On Sunday we ran a story on Emerson Waldorf's sold-out showing of the documentary "Race to Nowhere" at the Varsity Theater ("Driven to excel, at what cost? CHN Feb 13). We asked you if you thought students today are under too much academic pressure. Here is an excerpt from a letter from reader Elliot Baron, which we plan to run in Sunday's Chapel Hill News, (Click the MORE button to read the whole letter.)

One of the greatest contributors to the pressure (CHN Feb. 13) which students find themselves under in the CHCCS system, is the result of the class cohort and its effect on suppressing Grade Point Averages. From elementary school upwards, district students significantly exceed national averages.

The district's mean score for high school seniors taking the SAT in 2010, placed it in the top 20 percent of all students nationally. That means that the average student at one of our high schools is performing like a straight A student from elsewhere. Unfortunately, when extraordinary performance is the average, it affects grading.

From correspondent Maria Magher

Neil Pedersen, superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, retires this spring after leading the district for 19 years. Each Sunday, The Chapel Hill News is asking school-community members what they want to see in a new superintendent. The school board is expected to announce a new superintendent April 14.

Here is a look at this Sunday's interview with Amanda Hartness, principal of McDougle Elementary. Remember, you can tell us what you think by sending a letter to editor@nando.com

What qualities do you think are most important to find in a new superintendent?

Hartness: Someone who will listen to administrators who know their schools. I always feel so supported by Dr. Pedersen. He listens to my advice about the direction of my school. I feel comfortable calling him with my concerns or questions.

Do you think the district would benefit more from an internal candidate for superintendent, or from someone from out of the area?

Hartness: I think it would be helpful to have someone outside of the district. Sometimes we are too close to see our greatest area of need. We often need a new set of eyes to help us see things in a different way.

What do you think will be the biggest priorities for the new superintendent in his or her first year?

Hartness: The budget, AYP issues. As the bar raises, we will have more schools that may fall into improvement status despite our high performance.

What were some of Dr. Pedersen’s greatest accomplishments in your opinion?

Hartness: The equity work in our district and high-performance schools.

Pedersen has identified several goals/priorities during his time as superintendent, such as reducing the achievement gap. How well do you think he has done in accomplishing these goals?

Hartness: I think the schools have improved tremendously. We still have some work to do, and he challenges us to do that work and supports us in our strategies to do so. I think the only thing I would like to see different would be the willingness to challenge the status quo in the district. We sometimes can't go too far out of the box because it is the way things have always been done. It is hard in a small district to shake things up too much and go too radical.  I understand that and respect that.  

From correspondent Maria Magher

School board members discussed the need to “balance” the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools as a whole last night, rather than to simply address overcrowding at Morris Grove and Glenwood elementary schools.

Morris Grove and Glenwood are both over capacity: Morris Grove has 642 students, 57 over capacity, and Glenwood has 460 students, 33 over capacity.

Staff presented three options:
- to address over enrollment at those two schools specifically
- to address over enrollment at those schools, as well as under enrollment at other schools in the district, including Frank Porter Graham Elementary
- to undertake a larger overall effort to balance the schools according to updated student data, including free and reduced lunch status.

Board member Mia Burroughs began the discussion by saying, “With some trepidation, I think we need to look at balancing our schools against our numbers of free and reduced lunches.”

Superintendent Neil Pedersen noted that much of the data is outdated – as much as 15 years old in some cases. A better way to balance schools would be to look at student achievement, rather than economic status, he said.

“You’re talking about fine tuning,” he said. “We are more balanced already than really any school district in the state.”

Pedersen said student achievement was a primary factor in the school system’s previous re-districting efforts.

Look for more on this story coming Sunday in The Chapel Hill News.

From correspondent Maria Magher

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board voted Thursday night to appoint former board member Jean Hamilton to fill the seat left vacant by Joe Green.

Green, who abruptly resigned his position on Sept. 17 to accept a job in Wisconsin, and Michelle Brownstein were elected to fill seat left vacant by Hamilton and Lisa Stuckey last November.  

Board member Jamezetta Bedford made the recommendation to appoint Hamilton, adding that she had spoken to Hamilton, who was “quite willing to serve.”

