Focus On
“A Very
Good Year”
By Jerry Blake
Cleveland County
Superintendent
A beautiful and popular song begins with “Well, it was a very good
year...’” As 1 have thought about a last word to our community for this
school year, good things 1 have seen come to mind. Some parents have
felt the joy firsthand as county children won spelling bees, exploded
with the rough drama of Crest football and with the sound of brass at
the Burns Cup Festival.
1 cannot forget the fantastic passing of the Crest basketball team,
the seven inches of late March snow, or the most rained-out baseball
games in any one school year. We had students place in all-state music
groups from fifth grade to senior year. Robert Lamb and Lana Jolley
were selected for John Phillip Sousa National Honors Band to be in
concert on May 21 in Washington, DC. Debbie Williamson has been
awarded a full scholarship to UNC School of the Arts in Winston-
Salem.
Six Burns Band students brought district band honors: Mark
Garver, Tommy Beighley, Cindy Turner, Joey Forbes, and Larry
Aderholdt from the senior high.
Marshall Forrester from the junior high not only brought home a
district band award - the only ninth grader who did - he also is winner
of the Regional Algebra II contest conducted in Charlotte.
Seniors at Burns and Crest are vying for scholarships. Thomas Lutz,
Derek Greene, Amy Hull, Becky Proctor, Suzanne Sanford, and
Deana Latham have already been announced as winners of prestigious
scholarships at colleges and universities across North Carolina. Others
not yet made public have received additional scholarship awards that
will total between one and two hundred thousand dollars.
Anthony Johnson at Dover School has been selected the North
Carolina winner of the “Salute to America” Contest, having been
chosen from among 1,200 kindergarten-fourth grade pupils nation
wide.
Washington School Library Festival has been an example for state
use in other counties. Parents and pupils alike participated in the pro
gram throughout the week of April 18-22. South School is prepared for
hot spring days with ceiling fans and hope for summer salvation next
August with air conditioning (at least, they have asked). Township
Number Three School has set a record for the best disciplined, quietest
school buses in the county. Every school, grades kindergarten through
twelve, now has one or more microprocessors for tutoring students in
everything from algebra to vowel sounds and from state capitals to
chords and harmony.
I stand in wonder at the list only partially printed here. Even more
amazing than our good is the fact that the good has occurred while our.
local-dollars-per-pupil rank among 143 school units in the state has
declined from seventy-eighth in 1979-80 to one hundred-nineteenth in
the last available statistical report.
The lists and figures in the “Focus” mean we have had a very good
year on most counts. We all wish teachers and aides, principals and
supervisors, building and bus men had gotten a raise. It is bad that they
did not, but that fact proves we had good people doing good work for
the children of Cleveland County.
We hope you have learned from the FOOTHILLS VIEW. Children
who have been published in it certainly have increased motivation.
The school pages have been an inexpensive, effective way to relate
reading to parents and pupils alike.
Let’s pray next year will be filled with accomplishments and
The following Cleveland
County students have been
selected to attend the 1983
North Carolina Governor’s
School. The school will be in ses
sion from June 26 through
August 6, 1983. All selectees are
rising seniors.
Vonda Kay Willis from Burns
High School will attend Gover
nor’s School East at St. Andrews
Presbyterian College and will
study French. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd
Willis of Lawndale.
Brenda Adair Summers from
Burns High School will attend
Governor’s School West at
Salem College and will study
Choral Music. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
George Summers of Cherryville.
Wendy Lynn Patterson from
Crest High School will attend
Governor’s School West at
Salem College and will study
Social Science. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John
Patterson of Shelby.
Melissa Ann Mathews of
Crest High School will attend
Governor’s School West at
Salem College and will study In
strumental Music. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jim
Burden of Shelby.
The Governor’s School of
North Carolina, located on the
Salem College campus and oij
the St. Andrews Presbyterian
College campus, is the oldest
statewide summer residential
program for gifted and talented
rising seniors in the nation. The
program is operated by the State
Board of Education through the
Division of Exceptional
Children, N.C. State Depart
ment of Public Instruction. The
school receives yearly funding
directly from the General
Assembly of North Carolina.
The program offers stimulating
and enriching curriculum for
eight hundred students in a
variety of academic areas.
