Even the most mundane items we take for granted have to be invented by someone. This month 110 years ago, that someone was Connecticut inventor Harvey Hubbell. In November 1904, he received a patent for the world’s first detachable electric plug: the two-, now sometimes three-prong plug familiar to us today. Remarkable as it sounds, at the time electric terminals would extend out from a wall, and any electrical device had to be hardwired to them. A time consuming process with a chance of electrocution. Hubbell was no one-hit wonder, as in the 1890s he created an electric switch and patented the pull-chain electric light socket. Electrical supplies for builders and homeowners are available at nearly 29,000 locations in the U.S., including 6,500 home centers and 12,500 hardware stores. Profile America is in its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Indeed, modern inventions have made our lives much simpler. So simple, in fact, that all we need to do these days is type our question into our computers and we have hundreds, if not thousands, of simple or complex answers. No longer do fingers walk through the yellow pages. They dance or pluck their way across a keyboard or keypad. When electricity fails, all will fail. It’s that simple.
Change of subject: but the online version of the Henderson Dispatch has an article about the problems at Northern Vance High School and several parents speaking and asking for change. It will be interesting to see how the Superintendent and the School Board respond to the plea for help that has been expressed by parents. I think it is in poor taste for a teacher to threaten to resign if something isnt done at his own school. I do like like the idea that the school board should act just because one teacher might leave. It would be no different if a teacher threatened to leave if they did not fire another teacher. It sounds childish. I do not think it is completely the fault of the principal but ultimately the buck stops with the principal. I wonder if he received any help when he took the job. I do not remember ever seeing the principal position posted and advertised. I think he was brought in as a quick hire, and was not prepared for the time commitment that Northern Vance needs. Additionally, he is not the only administrator. There are a total of 4 administrators. So if the 4 of them can not get it done, what make someone think that 1 new principal can get it done? It might be a good time to remove the entire administrative team. My opinion of the problem in VCS is that when an administrator is not up to par, he/she is never demoted. They are just moved around schools like a game of musical chairs. Why can VCS not renew ineffective administrators or demote them to other positions.
I agree with the parents that something needs to be done, but not because a teacher has threatened to resign. It needs to be done because if the incidents in the paper are true, it is for the safety and well-being of the students.
For once, I would like to see VCS go outside VC to find a quality administrator who wants to see NVHS succeed. My guess is that they will move someone up from the middle school and then shuffle other principals around in the county at the end of the year. The NV principal will probably end up as a principal of an elementary school while still drawing a high school principal salary due to a new contract that was just signed this past year.