunately, today many problems need a fall-guy. Yes, I am aware that risks come with rewards in any high-profile position. But sometimes there has to be leeway and tolerance. Charlotte’s school board afforded him neither.

Jon Schuller, Charlotte

SC execution

Regarding “SC death row inmate Moore chooses firing squad,” (April 18):

How sad and inconceivable that we live in a society where a death row inmate must choose his means of execution. To die by firing squad or any other means of state-sponsored execution in this era is unconscionable. To have any person on death row is outrageous. Restorative justice is an achievable alternative. Retribution and vengeance only adds to escalating violence, as we witness daily.

Anne McDonald Cochran, Indian Trail

Mask mandate

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida voided the national mask mandate on public transportation. The mask requirement and other CDC mandates to control the pandemic were initiated by the best infectious disease experts in the country. It is not a legal or political matter. It is a medical matter. Lawyers, elected officials, even Supreme Court Justices are not qualified to practice medicine.

What makes this decision worse is that Mizelle was rated unqualified for her position by the American Bar Association and she was appointed by a president who has been on the wrong side of the law most of his adult life. Mizelle’s ruling validates the opinion of the ABA.

Dr. David Nachamie, Lincolnton

Cost of gas

Regarding “Biden waiving ethanol rule in bid to lower gas prices,” (April 13):

Adding more ethanol to gasoline is not the way to reduce the cost of driving. Better to give cash to drivers based on mileage, available from their annual inspection. Here are some reasons:

▪ Subsidized ethanol pays to take corn from feedlots, raising the cost of food.

▪ Ethanol gives fewer miles per gallon.

▪ Subsidizing gallons encourages lower efficiency vehicles.

William C. Barnes, Charlotte

Student loans

Regarding “Congress needs to ease the pain of student loans,” (April 19 Opinion):

Taking on a student loan is a personal decision and paying them off is a personal sacrifice. My husband spent nine years in post-graduate school and accrued debt rather than an income in those years. Even though loan forgiveness would have benefited my family, it is not the American way. Easing the pain of student loans would motivate Americans to be “forever students” on the taxpayers’ dime.

Traci Cockerham, Charlotte

A broken system

Regarding “Student loans: Don’t forgive them. It’s an insult to responsible Americans.” (April 21 Opinion)

The “insult” to the American public is the lack of information being shared with the nation regarding the predatory nature of the student loan system. Neither mortgages, personal loans, nor car loans earn interest at the same rate as student loans. Students almost always pay more than they borrowed.

The student loan system must be overhauled. It is broken. There must be forgiveness for those who’ve paid their original balances, for those deceived by for-profit schools, for service members, and all who’ve been a victim of a predatory lending system.

Sabrina Elliott, Charlotte

A changed GOP

Leonard Pitts wrote the truth in his April 17 column when he asserted that no person or group is responsible for the culture wars, the assertion of an autocratic agenda, and the movement to disavow civil rights of all kinds in our country, except the Republican Party. I’m a 1946-born Boomer and few of us grew up to think of the party as anything other than pro-business, low taxes and willing to compromise on matters of national consequence. The current party is dangerous to democracy and disregarding of the rights of civil liberties.

Sam Roberson, Fort Mill

Disney in NC?

Regarding “Years of fruitful relations between Disney, Florida at risk,” (April 21):

If I were to write to Disney, here’s what I’d say: We have lots of land and a sane governor here in North Carolina. Just sayin’.

Donald G. Billington, Charlotte