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Tuesday, October 10,1995
School Board Candidate Profiles
Chapel Hill and Carrboro will elect five new members to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education Nov. 7.
Today, The Daily Tar Heel profiles three more of the 13 candidates seeking to improve the school system.
■ Key Issue is Reaching Out to Youth
With an understanding of the issues
facing the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of
Education, candidate Bill Elstran said if
elected he would focus on reaching dis
franchised and minority students, and on
improving communication between par
ents, students and teachers.
“There needs to be more communica
tion, involvement and participation on
behalf of the parents,” he said. “Students
are not numbers, they are individuals. There
seems to be a standoffishness toward treat
ing our students individually.”
Elstran also said he hoped to work on
building the mentor program in the school
system. “If elected, I plan to assign a per
sonal mentor for each family with children
who are making poor test scores,” he said.
“We have to get die families involved, and
we have to get the mentors involved to
reach the alienated students.”
Elstran said that race relations were
definitely not good, and that expectations
for minority students were too low. “The
School Board should first fund the Blue
Ribbon Committee,” he said. “Second, a
mentor program should be initiated. Third,
the students have to get involved. But most
of all, the teachers need to raise the expec
tations of minorities. This will raise re
spect, and this goes hand in hand with
improved test scores.”
With anew book he recently wrote
titled “What Every Parent Should Know
About School, ” and a doctoral dissertation
focusing on the dynamics of advisory and
school board meetings, Elstran said he
knew how to improve communication at
school board meetings.
“Right now, school board meetings are
like the inquisition: people come in intimi-
■ Board Should Work With Community
Ken Tou w has a Utopian vision in which
the school and community’s vision are
consolidated into a single goal. Although
he admits this is not the case now, he said
he would actively work to achieve this goal
if re-elected to the Chapel Hill-Canboro
Board of Education.
Touw said he saw the need for the
school board to delegate more and more
autonomy to the school system. “The pur
pose of the school board is simply to dictate
the community vision," Touw said.
Once this vision was formulated, it was
the responsibility of the school to create
programs and policies that would coincide
with the community vision, Touw said.
The improvement of minority test scores
is also a pressing issue, he said. He stressed
development of individualized education
plans for problem students and increased
individual attention in the classroom. The
catalyst for these plans is parental involve
ment in the schools. “We want teachers
and parents to determine what works best;
that is the role of the school board, ” Touw
said.
Touw singled out overcrowding as an
obstacle to achievement in the schools.
“This is the reason we haven’t been able to
devote more resources to achievement,”
he said. “It has taken all the community is
willing to spend just to expand the school
system.”
Planned meetings with developers are
also on Touw’s agenda for the expansion
of schools. He hopes to petition for dona
tions ofland from die town for new schools,
such as the Southern Village land grant to
build anew elementary school.
He said another obstacle to achieve-
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dated and leave in silence,” Elstran said.
“We need to have the superintendent there
to answer questions, and if there cannot be
an immediate answer he or she needs to get
back to parents with an answer in, at most,
three days. Let’s make the superintendent
more active. If we don’t allow for input and
communication, then the school system is
in for real problems.,” he said.
Other areas the school system needs to
work on are overcrowding problems and
alternatives to condom distribution, he said.
“Overcrowdingis a disastrous problem,
and it has been caused by poor planning,”
ment was racial bias in the schools. Touw
said he would like to start a program that
would require diversity training for teach
ers, along with developing a cultural arts
programs in the schools to encourage a
diverse student body.
Site-based management, a program
which treats schools as self-governed orga
nizations, should continue, Touw said. He
suggested occasional visits to schools by
the school board to encourage the indi
vidual development of schools and give
them a vote of confidence.
Bill Elstran
Age: 57
Address: 324 Glendale Dr.
Previous Experience: High
school principal, 10 years;
superintendent's office; business
manager, curriculum coordinator;
University of Maryland faculty
Occupation: Consultant work in
education
Children: Two
Length of Time in
Community: Seven years
College Attended: Stanford
University
Elstran said. “We made two schools too
elaborate. By floating a bond issue and
implementing a sales tax, we can raise
impact money to build more schools. Asa
short term goal, I propose establishing small
schools at the elementary level in local
churches,” he said.
Elstran said he would like to make sure
that new schools were built for the right
reasons.
“For long tenn goals, we should build
more schools with an emphasis on the
classrooms, not facade,” he said.
PROFILE COMPILED BY ROBIN SUKHADIA
Ken Touw
Age: 48
Address: 2027 Markham Dr.
