Friday Report – September 21, 2018

The Friday Report

September 21, 2018

This Week on Education Matters: Is NC Providing Access to Quality Public Education?

Note: This weekend we will air an encore of last week’s new episode that was preempted due to Hurricane Florence coverage on WRAL-TV, as well as unavailable in many markets due to power/cable outages.

In 1997, the NC Supreme Court held unanimously in the landmark Leandro case that North Carolina public school students are entitled under the state constitution to the “opportunity to receive a sound basic education” and therefore the state’s responsibility to provide it. In November 2017, more than 20 years after the initial ruling, Governor Roy Cooper formed the Governor’s Commission on Access to Sound Basic Education in the latest and perhaps most ambitious effort to date to ensure that the state meets its constitutional obligation when it comes to public education. 

Guests:

• Brad Wilson, Chair, Governor’s Commission on Access to Sound Basic Education (pictured above right)
• Melody Chalmers, Principal, E.E. Smith High School, Fayetteville (pictured above left) 
• Melanie Dubis, Partner, Parker Poe (pictured below, right)
• Debra Dowless, Assistant Superintendent, Hoke County Schools (pictured below, left)

When and Where to Watch Education Matters

Saturday at 7:30 PM, WRAL-TV (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)

Sunday at 8:00 AM, FOX 50 (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)

Sunday at 6:30 AM and Wednesday at 9:30 AM, UNC-TV’s North Carolina Channel (Statewide)

The North Carolina Channel can be found on Time Warner Cable/Spectrum Channel 1276 or check your local listings and other providers here.

Online at https://www.ncforum.org/.

Education Matters is also available as a podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Overcast, and Google Play Music.

State News

After Florence, NC Leaders Want to Limit School Makeup Days

White Oak High School in Jacksonville, North Carolina, was battered by rain and wind from Hurricane Florence. Photo Credit: White Oak High School.

Some North Carolina school districts remain closed after Hurricane Florence, leaving the prospect of makeup days looming.

State law requires schools to be in session for 185 days or 1,025 hours of instruction per year. But some state leaders want to ease statewide attendance requirements for counties affected by the storm.

N.C. Schools Superintendent Mark Johnson and House Speaker Tim Moore this week said they hope to exempt school districts hit hard by Hurricane Florence from the state’s calendar requirements. That would mean schools likely to be closed for weeks wouldn’t have to schedule as many makeup days, which sometimes extend the school year into mid-June and on Saturdays.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Specht, P. and Campbell, C. “After Florence, NC leaders want to limit school makeup days.” The News & Observer. 9/19/18.

Florence Is Gone, But Her Impact Is Still Being Assessed

New Bern was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Florence. Photo Credit: Liz Bell, EducationNC.

Hurricane Florence came and went over the weekend, but the consequences of her visit will continue to affect North Carolina schools for a long time to come. 

…

Keith Poston, president and executive director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, said his organization has sent out a document to districts it works with as part of its Resilience and Learning Project explaining how schools can support families and reduce student trauma.

He said in some cases, areas hard hit by past hurricanes, like Hurricane Matthew, seem to be faring better this time around, while in other areas it’s hard to tell just how bad the damage is until flood waters recede.

Poston said he had been especially concerned for Edgecombe County. The county was particularly hard hit by Matthew, with the storm forcing the district to abandon Princeville Elementary, which is still empty two years later. The district does plan to rebuild and reopen the school, however.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Granados, A. “Florence is gone, but her impact is still being assessed.” EducationNC. 9/19/18.

CMS in the Balance: Two Charlotte Suburbs Move Toward Building Their Own Schools

The Huntersville Board of Commissioners unanimously approved creating a task force to study education options, including forming town charter schools, working with CMS and pursuing a split into smaller school districts. Photo Credit: Ann Doss Helms, The Charlotte Observer. 

Three area leaders spoke out on a possible state takeover of Fairview Elementary school at Thursday’s Guilford County Board of Education meeting.

