An independent school improvement study requested by county commissioners should be completed sometime this summer, the president of the company charged with the undertaking said following a public hearing this evening.
One of the issues that brought people out to the hearing is concern about the possible merger of the three school systems, as well as a desire amongst speakers to see that all three systems excel.
Linda Recio, president of Evergreen Solutions, said the Tallahassee based company continues to do its research, which is a broad based look at all factors in the Halifax County, Roanoke Rapids and Weldon school systems. Findings in the research could include several recommendations, including merger, she said.
David Harvey, president of the Halifax County Chapter of the NAACP, said, “Three school systems is the major reason for the failing economy. The county can never grow economically as long as we have those three school systems.”
Harvey offered to take Evergreen representatives on his own tour of the school system and told them one school system in the county — Roanoke Rapids — has become a civil rights issue. “I’d love for you to look at the Constitution, Brown versus the Board of Education.”
Because of the Roanoke Rapids school system boundaries, Harvey said, “It’s creating a civil rights issue.”
Speaking of last year’s study by the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, Harvey said the study showed Roanoke Rapids was still “operating under Jim Crow laws and considered it a civil rights issue to have children still being disproportionately segregated.”
John Espenshade suggested the company look at 10 points for school improvement: Across the board improvements in academics; more parental involvement; attitudes toward education; the it takes a village to raise a child stance; economies of scale; quality of institutions; standards; civil rights; quality of resources and governance.
Gail Mederos, a teacher in the Roanoke Rapids school system, said she was a product of bussing, having to travel 35 miles to school. “You learned about different cultures,” she said. “I have a learned racism and worked to change that. Upon retrospect, I had a one and a half hour bus ride.”
She said was unable to study on that bus ride because of misbehavior. “It was a terrible education for all students. My parents were too far away … How do you teach teachers to adapt to this change? Unless we see data on blending, I think that the schools should not blend the systems.”
Donna Hunter, chair of the Halifax County Board of Education, said, “Learned racism is alive in Halifax County. There’s less than 8,000 kids in a three school system.”
Hunter said plans should be for all children to achieve. “We can do all the studies and have all the statistics, the bottom line is providing a top quality education for all the kids … I’m a product of Halifax County schools, I have a son who is a product of Halifax County schools,” she said, explaining her son is now an attorney practicing in Halifax County.”
Diane Miller told the panel that before moving into the Roanoke Rapids school district, she took time to study all options, including private schools. In the end it was the academics, the extracurricular activities and convenience that factored into her decision to move. “I gave up 2 acres of land to live on a smaller plot to go to the city schools.”
Recio said following the hearing comments on the study would be accepted through the end of May by
