wakeed

Wake County releases more details on Tuesday's events with superintendent finalists

KeungHui — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:57:52 -0400

We've got some more details about what will happen Tuesday with the events being held for the Wake County superintendent finalists.

The district will not be charged for renting Memorial Auditorium for Tuesday night's community forum, according to Renee McCoy, a Wake schools' spokeswoman. McCoy said Wake is grateful for Memorial Auditorium's generosity in allowing them to be able to hold the forum at such a large venue.

"It provides a much larger venue for more citizens to participate," said McCoy, who will be the moderator at the forum.

Tickets will not be issued. Just show up and find a seat. Once you're in, you'll be able to submit questions in writing.

McCoy said she will be assisted by other school district staff in selecting questions to ask the finalists that represent a broad range of topics.

All three finalists will be on the stage at the same time to answer the questions.

McCoy said they've been trying to work with groups about airing the forum for people who can't attend. But she said that the district won't be streaming the forum online, like was done for the State of the Schools event, because of the cost.

Earlier in the day, the finalists will individually visit different schools. The initial list of schools includes Farmington Woods Elementary School in Cary, Middle Creek High School in Cary and Millbrook High School in Raleigh.

McCoy said more schools wlll be added. She said they're trying to work the visits around the end-of-year testing going on in schools.

After the morning school visits, the finalists will head back to the district's headquarters in Cary to meet with school employees, including the leadership team.

After some downtime, they'll be at Memorial Auditorium at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East South St., Raleigh, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for the forum.

Looking at Wake County superintendent finalist Ann Clark

KeungHui — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

Let's take a look now at Ann Clark, one of the three finalists for Wake County schools superintendent.

Clark is the deputy superintendent for the Charlotte-Mekcklenburg school system. Although she's the only finalist who doesn't have superintendent experience, she is the no. 2 person in the 141,000-student district that's comparable to Wake in size.

"She has a lot of experience even though she’s never been a superintendent," said Wake school board chairman Keith Sutton.

One of the things that Wake school board members say caught their eye is that Clark said she started out as a school bus driver.

“We have someone who has a unique story. She started as a bus driver and rose through the ranks," Sutton said.

Click here for Clark's bio.

Clark started out her career in 1973 as as an elementary school teacher in Virginia Beach, where James Merrill, one of the other finalists, is superintendent.

But Clark's career has been noted for her time in Charlotte, where she started in 1983 as a special-education teacher.

“I know that all children can learn,” Clark says in the bio. “Teaching every child effectively is the responsibility and the privilege of public education.”

Clark rose through the ranks and in 1994 was named MetLife/NASSP National Principal of the Year. She was a principal at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Clark was promoted to central office, with stints as assistant superintendent for high school curriculum and instruction, regional superintendent for high schools and associate superintendent of education services.

By 2012, Clark was Charlotte-Mecklenburg's chief academic officer and one of the three finalists for superintendent.

An April 9, 2012 Charlotte Observer article notes how Clark had spent much of the past two years selling business and foundation leaders on a push to help CMS transform schools. Leaders of Project L.I.F.T., a quest to raise $55 million for nine West Charlotte Corridor schools, said in the article that Clark has no problem building bonds outside the educational hierarchy.

Clark worked to get Project L.I.F.T. up and running.

The article also said that Clark "has invested her life and career in CMS," is "respected by many in the CMS workforce, including some eager to see a superintendent who understands this community and its classrooms" and "wins praise for her intellect, her loyalty and her enthusiasm for new ideas."

The article also noted that she had ruffled feathers.

"One of her passions is identifying talent and preparing people to lead schools," according to the article. "This year, CMS has seen a wave of retirements, resignations and job changes among principals, and some have grumbled that Clark has contributed to pushing out veterans."

The Charlotte Mecklenburg school ultimately hired Heath Morrison, superintendent of the Washoe County schools in Nevada.

Morrison named Clark to the position of deputy superintendent, where she kept her old duties as lead administrator in academics while taking on oversight of human resources, testing and data.

Morrison and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board members praised Clark, saying she'd make a good superintendent for Wake.

"We're excited for Ann," Morrison said. "It's certainly mixed feelings. She'd be a loss, but as leader of Wake she would be a strong partner in working with the state. Wake and CMS combined have about 20 percent of the state's public school students."

Morrison added that he knows all three Wake finalists and that "Wake's going to get a good superintendent."

Ericka Ellis-Stewart, who chaired the CMS board during last year's superintendent hiring, said Clark's lack of experience as a superintendent didn't count against her because Clark had proven herself in so many areas working with CMS.

"I know that she would be a great candidate" for Wake, she said. "She's a solid educator with a strong background. I think she would have a lot to offer."

Ellis-Stewart also said she was not surprised that Clark applied, given her clear interest in being a superintendent.

CMS board member Eric Davis said he was "not at all" surprised when Clark's name came up as a Wake finalist. She has made her aspirations to lead a district clear, he said, and her experience in one of the state's two largest districts makes her a good match.

Davis said he does not think Clark lacks experience to lead a district. He noted that CMS, like Wake, is far larger than most school districts in North Carolina. Clark has more leadership experience than most superintendents, he said: "I'd say she has terrific superintendent experience."

