Miss-Delectable
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Walker: Local group campaigned for School for Deaf | morganton.com
Something would surely be amiss if proper acknowledgement was not made public to a group of dedicated Morganton-area folks.
They have become known to a certain extent as the Morganton Grassroots Group 8 (MGG 8)
When I first became aware of the group, I quickly assumed they were perhaps a local country-music band making an appearance on the Morganton Square.
I later learned they actually were an independent group of concerned retired state employees and a parent of two deaf children currently enrolled at the North Carolina School for the Deaf.
The MGG 8 usually traveled far and wide, from Asheville to Raleigh, in a concerted effort to meet with valued North Carolina representatives and senators in an effort to carry the fight to the forefront and end years of suffering under the Office of Education Services that I suspect has set back deaf education in North Carolina for more years than I care to mention.
These setbacks were also felt at the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson and the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh. I suspect they, as well as NCSD, would have also continued to suffer if the OES was allowed to remain.
It really turned out to be a most worthwhile journey!
State Rep. Hugh Blackwell, our House representative from Valdese, and Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen were totally awesome in their support of NCSD and the MGG 8. They certainly deserve your vote!
The members of Morganton Grassroots 8 are Sandy Turner, Ann Aldridge, Barbara Palmento, Ann Freeman, Dee Counter-Griffis, Jane McMahan, Mary Jo Johnson and me.
Editor’s note: The North Carolina General Assembly’s budget for the coming year disbands the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Education Services and transfers responsibility for the two schools for the deaf and the school for the blind to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
Something would surely be amiss if proper acknowledgement was not made public to a group of dedicated Morganton-area folks.
They have become known to a certain extent as the Morganton Grassroots Group 8 (MGG 8)
When I first became aware of the group, I quickly assumed they were perhaps a local country-music band making an appearance on the Morganton Square.
I later learned they actually were an independent group of concerned retired state employees and a parent of two deaf children currently enrolled at the North Carolina School for the Deaf.
The MGG 8 usually traveled far and wide, from Asheville to Raleigh, in a concerted effort to meet with valued North Carolina representatives and senators in an effort to carry the fight to the forefront and end years of suffering under the Office of Education Services that I suspect has set back deaf education in North Carolina for more years than I care to mention.
These setbacks were also felt at the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson and the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh. I suspect they, as well as NCSD, would have also continued to suffer if the OES was allowed to remain.
It really turned out to be a most worthwhile journey!
State Rep. Hugh Blackwell, our House representative from Valdese, and Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen were totally awesome in their support of NCSD and the MGG 8. They certainly deserve your vote!
The members of Morganton Grassroots 8 are Sandy Turner, Ann Aldridge, Barbara Palmento, Ann Freeman, Dee Counter-Griffis, Jane McMahan, Mary Jo Johnson and me.
Editor’s note: The North Carolina General Assembly’s budget for the coming year disbands the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Education Services and transfers responsibility for the two schools for the deaf and the school for the blind to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.