Guilford County Association of Educators president Todd Warren and Southside Neighborhood Association president Tony Collins both called for Fairview to stay part of Guilford County Schools. Warren said his organization plans to start a petition to show community support for keeping Fairview part of the district.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Pounds, J. “Possible state takeover of Fairview Elementary draws comments at school board meeting .” News & Record. 9/13/18.

Raleigh Woman Makes Time Magazine Cover About Financial Challenges of Being a Teacher

NaShonda Cooke, a teacher at Carroll Middle School in Raleigh, was featured on the cover of the Sept. 24, 2018, issue of TIME Magazine. Photo Credit: TIME.

Raleigh teacher NaShonda Cooke has become one of the national faces for what it’s like to be a teacher in America by appearing on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine.

Cooke is on one of three different covers for the Sept. 24 issue of Time that shares the stories of 13 U.S. teachers talking about how hard it is to make a living. Cooke, 43, a teacher at Carroll Middle School in Raleigh, shares about how despite having 20 years of experience she skips doctor’s appointments to save on the co-pay and can’t afford to fix her car or save for her children’s future.

“My co-workers are just grateful that I’m speaking out in terms of teachers having a tough time financially,” Cooke said in an interview Wednesday. “Most of us still have a hard time taking care of our families.”

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Hui, K. “Raleigh woman makes Time magazine cover about financial challenges of being a teacher.” The News & Observer. 9/19/18.

NC Department of Public Instruction Announces Leadership Changes

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Photo Credit: Kelly Hinchcliffe, WRAL.

State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced Monday the appointments of LaTeesa Allen as new superintendent of the Innovative School District (ISD) and Christie Lynch Ebert as the new director for DPI’s Standards, Curriculum and Instruction division. Both positions will report to Eric Hall, who was recently named deputy state superintendent of innovation.

“Both LaTeesa and Christie bring a wealth of relevant expertise and experience to DPI’s leadership team,” said Johnson. “LaTeesa’s experience working with education systems and partners in other states will offer valuable perspectives in how we approach accelerating student growth and achievement in low-performing schools. Just as important is Christie’s 18-plus years of experience working for DPI and her success collaborating with strategic partners in the areas of educational standards, policy development, implementation, and school support. I look forward to working with them to help address the needs of all students,” he added.

To continue reading the complete press release, click here.

Excerpt from:

“NC Dept. of Public Instruction Announces Leadership Changes.” North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. 9/17/18.

Robeson County School System Again Without Central Office

 The old BB&T building, the temporary home of the Public Schools of Robeson County, flooded, putting the system without a central office for the second time since October 2016.

For the second time since October 2016, the Public Schools of Robeson County finds itself without a permanent central office.

Hurricane Florence, as it did much of the county, swamped the system’s temporary headquarters at the old BB&T call center on Kahn Drive in Lumberton. About 80 employees were working at the office.

Hurricane Matthew destroyed the system’s longtime central office on Oct. 8, 2016, sending staff to the Angel Exchange building at COMtech on a temporary basis. Earlier this year, the county Board of Commissioners, led by Chairman Raymond Cummings, attempted to buy the Angel Exchange building as a permanent location for the system.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Douglas, D. “School system again without central office.” The Robesonian. 9/17/18.

National News

This Picture Signaled an End to Segregation. Why Has So Little Changed?

 Dorothy Counts, 15, attempts to become the first black student to attend Harding high school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Edwin Tompkins, a family friend, escorts her. Photo Credit: Douglas Martin, AP.

One afternoon in early June, graduation week in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dorothy Counts-Scoggins answers the landline phone and waits for an update on the white people who want to flee the local school system she was the first to integrate.

“What happened?” she asks me, her voice low, as if she already knows the answer.

Counts-Scoggins is 76 and lives in the west Charlotte neighborhood where she grew up. The black and white photo that reshaped schools in the south adorns her wall. In the frame, it is 1957. She’s 15 and walking toward a previously all-white high school, her chin up and shoulders back, flanked by hunched-over white kids following her menacingly, their spittle soaked into the fabric of her checkered dress.