"You will not find another person more committed with her heart, soul and mind to improving the education of students in North Carolina," Davis said. "You will find none better."

Davis said losing Clark would be a blow to CMS, but "there's a lot of students in North Carolina that deserve to have Ann Clark as superintendent."

(Thanks to Ann Doss Helms of the Charlotte Observer for the CMS interviews.)

Sutton said that while Clark hasn't been a superintendent, she has overseen an $850 million budget, worked in a wide range of areas in Charlotte, worked on the district’s school bond construction programs and has been one of the district’s spokeswomen.

Tim Simmons, vice president of the Wake Education Partnership, also said that Clark has an advantage over the other finalists in that she's currently working in a district which is close to Wake's size.

While Merrill worked in Wake 13 years and tens of thousand of students ago, he's now leading a 70,000-student district.

Dana Bedden leads a 35,000 student district in Texas.

One part of Clark's resume that could either draw a praise or criticism is that she graduated from the Broad Superintendents Academy in 2010. Critics of former Superintendent Tony Tata remember that he too graduated from Broad.

Clark was part of the team that worked to win the Broad prize in 2011 for Charlotte.

Sutton acknowledged that some board members considered Clark's ties to Broad a positive and others considered it to be a negative. But what he said was ultimately most important was that Clark was a career educator.

While Broad trains non-educators such as Tata, it also attracts career educators too.

Sutton said Clark was asked about why she attended Broad. Her response was that she considered it to be a professional development piece for her.

Wake County holding forum for superintendent finalists Tuesday at Memorial Auditorium

KeungHui — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:04:16 -0400

Wake County school leaders have announced the date, time and location for the public to meet the three finalists for schools superintendent.

The forum will take place Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East South Street, Raleigh. The forum is part of a two-day series of events for the three people vying to replace Tony Tata as Wake’s permanent superintendent.

The word is that you'll have to submit your questions in writing. A moderator will determine which ones to ask.

The school board will hold private, final interviews with the candidates on Wednesday. The board will then meet behind closed doors to attempt to agree that day on which person they will enter into contract negotiations with for the position.

School board chairman Keith Sutton said he hopes to hold the official vote hiring the new superintendent on June 4. He said he expects the new superintendent will start in August.

UPDATE/CORRECTION

The school system sent out a press release this morning correcting the time the forum will run from Tuesday. It will go from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

What would you ask the Wake County superintendent finalists?

KeungHui — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:33:40 -0400

If you had a chance to ask a question to the three finalists for Wake County schools superintendent, what would it be?

Would you ask about student assignment, academic achievement, school budget or school construction? Or would you ask something else to the person who will be in charge of leading the 150,000-student school system?

Share your question on the blog or shoot me an email at khui@newsobserver.com. We may run some of them in print on Tuesday.

Looking at Wake County superintendent finalist Dana Bedden

KeungHui — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

I'm going to do separate posts, probably one per day, about the three finalists for Wake County schools superintendent.

Today's article has an overview of all three finalists. I'm going to start first with Dana Bedden, superintendent of the Irving Independent School District in Texas, as he's the least known locally.

Bedden was also the lone finalist willing to talk Wednesday. He called close to deadline so I was only able to put a fraction of what he said in the print article. Consider this the bonus coverage.

Click here to read the Bedden's bio.

In addition to his education experience, Bedden was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, serving some stints of active duty when his unit was called up. Bedden said he was accepted into West Point but chose to go instead to the University of Florida.

Click here for a letter from Bedden that he sent to the staff of the 35,000-student district that's a summary of his tenure as superintendent.

Bedden said he started during a period when Texas was starting the new STAAR testing system and implementing a major state education budget reduction.

After the initial hit, Bedden said they weathered through the challenges to raise teacher pay and avoid more layoffs while not raising taxes and maintaining their financial ratings. While Bedden said it's not something he could necessarily do in Wake, he proudly noted that the starting teacher salary in Irving will now be $50,000 a year.

At the same time, Bedden said he worked to address the adversarial relationship that he had inherited between the school system and business community. He said it's improved to the point now where the local chamber of commerce is raising money for the school system.

Bedden also pointed to increased parental involvement at schools through the " Our House Is Your House" campaign. He said there's now a parent center established at every school.

Bedden said that while they're not saying that all schools should be exactly the same, they're working to set the same expectations for what they should all be doing.

“Every decision I’ve made is based on how we can make our children successful,” Bedden said.

Bedden also pointed to how he commissioned an audit of the special education program.

In terms of academics, Bedden said that the SAT participation rate has shot up from 39 percent to 85 percent. While the scores are still below the state average, Bedden said they've gone up even as more students take the exam.

Bedden also pointed to how the numbers of students taking Advanced Placement exams is going up along with the percent who are passing by getting 3s or higher.

Bedden noted that Irving is one of 487 districts nationwide invited to participate in the AP STEM Access program. The program was created to increase the number of traditionally underrepresented minority and female high school students taking Advanced Placement courses in STEM disciplines.

While 82 percent of Irving's students receive free-and-reduced lunch, Bedden said that shouldn't be a road block or a barrier to academic success.