A competent faculty and staff
of approximately 130 persons fill
the role of instructors,
counselors, health care, recrea
tional persons, and necessary an
cillary service personnel for the
student body. Nationally
recognized consultants work
Look What I Got! Kealy Self, John Self. Steffanie Shalp, Steffanie Signom and Tammy Wright of
Burns Junior High just had a first look at their report cards.
t.ff » . J
Blake Tapped For
Superintendents’ Council
Superintendent Bill Irvin,
Chairman of the Region VI
School Superintendents’ Council
announced today that the Coun
cil has elected Dr. Jerry L. Blake
to serve as the new Chairman of
the Council for the term beginn
ing in April, 1983.
Irvin praised the choice of
Blake, stating that he had made
significant contributions over
The Best
For Beta
Club
The National Junior Beta
Club is a leadership-service
organization for junior high
students having successfully met
specific academic and character
requirements. Its purpose is to
stimulate effort, reward achieve
ment, and to encourage and
assist its members to continue
their education after high school.
The following students have
recently been inducted into the
Crest Junior High Beta Club.
Mariana Kay Ashley, Chuck
Wayne Barbee, Lisa Dawn
Beason, Tina Carol Beaver, Jef
frey Lee Biggers, Stuart David
Blackburn, Crissy Bolejack,
Trade Dawn Bowen, Judy
Elaine Barbham, Lavondra
Michelle Brooks, Michell, Leslie
Brown, Thomas Lee Burton,
Connie Lynn Cabiness, Karen
Ann Canipe, Gregory Scott
Dawkins, Tammy Michelle
Earls, Christopher Ashley Ed
wards, Amee Faythe Forster,
tracy Denise Glover, Angie Lee
the three years he has been a
member of the Council. Blake
had developed and obtained fun
ding for a regional personnel pro
posal and has been the founder
of the Consortium for Develop
ment of Interactive Video Disc
Instruction.
Irvin feels the choice of Blake
is a recognition of his innovative
leadership in organizing regional
efforts to solve problems which
go beyond individual school
district lines.
Dr. Blake has been
Superintendent of the Cleveland
County Schools since 1979. He
was formerly Director of
Research and Training for the
North Carolina School Boards
Association and served as
Superintendent in Currituck
County, North Carolina. He
holds a doctorate from UNC
Chapel Hill and completed a
post-doctoral year as a staff
member with the National
Academy for School Executives.
Blake stated that he welcomed
the challenge of leadership. He
praised the tradition of the
Region VI area which includes
school systems from Anson in
the East through Mecklenburg
to Cleveland in the West. Blake
feels Region VI has been a
pacesetter among the eight
education regions of the state.
Blake says he plans to involve
all the Region’s sixteen
superintendents in the planning
for the year. Blake sees the
Council as a vehicle for school
system cooperation in providing
service that few systems could
afford by themselves.
SPECIAL ADVANCE
EV
TONIGHT AT 800PM
HE’S OUT THERE.
Flying the most lethal weapon ever made...
The Blue Thunder Special.
At his fingertips, an infrared camera that can see right
A microphone that can record your most
intimate cdnversations.
And a 20mm electric cannon with six barrels that can
turn your neighborhood into a raging infemo.
But he’s not headed for a war-tom country.
He’ll be cmising the skies of America.
And onlv one man can ston him from Usuis' it on vou.
Front row (sitting) 1-r, Leah Frady, Tammy Hollar, Angie
Jackson, Jamie Petty, Susan Morrison, Kellie Long. 2nd row
(standing) 1-r, Brian Harvell, Winter Weber, David Blanton,
Crystal Harris, Shannon Buckner, Andrew Poston, Rodney
Price, Tim Bridges, Tricia Price. Barbara Blanton.
THRU THE WEEK SCHOOL
At Hoyle Memorial United Methodist
Is Now Enrolling 3 & 4 Year Olds
For Fall 1983
For More Information, Please Call:
487-4038 or 487-4051
Arts Festival
Play
Produced
All Seats $2.00
(CONSOLIDATED
^Theatres
Crest Junior High 9th grade
drama students recently
presented the play “Charlie and
the Six Chicks” for the
Cleveland County Schools
Cultural Arts Festival on April
18, 1983. The students are
taught by Beverly Borders.
The main storyline of the play
concerns a teenager named
Charlie Baxter who experiences
the “insanity” of the women’s lib
movement by being invited to
Continued On Page 4
482-8333
tmall Qtnemas
^^CLEVELAND MALL