Education

A troubled charter school in the Rowan County town of East Spencer has turned to a man with a checkered financial and criminal history to help it find its footing after a rocky first year that involved parting ways with its management company and finishing the academic year thousands of dollars in the red.

As the proud owner of a new restaurant, Leonardo Williams surely had other things to do this past Saturday.  But there he was, taking notes and listening closely to six state superintendent candidates who want to replace Mark Johnson in the November 2020 General election. 

The already chaotic political environment of the UNC System and its Board of Governors has been further roiled by a new series of shock waves over the last two weeks that includes:

Kate Walsh, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has a reputation for being outspoken and provocative. She lived up to that billing this month during a visit to North Carolina to discuss strategies state education leaders can use to improve college and university programs that prepare teachers for the classroom.

A few short years ago, Lakewood Elementary School in Durham was a low-performing school where only one in four students was proficient in reading. The school’s poor performance landed it on the list of schools for potential takeover by the state’s new Innovative School District (ISD) – a controversial initiative created by lawmakers in 2016 to allow consistently low-performing schools to be placed under the control of private operators.

In one-on-one interview, new Innovative School District principal admits shortcomings of Year One, expresses confidence going forward Southside-Ashpole Elementary School in the Robeson County town of Rowland opened last August as the state’s first and only school in the new Innovative School District (ISD).

Before the State Board of Education approved its new five-year strategic plan, SBE member James E. Ford was asked to clarify the meaning of the word "equity," which is a reoccurring theme throughout the document. That proved easy work for Ford, who co-chaired the SBE Strategic Planning Committee. He’s also a professional consultant on issues of equity in education who just released a major report on the subject.

GIBSONVILLE -- The tobacco fields near East Guilford High School are reminders of times bygone when getting into trouble at school meant a trip to the principal’s office, and maybe a phone call to a child’s parents. A paddling by the principal, now banned in most places, and a severe scolding at home were about the worst outcomes for a student who misbehaved.

Essie Mae Kiser Foxx Charter School in the Rowan County town of East Spencer recently notified the Charter School Advisory Board that it will part ways with its management firm – Raleigh-based Torchlight Academy Services (TAS) – after only one year due to poor fiscal and operational management.

Senate leader slams proposed budget compromise, appears to reject further negotiation North Carolina teachers would see an average 8.5 percent pay raise by the second year of the biennium under a compromise budget proposal...

Priscilla Ross works to improve financial literacy among her students in Durham. Priscilla Ross was surprised to learn students in her accounting class at Hillside High School in Durham didn’t know how to create a budget or manage a check book. And when Ross, who oversees the school’s Banking and Finance Academy, asked, students couldn’t tell her that APR stands for annual percentage rate.

Tamia Sanders’ voice trembled as she looked out on a large rally crowd from the steps of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library in April. She was there to talk about the ongoing opposition to the return of the “Silent Sam” Confederate monument and the mistreatment of student activists by the campus police.

The state Charter School Advisory Board (CSAB) on Monday unanimously stood by its approval of two charters schools Wake County school officials deem are not needed. CSAB members agreed Wake officials’ concerns about Wake County Preparatory Academy and North Raleigh Charter Academy appear to reflect “philosophical” differences about the value of charters rather than fear of school re-segregation or charter saturation.

Teachers would get an average 3.5 percent pay raise over the next two years under a biennium spending plan released Tuesday by state Republican leaders. The plan calls for spending $23.9 billion during the 2019-20 fiscal year, and it increases spending on public education by $1.3 billion over the next two years.