Bedden said they've increased foreign language instruction to the point where students can be trilingual instead of just bilingual.

They've also increased the number of students participating in performing arts programs during the tight budget times, according to Bedden.

"He was really progressive when he came here,” said Gwen Craig, who until recently was a member of the Irving school board, called the board of trustees. “He’s done a wonderful job of leading the district.”

Bedden was unanimously hired by the Irving board of trustees in 2010. But, after the May 11 election, six of the seven board seats are now held by Bedden's critics.

At the first meeting Monday of the new Irving board, the new majority announced plans to hold a special closed-session meeting Friday to review Bedden’s performance.

Bedden has clashed with some board members about having replaced a staff-developed curriculum with a third-party curriculum and for expanding a program that allows Spanish-speaking students to take some of their core classes in their native language through fifth-grade. The new board majority has advocated rolling back those programs.

For instance, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday that the new Irving board dropped the CSCOPE curriculum Monday against staff’s advice,

The article says that about three-quarters of Texas school districts buy the suite of teacher guides and lesson plans instead of writing their own curriculum. Irving ISD is one of the first to drop the program.

The article says that conservative groups across the state claimed CSCOPE’s lessons contained socialist and Islamist propaganda.

Craig and former board president Rose Huffstetler both charge that the real problem isn’t Bedden’s job performance. They say he’s in danger of being fired from Irving, a city outside of Dallas, because of his race.

“Irving is a white community and we have an African-American man,” Craig said. “They’ve never given him a chance.”

Both former board members predict the new majority will fire Bedden, something they say is undeserved.

Steven Jones, president of the Irving board and a longtime critic of Bedden, did not return a request for comment Wednesday.

Bedden has been reluctant to publicly criticize board members. He declined to say if he felt race was behind his current difficulties with the board.

"I can't speak for other people," Bedden said. "Every day I come in ready and focused on improving the district's performance."

Bedden said that he is lawfully required to carry out any action by a majority of the board that doesn't violate state law or doesn't violate ethics.

Bedden said his job is to advise the school board. If they reject his advice then it's his job to go back to the drawing board and come up with something else.

Despite the job uncertainty, Bedden said he didn't seek the Wake job. He said he was contacted by McPherson & Jacobson, the board's search firm. He noted that his wife grew up in Wake and his son now attends UNC-Chapel Hill.

“It’s one of the best districts in the country,” Bedden said. “It’s also an opportunity to bring my family home. It’s a win-win situation.”

Bedden said he's also aware of the controversy in Wake that has seen superintendents exit at a rapid rate over the past three years.

"I want to see if I can be part of moving the district forward and providing some stability," Bedden said. "I don't want to add to the revolving cycle."

Wake school board chairman Keith Sutton said they hadn’t been aware of Bedden’s difficulties with his board when they decided to name him a finalist. But Sutton said he doesn’t think it will hurt his chances.

“He’s been a superintendent with three different districts so we know he’s capable, he’s experienced,” Sutton said. “The board change is something that’s happened here where there’s been a change in political philosophy. That happens.”

Wake school board member Tom Benton said that Bedden offered a compelling vision for what he’d like to do in Wake.

Craig and Huffstetler both say Bedden is capable of leading Wake, which is more than four times the size of Irving.

Creech Road Elementary principal leaving for Randolph County school system

KeungHui — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:51:47 -0400

At least one Wake County school employee will be joining interim Superintendent Stephen Gainey when he starts work in Randolph County.

According to today's article in The Courier-Tribune, the Randolph County school system has named Catherine Berry the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Since 2010, Berry has been principal of Creech Road Elementary School in Garner, where she had to reapply to keep the job as part of the Renaissance Schools program.

The article says Gainey, who will take over as superintendent of Randolph County schools on July 1, supported the selection.

As has happened when Tony Tata left as superintendent, some people went to work for him at the state Department of Transportation.

Wake County school board narrows superintendent finalists to three career educators

KeungHui — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

It's clear the Wake County school board's Democratic majority got what it wanted based on the list of three finalists for superintendent.

As noted in today's article, all three finalists are veteran educators with between 19 and 40 years in education. It's the opposite of former Superintendent Tony Tata, whose prior experience was 18 months as chief operating officer of the D.C. Public Schools.

Board members had listed education experience as one of the top traits they wanted in a superintendent.

"They all are experienced educators," said school board chairman Keith Sutton. "Two are sitting superintendents. They all have a lot of experience. They have a breadth of experience."

Click here to read the bio for Dana Bedden, superintendent of the Irving Independent School District in Texas.

Click here to read the bio for Ann Clark, deputy superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.

Click here to read the bio of Jim Merrill, superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

Sutton noted how they have experience in areas such as school finance and academics.

“We found three very highly qualified candidates,” Sutton said. “It was tough to narrow down the list. We’d be happy to have any of them.”

School board member John Tedesco said the finalists are highly qualified. However, he wished the search had broadened the pool more to consider people with business experience.

“Obviously I felt better with our previous leadership,” Tedesco said. “But of the three finalists we have, I think we have one or two gems out there who could do some good things for our community.”

Some of you guys have complained they're not reformers.

