“Sit that person down and stop playing politics.”

Regarding Alan Johnson’s Jan. 15 column about the school board voting twice to deny the appointment of Guilford Republican candidate Michael Logan to the vacant seat:

My friend Alan is right, or at least I think he is. He didn’t actually give an opinion, but implied it by giving the school board facts and recommendations about the new member’s seat. The fact that the Republican Party’s recommendations for school board members have twice failed to serve as its right and duty is indisputable.what yes At issue is whether Democratic-controlled school boards can vote to block the Republican option.

The board’s rationale for not seating candidates is based on opinions and vague allegations. As Allen pointed out, that’s not a valid reason to refuse to seat a candidate. One board member asked why he was still a teacher if the questionable behavior was so egregious? If Michael Logan is good enough for his years of service in the classroom, he may in fact be too good to serve on this board — which has made some questionable decisions in the past.

Sit that guy down and stop playing politics. Republicans can and likely will sue. Why waste the taxpayer’s expense?

Yes, the national debt is a staggering $34 trillion. No, the debt ceiling in question has nothing to do with increasing or decreasing the national debt.

This is about Congress fulfilling existing commitments it has already ratified. For example, raising the spending threshold would only allow the U.S. to pay Social Security payments, federal civilian employee wages, military and veteran benefits, and utility bills. To personalize this, you may have a credit card, a car loan, or a rent or mortgage obligation, which means you are the borrower. When it comes to paying down debt, Congress is also the borrower.

If it doesn’t pay existing commitments, it’s like you or I decide not to pay for our house, car, or credit card.

It’s not a choice; it’s an obligation. You could lose your car, lose your credit cards, or lose your home, all of which can be devastating.

For the first time in history, Congress will not pay its debts, with disastrous consequences for all Americans and the global economy. It should raise spending limits and pay the country’s existing bills.

Please contact your elected representatives, ask your family and friends to do the same, and emphasize that you know the truth. We must honor our commitments.

Thank you to many in our community for their innovative telehealth clinics, which today provide care to students at several of our local elementary schools (“Health Clinics Help Keep Kids in Class,” Jan. 15).

Great to see how Dr. John Jenkins and his Cone Health colleagues are working with Sheriff Whitney Oakley and her team, Guildford County Council, Board of Education and other community and charitable partners such as the Guildford Education Alliance (full disclosure: I serves on its board), to tackle a thorny problem: how to cost-effectively connect doctors to students who are sick at school to minimize learning loss? How do you scale the solution?

Using video conferencing and providing Medicaid-covered services also benefits parents who might otherwise be suspended from work. I bet employers will be happy too.

Opposition to this plan confuses me. I don’t understand the logic that treatment of sick children “should be done outside of school”. Heck, we’ve long relied on school nurses who are now in short supply to help. It is really strange that the Board of Education has such an idea.

Greensboro residents are grateful for the city workers who pick up the leaves. Vacuuming is easy if the leaves are always dry. However, when they get wet or trampled on, the body becomes more difficult and the staff go out of their way to rake and clean more than expected.

Our current municipal waste service collects recyclables every other week. In late fall, why not use the week off to let residents pack recyclable containers full of leaves? There is no need to buy extra containers, no cost to citizens with dozens of bags on the street, and no need for workers to carry excessive heavy loads.

Maybe we can fine-tune this and make it a win-win.