First Lady Kristin Cooper visits Belville Elementary as example of successful school

BELVILLE, NC (WWAY) — North Carolina’s First Lady was in Brunswick County today to get a firsthand look at successful schools.

Kristin Cooper toured classrooms and participated in lessons at Belville Elementary.

Mrs. Cooper says it is good to see kids are getting all the resources they need. She believes technological advancements, like smart boards in the classroom, will help schools and the state reach their ultimate goal.

“The ultimate goal is that everyone would graduate from high school at the very least and have a skill that they can take on either in a technical area or on to college so that we have our kids equipped for the twenty-first century,” Cooper said.

When it comes to school safety she said it scares her that we live in a world where kids need to do shooter drills.

“I find the fact that those kindergarteners have a drill where they’re herded into a closet, the lights are turned out, they’re told to be quiet because somebody might shoot them,” she said. “Just thinking of that happening on a regular basis to kids, i think really alarms me as a mother and what kind of affect that might be having on them.”

Cooper believes many things can be done to curb gun violence, like making it harder to get assault weapons, more screenings and not allowing people on no-fly lists to purchase weapons.

While at the school, she sat in on science and spelling lessons. She says the science lesson seemed really hard, but enjoyed spelling with the kindergarteners.