But Clark, like Tata, attended the Broad Superintendents Academy. That's either a plus o minus depending on your perspective.

While Broad does train non-educators to be superintendents, it also works with many traditional educators as well who think the program would benefit them.

As for Bedden, he was apparently recruited to apply by McPherson & Jacobson, the school board's search firm.

"I would like to make it clear that I am not resigning my position as superintendent of Irving ISD, nor have I been offered a position in Wake County,” Bedden said in a statement released Tuesday. “I responded to a search firm’s request to apply because Wake County is an excellent school district and it is very appealing for my wife to return to the county where she grew up and went to school. During this process, I will continue to fulfill my duties here and keep the appropriate people informed of any decisions.”

This could be a good time for Bedden to leave the 35,000-student Irving school district. Various articles in the Dallas Morning News, such as this one from Saturday point to how a new school board majority who doesn't back Bedden is now in office.

Does Merrill, who worked in Wake from 1984 to 2000, have an inside track? Merrill has the distinction of being named state superintendent of the year in both North Carolina and Virginia.

Wake County school board appoints principals to four elementary schools

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:42:15 -0400

The Wake County school board announced several principal appointments Tuesday night.

Lutashia Dove was promoted from assistant principal to principal of Wilburn Elementary School in North Raleigh with a new salary of $81,412. She's been at the school since 2012.

Kimberly Grant was named principal of Lynn Road Elementary School in North Raleigh with a salary of $89,491. Grant has been an assistant principal at Yates Mill Elementary School since 2007.

Judy Dudley was named interim principal of Leesville Road Elementary School in North Raleigh for the rest of the school year. Dudley has held numerous interim positions since retiring as principal of York Elementary in 2003.

L. Roy Teel was named interim principal of Hunter Elementary School in Raleigh for the month of June. Teel, who retired as principal of Broughton High School in 2009, has held various interim positions since before and after then.

Wake County school board approves revised student assignment policy

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:03:34 -0400

As expected, the Wake County school board approved the revised student assignment policy tonight.

There wasn't much discussion tonight, in contrast to the first reading, before the 7-2 vote in favor of the revision. Board members Deborah Prickett and John Tedesco were the lone dissenters.

Prickett and Tedesco raised concerns about the inclusion in policy of the goals of minimizing concentrations of low-income and low-performing students at schools.

"I still think the idea of busing students for test scores is a problem,” Tedesco said. “The devil is in the details.”

Wake County school board talks transportation, school bond issue and running tracks

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:25:54 -0400

Here's a quick recap of today's Wake County school board work session.

Bob Snidemiller, senior director of transportation, talked about how they're taking steps for the 2013-14 school year to avoid a repeat of this school year's bus problems. Steps include looking to hire 104 additional bus drivers, doing a more realistic analysis of routes and having drivers do practice runs during the actual times of day they'd be on the road.

School board member Jim Martin repeated his concerns the bond issue will fail if county commissioners take over school construction. He unsuccessfully tried to get wording included in the resolution requesting the bond that would talk about ensuring the quality of the projects that would be funded.

Other board members said they shouldn't mix the fight in the legislature with the bond issue.

Asst. Superintendent Joe Desormeaux also came up with a compromise to the Athens Drive HIgh stadium situation that might not fly with the commissioners.

Desormeaux suggested that instead of funding it out of $43.8 million in unspent bond money that it be funded from savings from the last bond. That technically sounds like what the commissioners want. But instead of doing it immediately it would be part of that list of $53.8 million in future projects that's indirectly connected to the bond's passage.

The board also told Desormeaux to go ahead with adding a track to M-8.

Wake County names superintendent finalists

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:25:55 -0400

We've got some familiar names in the running to be superintendent of Wake County schools.

The three finalists are Dana Bedden, the superintendent of the Irving Independent School District in Texas, Ann Clark, the deputy superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; and James Merrill, the superintendent of Virginia Beach City Schools.

Merrill is the most familiar as he worked in Wake for 16 years. He was associate superintendent for administrative services when he left in 2000 to become superintendent of Alamance-Burlington Schools.

Merrill now runs the 70,000-student Virginia Beach schools. He's won the state superintendent of the year awards in North Carolina and Virginia.

Clark is familiar in North Carolina, having started in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in 1983. She rose through the ranks, where she oversaw academics. She's in the past saw the CMS superintendent's job.

Bedden has been superintendent of the 35,111-student Irving school system since 2010. Wake school officials noted how he had implemented a multi-year district improvement plan and a strategic communications plan.

Here's the text of Wake's press release:

Board of Education announces three finalists for superintendent

The Wake County Board of Education has announced the names of three finalists for the position of superintendent. All three candidates have extensive backgrounds in the classroom, school administration, and district-level administration. All three finalists are expected to publicly visit Wake County in the near future. They are:

Dr. Dana Tyrone Bedden

Dr. Bedden is the superintendent of the Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas. The district serves 35,111 students on 38 campuses. His priorities there have included implementing a multi-year district improvement plan and a strategic communications plan. He also initiated improvements in special education and human resources functions, leading the district through its most challenging financial times due to state-level funding reductions.

