Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Schools won't apply for $1.25 million in funds j
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Calling it a grant with con
fusing guidelines and “schiz
oid” in theory, teachers from
D.F. Walker and White Oak
elementary schools pleaded
against a $1.25 million grant
Monday night.
And they gained support
from the Board of Education
to reject applying for a fed
eral grant aimed at improv
ing reading among young
students.
“We don’t want to be a re
search lab,” Christime Flem
ing, a 32-year teaching veteran,
told the school board during
the hour-long discussion of the
Reading First Grant. The grant
is offered through the federal
No Child Left Behind Act.
Ninety-four percent of the
White Oak and D.F. Walker
teachers who returned sur
veys about the grant were op
posed to it. All 38 White Oak
teachers were against apply
ing for the instructional
changes the grant would re
quire. Only three of 12 D.F.
Walker teachers approved of
the idea.
“Why fix something if it’s
Town's electric
rates could rise
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Edenton residents could see
their electric rates go up this
year, a possibility town offi
cials want to avoid.
During the Town Council’s
Jan. 26 meeting, Town Man
ager Anne-Marie Knighton
said the cost the town pays for
electricity has gone up.
“Hopefully we can come up'
with something so we won’t
have to do this,” she said of a
potential passing-along of the
rate hike.
Knighton said Electricities,
the body which manages the
town’s electric supply, has
plans to up its wholesale rates.
The 1.2 percent increase be
came effective Oct. 1.
Knighton said increasing
fees could negate the need to
increase customers’ monthly
power bills. Such increases
could offset the higher cost
paid to the electric supplier.
“I’m hoping, if we go along
with these (increased fees), we
won’t have to raise rates,” she
said.
Knighton named several
rate-increase suggestions
posed by a recent rate and util
ity fee study conducted by
Electricities. Those include:
• After-hours reconnection
fees to be raised from $40 to $75
• Increase meter-testing fees
from $5 to $10
• Raise temporary construc
tion service charge from $30 to
$40
• Increase underground in
stallation from $150 to $350 per
linear foot
The proposed fee increases
are comparable with what
other ElectriCites’ towns simi
lar to Edenton charge.
The town currently has the
third lowest rates of munici
palities of comparable size
which belong to Electricities,
Knighton said. . M
Knighton plaire to present
additional data and informa
tion to council at its Feb. 10
meeting.
Although ranked near the
bottom of Electricities’ rates
schedule, Edenton residents’
power bills run about 15 per
cent higher than residential'
customers pay with N.C. Power
and Albemarle EMC.
Knighton is expected to
present more options and in
formation during council’s
Feb. 23 committee meeting.
not broken?” Anne Ziemba, a
first and second grade
teacher at White Oak, said.
“And that’s what we feel is
happening here,” with the
grant’s instructional re
quirements.
“We couldn’t tailor it to
our own philosophy of read
ing,” instruction, Sarah
McLaugh-lin, a third grade
teacher at D.F. Walker said.
About 50 opponents of the
grant were at Monday night’s
school board meeting.
Teachers and administra
tors from the schools agreed
they could use added federal
funding for their reading
programs. But they don’t like
how the grant binds them to
prescribed instructional
methods. The grant dictates
exactly how kindergarten
through third-grade stu
dents’ reading skills would
be assessed and potentially
improved throughout the
school year.
“I’ve never seen one this re
strictive,” Superintendent Dr.
Allan Smith said of the grant’s
constraints.
The grant seeks to address
the classroom needs of at-risk
students, in addition to im
proving other students’ read
ing skills.
“We have about everything
you can think of to help at-risk
students do better,” Ziemba
said. The number of elemen
tary school students not scor
ing at least a 3 out of a possible
score of 4 on end-of-grade read
ing tests dropped by a quarter
from 2002 to 2003, according to
statistics presented by Ziemba.
“We’re showing very posi
tive results,” Smith said of
improvements in reading
scores at D.F. Walker and
White Oak.
Under the grant’s guide
lines, students would be as
sessed regularly to determine
their reading levels. And that
assessing would be excessive,
teachers said.
“I don’t want to be a part of
it,” board member Gil Bur
. roughs said.
Board member Kay Wright
was opposed to teachers sign
ing letters of commitment as
reqiyred by the grant.
Smith said Tuesday the
school board will not request
him to apply for the grant.
The grant would pay the
school system $250,00 annu
ally for five years.