Previous Experience:
Chairman of school board
Occupation: Senior clinical
scientist at Quintiles Corpora
tion
Children: Two
Length of Time in
Community: 22 years
College Attended: Duke
Univ.. UNC-CH
“The positive message needs to be re
peated,” Touw said.
Touw has served as chairman of the
school board for the past two years. He
said he was suggesting a face-lift to the
school system, making schools freer to
make their own decisions that fit their
personal needs. He said he thought more
community respect for the schools would
ease these changes. “The point is not to
criticize, but to criticize respectfully,” he
said.
PROFILE COMPILED BY TODD DARLING
Canboro Candidates: 7 p.m., Sun., Oct. 15
Chapel Hill Candidates: 7 p.m., Tues., Oct. 17
Of
Undergraduate Students
Raymond James & Associates Inc.
Investment Banking
Recruiting Presentation for
Corporate Finance Analyst Position
Tampa, FL/Dallas, TX
Tuesday, October 10th, 7:00 p.m.
Carolina Inn
Fall Presentation for
November Interview Date
Casual Attire
Food Will Be Served
CITY
■ Schools Should Encourage Students
Self-esteem, self-love and self-confi
dence are the values Sandra Johnson-
Theard, a single parent, college student
and school board candidate, said she be
lieves the school system must instill in
children to be effective.
“Nothing works with a child until he
learns self-confidence and self-esteem, ” she
said. “You have to reach into children’s
hearts and touch them.”
Individual attention in education and
focusing on the child are areas in which
Johnson-Theard said she believes Chapel
Hill-Canboro schools fall short.
She said the school system especially
lacked the ability to deal with children who
are socio-economically disadvantaged. She
said that the school system stresses the
institution overthe individual, which poses
a problem for the children in the schools
who do need more attention.
“Chapel Hill has built one mold,”
Johnson-Theard said. “If your child does
not fit that mold, they fall through the
cracks. Every child is different, and it’s
unfair to have one mold and expect each
child to fit it.”
She said the “mold” was shaped around
professors’ children and the children of the
affluent, and this contributed to the dispar
ity in minority test scores. One way the
board might correct this problem is to “stop
alienating and intimidating the minority
community,” she said.
Johnson-Theard also said minority test
scores would go up when the recommen
dations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, on
which she served, were fully implemented.
The task force focuses specifically on mi
nority students and helping them get the
most out of their education.
SRC
FROM PAGE 1
month.
“We are looking for all repairs to be
finished the week of (Oct.) 30,” he said.
“We are working with a subcontractor,
though, and we are going on their word.”
According to Copeland, the extent of
the damage in the SRC was cosmetic.
“There was nothing structurally damaged, ”
Copeland said. “There was mainly just
cosmetic damage, like sheetrock and paint. ”
Copeland said all damaged sheetrock
had been replaced.
Another source of concern for Copeland
is new carpet, which will not arrive until
after the state selects a contractor for instal
lation later this week.
“We have agreed on a week or so to get
the carpet andanotherweektogetitdown,”
he said. “If you had seen it, you would
know the extent of the damage. You can’t
just do this overnight.”
During the repair process, Mangili has
made use of the second floor space avail
able in the SRC. Cardiovascular machines
have been moved upstairs for student use.
“We have moved a number of our car
diovascular machines upstairs that are op
erational,” Mangili said. “Actually, we
may leave many of these machines up
stairs and purchase new machines for down
stairs once it opens up again.”
According to Mangili, most of the ma
chines that were damaged by water have
been repaired, but problems still exist with
some equipment.
TUESDAY
2 p.m. GPSF will sponsor a presentation on the
application process for paying in-state tuition and its
pitfalls. An attorney will answer questions in Union
224.
3 p.m. UNC COUNSELING CENTER will
host a discussion of the Lesbian Empowerment
Group.
3:15 p.m. UNC COUNSELING CENTER will
hold a career clinic in Nash Hall. Call 962-2175 for
more information.
I ft <
..f
She said these recommendations should
have been implemented when they were
first proposed three years ago. To better the
schools and to improve test scores, the
school board should work to enforce these
recommendations now, she said.
Maintaining “neutral committees" to
build new schools also concerns Johnson-
Theard, who said the new East Chapel Hill
High school was overpriced and essen
tially a public school financed by private
money.
“Alamance County built three high
schools for the price of our one,” she said.
MARCH
FROM PAGE 1
mative action and voting rights support,
and corporate America’s reinvestment in
the African-American community.”
BSM President Ladell Robbins echoed
Carson’s sentiments. “Participation in the
march is making a statement that black
students on campus are concerned about
their community,” Robbins said.
Robbins and Carson are asking black
students at UNC to boycott all campus
dining halls, UNC Student Stores and any
other non-black owned business on Oct.