Prior to his service in Irving, Dr. Bedden served as superintendent in for the Richmond County School System based in Augusta, Georgia. While there, the graduation rate increased nearly 14 percentage points. He has also served as superintendent in Pennsylvania where he launched the system’s first cyber academy and its first online summer school. As a principal in Washington, D.C., at the School Without Walls Senior High School, his students maintained a 95% college admission rate.

He began his educational career as a middle school teacher and coach for football, basketball, and track. He earned his doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He earned his master’s degree in educational administration from Pennsylvania State University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida.

Dr. Bedden has completed post-doctoral courses in school business leadership at Wilkes University and attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Leadership Institute for Superintendents.

Ms. Ann Blakeney Clark

Ms. Clark is the deputy superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), the second largest school system in North Carolina, and brings more than 25 years experience to the office. She began her career in Charlotte as a teacher of the behaviorally and emotionally handicapped children in 1983 and has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions in CMS. Her extensive background includes serving as principal at elementary, middle, and high schools. She was named National Principal of the Year in 1994.

Prior to her service as CMS’s Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Clark served as the associate superintendent of education services. In that role, she oversaw the district’s curriculum, professional development, and classroom instruction.

Ms. Clark is involved in the community, serving on boards of Communities in Schools, Children’s Theatre, the Davidson College Board of Visitors, Smart Start, and Levine Museum of the New South. Her educational achievements have been widely recognized. In addition to earning the National Principal of the Year honor, Ms. Clark is a Broad Superintendent Fellow, a First Lady of Charlotte, a Thomas Jefferson Distinguished Alumnae from the University of Virginia, and a William Friday Fellow.

Ms. Clark graduated from Davidson College with a bachelor of arts in English. She earned a master’s degree in special education from the University of Virginia. She also holds administrator and curriculum and supervision certification from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Dr. James Merrill

Dr. Merrill has served as superintendent of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS), the third largest school division in Virginia, since 2006. As superintendent, he has spearheaded the creation and implementation of a strategic plan emphasizing 21st century skills that will define successful students in VBCPS.

Prior to his service in Virginia Beach, Dr. Merrill served six years as superintendent of the Alamance-Burlington School System. Previously, he spent 16 years in the Wake County Public School System, last serving as Associate Superintendent for Administration and Finance. He began his career in 1973 as an English teacher.

Dr. Merrill has earned numerous accolades and awards, including the 2005 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year award and the 2013 Virginia Superintendent of the Year honor. He has also been elected to the Executive Committee of the Governing Board of the American Association of School Administrators. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Education awarded him the Outstanding Achievement Award and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Education honored him with its Distinguished Leadership Award.

Dr. Merrill was a Morehead Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill earning a bachelor’s degree in secondary English. He earned his master’s degree in education administration from Appalachian State University and his doctorate from UNC-Greensboro.

Wake County Commissioners want more info on Athens Drive High stadium plans

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

Should the Wake County school board reallocate money from the last bond issue to pay for upgrading Athens Drive High School's athletic stadium improvements or continue to leave it as part of the next construction program?

The Athens Drive community has been in an uproar since Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble questioned at last week's joint meeting including the project as part of the next capital improvement program. Parents spoke at Monday's commissioners meeting about why they felt the project needs to be funded.

Coble's response Monday was to question a request from the school system to reallocate money from the 2006 capital improvement program. He suggested the school board tap into that fund instead to pay for Athens Drive.

The current plan is to pay for Athens Drive by using part of the $43.8 million in bonds the county recently agreed to sell. It would be tied into the $939.9 million construction program and bond issue that would go on the fall ballot.

"if it's a public safety issue, we ought to deal with it now and they ought to deal with it," Coble said. "It also makes the point we've made any number of times that the school system has failed to keep up with and take care of their facilities."

Coble said that paying for the renovations now would allow them to keep the next bond focused on adding new seats.

Commissioner Tony Gurley said he backed the idea, offering to let the school board know they'd back the reallocation from the last bond for Athens Drive.

"If we wait and require the bond to pass before fixing health and safety issues, that just seems wrong," Gurley said. "If we truly have health and safety issues, they need to be taken care of immediately and if the money is there to do it. I agree with Mr. Coble. We should request that it be done."

Joe Desormeaux, the school system's assistant superintendent for facilities, said school board members have said they'd make Athens Drive the priority even if the bond failed.

Desormeaux also said the situation at Athens Drive isn't an immediate health and safety issue. But he said the risk potential for additional safety issues has gone up now.

Coble said they may want to either formally direct the school board to reallocate the money to Athens Drive or tell Desormeaux to share their comments with the school board.

In the end, Joe Bryan, chairman of the board of commissioners, said they want the school board to explain to them in writing how they plan to handle Athens Drive.

One question facing the school board would be whether other projects would have to be delayed to fund Athens Drive High. For instance, they're using savings from the 2006 program for things like building Richland Creek Elementary's permanent building.

Questioning the punishments for the Enloe High School water-balloon prank

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Is an out-of-school suspension for five days and being arrested by police for disorderly conduct or assault charges the proper punishment for last week's water balloon prank at Enloe High School?

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children is questioning the response by the school district and Raleigh police. But as noted in today's column by Barry Saunders, Wake school officials say suspensions were issued not for throwing balloons but disobeying the rules.

