I am a 76 year old retired US Foreign Service Officer (Department of State). For the past several weeks I have joined three or four other men volunteering to help a male third grade teacher at Black Mountain Primary School teach chess to about 30 boys and girls.The teacher has done the same at another school. We begin after school each Monday at 2:40 p.m. and stay till about 3:30. I am told that the school has seven third grades and the children learning to play chess come from all seven classrooms. My first impressions of the school were very favorable and remain so. All the school children whom I have observed are very well behaved, notably un-noisy, as they march in lines to leave school. The interior of the one-storey building appears to be octogonal and is in itself a lesson in geography. The library is large and without walls. The cafeteria also is large and immaculately clean. The overall impression is: this school is spacious, uncramped, brightly lighted, friendly. I have seen children at the end of our chess sessions escorted by our third grade teacher sponsor to the back parking lot to be picked up by parents. If after ten minutes teachers do not appear, back he brings the boys and girls to a central area to wait for their parent(s). The children's safety is clearly a priority. The principal is much in evidence and seems a benevolent presence. The youngsters themselves learning the elements of chess are a joy to teach. They are eager, bright, full of questions. Bottom line: my eight grandchildren live either in South Carolina or Dallas. The former six are home-schooled, the latter attend a Catholic parochial school. My earlier similar adult experience with American public schools was in Detroit -- a war zone. I would feel my grandchildren safe and in good, caring hands if they attended Black Mountain Primary School. -OOO- T. Patrick Killough 10/25/2011 read more