Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / June 19, 1986, edition 1 / Page 2
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f -f Page A2-The Chronicle, Thursdt Bus accident to the situation.*' Mrs. Phillips said situations like this one focus more attentibn on the need to teach drivers how to stay calm. Focusing On The Positive I : 1 Situations like this also tend to spotlight only the negative, she said. She said people have overlooked the fact that the r system transported thousands of ^ students home safely that day. "They overlook that we have j many students who are exercising good behavior on the buses/' she said. "Many of our schools put on very positive programs in support of good discipline." Mrs. Phillips said that campaigns are often held in the schools, reminding students of and rewarding them for good * behavior on the buses. "By no means is school bus discipline a big problem," she said. "Ninety-five percent of the children go home and behave orderly. We do have a few who would never cooperate. But by no means do they constitute a majority." Chancel Brown, principal of Old Town Elementary School, I- > said that every school has some problems with discipline on school buses. "I don't think Old Town is any different from any other school," he said. "In fact, 1 feel real good about the kind of discipline we have on.the bus. What we had on this day were a lot of excited kids going home." , NAAGP's w By CHERYL WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer If the city-county school system really believed in a newly adopted ! policy, predominantly black ^outh Park High School wouldn't exist, said NAACP President Walter Marshall at Monday night's school board/ 1; meeting. The revised policy advocates placing students with "special needs" among other students in regular school settings as much as ; possible. But South Park represents just the opposite, since its student body solely consists of physically and mentally handicapped students, Marshall said. "In all probability, South Park is the most restrictive environment,'* Marshall told- schoolboard members Monday night, referring to language in the policy that encourages placing students in the "least restrictive" environment, or regular school settings. Some students identified as ___ having special needs attend regular high schools, Marshall said. So should students at South i Park, he said. Minority enrollment at South Jobs From Pag | "I never found getting a job a problem," said Mrs. Bonner. 1? t a r>? Idui; u can oe nara ior some people looking for_a job." The Bonners are part of a statistic that traditionally has troubled the black community. ;! They are among the estimated 7.9 percent of blacks who are :i unemployed in the county, according to the state Employment Security Commission. The unemployment rate among blacks is usually twice that br whites, said Grover C. Teeter Jr., manager of the commission's office in Winston-Salem. Teeter estimated that the jobless rate among whites was 3.5 percent in i A 9? I. j * The unemployment rate among I btocks in Fortyth County in 1985 to a jobless rate among whites in the county of 3.1 percent. North Carolina had an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent in May, while the national It ly, June 19, 1986 From Rage A1 kv < ^2^ET ** . \kSI /ijflk ?jfr /^H I A bus unloads summer-schoo School Board Chairman Garlene Grogan said that she didn't think it was fair to'assign blame to anybody. "It was an accident," she said. "1 don't want to assign blame because it causes a lot of hard feelings. Thc thing we have to do ic Uarn frrvrr? tkic ** ?v?M a? Bi VIII V111J lllVIUWIIIi Board member Jane Goins said that the driver used poor judgment in continuing the route while he was aggravated. "He /alter Marsh Park during the last school year was 150 out of a total of 205 students, or 73 percent. Marshall said that the NAACP feels very strongly that SpUth Park should be eliminated and those students mainstreamed into the other high schools. South Park serves no purpose except to identify and stigmatize students, he said. Superintendent Zane E. Eargle, however, does not think that South Park's existence con flicts with the policy. "The board is simply saying that, where appropriate, individual students should be served in as least restrictive a model as possible," he said. "It does not say that all students will be served in the least restrictive model." But Marshall said he is not satisfied with that explanation or with the board's vote approval of the policy. He said Tuesday that, although the board listened to his questions, it didn't really consider his concerns. "I just felt that the policy didn't address the needs oi A A "1 v n i jobless rate was reported at 7.3 percent last month. The national unemploymem rate among blacks was 15J1 per cent in May, according tc statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. The jobless rat< among whites was 6.3 percent nationally last month. Observers cite many reasons for the gap between black anc white unemployment. Mam :mentioned, _ti*e differences ir ' education afid training. Otheri say discrimination stiU prevails ir the county. Some even say the alread) bleak black unemployment picture may be worse that th< numbers say. Government statistics on unemployment ar< ... inaccurate because they oaky ae< count those who have/ stopped looking for jobs, says Waitei Marshall, president of th< Winston-Salem NAACP. "A lot of them get discouraged i* ^ V - T &?->?* * ^ ^ r m - H X9 ^V| v.^1 H I students at Parkland High Schcx should never have started the bus again," she said, adding that the driver should have returned die bus to school. But Mrs. Goins also said that the students may be partly to blame for the accident. Another Incident 'y .; . In another incident, two students and their mother allege 1 that the two boys were attacked by a group of other students while riding home on a school bus. tall: School bo: special students," he said. But when it conies to issues concerning minorities, he said, there is never enough discussion. "There's npt- enough discussion or debate x>a usuquKbm.it . comes to children r scale," he said. Marshall said that there are no advocates for children on the "other end of the scale." Had the issue concerned academically gifted students, he said, the meeting room would have been packed. Marshall said he also is bothered by the discipline section of the policy^ This section allows children with special needs to be corporally punished for misbehavior in [ the same manner as, other students. The exception is a child who has a physical handicap that would make such punishment detrimental to