“Some students — let’s be specific, a small percentage of them — simply were not following the rules," said Wake schools spokeswoman Renee McCoy in the column. "They had been warned the day before by the principal on the intercom” that no disruptive pranks would be tolerated.

Many students, she said, turned in their balloons and other water projectiles to the office. Some didn’t.

Saunders asked if the suspensions were excessive.

“We have established rules and codes of conduct that we expect students to follow so that we can maintain order. ... It’s not so much what the specific items were; it’s that they were warned and made a choice not to follow the rules. At that particular campus, we’re responsible for some 2,673 students. ... Anything that causes a disruption runs the risk of injuring students, not necessarily from the objects, but from the disturbance," McCoy said.

“Here you have, for example, a freshman just trying to get to class and all of a sudden she’s trampled in a stampede,” McCoy said, by students trying to avoid balloons presumably filled with bleach, Nair, and other stuff you don’t want to get on you.

At this point, police haven't found anything other than water in the balloons.

Calla Wright, president of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, sent an email to the five Democratic members of the school board and board member Kevin Hill on Sunday asking for a meeting about the suspensions. It wasn't sent to the three Republican board members.

Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: Wake County School Board Meeting Request Arresting of our Children

TO: Wake County Board OF Education
FROM: Coalition Of Concerned Citizens For African American Children
RE: Arrest of Our Children
DATE : May 19, 2013

Please address the following concerns and respond with a date and time that we can meet no later than May 20th, 2013.
These students are being charged twice:
1. 5 days Out of School Suspension and
2.Raleigh Police Department charged our children with Disorderly Conduct
Rev. Barber, NAACP President, and recent protestors received the same charge of Disorderly Conduct and were not required to make bail of 500.00.
Why did the Raleigh Police require our parents to pay 500.00 for bail for our children?

3. Wake County BOE need to review the tapes in the school to reveal the details

4. Did the Wake County Administrators at Enloe, including Mr. Scott Lyons, Principal and his assistant principals do a thorough and complete investigation before issuing a disciplinary infraction involving our children

6. Why were our children not allowed to call parents when the incident first happened at school? The administrators denied our children the right to call their parents. According to Wake County Policy--
The principal may invoke a short-term suspension only after investigating the misconduct, confronting the student with the charges and the basis for those charges, and allowing the student to respond in his/her own defense and/or to offer mitigating circumstances.

Our children denied throwing the balloons and informed the administrators and the Raleigh Police this however the administrators at Enloe were determined to arrest our children

Our children were only allowed to call parents once they were taken to the Detention Center.

We look forward to receiving your response.

UPDATE

Calla Wright sent a new message Tuesday requesting a meeting with Wake County school leaders to discuss the Enloe suspensions. This time, the email was also sent to Republican board member Bill Fletcher and the media.

TO: Dr. Stephen Gainey, Superintendent, WCPSS
Ms. Rose Anne Gonzalez, Area Superintendent
Mr. Scott Lyons, Principal Enloe High School
FROM: Coalition Of Concerned Citizens For African American
Children, Inc.
RE: Meeting Request To Discuss- Arresting Of Our Children,
Wake County Discipline
DATE: May 21, 2013

On behalf of the Coalition Of Concerned Citizens For African American Children, we are requesting a meeting to provide details, discuss the arrest of our children, who attend Enloe High School.
It is important that you give this request your immediate attention.

Please give us a list of dates and times that you can meet with us and we will secure the location.

We look forward to hearing from you no later than May 23, 2013..

Wake County school board to announce superintendent finalists and adopt assignment policy today

KeungHui — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Much of the coverage of today's Wake County school board meeting will be focused on the release of the names of the superintendent finalists.

But the school board will be doing other things that will have a significant impact on the new superintendent. For one thing, the board will have the second and final reading on the revised student assignment policy that the new superintendent will be in charge of turning into a plan.

The second reading, as is standard, is listed on the consent agenda. It's pretty safe to say that one or more board members will request it be placed on the action agenda for it to be discussed and voted on separately.

During the work session, the board will review the list the school construction projects and the resolution it will vote for on June 4 requesting a school bond referendum. The new superintendent will be expected to be out in the public explaining the need for the new bond.

Also today, the board will get an update on the reorganization of the transportation department and discuss adding a running track to the M-8 middle school in northwest Raleigh. It would cost more than $1.1 million to add the track.

Wake County Manager David Cooke recommends fully funding school board's budget request

KeungHui — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:53:01 -0400

It doesn't look like there will be a budget fight this year between the Wake County school board and board of commissioners.

Citing the increased revenues from the improving economy, Wake County Manager David Cooke recommended today fully funding the school board's request for an $8.3 million increase. You may also see the number being reported as a $9.2 million increase because the school system is counting separately the $856,000 that the county is providing to help pay for the lease of the Crossroads II school office complex.

School board vice chairwoman Christine Kushner welcomed the good budget news at a time when the school district, which is using $28 million from its fund balance to balance the budget, is looking at potentially deep state cuts.

"Most of our cuts are coming from the state," Kushner said. "That's where our biggest issues are. But ss far as the county, they're giving us an increase."

