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Welcome

Candidates who supported neighborhood schools and public school choice fared well in the recent election … much to the disappointment of those who wanted to make the election about racial division.

 

Bulletin Board


  • The E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders is accepting applications for the 2010-11 class. Applicants must be between the ages of 25 and 40, reside in North Carolina, and commit to a yearlong program of activities designed to examine, develop, and enhance their leadership skills. There is no cost to individuals accepted into the program. For additional information, please visit the E.A. Morris website at http://www.eamorrisfellows.org.
  • The North Carolina History Project would like educators and homeschool parents to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to NC History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/edu_corner for further information.
  • Become a member of JLF’s Freedom Clubs! We have seven regional clubs covering every part of North Carolina, so there is one near you and your like-minded conservative friends. For more information, visit https://www.johnlocke.org/support.
  • Are you a busy school board member looking to enhance your professional development but don’t want to miss a full day of work to do so? The John W. Pope Civitas Institute will be offering school board member training on Friday, November 12 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Crabtree in Raleigh. Registration is $60. For additional information and to register, visit www.nccivitas.org/events.

 

CommenTerry

 

Those of us who live in Wake County know all too well that the NAACP and like-minded groups routinely refer to conservative members of the Wake County school board and their supporters as "segregationists" and "extremists." (Evidently, this is a sign that they hold the moral high ground.) Last month, the state Democratic Party declared that a vote for Republican candidates for commissioner was a vote for going back "to the days of separate, but not so equal." Voters in Wake County didn’t buy it. Republicans won all four contested seats on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

During the campaign season, a similar scenario played out in New Hanover and Forsyth counties. In October, the Wilmington-New Hanover NAACP distributed fliers to oppose school board candidates Janice Cavenaugh, Jeannette Nichols, Ed Higgins, and Don Hayes. Similarly, NAACP leaders in Forsyth County targeted school board candidates Jeannie Metcalf, Jill Tackabery, Donny Lambeth, A.L. "Buddy" Collins, Marilyn Parker, and Jane Goins.

The NAACP chapters may have had a legitimate policy disagreement with these candidates, but rather than focus on that, they chose to incite racial animosity instead. NAACP leaders in both counties branded these candidates "new segregationists" because of their views on student assignment. Much like their counterparts in Wake County, conservative candidates for school board seats in New Hanover County championed neighborhood schools, while their colleagues in Forsyth County sought to continue their successful school choice program. Apparently, both methods of student assignment are inherently racist. Those who dare to believe that neighborhood schools and choice create conditions necessary to raise student achievement are not misinformed but evil.

Fortunately, desperate attacks by the NAACP did not convince voters to elect their preferred candidates. Instead, voters overwhelmingly elected candidates who supported neighborhood schools and choice. In the New Hanover County school board race, the group of Cavenaugh, Hayes, Hickey, and Higgins won by nearly 43,300 votes. In Forsyth County, Metcalf and Lambeth easily won at-large seats, and Collins, Goins, Parker, and Tackabery dominated the District 2 race.

Without a doubt, the Republican electoral "wave" helped to secure victory for conservative school board candidates, and voters did not make their decisions based on the student assignment issue alone. School funding was the top concern among many of those who went to the polls. Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the role that student assignment preferences played in candidate selection. After all, the NAACP may have done more to make it a prominent campaign issue than many of the candidates themselves.

 

Facts and Stats

Average Class Sizes: Statewide Averages for 2009-10

Kindergarten — 19 students
First Grade — 20 students
Second Grade — 19 students
Third Grade — 20 students
Fourth Grade — 21 students
Fifth Grade — 21 students
Sixth Grade — 22 students
Seventh Grade — 21 students
Eighth Grade — 21 students
English I — 18 students
Algebra I — 20 students
Algebra II — 20 students

Geometry — 20 students
Biology — 18 students
Physical Science — 18 students
Civics and Economics — 18 students
US History — 18 students

Source: NC School Report Cards, 2009-2010

 

Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].

 

Education Acronym of the Week

ZECA — Zero to Eighteen Education Concept Academy

 

Quote of the Week

"Education should be the handmaid of citizenship."
— Calvin Coolidge, July 4, 1924