Are charter schools being derailed
from page 1
cans, who traditionally belong to
the Democratic Party, has many
black politicians worried.
"Conservatives have an
agenda," said Warren "Pete" Old
ham, who represents Forsyth
County's District 67. "It appears to
me ... that the conservative Repub
licans are using the African Ameri
cans."
"They are appealing to us and
telling us that there is a need (for
charter schools)," Oldham added
Charter schools and its sibling
issue, school vouchers, are often
discussed under the umbrella of
school choice. Called the "sleeper
issue" of the decade by Emerge
magazine, school choice is the one
area where white conservatives and
the African-Amerjcan community
don't agree to disagree: they just
plain agree.
And there are some who claim
to stand for both the conservative
party and African-American inter
ests.
Local attorney Vernon Robin
son, the Republican candidate for
state superintendent, was defeated
by Democrat Michael Ward last
fall. One of the state's more vocal
charter school proponents, Robin
son has continued to work as presi
dent of the N.C. Education Reform
Foundation to assist the charter
school process.
Since the federal government
announced that the state could not
use the $1 million grant to create a
loan pool for charter school start
up, Robinson has been soliciting
private organizations and busi
nesses for the funds. Seven North
Carolina banks had previously
pledged $5 million for the loan
pool; this fund depended on the ini
tial federal grant to offset potential
losses.
Democrats in North Carolina
public office haven't pushed hard
enough for charter school funding,
charges Robinson, and some have
openly attempted to thwart the
charter school process.
"The Department of Public
Instruction has never been engaged
in good faith during the whole
time," said Robinson, who said that
state department failed to either
solicit banks for the guarantee, or
expend much energy to amend the
grant application.
Not being able to tap into a
larger source of money will hurt
those charter schools that are not
already operating as private or non
profit institutions, said Robinson.
Most schools plan to open July 1.
"[It] hurts folks who need
buildings the most, and that's the
black charter schools," said Robin
son. He believes that the superin
tendent should have lobbied the
governor, both senators and all 12
congress people to rework the grant
application.
Robinson believes that many of
the legislators who are not working
on behalf of charter schools don't
understand the concept of alterna
tive public schools.
"Flossie Boyd-Mclntyre
(minority house whip) said that
[charter] schools are going to have
to choose whether they are public
or private," said Robinson. This
statement, he said, illustrates a fun
damental lack in understanding of
charter schools, which are publicly
funded, run by parents, community
members and teachers, and must
have 75 percent of the teaching
staff certified by the state.
Boyd-Mclntyre was not avail
able for comment.
Oldham agreed that charter
schools are public "in a technical*
way."
But, Oldham added, "They are
not public in the same way schools
under the jurisdiction of a school
board are."
Oldham said he supports the
concept of charter schools. "They
offer an opportunity to innovate and
experiment without involving a
large number of people," he said.
"But 1 am a strong proponent of
public schools."
Oldham doesn't think the state
should allow benefits to follow
teachers who move from traditional
public schools to positions at char
ter schools.
"I think charter schools ought
to make some provisions for the
people they hire," Oldham said,
adding that to do otherwise would
allow a "free ride at the state's
expense."
Without the loan pool, how
ever, hiring any staff may be a giant
leap for the fledgling charter
schools.
"It's going to make it very diffi
cult to hire an experienced staff,"
said Earline Parmon, director of
LIFT Academy. "... People really
thought that the legislation would
deal with that."
As a Democrat, a Forsyth
county commissioner and an
approved charter school applicant,
Parmon is a member of the dia
logue in an unusual position. Her
school already exists as a nonprofit
institution that serves students who
have been suspended or expelled
from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County school system.
Parmon said she was initially
wary of the charter school concept,
but supported her board of direc
tors' desire to apply for a charter
after the legislation passed. Though
Parmon was not "gung-ho" about
turning LIFT into a charter school,
she saw the chance to make the
academy financially independent.
As of now, LIFT's operation
depends on grants from the federal
government. Parmon judged the
recent adjustments in charter school
law relating to retirement and fund
ing as the "bad legislation of the
year."
Still, Parmon is hopeful for her
school. "One of the things we have
going for us is that we are in a
facility," she said. Some of the
charter applicants, such as the
Carter G. Woodson School of Chal
lenge, are starting from scratch,
while others such as LIFT are mak
ing a transition.
"We're just taking it one day at
a time and jumping through the
hoops," said Parmon.
Webster defines j
as a collection of precious things i
... and this community's h
most precious treasure 1
is our little children!
V
This week, communities
1 all across America
are celebrating the
Week of the Young Child.
Please join us as we salute
those special people
in whose care we place
our little treasures!
They are the
early childhood educators
and child care providers
of Forsyth County.
They are treasures, too!
f EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES:
' Good or bad, they last a lifetime!
The care and education a preschool child
| receives makes a lasting difference in learning and
behavior. Therefore, selecting preschool experiences
are some of the most important decisions a parent
k will ever make. The quality of the time and attention
K a child receives in the earliest years is critical to
K later success. We must make sure that those who
f teach and care for young children:
? Are well educated
? Understand child development
? Are paid well enough to choose early
childhood education or child care as a career
Your child's caregiver may spend more waking hours with your child than you do.
Therefore, you'll want to feel as confident about her ? in terms of moral, educational
and social values -as if she were a member of your family.