COUNTY WEBSITE GETS A FACELIFT
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BY ANGELA PEREZ
Staff Writer
Highlighting Monday even
ing’s monthly County Com
missioners meeting was a
presentation by Chowan
County Data Center em
ployee, Joe Sliva. Sliva intro
duced a new and vastly im
proved Chowan County Gov
ernment Website, made pos
sible by a grant from the e-NC
authority, a grassroots initia
tive linking North Carolinians
to the Internet. The site, offi
cially launched on January 15,
2004, now offers expanded ser
vice information, online forms
allowing users to request ser
vices, offer comments, and reg
ister for information. On-line
users will be able to sign up for
email newsletters that will of
fer updated county informa
tion, including important
Chowan County Government
meetings and events. Each ad
ministrative department has
its own separate page detailing
services, missions,projects,
goals, and responsibilities.
Downloadable and printable
documents such as minutes
from commissioners meetings,
Recreation Department sched
ules, Board of Elections, infor
mation (including past elec
tion results), and tax adminis
tration will-be available to
the public.
Of particular interest is a
web-page by the Animal
Control Department that dis
plays pictures and descrip
tions of pets available for
adoption and also allbws us
ers to join an Animal Shel
ter Email update list that
sends notifications of when
See WEBSITE On 3-A ;
Randy White
White part
of NC board
excursion
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Managing Editor
At presstime, Edenton
Chowan Board of Education
member Randy White was on
his way to take part in an ef
fort to bring greater awareness
of the needs of local school dis
tricts to those in a position to
help - our nation’s legislators.
White is part of a 45-member
delegation of North Carolina
school board members making
the trip to Washington, DC this
week. White said he was hon
ored to receive the invitation
from Eld Dunlevy, executive di
rector of the North Carolina
School Board Association. He
said that, to he best pf his
knowledge, he was the first
member from the Edenton
Chowan board invited to go,
See WHITE On Page 3-A
CMS groundhogs shadow
area professionals
BY GLENDA JAKUBOWSKI
Edenton-Chowan Schools
Nearly 50 Chowan Middle
School seventh graders
teamed with area profession
als to learn more about ca
reers and the education
needed to pursue them as part
of the seventh annual Na
tional Groundhog Job Sha
dow Day
The middle school students
shadowed doctors, veterinar
ians, restaurateurs, police
and sheriff officers, boat
builders, educators, dentists,
attorneys, allied health pro
fessionals, animal control of
ficers, newspaper reporters,
accountants, realtors, bank
ers and entrepreneurs to
learn about a typical day in
the professions.
As in previous years, the
student response was over
whelmingly enthusiastic.
"It was the absolute most
fun thing I have ever done re
lated to school,” said Chowan
student Maria Rojas, who
shadowed Elizabeth Mumm,
of Chowan Hospital. “I had
the best time!”
Groundhog Job Shadow
Day is part of Edenton
Chowan Schools’ Career
John A. Holmes High School math teacher Ruth Bass
shares her day with Groundhog Job Shadow Day partici
pants Dominique Leary (left) and Katashee Parks (right),
both Chowan Middle School students. Nearly 50 area pro
fessionals teamed with students who used the opportu
nity to learn more about the work world.
Technical Education Pro
gram. The program teaches
employability skills to stu
dents in kindergarten
through high school, empha
sizing responsibility, speak
ing skills and workplace writ
ing. The annual Business
Expo, Workers and their Ve
hicles Day, and a strong part
nership with the College of
the Albemarle also are part
of the Career-Technical Edu
cation Program.
The Chowan students
wrote essays, resumes and
provided references as part
of their applications to par
ticipate in the program. The
students also interviewed
their guides to the work
world about the education
levels, specific skills and tal
ents required for the various
jobs.
“I am so grateful to the
businesses who volunteered
to participate in this year’s
Groundhog Job Shadow Day,”
said Chowan Middle School
guidance counselor Julie
Perry. “Their dedication to
the future well being of our
youth is evident through the
sacrifices they made to par
See SHADOW On Page 3-A
Wins award
Chowan Herald staff wri
ter Angela Perez has re
ceived a third place award
for sports feature writing
from the NC Press Associa
tion. The award was pre
sented last Thursday even
ing at a ceremony held at
the Friday Center in Chapel
Hill, NC.
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Hot times in the Carib
bean_1-C
CMS Bulldogs take the
win_1-B
SPCA Ban
quet to be
held...3-A
Chowan County 4-H’ers;
are honored with cer
emony_.~_.54