North Carolina's 10 largest school districts oppose vouchers to attend private schools

KeungHui — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:38:49 -0400

Interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Stephen Gainey is among 10 superintendents who are raising concerns about equation changes being considered by the Republican-led General Assembly.

In a letter to the editor in today's Charlotte Observer, the superintendents of the state's 10 largest school districts object to providing vouchers for children to attend private schools. Various bills in the legislature would provide tax credits or scholarships for some students to attend private schools.

"On nearly every national survey of per-pupil spending (when all funding sources are counted), North Carolina is in the bottom 20 among the 50 states," according to the letter. "In recent years, education funding has been cut. Now that the economy is improving, is this the best and wisest use of money to strengthen our children’s education?"

The superintendents are also against legislation that would limit pre-kindergarten programs to children whose family incomes are below the federal poverty level.

"There is a growing body of evidence that early education is critical — so we should expand access," according to the letter. "Pre-kindergarten programs have been recognized by educational researchers, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as providing a great return on investment. Given this compelling evidence of early education’s effectiveness, why would we not invest heavily in pre-kindergarten programs? It would also help us meet new state requirements that all children are reading by third grade."

In terms of charter schools, the superintendents say "charters, which are funded with public money, should not have more flexibility and less accountability than public schools when it comes to managing resources and people." It's unclear from the letter if they want traditional public schools to have he same flexibility as charters or they want charters to lose that flexibility.

The superintendents also push for raising teacher pay and warn about eliminating teacher tenure.

"We also need to invest in providing teachers with the opportunity to grow and learn new skills," according to the letter. "Any discussion of evaluation and tenure should address these gaps."

In addition to Wake, the other writers include the superintendents of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cumberland County, Gaston County, Durham, Guilford County, Johnston County, New Hanover County, Union County, Wake County and Winston-Salem/Forsyth. You've also got the president of the NC New Schools Project.

Wake County Commissioners on assuming school construction duties

KeungHui — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

Joe Bryan, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, has got some definite plans in mind should the state House also sign off on the bill letting them take over school construction from the school board.

Senate Bill 236 would give commissioners in nine counties the ability to oversee all facets of school construction, including locating, purchasing, owning, building, maintaining and renovating schools. Bryan said it's his intention to press for the county to assume the majority of the construction responsibilities from the Wake County school system.

Bryan said he'd like to see how they can merge the county and school system's construction departments. The county would need more than its current staff to oversee the $1.8 billion in school property and handle projects from future bond issues.

Bryan said he'd also like to transfer ownership of all existing schools to the county. He said that since the commissioners now legally have to treat the properties as liabilities that they should also be able to include them on the books as assets.

But Bryan said he'd like to leave day-to-day maintenance with the school system with the understanding that the school board would have to use all the maintenance money it's given. Commissioners have accused school boards over the years of transferring money from maintenance to cover other parts of the operating budget.

Under the new bill, it would be up to the commissioners in the nine counties to decide whatever level of authority they want to leave with the school systems on construction issues.

Questions around Enloe High School arrests for water balloon prank

KeungHui — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:39:03 -0400

Social media has been abuzz with stories about what happened Thursday afternoon at Enloe High School that resulted in the arrest of seven students for throwing liquid-filled balloons at classmates.

Rumors have circulated that the balloons were filled with some pretty nasty liquids such as urine, paint and bleach. But Raleigh police and Wake County school officials said Friday that there's no evidence at this point that there was anything other than water in the balloons.

The possibility that these balloons might be filled with more than just water caused Enloe to keep students in their classrooms during seventh period.

Six students, all sophomores and juniors, were charged with disorderly conduct. One of the six students was also charged with simple affray (fighting) and resisting an officer.

A seventh student was charged with assault and battery. Police say they know the name of the victim, an AliiedBarton security officer, who was hit by the water balloon the freshman is accused of throwing.

Here's the text of the automated phone message that Enloe Principal Scott Lyons sent to parents Thursday afternoon:

Good afternoon/Evening:

This is Scott Lyons, Principal of Enloe High School.

I am calling to provide you with information about actions taken at our school today. The Enloe Administration had heard information earlier this week that students may have planned several pranks on campus today. To ensure the safety of our students and staff, we notified WCPSS Security and our School Resource Officer. As a result, the Raleigh Police Department increased their presence and visibility on the Enloe campus as a precautionary measure.

We are aware that some students were threatening to toss balloons filled with water and other substances. The Enloe administration felt it best to keep students in their classrooms during 7th period.

Please be aware that any misconduct will be carefully investigated and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

You may want to speak with your Enloe student about the serious penalties that can occur with pranks such as this. I encourage everyone to review the Student Code of Conduct in the Student/Parent Handbook and take particular notice of the consequences of such behavior.

CORRECTION/UPDATE

Police say seven students were arrested for the water balloon incident. Updated to say the 17-year-old student charged with assault and battery is a freshman.

Fallout over school construction bill spills over into Wake County school bond meeting

KeungHui — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

it's safe to say that the ongoing struggle over who will control school construction in Wake County had a noticeable impact on Thursday's joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, several heated exchanges between school board members and commissioners took place as they discussed this $939.9 million school construction program. Officials readily acknowledged that the Senate's passage of Senate Bill 236 on Wednesday helped raise the emotions.

