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Teachers, officials spar
over high school reform
BY GABRIELLE DE ROSA
SENIOR WRITER
Its been more than a month since
an East Chapel Hill High School
teacher submitted a petition signed
by 47 faculty members protesting
an integral piece of the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro City Board of Education’s
high school reform effort.
Michael McElreath, a social stud
ies teacher, and his colleagues asked
administrators to cancel plans for
optional theme-based academies.
His petition came months after
he served on a high school reform
subcommittee that suggested high
schools be divided into smaller
schools, allowing students to build
relationships with teachers and
classmates.
“The larger committee adopted
plans that smaller learning com
munities would be the centerpiece
of the reforms,” he said. “I felt like
we did it: We got the go-ahead.”
But when the superintendent’s
final recommendations came out
in April, optional career acad
emies were the main focus and not
McElreath’s mandatory smaller
communities.
He said the architecture of East
particularly lends itself to the cre
ation of smaller learning communi
ties. The school has three areas, each
of which is equipped with an assis
tant principal and counselor’s office,
teacher resource rooms, four science
classrooms and a computer lab.
McElreath said teachers and
students should be divided among
these “sub-schools” so that students
interact with the same teachers
and classmates throughout their
four years.
Wlien he went to the school
board on April 22 after the publi
cation of the final reform recom
mendations, McElreath was told by
Superintendent Neil Pedersen there
was nothing in the plans that pre
vents a school from building smaller
communities while at the same time
offering theme-based academies.
McElreath then asked that
teachers be included immediately
in the plans for high school reform.
He made suggestions for inclusion
of faculty after the board meeting,
like replacing time spent in teacher
meetings with time devoted to plan
ning new school communities.
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He said that as of yet, the board
has not addressed his request or his
suggestions.
Lisa Stuckey, vice chairwoman
of the school board, said the board
already has asked high schools to
form smaller learning communities
and research the idea in general.
“It’s a little bit of an open ques
tion if a high school wanted to go
further (with sub-schools),” Stuckey
said. “The board has not addressed
that specific question.”
The board prefers to act on issues
as a group and meetings are the
best opportunity to do so, Stuckey
said in regard to McElreath’s com
ments to the board in April.
“We don’t act on public com
ment unless the matter is already
on our (meeting’s) agenda,” Stuckey
said. “So it would need to be back
on agenda for us to address it.”
McElreath still was not pleased
with the board’s overall response.
“(Students) shouldn’t have an
option when they’re ninth grad
ers to go the math or science route
versus a less rigorous route,” he said.
“(Theme-based academies are) going
to have the potential to further seg
regate our 5ch001.... The kids that
are already doing well in school will
pick the more rigorous curriculum.”
By giving the learning commu
nities a theme such as math, social
studies or economics, McElreath
said less motivated students will
opt out of entering the academy.
Stuckey said the academies,
which are “not entirely flushed
out,” were not envisioned to reach
only advanced students.
“I think they would appeal to a
range of students,” Stuckey said.
“The courses in them would be
designed to meet a variety of aca
demic needs.”
Stuckey gave the example of a
health academy that would serve
students interested in the health
industry, and not only those inter
ested in becoming doctors.
Judy Jones, a biology teach
er at East, agrees with many of
McElreath’s views and also served
on a subcommittee during the early
planning stages of high school
reform.
“You don’t first set up the topics
of the community and then make
kids choose,” Jones said. “You bring
kids together, and then together as a
team, you decide on the focus of the
community. I personally don’t like
having kids pick a major so early.”
East Principal Dave Thaden said
he doesn’t see McElreath’s con
cerns about segregation as being a
problem yet.
“It’s always a danger, but since the
academies aren’t described as being
academic or nonacademic, it’s not a
concern right now,” Thaden said. “It
might be one later, though.”
Thaden did not comment on
what he was doing to work with
McElreath but said that high school
reform is something the school board
is pursuing. He added that he was
working with the school board and
the superintendent on a 32-point
proposal on high school reform.
“We’re not pursuing one topic
at the exclusion of the other 32,”
Thaden said of the academy por
tion of the proposal.
Jones gave Thaden high marks
for his efforts in the process.
“He’s very open to having discus
sion,” she said. “Again, there’s only
so much money, and I don’t know
what else he can do.”
Money has been as much of a
source of conflict as the difference
in opinion. The proposed $150,000
budget for high school reform was
cut from the final district budget
money that mostly would have
funded substitute teachers to
give teachers time to plan for the
changes.
