Opinion: I Have Lived in Clayton for Seven Years. Things Have Changed.

by Jordan Corts

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My name is Jordan Corts, and I have lived in Clayton NC for seven years now. and things have changed.

Where once was a mere development and a few buildings now houses two apartment buildings, two supermarkets, numerous restaurants (including a McDonalds) and much more.

While at first this may sound like a good thing, in reality it’s quite far from that. Ever since these new buildings have been built traffic has dramatically increased, but why is this all happening?

It’s estimated that Clayton is growing nearly twice as fast as the rest of the state and that number has only been steadily increasing. While all these things seem mino,r they are actually having a much stronger effect than one might assume at first glance, due to all of the people moving into the area more people have been going to the schools.

No Problem right?

Wrong.

Each and every one of these schools are overloaded, with very minimal extensions made to accommodate the new students. Things have begun to look dire: so, how do we fix this?

I propose that the “urban sprawl” of sorts is spread out, as it is currently very cramped in certain spaces and very open in others.

That being said, I certainly think it’s essential to build more schools. Children need to be able to build a personal connection with their teachers, which would be seemingly impossible the current student to teacher ratio.

While I’m certainly no expert, living in such an area has shown me how fast things can change, and I am positive that if nothing happens many of the people like me will begin to suffer.

Opinion articles do not necessary reflect the stances of The Knight's Post or Greenfield School.