"You’ve got some lingering tension over the victory we had in the Senate yesterday,” said Joe Bryan, chairman of the board of commissioners, in an interview. “We’ve got to come together to get a bond passed.”

The first questions came as they discussed how priorities were ranked.

Commissioner Paul Coble asked how they're going to explain to voters "why did you prioritize the football stadium at Athens Drive High School over something you really need?"

School board member Jim Martin asked if Coble had been out there and he answered yes.

"How are you going to answer the question that a football stadium is more important than additional seats?" Coble said.

School board member John Tedesco said that healthy and safety projects are a priority which sometimes outranked building new seats. he said Athens Drive has a lot of health and safety needs.

Martin said they can't get emergency vehicles out to the field. Coble responded that he had seen multiple emergency vehicles.

“If you’re going to sell the bond you need to answer the question," Coble said of the Athens Drive funding.

Martin, not believing Coble, said he must have gone to a different field.

School board member Tom Benton spoke up for Athens Drive's stadium, saying it hasn't been upgraded since it opened in the 1970s.

“Athens Drive is reaching the point where in order to sustain its outside athletic activities there will need to be renovations or they’ll need to go somewhere else," Benton said.

The next flare up took place when Phil Matthews, vice chairman of the board of commissioners, said they should be looking at adding more armed police to schools as opposed to having the unarmed security officers who patrol the parking lots.

“What is a security guard going to do if someone drives up to school x with a shotgun?” Matthews said.

Tedesco said he agreed with Matthews' concerns but said they should wait until they hear the final recommendations from the school safety task force.

School board chairman Keith Sutton said the task force has been talking about ideas such as Wake having its own police force or having an armed officer at every school. He said the task force was told not to worry about cost but to come up with recommendations and let the two boards work through them.

Martin, a skeptic of putting more police at schools, interjected.

"We have to be honest," Martin said. "One armed officer is as much as of a sitting duck as an unarmed officer."

Martin also said "we need to get away from emotional idea that one armed officer would protect a campus from a shooter."

"Where do you figure the logic of that sir?" Matthews responded. "I’ve never heard such a thing in my life.”

Sutton attempted to adjourn the meeting then but Coble objected, saying they still have serious concerns that haven't been addressed.

Coble said there hasn't been discussion from the boards about how they can stretch the money in the construction program to do more than the projects listed. He said that in business they never a goal with having something to stretch for.

"We’ve got a ways to go to sell a bond,” Coble said.

Coble said he was "disappointed" they hadn't had more of a conversation about how they can look to save money and "over deliver" on the bond like the last one.

"I don’t want us to walk away from the table all butterflies and unicorns thinking every thing is fine when I’m not sure it really is," Coble said. "There’s more work to be done for us. I think we’re going to be surprised when the public says these numbers aren’t good enough."

Martin accused Coble of misrepresenting the plan to the public. He said they have been stretching, such as changing the plan from April to add more new schools and new seats.

"We have plans to move forward so it’s absolutely inappropriate to say this board isn’t working together to plan for the future," Martin said.

Martin added that "I think it's only fair that the public be given an honest business assessment."

Coble responded that Martin may find people that aren't going to agree with him that they're doing all they can.

Martin responded by asking what changes Coble would make. Martin asked if Coble wanted mandatory year-round as he offered to show Coble all the letters from parents who object to it. Martin has repeatedly said he doesn't want to expand the use of mandatory year-round .

"You can’t bully the public," Coble said.

Coble added that the public is going to ask why they can't do more.

"He’s going to do the best he can do," Commissioner Tony Gurley quipped about Martin.

Sutton again called for an adjournment, ending the meeting more than 90 minutes early.

After the meeting, Coble and Martin continued to vent their feelings to reporters.

"They’re asking for us to all sing ‘Kumbaya’ on a bond when there’s no plan as to who is actually going to do the construction,” Martin said. “The public is not going to support this until we know who is in place that is actually going to build the school. Let's see a business plan. Let's see what the cost are going to be. Let's be honest to the public."

"The public has to have confidence that schools will be built by people who know how to build schools not just people who know how to build prisons," Martin later said.

"We've very quickly gone to a number (of) $993 million and said basically we're going to keep doing things the way we've been doing them in the past," Coble said, as he's counting the separate $53.8 million project list into the $939.9 million list.

"It's not the amount," Coble said. "Nobody dug down into it and said we're building a high school for $63 million. Do we really need to spend $63 million for a high school?"

"The voters want to know that they're getting the biggest bang for the dollar they can get," Coble also said. "All this group has done has said we're going to keep doing things the way we've always done."

Wake County school board to announce superintendent finalists Tuesday

KeungHui — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:11 -0400

Here's a quick update on the status of the search for Wake County's next schools superintendent.

School board chairman Keith Sutton said today that interviews with the four semi-finalists went well this week. He said the board will narrow the list to a set of finalists who will be announced at Tuesday's board meeting.

Details of when the finalists would return to Wake County to meet the public will be announced next week. The board is expected to make a final vote by the first week of June, perhaps at the June 4 meeting.