Elementary's library.
Leader
from page XI
Preparatory Academy before taking his
current position.
NCAE is the largest education organi
zation in the state. The convention is a
2 chance for its members, which can include
? any employee of a public school, to plan
out NCAE's educational advocacy activi
ties.
Ellis said it is a challenging time for
education in North Carolina. School sys
tems all over the state are having difficulty
filling their positions and the teacher short
age is expected to get even more severe in
the coming year. Schools of education
aren't producing enough new teachers to
meet the demands of public schools, said
Ellis v
"That's a clear sign that something's
not right with public education if you don't
have people interested in the profession,"
he said.
He said educators are frustrated that
they have relatively low salaries and
resources while state funds go to vouchers
for private schools.
Ellis said the local situation with Cook
1
NCAE members help with landscaping around the outdoor water garden at
Kimber ley Park Elementary School, which is home to a variety of marine life
and lets students study ecosystems in the school yard.
Elementary school reopening with new
staff after being labeled as low performing
has happened to schools all over the state.
He said he didn't feel replacing the staff
was the right approach and what schools
like that really need is greater parental
involvement.
"I think that too often we point to
teachers and staff as the reason that
schools aren't performing at the level of
expectation, instead of what a lot of the
real issues are, and that's poverty," he said.
During the convention, educators
heard from N.C. Attorney General and
gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper, N.C.
Public Education Superintendent June
Atkinson and National Education
Association President Lily Eskelsen
Garcia.
During the primary, NCAE endorsed
Cooper, who Ellis said would be a " true
champion of education" as governor. They
also endorsed Atkinson, who Ellis said has
been open and responsive to NCAE, meet
ing with members of the group before each
of the N.C. State Board of Education's
monthly meetings.
"We have a seat at the table with June
and we're very appreciative of it," he said.
Candidate Carolyn Highsmith was among the atten
dees at the BOE canvas meeting.
I ' i ii ? i i ?
Photo* by Todd Luck
Forsyth County Board Elections Members Fleming El-Amin, Ken Raymond and Stuart Russell check over
ballots on Tuesday.
Candidate John Larson listens during the BOE can
vas meeting.
Vote
from page AT
board involved voters
who've moved and were
transferred to the correct
precinct. Tsujii said voters
who transfer should've
been given regular ballots
but signed provisional bal
lots count, too. However, .
the 20 provisional ballots *
presented to the board on
Tuesday lacked signatures,
a matter the BOE contin
ued until today.
There was a voter who
lacked the proper ID and
cast a provisional ballot
cast with a reasonable
impediment form that was
unsigned, which violates
statute, due to poll worker
error. The BOE rejected the
ballot 2-1, with Democrat
Fleming El-Amin dissent
ing. There were also 101
absentee ballots that
arrived by mail at the BOE
the day after Election Day
without a postmark that
were rejected, also in
accordance to statute in a
2-1 decision with El-Amin
dissenting. There were
also four instances of vot
ers voting twice, which the
board ruled to allow one
; vote to count for each voter
and referred the matter to
the state board to see if
legal action should be
taken.
UJS. House June 7
primary
The upcoming June 7
primary came about
because of court rulings.
One ruling said that the 1st
and 12th congressional dis
tricts were racially gerry
mandered by adding black
voters into a district with a
large black population in
order to dilute their voting
power statewide and
ordered the districts to be
redrawn. The newly
redrawn congressional dis
tricts mean that there's a
new filing period for candi
dates, which ends Friday at
noon, and a new primary.
The redrawn 12 th District
no longer includes the
Triad, and now all of
Forsyth County is in the
Fifth District.
Tsujii said that all vot
ers will be receiving new
voter registration cards,
regardless of if their district
changed.
"My plan is to send
cards to everybody, not just
the ones that were affected,
otherwise there's going to
be a lot of confusion," he
said.
As of press time.
Democrat Jim Roberts and
Republican Pattie Curran
had filled for the Fifth
District. Incumbent
Republican Rep. Virginia
Foxx has been campaign
ing for re-election and is
expected to file.
Rep. Alma Adams is r
running for re-election in
the 12th district, which is
now entirely in
Mecklenburg County. So
far Democrats Rodney
Moore and Tricia Cotham,
who are both state lawmak
ers, have filled to chal
lenge her in the primary.
Democrats Gardenia
Henley and Juan Antonio
Marin Jr., who were run
ning before the districts
were redrawn, have indi
cated they will continue
running in the 12th but had
not filed again as of press
time. So far Leon Threatt is
the only Republican to file
for the seat.
N.C. Supreme Court
June 7 primary
A court also struck
down a new up or down
vote for N.C. Supreme
Court seats that was sup
posed to go into effect this
year, so once again there's
an open election for the
seat currently occupied by
Justice Robert Edmunds.
As of press time, Mike R.
Morgan and Sabra Jean
Faires have filled to chal
lenge Edmunds in the non
partisan primary. Filing for
that seat also ends Friday.
Voter registration is
currently open for the June
7 primary and will run until
25 days prior to the elec
tion. Any voters needing to
register or change their reg
istration can do so during
that time. There will be an
early voting period for the
June primary. The amount
of early voting hours will
be entirely at the discretion
of local BOEs.
There were no judicial
races on the local ballot in
the March primary,
because there weren't
enough challengers in other
judicial races to warrant a
primary. All four incum
bent judges on the N.C.
Court of Appeals will face
one challenger in the
General Election. In the
N.C. 21st Judicial District
Court, all incumbent
judges are running unchal
lenged except William
Graham Jr., who is retiring.
Attorneys Carrie Vickery
and Aaron Berlin are both
vying for Graham's seat.
Though judicial races are
non-partisan, the party of
each candidate will now be
labeled on the ballot.
wssu
from page A1
compared to 1,968 accept
ed during the 2015 fall
semester.
Allen mentioned the
increase in acceptance may
be because the university
has decided to pursue more
students who have main
tained a high grade point
average (GPA) instead of
putting emphasis on stan
dardized tests such as the
SAT and ACT.
She said GPA shows
students have learned study
habits that are beneficial at
"We have really looked A
closely at the data and we v
are trying to go after stu- fi
dents who are showing n
great potential through is
their work in high school," v
said Allen. " The thing we n
know about GPA is that it is ei
the best predictor of suc
cess in college."
According to university
records, the average GPA
of students accepted for the
fall 2016 term is 3.43 com
pared to 3.41 during the
same time last year.
Last year, WSSU had a
freshman enrollment of
887, the most in the
schools' 124-vear historv.
.lien said this fall the uni- i
ersity is set to enroll 900 <
irst-year students. Allen
oted anything beyond 900 i
i more than they can pro- i
ide for, considering the <
umber of students already <
nrolled at the university. i
WSSU currently has an
The Chronicle flJSPS 067-91 f
undergraduate enrollment
of about 5,150.
"Going into the fall, we
are in really good shape,"
said Allen. "Our freshman
enrollment will come in at
or about our target, and that
is always a plus."
The Chronicle will
li was established hv Finest I
have more information on
RaVonda Dalton-Rann in
\
an upcoming issue of the
paper.
E P T NOTHING LE
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H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
:very Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing
Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C.
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
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