By David Forbes
(Mountain Xpress) A mandatory April 19 Asheville Middle School assembly that included religious content has school officials apologizing, and promising to be “a little more skeptical” in the future.
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CommentsWritten by Julie Ball
(Asheville Citizen-Times) After several days of interviews with parents, teachers and other school officials and visits to eight schools, a panel of educators is recommending reaccreditation for Buncombe County Schools.
The panel, which was headed by James Brown, retired deputy superintendent of schools in Tallahassee, Fla., reviewed some of its findings at a meeting Wednesday afternoon.
The group commended the system for its work to improve graduation rates and for professional development, but is requiring the school system implement additional strategies to boost academic performance of “underperforming subgroups.”
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Comments(Raleigh News observer) North Carolina’s public school teachers would see employment tenure eliminated, but become eligible for performance bonuses under an education reform package rolled out Monday by Senate Republicans.
The public school initiatives were unveiled by Senate leader Phil Berger, who said most of the ideas should draw broad support because they are designed to make students better equipped to graduate from high school and avoid costly remedial classes at universities and community colleges. The price tag for the package would require an additional $45 million in the fiscal year starting July 1.
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Comments“Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn’t stop you from doing anything at all.” -Feynman
Comments(Raleigh News & Observer) Gov. Bev Perdue extolled education at N.C. Central University on Wednesday and urged students, professors and administrators to “take a stand” for funding all levels of public schools. “Call your legislator today. … and demand it,” she said. In return, the governor heard NCCU leaders commit the university to efficiency and excellence despite dwindling state funding. “We’ve lost $50 million since 2007 through reversions and/or permanent reductions,” Chancellor Charles Nelms said. “Last year we took a 14 percent cut. … But we are taking positive steps to ensure the future of North Carolina Central University.” “Education is about economic opportunity for all of us,” said Perdue, who is not running for a second term as governor. Instead, she said, she is “preaching for education,” which has suffered in North Carolina “because of unnecessary budget cuts” in the legislature…
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CommentsWith the North Carolina lottery generating more than $79.4 million for education in Cumberland County since the first ticket was sold six years ago, you’d expect school officials to think they’ve hit the jackpot.
Not exactly.
When the General Assembly narrowly approved the controversial N.C. Education Lottery in 2005, it was promoted as good fortune for public schools. Money from the games would supplement school funding.
Instead, school officials say, lottery revenue has largely supplanted other state funding. And faced with billions of dollars in shortfalls, the General Assembly last year dipped into lottery funds to pay for other programs while also shrinking how much schools get for building classrooms. Cumberland County’s share of construction money has dropped to about $3.7 million, even though ticket sales here have skyrocketed 66 percent since 2007.
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Comments(Carolina Journal) Changes could be coming soon for voluntary supplemental retirement plans that are set up for teachers and employees of school boards across North Carolina.
Those supporting the changes say they would expand retirement plan options and reduce fees for teachers, while opponents say they would limit teachers’ choices by squeezing out smaller companies that offer options across the state.
The state treasurer’s office is in the process of setting up a centralized supplemental retirement plan for employees of local school boards across the state. The retirement plan is called a “403(b)” plan, which is used by employees of nonprofits and government entities.
Contributions are made pre-tax, and the plans operates much like the 401(k) plans used in the private sector. In the program, teachers contribute their own money in investment options. It is an optional retirement plan and is in addition to the state pension plan for teachers. As many as 35,000 teachers currently participate in 403(b)s, the treasurer’s office estimates.
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Comments(Asheville Citizen-Times) The city school system will get $2 million to plan replacements for Asheville Middle School and Isaac Dickson Elementary School, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday.
Commissioners approved a resolution that will allow money the county gets from state government to go to pay architects and other planners to decide how best to replace the schools.
That process will probably take 12-18 months, County Manager Wanda Greene said.
“At the end of this, we’ll know exactly what we need,” she said.
Most likely, one new school will be built, then another, Greene said.
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Comments(CBSNewYork) — Schools in Nassau County have joined together to try and flush away a new fee they say will literally drain their budgets.Every flush in every school could soon cost taxpayers, thanks to a new sewer use fee. However, school districts are fighting back against what they’ve dubbed a “toilet tax,” reports CBS 2’s Carolyn Gusoff.
“It is absurd,” East Williston School Board President Mark Kamberg said Tuesday.
Especially, critics said, at Wheatley School, which doesn’t even have sewers.
“We have septic tanks and the water seeps into the ground,” Kamberg said.
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Comments(Carolina Journal) Critics and supporters of child nutrition rules requiring pre-kindergarten and child care workers to supplement food lunchboxes brought from home gave a state agency an earful on Tuesday.
“We do not need food police looking at the food that children eat,” Susan Robbins of Wendell told the N.C. Child Care Commission. “We cannot afford the government to police the food that children are eating when it is sent by their parents.”
Annette Newkirk with the N.C. Child Care Coalition disagreed, saying that the rules were good and that licensed child care programs should meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. The coalition is an advocacy organization for child care services in the state.
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Comments(Raleigh News Observer) The Durham County Board of Commissioners has asked the State Board of Education to hold off on new charter schools until legislation requires them to provide meals and transportation for underprivileged students.
Chairman Michael Page and fellow Commissioners Brenda Howerton, Pam Karriker and Ellen Reckhow signed a resolution to the State Board of Education, which is scheduled to vote Thursday on nine fast-track charter applications, including a proposed high school in Research Triangle Park.
Commissioner Joe Bowser dissented, saying it was unwise to criticize what has been in some cases a successful alternative to struggling public schools.
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Comments(Carolina Journal) Even though government officials admit mistakes were made in the way a Hoke County preschool program handled lunches students brought from home, they continue to enforce the regulations that caused a nationwide uproar.
A story initially broken by Carolina Journal Feb. 14 lit up talk radio, the blogosphere and cable news shows. It led two members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation to demand explanation from federal regulators. A state legislator may convene a hearing in the General Assembly on the nutrition policies.
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Comments(The Tennessean) Republicans agreed to scale back a bill that deals with teaching about homosexuality amid concerns about the curbs it would place on discussions between students and teachers, guidance counselors and other school personnel.
An amendment in the works Tuesday to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill would still discourage formal instruction about homosexuality before ninth grade. But it would leave it to school districts to write sex education policies and ensure they are age-appropriate. It also would allow teachers to answer questions raised by students about gays and lesbians and permit school officials to counsel children about issues surrounding sexuality.
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Comments(Carolina Journal) Three days after a Carolina Journal report on the plight of a 4-year-old preschooler and her lunch made national headlines, the identity of the person who determined that the youngster’s homemade lunch was not nutritious remains unknown.
Of the several government agencies who have been named in the controversy — the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Hoke County schools, and the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — none will admit that it was responsible for employing or contracting with the person who was inspecting preschoolers’ lunches at West Hoke Elementary School in late January.
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Comments(Winston Salem Journal) A Winston-Salem man wore a graduation gown and a mask Wednesday.
Speaking in front of about 50 people during a meeting sponsored by the Latino Club at Winston-Salem State University, he said his parents brought him to the United States when he was 8. He attended elementary, middle and high school in Forsyth County, but college is out of reach because he must pay out-of-state tuition as an immigrant who is not authorized to be in the U.S.
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