Documents from sheriff's department
from page 1
called the sheriff's office at 8:30 a.m., after
she noticed the nature of the documents.
A few papers were blown as far as Sec
ond Street before an officer and an inmate
sanitation worker were sent down to clean
up the mess.
Officer L. Needham said she was not
told what the papers were, and had assumed
the papers belonged to the law office.
Needham and the inmate arrived at
Mitchell's office around *10 a.m. Documents
were still blowing down the street at 2 p.m.
that day, said Mitchell.
Town Run Lane is less than one block
from the sheriff's office, which is on Third
Street. The dumpster for the sheriff's office
is at the lower end of the parking lot, near
Town Run Lane.
An unidentified woman from the sher
iff's administrative offices said that the
records department had transferred the doc
uments onto microfilm, and had thrown
away the hard copies. "They were acciden
tally dumped out instead of put in the
dumpster," she said.
Another woman who works in records
and did not wish to identify herself said that
the papers had fallen out of the dumpster.
Because of the amount of papers han
dled by the records department, they usu
ally do not shred documents when they
transfer the information onto microfilm.
"We had 26,000 reports, and it's kind of
hard to shred that many," said the woman.
She added that the reports are public record
and thus no privacy was violated.
Danny Tuttle, press officer for the
Forsyth Sheriff's Office, was not aware of
the incident at 1 p.m. that day. He checked
back an hour later to report that the docu
ments had been properly disposed of in the
dumpster.
"You can't control whether the wind
would blow over a dumpster," said Tattle.
"(The documents] were disposed of the way
they were supposed to be."
Tuttle agreed that the reports were pub
lic record. Mitchell said that she wanted to
make sure nothing of a confidential nature
was in the documents.'
"When you see it (reports) lying in the
street, you don't know if it's public record
or private record," said Mitchell.
Attorney Michael Grace, who special
izes in criminal law, said that autopsy
records for routine deaths are usually the
property of the hospital and are not public
record. However, said Grace, the autopsy
report may become accessible if charges
were filed as a result of wrongful death.
"It becomes public record when it is
supplied to the court," said Grace.
Still, he added, autopsy reports are fre
quently difficult to acquire.
Ministers Conference wants policies added
from page 1
Other areas that the ministers want cov
ered in the Baptist proposal are:
? Urgent care services for East Winston,
? Transportation provided for indigent
patients,
? Increased African-American medical
professional presence, in both Bowman
Gray faculty and the student body,
? Job security for current Reynolds
Health Center employees and
? Protection against a market raid on
Medicare/Medicaid-covered patients who
are now seen by independent black physi
cians.
Asking for these additional policies
does not mean that the Ministers Confer
ence supports the Baptist proposal.
"I don't think we're going to be boxed
into that question" said the Rev. Carlton A.
Eversley of Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church. Last month, Eversley's church
hosted two forums where both Baptist Hos
pital and Reynolds Health Center staff pre
sented proposals to the community.
"We are continuing that public conver
sation," added Eversley.
Reynolds Health Center's advisory com
mittee submitted an eight-page action plan
to the county earlier in the year. The action
plan addresses many of the facility's finan
cial and management problems identified in
a 1996 consulting report conducted by Tow
ers Perrin, and pledges to decrease county
support to $3-3.3 million by 2001.
Gerald Finley, Baptist Hospital's vice
president for operations, was unavailable for
comment. He is out of his office until April
21.
Friday is Smart Start Teacher Appreciation Day!
Show your child's teacher and/or child care provider
i just how much you appreciate them!
Here are some suggestions:
? Together with your child, write her a thank-you note.
? Send him a thank-you card; let your child sign it, too.
? Surprise her with a flower or mylar balloon.
? Bake him some cupcakes or cookies.
? Let your child paint her a picture,
v ? Volunteer to help with the class for a day.
?jSt, ? Take him a toy or book for the children to enjoy.
B And - much better than anything else -
is a simple sincere, "Thank you for the care
you give my child."
K join Vs' Smart
Parent* J 1st Annual
CORPENING PLAZA
100 West 2nd Street ? Winston-Salem
(Rain location: Millennium Center)
Saturday, April 19,1997 ^
FREE PARKING NEAR THE PLAZA!
Funded by Smart Start
in collaboration with local oc
V organizations and professionals. ^
? m
Main Event: 9:00 a.m.
CHILDREN'S PARADE *
Young children from across Forsyth County
will march with the YWCA "Empowering
Family Center Marching Angels"
Other Events: 10:00 -12:00 Noon
Interactive Activity Booths for Children Ages 2-5
?
Information for Parents and Child Care Providers
?
Central Stage with On-Going Entertainment
?
Free Immunizations
(only if you bring your child's health record)
?
Bookmobile and Other Large Vehicles
?
Hispanic and Sign Translators
Y
YOUR CHILD CAN MARCH IN THE PARADE!
Dress up in a costume! Bring instruments to play!
Decorate trikes, training wheel bikes, or wagons!
(No big or motorized bikes, please!)
/ Week
? of the
Young Child
April 13-19,1997
ml childhood
?"w partnership
v *? b Fostering those important first steps
For information about quality child care,
call the Smart Start Technical Assistance Center
at 722-1642 or Work/Family Resource Center
at 761-5100.
To know more about SMART START,
call Forsyth Early Childhood Partnership
at 725-6011.