Not all the "bullying" incidents were, the outgoing superintendent says on his last day.
Phillips Middle School responded to most of the incidents appropriately but failed to record all the incidents properly and notify parents and staff thoroughly in some cases.
Read the full statement below.
Thomas A. Forcella, the superintendent of the Guilford, Connecticut, Public Schools has been named the new superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
He succeeds Neil Pedersen, who retires at the end of the school year after 19 years, the longest tenure of any current superintendent in North Carolina.
The school board voted unanimously at a special meeting tonight in Smith Middle School.
The town of Guilford is a suburb of New Haven and is home to a large number of professors and professionals from nearby Yale University and Hospital, according to a district news release.
Forcella began his career as a special education teacher and has served as a principal and a superintendent of high-performing districts in Maine and Connecticut. Test scores under his leadership have risen despite reductions in district funding and an increase in poorer students, according to the release. In 2009 Guilford High School was cited by the state as having the second highest improvement in test scores among hundreds of high schools in the state.
Forcella also has collaborated with universities and fostered partnerships that improved students' test scores. As superintendent of the Cape Elizabeth, Maine, school district he and his school board was named one the three most outstanding school board/superintendent teams in New England.
Look for more on tonight's appointment in Friday's News & Observer and Sunday's Chapel Hill News.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools will announce its new superintendent at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Smith Middle School.
"That's about all I know," schools spokeswoman Stephanie Knott said just a minute ago.
Superintendent Neil Pedersen. who is retiring at the end of the school year, has led the district for 19 years. He is the longest currently serving superintendent in the state.
Before becoming superintendent in 1992, Pedersen served as the district's assistant superintendent for Support Services. In 2001, he was named Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina Association of School Administrators. He was one of four finalists for the 2001 National Superintendent of the Year.
A gala to honor Pedersen benefiting the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program and the Public School Foundation Achievers Fund will be held this Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Carolina Club on the UNC campus. You can order tickets here.
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.
The senior leadership team of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools will not be receiving bonuses this year.
But they wanted it that way.
At the annual superintendent's evaluation last Thursday, superintendent Neil Pedersen, assistant superintendent for instructional services Denise Bowling, assistant superintendent for support services Todd LoFrese and chief technology officer Ray Reitz, petitioned the school board to forgo their annual bonuses in light of the economic downturn.
Four Advanced Placement course have been added to the Carrboro High School curriculum after parents complained the new school was being shortchanged.
AP biology, AP chemistry, AP French and AP Latin all will be offered next year, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen said Thursday.
The classes will have lower enrollments than their counterparts at Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools. AP Latin, for example, only has six Carrboro High students signed up, Pedersen said.
“These are stretch in terms of numbers, but we do recognize the school has to go through sort of a transition period,” Pedersen said of the school now entering its second year.
Jenny Kopczynski, the parent of a rising Carrboro High sophomore, was pleased. Her son now will get to take AP chemistry.
“I think the school board and Dr. Pedersen have a difficult challenge,” she said.
“The definition of educational equity does not mean the course selection is identical. But it needs to be roughly similar across the board.”
William Ilgen, the grandparent of a rising Carrboro High junior, still is unsatisfied. His grandson wants to take AP physics, so the additional courses won’t help him.
Ilgen said parents were told that Carrboro High students would be given the same opportunities as students at the other two high schools.
School administrators didn’t say “that the consequences of having a smaller school are going to be that is that students at upper levels are not going to be able to count on courses that they absolutely need for college," Ilgen said.
