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Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Partnership strengthens education opportunities
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — High school graduates often
need remedial math and English in college.
They can lack some of the most basic skills in
the workplace. And local officials want to
change all that.
Seeking to better the workforce and hone the
academic credentials of local high school stu
dents,'educators, elected officials and business
leaders held a mutual meeting here last week.
With businesses becoming more hi-tech, and
well-paying jobs growing increasingly competi
tive, preparing high school grads for careers
will only be more challenging. And College of
The Albemarle, Edenton-Chowan and Per
quimans County schools want to perfect their
affiliation with each other. The three parties
formed an alliance eight years ago, College Tech
Prep Partnership.
Lynn Hurdle-Winslow, vice-president of cor
porate and continuing education at COA, re
layed a quote typifying a situation the partner
ship wants to stamp out.
“Too many people want to carry the stool,
when it’s the piano that needs to be moved,” she
said.
Essentially, the partnership wants to move
graduating seniors into college classrooms and
workplaces where they can flourish. An the
Early College program can help, said Rob Boyce,
an assistant superintendent with Edenton
Chowan Schools. That program allows high
school students from Chowan and Perquimans
to take college-level courses through COA.
Currently, Chowan students in grades 9
through 12 can take automotive, construction,
and computer science courses. Perquimans stu
dents can enroll in culinary arts courses offered
at COA’s Chowan Campus. All courses are ac
credited and can be transferred into other de
gree programs.
In addition, the courses are free to high school
students. Schools even pay for textbooks,
Perquimans High School guidance counselor
John Wells said.
Wells was one of the facilitators for the 2-hour
discussion period of the meeting. Groups of six
to eight rated the results of the Edenton/
Chowan Business and Education Summit held
last year. The results, compiled from surveys,
included such issues as testing competency and
graduation requirements, employer's needs
from workers, and the strength or weaknesses
of the Early College program.
The March 5 gathering rated how important
they felt the issues raised by the 2003 business
summit survey were, a process that included in
depth discussions.
Any suggestions posed to the partnership will
be considered while the Early College and other
programs are fine-tuned, Hurdle-Winslow said.
So far, officials said, the programs are meeting
their goals — one step at a time.
“We know that we’re going to have to mea
sure our success in small increments,” Boyce
said.
Groups were also asked for guidance regard
ing dropout rates, which are especially high for
freshmen. The state Department of Instruc
tion’s latest figures indicate that 20 percent of
freshmen quit school. Yet the overall dropout
rate for the 2002-03 school year decreased, the
fourth consecutive annual decline.
At Wells’ table, most didn’t like the idea of
corralling ninth graders into freshmen-only
classrooms. The cost of doing so, they said,
would likely outweigh the potential benefits of
keeping 14- and 15-year-old students away from
bullying and intimidating by upperclassmen.
Others felt freshmen needed to be separated
from bigger, older students during the crucial
9th-grade year.
Edenton Town Manager Anne-Marie Kni
ghton, one of about 60 on hand for the meeting,
applauded the partnership’s efforts. “My hat is
off to everybody who is working so hard on this
seamless educational process,” she said.
For more information about the College Tech
Prep partnership or the Early College Program,
call John A. Holmes High School at 482-8426.
16-mo. old dies
in tragic mishap
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
A 16-month old Chowan
County boy died early Sunday
night after -being accidentally
run over by his mother.
Kalnari Iqueez Boone, who
turned 1 on Oct. 13, was pro
nounced dead at Chowan Hos
pital, sheriff’s office investiga
tor Andy Bunch said Monday.
The child apparently fell out of
the car being driven by his
mother. Jacobie Nadine Boone,
23, and was run over, Bunch
said.
The accident occurred at
Sandy Terrace Drive, just west
of Edenton. It was reported at
4:55 p.m.
Jacobie Boone, who lived
with her son at 3303 Joyful
Lane, has not been charged in
the accident. Bunch said. The
cause is currently being ruled
accidental. An investigation is
ongoing, Bunch added.
Kamari Boone is also the son
of Andrew Felton of Edenton
Manor Apartments.
Deputies Allen Browder and
Howard Askew responded to
the scene.
Award-winning
C-SPAN bus will
visit high school
The award-winning C-SPAN
School Bus, a 45-foot television
production studio and demon
stration center, continues its
trek around the country with
a visit to John A. Holmes High
School in Edenton. The bus’s
visit to Edenton is sponsored
by Mediacom where C-SPAN is
found on channel 34.