The next morning, she was on the front page of the New York Times under the headline Soldiers and Jeering Whites Greet Negro Students. James Baldwin saw the image and said it compelled him to return to the United States from France to write about civil rights in the south.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Graff, M. “This picture signaled an end to segregation. Why has so little changed?” The Guardian. 9/17/18.

Childhood Trauma And Its Lifelong Health Effects More Prevalent Among Minorities

Nearly 62 percent of respondents had at least one ACE and a quarter reported three or more. The remaining respondents had at least two ACEs, including 16 percent with four or more such experiences. Photo Credit: Elva Etienne, Getty Images.

When researchers first discovered a link in the late 1990s between childhood adversity and chronic health problems later in life, the real revelation was how common those experiences were across all socioeconomic groups.

But the first major study to focus on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was limited to a single healthcare system in San Diego. A study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics — the largest nationally representative study to date on ACEs — confirms that these experiences are universal, yet highlights some disparities among socioeconomic groups. People with low-income and educational attainment, people of color and people who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual had significantly higher chance of having experienced adversity in childhood.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Haelle, T. “Childhood Trauma And Its Lifelong Health Effects More Prevalent Among Minorities.” NPR. 9/17/18.

Superintendents Confront Grueling Job of Re-Opening Schools in Florence’s Path

Members of the U.S. Geological Survey set up gauges to measure flood water from Little River in Spring Lake, N.C. Photo Credit: Andrew Craft, The Fayetteville Observer via AP.

When the heavy rains from Tropical Storm Florence finally let up, the operations crew from the New Hanover County district in North Carolina found flooded classrooms, leaking roofs, downed trees, blown-out light bulbs on athletic fields, a massive sink hole in front of a high school with a toppled tree blocking the driveway, and no electricity in most schools.

But with many roadways and the city of Wilmington nearly cut off from the outside world, the district’s staff could only get to about 60 percent of the buildings, some of which were severely damaged during the days-long assault from the storm. The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane late last week near Wrightsville Beach, N.C., and spent the weekend hovering over the Carolinas and dumping up to 30 inches of rain in some areas.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Superville, D. “Superintendents Confront Grueling Job of Re-Opening Schools in Florence’s Path.” Education Week. 9/18/18.

Opportunities

Upcoming Professional Development at NCCAT 

North Carolina educators have plenty of opportunities throughout the fall to attend the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT), a recognized national leader in professional development programming for teachers. Applicants are encouraged to register as soon as possible to ensure a spot. Programs are available to North Carolina educators at the Cullowhee and Ocracoke campuses, online and with NCCAT faculty visiting school districts. NCCAT provides food, lodging and programming. Teachers and or their districts are responsible for travel to and from the center and the cost of the substitute teacher.

For a complete list of upcoming NCCAT programs, click here.

For more information on how to apply for NCCAT programs, click here.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards for Science and Mathematics Teachers

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Science and Math Teachers (CASMT) application is now available online. The Career Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers is a five-year award available to outstanding science and/or mathematics teachers in the North Carolina public primary and secondary schools. The purpose of this award is to recognize teachers who have demonstrated solid knowledge of science and/or mathematics content and have outstanding performance records in educating children.

Due to the impact of Hurricane Florence on North Carolina’s public school systems across the state, the CASMT application submission deadline has been extended to October 1st, 2018. We will continue to monitor recovery efforts and provide updates based on the status of school system closings. 

For more information or to access the application, visit 

https://www.bwfund.org/grant-programs/science-education/career-awards-science-and-mathematics-teachers.

Women in Educational Leadership Symposium

Registration is open for the third annual Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS). The purpose of WIELS is to bring women together to share, learn, and grow in leadership. This conference aims to provide personalized learning and mentoring opportunities for those who aspire to become or currently serve as educational leaders.

The symposium will be held October 5 through October 6, 2018 at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. This year’s conference theme is Advancing the Leader Within: Building Capacity.

Registration for the conference is online at https://wiels.appstate.edu/about-us/registration. Additional information can be found at https://wiels.appstate.edu/.

The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.

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