16. They said organizing committees were
planning activities forstudents who choose
not to attend classes and that they hope to
have food available to students at the ac
tivities.
Reginald Hildebrand, an associate pro
fessor in the African-American studies cur
riculum, said he was encouraged by the
concept and what organizers of the march
hoped to accomplish. “There is a need for
hunger, self-reflection and atonement in
the black community.”
Hildebrand said he had no plan to can
cel his Monday classes for the event. “Can
celing a class in African-American studies
to celebrate the march would be like can
celing church on Christmas,” Hildebrand
said.
JoumalismProfessor Chuck Stone said,
“I think that it is an exercise that will focus
on some of the pathologies in the black
community.
“Farrakhan is urging black men to take
Campus Calendar
4 p.m. PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY DE
PARTMENT will sponsor a seminar, “Triangle
Nuclear Theory Colloquium,” in 234 Physics Build
ing at Duke University.
STUDENT HEALTH SERVICE will offer a
Diabetes Support Group in the Health Conference
Room on the 2nd floor of the Student Health Service
building.
5 p.m. UNC-CH JAPAN CLUB will present an
educational Japanese Game in Union 210.
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS will have an informa
tion session in 268 Venable Hall.
6 p.m. UNIVERSITY CAREER SERVICES
will hold a workshop on how to use UCS in 210
Hanes Hall. The workshop is mandatory for those
participating in On-Campus Recruiting.
6:30 p.m. SEAC CONFERENCE VOLUN
TEERS who signed up for housing or registration
should meet for training in the Great Hall.
Carolina Dining (Service & Dip’s Country Kitchen
Welcomes You To
“A Night on the Town”
PIP'S
Wednesday. Oct 11 from 5-7:3Qpm
Ala Carte Menu
in the Cutting Board, Lenoir Dining Hall
T-shirts and other apparel available.
This fine restaurant Is kind enough to join us for dinner and prepare
some of their signature selections. They are located in the immediate
area and would like to invite you to dine with them at any time.
Zht Sally Ear Mppl
Sandra Johnson-
Theard
Age: 39
Address: 8500 Union Grove
Church Rd
Previous Experience: Member
of Blue Ribbon Task Force, parent
volunteer within school system
Occupation: Self-employed
Children: One
Length of Time in
Community: 39 years
College Attended: Senior at
NCCU
Instead of investing money in the structure
and the land, Johnson-Theard said money
should go to better instructors and better
methods of instruction. “The new school
just represents the people who want to
keep the status quo,” she said.
Johnson-Theard also said she wanted
schools to be more encouraging of poten
tially college-bound black students and stop
pushing vocational classes. “I believe that
everyone can go to college, if that’s what
they want to do, she said. “Schools need to
keep all the doors open for kids.”
PROFILE COMPILED BY ANGELA MOORE
Fppii
BSM President
UDELL ROBBINS
said students could
make a statement by
participating in the
march.
responsibility for
the 60 percent of
black children who
are born out-of
wedlock, the high
rate of crime and for
the drug use that is
rampant in the black
community,’’Stone
said.
He also said the
march would help
highlight the prob
lems that black men
face in society.
“Only 3 percent of
college students are
black men, but 48
percent of the prison population is black.
And white America doesn’t understand
these statistics.”
Carson said the role of women in the
march is being underestimated. “By actu
ally staying home they are taking part in it,
they are supporting the black men that
chose to participate.”
BSM member Dwayne X (Eatmon) is
one of the main organizers of the UNC
contingent planning to attend the march.
He said he hoped around 200 UNC stu
dents would sign up to ride on the buses
that have been chartered to leave from
Chapel Hill on Sunday evening.
Ellis said anyone wanting more infor
mation about the march should contact
NAACP members, who will be available
in the Pit from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. every
day this week.
7 p.m. CUED SPEECH CLUB will have a cued
speech workshop to learn how to communicate with
the deaf in 108 Bingham Hall.
GREEN GAMES will meet in the Union base
ment. Refreshments will be provided.
UNIVERSITY CAREER SERVICES will spon
sor a presentation by Raymond James and Associ
ates at the Carolina Inn. Also, Job Hunt 102: Basics
for Constructing a Professional Resume, will meet in
210 Hanes Hall.
COALITON AGAINST GENOCIDE will
present at Balkan Issues Forum at Skylight Exchange.
7:30 p.m. CHINESE STUDENT ASSOCIA
TION will screen the film “The Story ofPei Li ” in the
Union film auditorium. Admission is free.
GIGO will hold an interest meeting in 221
Greenlaw Hall.
8 P.M. UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS will have
a meeting in Union 208.