On March 19, from 9 a.m. -1
p.m., the bus will visit John A.
Holmes High School at 600
Woodard Street, Edenton, NC.
During the visit, the bus staff
will provide tours and discuss
the importance of balance in
disseminating information,
especially during an election
year. The students and teach
ers will also be introduced to
C-SPAN’s 2004 Vote Tour and
introduced to C-SPAN’s educa
tion iniatives including Elec
toral College Poster and Cam
paign Cam. Local officials
have been invited to visit the
bus.
Now on its eleventh nation
wide tour, the C-SPAN School
Bus continues to visit cable
communities to introduce stu
dents, educators and viewers
to the political process and C
SPAN programming. While
aboard the bus, visitors will
learn more about the net
work’s philosophy, program
ming goals, information/edu
cation resources and critical
viewing techniques.
The C-SPAN School Bus em
barked on its first tour in No
vember 1993 and was joined by
a second Bus on Jan. 1,1996. In
1995, the C-SPAN School Bus
received the Golden CableAce
and Beacon awards for its con
tribution to the community
and for bringing the political
process to life for educators,
students and viewers.
Edenton's most famous historic site was the victim of a weekend break-in. A pane of glass was broken to gain
entry. Police Chief Greg Bonner said that an attempted robbery may have been the motive for the crime; an inves
tigation into the break-in is continuing. (Chowan Herald file photo)
Police say attempted robbery was
probable motive for site break-in
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
A historic home on Edenton’s waterfront was the site of a
break-in over the weekend and police are hopeful they’ll nab
the suspect.
Edenton Police Chief Greg Bonner said someone broke into
the Barker House, most likely Saturday night. The break-in
was reported to police .Sunday, Bonner said. The suspect en
tered the home, a cornerstone of the town’s Historic District,
through a door that faces Edenton Bay. A pane of glass was
broken to gain entry, Bonner said. An estimated $200 damage
to the door was reported, Bonner said. The door is actually
part of the front of the home, although visitors typically en
ter through a door on the opposite side of the structure —
which faces South Broad Street.
In addition, a birdcage on the first floor was also damaged.
The cage typically holds visitors’ donations to the historic
home.
“It’s possible someone had seen money in there,” Bonner
said of the birdcage, “or knew that it (often) holds money
and broke into the building for that reason.”
The suspect also apparently rummaged through a desk and
file cabinet drawers. Bonner said Monday that there is no
evidence that anything was stolen from the home.
Although there were no identified suspects at press time,
Bonner said police were still investigating the break-in.
“I feel pretty sure we’ll find out who broke in there,” he
said.
Located at 509 S. Broad St., the house was moved to its
waterfront location in 1952. The home was built in 1782 and
enlarged in the 1820s. It was once the home of Penelope and
Thomas Barker. Penelope Barker was the purported leader
of the Edenton Tea Party in 1774.
Members of the Planning Committee for the Celebration
of the Reopening of the 1767 Chowan County Courthouse
gathered on the courthouse green to kick-off the event
planning. (Staff photo by Angela Perez)
Work on courthouse set
to end in summer 2004
By ANGELA PEREZ
Staff Writer
Friday, October 8, 2004 has
been designated the official
date of the public reopening of
the restored 1767 Chowan
County Courthouse, according
to county officials. In January,
the N.C. Repair and Renova
tion fund granted the final
amount of $199,895.00 needed
to finally complete the restora
tion of the courthouse. Con
tractors and county officials
estimate that the historic site
will be completed by June 30,
2004. Public events surround
ing the reopening are being
scheduled around the official
opening date. Local, state, na
tional, and foreign officials are
being invited to attend and the
Edenton Historic Commission
is planning a formal gala on
the courthouse green that
evening.
The total cost spent on the
restoration project, which was
begun in 1991, has been
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$3,236,673. The majority of the
funds were granted through
state and federal sources.
“If you only had one sen
tence to best sum it up, I would
say that it is the most intact
colonial court house in
America,” said Linda Jordan
Eure, Historic Edenton Site
Manager. “And now we will be
able to show it to visitors so
they can appreciate the his
tory. A lot of people in Eden
See SUMMER On Page 3-A
INjSIDE THIS WEEK
Aces trump
the tigers in
‘04 season
opening...11-A
Holmes begins a news
paper.
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Quilts “speak” of the
past_„....2-C
Read Across America
comes to Edenton..1-C