Lots of letters coming in on President Obama's winning the Nobel
Peace Prize. Here's a selection. Some of these could see print over the
next week.

With the school board election tomorrow, we got quite a few more
letters than we could print beforehand, mostly from system supporters:

Here are a dozen more letters on the issues in the Wake County
school board race, including one about a Garner group's endorsement of
Cathy Truitt and one about Truitt's spat with school board member Ron
Margiotta over whether she was "vetted" by him.

Find more letters on tomorrow's Other Opinion page and in Sunday Forum on Sunday. Also find some opinion pieces on the main Opinion Shop blog page.

One of the longstanding core values of our community is that there are no "bad" schools in Wake County. The school a student attends should not define if she is rich or poor. Can our community have any goal other than every school being an attractive place to teach and learn? That core value is under attack. The so called "community school" means that “you” can’t come into “my” community.

It is time to pull back the curtain. The opposite of diverse schools is unequal schools. Inequality creates isolation and barriers to success.

Diversity alone does not make schools strong. Teachers and principals make schools strong; however, teachers know that there are more challenges and less parental involvement in high poverty schools — proximity to a school does not overcome those challenges.

If education is, as we believe, one of the most compelling obligations of a democracy, then how can candidates for a board of education be opposed to the best opportunity for all students? There are candidates who expect you to believe that creating high poverty schools will improve student achievement. Wrong. There is a vast amount of data from across our country showing that high poverty schools are costly — in financial and human terms.

As former members of the Board of Education, we urge voters to see through the false rhetoric. We commend The N & O’s endorsement of Lois Nixon, Rita Rakestraw, Karen Simon, and Horace Tart.

We strongly agree that there are continued improvements to be made in Wake County. We look to these fresh faces to make the Wake County schools better. But we trust that the changes will be positive and that those elected to the Board of Education will be advocates for all students, not only their neighbors!

Roxie Cash

Beverley Clark

John Gilbert

Rosa Gill

Judy Hoffman

Casper and Mary Holroyd

Linda Johnson

Charlotte Martin

Tom Oxholm

Carol Parker

Susan Parry

Kathryn Watson Quigg

Jean Schilawski

Wray Stephens

Roy Tilley

Jeff York

One doctor's call for a conscience check when it comes to health-care reform:

Here are a few letters about Jim Jenkins' column Sept. 17 on why so many Americans appear to hate Obama. Find others in The People's Forum on tomorrow's editorial page. If you missed the front-page story today about civility, read it here.

Ten more letters on health-care reform.

We got lots of letters taking issue with Jessica Custer's Point of View from Aug. 29 on the Defense of Marriage amendment. Find more on Saturday's Other Opinion page.

Nearly 20 more letters on health-care reform:

Got several letters in defense of having dogs at establishments with
outdoor dining. Haven't heard from anybody defending officialdom. We'll
be printing other letters this week. Read the Aug. 21 story here and
our Aug. 22 editorial here.