his health or welfare. Marshall said the exception should also include students with mental handicaps. In other action, the board voted to hire Joseph H. Baxter of Alabama as music coordinator for the school system, but not mmmmmmmmmmnmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm Ii ( and don't look for jobs anymore," Marshall said. "Traditionallv. blacks didn't . have the skills or education that > whites have," Teeter said. "It is hard for a black person to . make it through the school system," said Brenda Evans, Problem Center director for the i Experiment In Self Reliance Inc., I a local agency that works with j poor and unemployed people. t. ; Many blacks have low educatibrt and skil^^dfindk difficult t to get a job, Nls. Evans said. However, more blacks are f finishing high school and landing jobs, she said. 5 Taylor H. Cox, director of the t division of business and ? economics at Winston-Salem . State University, said blacks need (historically have) held are disap, pearing," Cox said. "Many don't have the skills for the new I jobs." wmmimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm jyt T" hHSKs HBP'- IIBPP^WE >1 (photo by James Parker). Sheila L. Jeter of 1438 Oak St. said that the bus driver, 27-yearold Roderick Orr, invited the students to beat her sons, Kenneth, 12, and Reginald, 8. The incident happened last March. James H. Kleu, principal of -Bolton Elementary School, where? the two boys attend, acknowledge^ ed that something did occur on the bus* but would not say what. After the investigation was turned over to the state attorney general's office, school officials ard's newly re without opposition. Board members Thomas C. Voss, Jane D. Goins and John S. Holleman voted against the hiring. ^. .. Toss said that he was, disappointed that someone ftom . within the school system wasn't hired. "I'm disappointed that a school system this big doesn't have anybody qualified," he said. Voss also questioned Baxter's ahilifv tf? rnnrHinatP ?nrh a lar?? system. Voss said that Baxter, who is 31, is relatively young for the position. "We have a big program,*' he said. "I'm real concerned about his experience as an ad^ministrator." Baxter is a band director at Lee High School in Huntsville, Ala. He worked previously as a banfl director and as a choral director. The NAACP's Marshall said he also is concerned about Baxter's hiring. "The former coordinator was _ black, and they are replacing him with a white man," Marshall Frank Reid, employment manager at the Integon Corp., agreed. Minorities need to acquire specialized skills, he said. Many jobs in the county require specialized training, Reid said. Many blacks don't have the skills for these specialized jobs, he added. 44We call this structural unemployment," Reid said. "We need to retrain these folks to fh Trp Nancy N. Young, manager of corporate affairs at the Hanes Group, said minorities also find it difficult to land jobs because they don't have any experience. 'It hard to get a job without experience," Ms. Young said. "It is hard to get experience without j-a job;" ; , v V: service and communications fields. We must have the skills for those jobs." Please see page A3 * & " ' . -'S N " i^'V ^V:V^A- Vk Sfej i ???.i - .* ' *<A :V': 2 ' .'. T->&- '' would not comment on their own j investigation. This incident also brought up j the question of discipline on the | school buses. But school officials would not say what, if any, < disciplinary action was taken ] against the Students who may \ have been involved* ? ' < Sharing The Responsibility - . V ' ; ' ' . J ti? ? ,,1.1...,/ ihh ^1.^1 me propiems wiin oib conouct would be alleviated if parents i would accept riidrc responsibility. < "The responsibility squarely \ lies with the parents," she said. "Parents need to be held accdun- I table for their children's . behavior. 1 advocate strong parental involvement. The school < system can't take responsibility ] for parenting." j Beaufort O. Bailey, the lone i black on the school board, ] agrees. "1 think the parents should j share some of this ; responsibility," he said. "We as j parents don't do our job at < home." t Miss Beatty also suggests that < the board adopt a stronger policy rMArrlino Hue pnnHnr?t nnar/t 1 - WQ?. W WIIMUV % &/VUI VI I members, however, are satisfied j with the present one. < "I think we need to review it, j but, as far as I'm concerned, it's i . Mrs. Phillips said the system- ] wide policy for handling < discipline on the buses allows bus drivers to issue conduct slips >t One copy of the slip goes to the j assistant principal and a copv < vised policy is 1 said. 4'We (NAACP) are concerned with this replacement, t They had to go way outside the > system to do it." ^ The former music coordinator \ J was the latfc Bernard Foy, a black \ man. ^ I I FACTFRMiH ^ - y I * '*T' . H . ^?* _. . jl II t *' . i.i^V**" ^ v^' [I V (f V ,..w .. 'a . -.V \ ' ' K. * * T- * -;~v . >* ' * * ?& ' ; f '*v r " ^ ^ " joes home to the parent. "Action may be taken on the first offense depending on what the offense is,'*'she said. Mrs. Phillips also said that the ichoo! system has a "Code of >. Bus Conduct" that is brought to - inc aiicnuon 01 oom parents ana students at each school. The code details how students should conduct themselves at bus itops, when boarding and leaving .* ami while on buses. ? luthority to handle misbehavior an the school bus as he would misbehavior at school. Other Ideas - .? > -Jg. . The board has considered 3ther ideas. Its Policy Committee Has discussed <^he possibility of adult monitors on the school Buses, board member John S. Holleman Jr. said. Bailey said he tavors adult * * f lit.* II1UIIIIU1S. 1 WUUIU 11KC IU set adult monitors if we can't get alladult bus drivers,'' he said. "1 ion't know where we would get the money from, but maybe we xrnld get some volunteers." Board member Gerald N Hewitt said he would like to take a closer look at the percentage of drivers under 18. But changing 3ver to all-adult bus drivers will lot solve any problems, he saicj. ?"Many?young people?are -nature, and many old drivers are :hildren," he said Hewitt said he would like to see adults ride on the buses before any holidav and on ?he tast day o 1 schoo) hypocritical Marshall said he believes there ire some people, both black and vhite, within the school system yho could do the job. p \ "You work to help the system)* f phen ypu promote.from within,' \ le said. ?x.- , ' n . 1 I ' r;.'. I * . . MMMMIgjffiH ,.r ? . ' ,.-' .... .. - - . '
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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June 19, 1986, edition 1
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