Candidates running for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education Answered questions for an article published in the Chapel Hill News.  Here are their full answers to those and other questions.

James Barrett

1.  What do you propose the school district do to close the achievement gap?

For far too long, we have said this is a priority without actually making changes that could close our gaps. There is no single effort that will magically close them, but one thing we can and should do is have a full-time “gap czar” in the administration who would push for the changes needed to make substantial progress and be held accountable if we don’t. If this truly is our priority, we need accountability and clear resources applied in Lincoln Center.  This person will be able to research and share ideas that work in our schools to close the gap.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education candidates wrapped up their last forum Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Six of the seven candidates attended the forum hosted by the Hogan Farms Precinct of Orange County Democratic Party at the Lake Hogan Farms Club House in Chapel Hill. 

James Barrett, Jamezetta Bedford, Mia Burroughs, Kris Castellano, Mike Kelley and Annetta Streater attended.  Raymond Conrad was unable to attend because he was out of town.

During the forum candidates were asked about the pressure put on students, budget cuts, solutions for narrowing the achievement gap and about the proposed sales tax.

The candidates have similar views on the issues the district will have to deal with in the coming years.

Additional budget cuts are a real possibility and will most likely be felt in the classroom, narrowing the achievement gap is going to take more time and effort from teachers and the sales tax is needed to make repairs on old school facilities.

The school board in Chapel Hill and Carrboro is unique because we all have a similar vision, said James Barrett.

With the candidates united on many of the issues, this election is going to come down to who voters think will do the best job.

"(Voters will have to) decide who will be the most effective," Barrett said.

Five candidates will be elected on Nov. 8. The candidate with the least amount of votes will be awarded a two-year term while the rest will receive four-year terms.

Look for more details on the CHCCS Board of Education Candidates in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.

Jamezetta Bedford, current chairwoman of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, thought she would be runnning unopposed for a two-year term in November.

However, a 1975 state law discovered by Gerry Cohen, a staff attorney for the N.C. General Assembly (NOTE: corrected from earlier version of this blog post), says Bedford must compete with the other seven candidates for the seat.

"If at any election for members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Board of Education vacancies have occurred and there are both regular four-year terms and two-year unexpired terms to be filled by election, the candidates elected with the greatest numbers of votes shall be elected for regular four-year terms, and the candidates elected with the lowest numbers of votes shall be elected to fill the remained of the unexpired terms," the law states.

"I think my initial words to Tracy (Reams, director of the Orange County Board of Elections) were a mild “what a big screw-up.  I haven’t even bought signs,'" Bedford said in an e-mail today.

According to Reams, only about 20 absentee ballots were sent out showing Bedford unopposed. The people that received those ballots have been notified and revised ballots will be sent out, Reams said.

In November, five of the eight candidates will be elected and the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be appointed to finish out the remaining two years of former board member Joe Green's term.

"We had specifically asked (Reams) about this prior to the filing period," Bedford said. "Oh well.  I am passionate about education issues and would gladly serve another four years."

From correspondent Maria Magher

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board decided Thursday night not to consider a new “pay to participate” policy for sports programs in the schools during deliberations about a potential $7.8 million in cuts expected from the state.

“I think we’re already asking parents to pay enough,” board member Greg McElveen said, noting that students must pay for shoes, uniforms, and other accessories when they sign up to play team sports at the schools.

Administrators estimated that students would have paid $50 to $100 to participate, depending on the sport and the school, as some schools receive more support from their booster clubs. The policy could have generated about $200,000 per year to support athletics, which is facing a $100,000 reduction.

Board Chairwoman Jamezetta Bedford said the board should look at ways to cut other expenses in the athletics program, such as looking at the number of coaches.

The discussion about athletics was part of a larger discussion about the budget, which administrators now expect will see $7.8 million in cuts. The state budget has not been finalized, but Superintendent Neil Pedersen said he doesn’t expect that the final picture will be much different.

We'll have a fuller version of this story coming in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.