The Buncombe County school consolidation study is shaping up to be yet another example of wasted taxpayer dollars. 

This study, which could fundamentally reshape our education system, has been marked by a lack of accountability and transparency.

Despite months of work and significant public investment, consultants have failed to provide clear data or actionable recommendations. 

Public forums have offered little more than vague discussions and feel-good exercises, leaving community members without answers to key questions. 

How much will consolidation cost? Will it improve academic outcomes? And what are the long-term implications for taxpayers and families?

Taxpayers deserve a study that is thorough, transparent, and results-driven. Instead, we’re left with the impression that this process is more about checking a box than serving the public good.

It’s time for local leaders to demand accountability from consultants and ensure the community has access to the data and answers we need to make informed decisions. 

Our schools — and our tax dollars — deserve nothing less.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Fulton is the founder and president of the local First Tuesday Conservatives. 

Why does U.S. reject accusations of genocide committed by Israel?

The human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a nearly 300-page report concluding that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  

Israel and the United States have both rejected this accusation.

However, Amnesty International is not alone in reaching this determination. Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust and genocide researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has also concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide.

Goldberg asserts: 

“What is happening in Gaza is genocide because the level and pace of indiscriminate killing, destruction, mass expulsions, displacement, famine, executions, the wiping out of cultural and religious institutions... and the sweeping dehumanization of the Palestinians — create an overall picture of genocide, of a deliberate conscious crushing of Palestinian existence in Gaza.”

Yet perhaps the most compelling account of Israeli’s genocide in Gaza has been compiled by Israeli historian Lee Mordechai, an associate professor at Hebrew University.

Mordechai’s 124 page report, “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War,” is corroborated by a massive database, with over 1,400 footnotes linking to eyewitness testimonies, videos, photos, articles and investigative reports documenting atrocities by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

The chapters in the report include “The Massacre of Palestinians,” “Causing Deaths of Civilian Populations,” “Dehumanization” and “Ethnic Cleansing.”  

According to Mordechai, “The enormous amount of evidence I have seen...has been enough for me to believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States’ official memorial to the Holocaust, and it is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  

The museum teaches genocide prevention, and it emphasizes that heeding warning signs and taking early action can save lives.

Does our government fail to adhere to these principles when the perpetrator is a U.S. ally?