“If you’re not going to fund
teachers having the time to do the
planning necessary for reforms,
you’re going to end up with a piece
meal effort that’s not going to really
reform high school,” McElreath
said.
Despite the disagreements,
Jones emphasized that the city
schools, particularly the high
schools, are excellent institutions
of learning.
“We have a wonderful school
system,” she said. “We have won
derful administrators and teachers.
People can disagree on different
styles of educating students, but
they are trying their best to create
a place where children can learn.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
News
Gadgets help students roll out
BY ANDREW SATTEN
STAFF WRITER
“Don’t forget, you need to lean
back to stop,” sophomore Steven
Waters called to a student who was
taking a spin on his Segway.
The two-wheeled, self-balanc
ing transportation device is one of
a few alternative transit modes that
are catching on for campus com
muters.
“I’ve had about 300 people on it
and haven’t had any casualties yet,”
Waters said.
The desire for a shortened com
mute has spurred a few transpor
tation pioneers to opt for Segways,
scooters and skateboards instead of
the traditional walk or bus ride to
campus.
“I ride the heck out of it. It’s out
here everyday,” Waters said of his
Segway.
Despite the frequent time he
spends in the Pit pitching the
Segway’s benefits to students,
Waters acknowledged the gadget
might not be the best fit for every
one. “It’s not the end-all be-all,” he
said. “It has a lot of problems, but
it’s just another choice.”
Riding through congested areas
of campus is not an option, so
Waters typically uses the Segway
for his commute to campus, which
is about 3 miles round trip.
“The real issue for me is I think
that cars isolate people,” he said.
“When I’m on this thing, everyone
talks to me, whether it’s good or
bad things.
“Once you get on it, your whole
perception of the world changes,”
he said.
Junior sociology major Ray
Martinique uses his Honda Ruckus
scooter in a similar capacity. “It’s
about freedom,” he said.
Martinique’s apartment complex
is on a bus route, but he doesn’t like
having to be dependent on it.
“My mountain bike got stolen,
and (the scooter) just saves a lot of
time,” he said. “I wanted to avoid
the bus, because if you miss it, you
are screwed.”
His scooter has a maximum
speed of 40 mph and turns a 20- to
30-minute walk from his residence
to campus into a 5-minute ride.
Martinique, who is originally
from Chapel Hill, said he has
increasingly seen other scooter rid
ers in the area. “I think it’s caught
on more in the past five years.”
Though Waters and Martinique
can’t use their unusual modes of
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2004
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DTH/MIRANDA HARPLE
Sophomore Steven Waters shows second-year pharmacy student Li Li
his Segway. Waters uses it to shorten his commute to and from campus.
transit in all campus environ
ments, sophomore journalism
major Hunter Scott spends most
of his travel time perched atop his
longboard.
“It’s more or less like you are
surfing on concrete,” he said about
riding the longboard, an elongated
skateboard.
Like Martinique, Scott was a
victim of bike theft, after which
he decided to use longboarding,
which is popular in his Florida
hometown, to get to class.
“It’s so much more efficient than
walking or running, and I am there
faster without breaking a sweat,”
he said.
With the longboard, the trek
from Morrison Residence Hall to
the Pit turns into about a 4-min
ute ride, Hunter said. “It drives me
nuts to walk to class now, because
it just takes so long.”
He and his longboard also can
be seen cruising Franklin Street on
the weekend. “I love it, and people
recognize me by it,” he said.
Though these alternative means
of transportation provide their
users greater freedom in getting
to and from campus, this freedom
comes at a cost.
Waters’ Segway cost about
$4,000, and the price tag of
Martinique’s Ruckus was $2,000.
Safety also can be an issue.
Since scooters are not supposed
to be driven on sidewalks, they are
sometimes in the midst of cars and
buses.
“I would recommend (driving
a scooter), but there are setbacks,
because it’s not the safest mode of
transportation,” Martinique said.
The reactions of campus pedes
trians to these transportation pio
neers have been mixed.
“People either love it or hate it,”
Waters said. “I’ve had people call
me an idiot and ‘Don’t you know
that those things are bad for you.’”
Martinique said he thinks his
scooter makes some people uneasy.
“People seem to be intimidated by
it,” he said. “They hear it and think
that I am going to run them over
with it.”
And though most of the stu
dents who listen to Waters’ Pit
demonstrations think the trans
portation novelty is interesting,
few are ready to make an immedi
ate investment in a Segway.
One Pit observer remarked, “As
soon as they make these things
levitate, I’ll get one for any price.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
11