Originally, the board was scheduled to discuss only what process would be chosen to select a new board member: Either to appoint a former board member, or to invite applications from the public and conduct interviews. A proposed timeline for the latter option would have selected a candidate by Nov. 18.

Neither state law nor board policy specifies a process for filling the seat, thereby leaving it to the discretion of the board.

Several board members cited concerns over the “learning curve” required of a new board member and the demands of the upcoming search for a new superintendent.
 

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education is poised to vote Thursday whether to fill a vacant one-year board position with a former school board member or open it up to the public.

A spot on the seven-member board opened in September when Joe Green resigned to take a new job in Wisconsin. The opening coincides with the district’s search for a new superintendant, the first in 19 years.

Chairman Mike Kelley  said there are good reasons to consider tapping a former member to serve out Green’s term, though he said he had no particular person in mind.

“If we followed the old process, the new school member would not have experience in serving on the board. They would not be trained,” Kelley said. “It really takes a year to understand how everything works and all the processes.”

I took another step towards my goal of meeting with each member of Chapel Hill's Town Council, by sitting down with the passionate Laurin Easthom last week.

We chatted about issues from the last session of council, like the Chapel Hill Museum and also some of the whoppers that will be big again this fall. 

"I don't really know what to make of it...they're very frustrated," Easthom said of the museum's demise. Museum staff are scheduled to meet with Easthom, who has been their unofficial liason to the council, and the mayor at a public meeting on August 26.

County funding for the Chapel Hill Public Library is another issue of concern for Easthom, who publicly questioned the fairness of the "framework for discussion" drafted between town and county leaders last week.

"I felt like if I didn't say anything, then it would be accepted," she said. "We've never talked about this on council."

Funding the operating costs of the library has been a point of discussion but, "all this other stuff and mutual exchanges had me wondering what people were thinking," she said. "It would sure be nice for them [the county] if that was the framework."

Easthom has petitioned town staff for an equity model for funding the library based on Chapel Hill's free public transit system, but she said so far she's gotten little response.

Development is always on the docket for discussion on the council, but Easthom said before additional projects are considered, more information on the capacity of Chapel Hill/Carrboro schools should be gathered.

"We always hear about traffic and the environment, but what about schools?" she said. "Looking at the fact that they're behind in capacity to build schools, I don't want to overburden the school system, we need to be responsive."

Neil Pedersen ended the speculation tonight and announced his plan to retire as superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools next summer.

His last day is expected to be June 30, 2011, when his current contract expires.

“Although I am giving you a year’s notice I want to assure you I will be as focused as ever on meeting the goals that we mutually agreed upon for the upcoming year,” he told the school board.

Pedersen has served as superintendent since 1992, making him the longest serving superintendent in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district’s 101-year history.

His 18-year tenure makes him the second-longest serving superintendent currently serving in one district in North Carolina, according to a news release distributed at tonight's meeting.

Board Chairman Mike Kelley thanked Pedersen for his service.

“The school board and community are very grateful to Dr. Pedersen for his many years of dedicated service,” Kelley said. “There’s almost no component of our school system or even the Chapel Hill Carrboro community that he has not affected during his tenure.” 

Wayne County school officials have put the brakes on a cash for grades fundraising effort at a Goldsboro middle school.

The school district reacted to today's article by Lynn Bonner, in which she reported that a $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School would have gotten a student 20 test points — 10 extra points on two tests of the student's choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D.

Are any individual schools in Orange County following similar policies? Or any other sort of classroom incentives to reward fundraising?

E-mail me or post a comment.

As noted in today's Chapel Hill News, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools released their annual Opening of Schools Report last Thursday.

Highlights of the report include decreased enrollment, more Asian students than ever, bigger classrooms and fewer new hires. There's also information on budgets, test scores, facility maintenance and more.

To read the full report, click on the document linked to at the bottom of this post and download the PDF.

Documents:

I wrote a story in Sunday's N&O about the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board elections.

Greg McElveen, the only incumbent in today's race, called in and wanted to clarify some of his statements on the school budget cutbacks.