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I Schools hold annual minority teacher recruitment weekend I
I By KLEC1A McMLUN
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
Schools held its fourth will minority
leather recruitment weekend ApnJ 17-19
at the M . C. Benton Convention Center.
More than 80 teachers from around the
state participated this year. On Friday,
April 17, a banquet and program was
held in honor of the candidates. Edna
Crews, assistant superintendent,
presided at the Friday evening banquet
and program. Robert Burns, assistant
principal of East Forsyth High School;
Valeria Edwards, assistant principal,
Bolton Elementary School; Ann
Little,and the Keith Byrd Bond provided
entertainment.
Dr. Josephine F. Griffin, personnel
manager Elementary Division, coordi
nates (his weekend each year, and she
was very pleased with the increased par
ticipation of the teachers. The candi
dates were invited to tour the schools as
well as the city, participate in interviews
with administrators, meet with mentors,
and confer with first-year teachers in an
informal setting. For Superintendent
Donald Martin, more participation
from minority teachers means more will
be hired into the local school system. In
1995, Martin hired 14 of the iA educa
tors who attended; in 19%, he hired 22
of the 26 involved; in 1997, he hired 37
of the 58 invited; and this year, he could
hire 40 of the 80 instructors.
The inception of minority recruit
men i weekend emerged from the vision
of Dr. Donald Martin. Superintendent.
His goal is to recruit qualified personnel
to serve in the system's "most difficult to
rind" positions, and to recruit exception
al candidates identified by their col
lege/university as being among the most
outstanding graduates in Teacher Edu
cation programa The systems most spe
cific areas of need include teaching
fellows, special education, mathematics,
science. Master's Level Speech, African
Americans and male candidates.
The keynote speaker for the banquet
on Friday was Benjamin S. Ruffin, Vice
President Corporate Affairs, R. J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company. His topic
for the address was "It lakes a Village to
Raise a Child." He reminded the candi
date* how important teacher* are lor the
sustenance of the village. "You are the
real anchor to the village. We can go
back, laugh and recite thing* we learned
a* children when we were m school," he
i laid. He recalled teacher* who muff an *
impact on his lifc^specialiy his instrue- *1
tor who purchased Rufftn's first pair of
eyeglasses hmiisr his mother ooiiM not
afford them. His teacher sent him to Dr.
Robert Dawson who designed his glass
es. The teacher also helped him with his
school work after hours.
"You do not realize bow important
teachers are in a community. You are
not only teachers but guidance coun
Srt MSNOMTY am Ag
75 c?ilf
Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point vol. xxiv No. 34
Twp Chronicle
PERIODICALS lIB
fors^? ^ 5^'t 2 0 2755 Choice for African-American News and Information e-moil address: wschronOnofuniimiiod.iMt;
HAWS layoffs
not retaliation
By SHARON BROOKS HODGE
THE CHRONICLE Editor
Housing Authority Director Marie Rose
boro said there was no ulterior motive behind
* any of the layoffs at the agency last week,
if On Wednesday, four managers were termi
'seated from their positions ? Robert Faulk, a
i /"purchasing manager; Gary Walton, an assis
tant housing director; John J. Taylor, an assis
tant housing director and the manager of the
authority's alternative housing and J. Fred
Acree, an internal auditor and occupancy
manager. The staff reduction, said Roseboro,
was made to strengthen the department's
financial stabilft?
Within the depart
ment; however, there'*
talk that one of the four
people fired had teat *
letter of complaint
the federal Department
of Homing and Urban
Development about
Roseboro's manage
ment of the houiing
authority.
"That's the first I've
heard about such a let
ter" Roseboro remarked
Mfl lii Kmtmbore
, on Tuesday. "There was no retaliation. It was
?ft decision based on finances."
? According to Roseboro, HAWS is only
Ibw emerging from a financial crisis, and the
AOQt in management salary expenses was nec
essary to keep the agency on solid financial
footing.
* "We were in jeopardy of being taken over
by HUD," Roseboro said. "The media and
the public didn't know that we were in that
kind of trouble, but that was the shape we
Were in."
*' "To remain in good graces with the feder
al authorities, housing authorities are
required to keep a reserve account that
? junounts to at least 30 percent of the opera
tional budget," Roseboro explained. Howev
er, when she took over as HAWS director in
January 1997, that reserve was just over 20
percent.
? Since then, the reserve account has grown
'to about 63 percent. "Last week's reduction
in force is expected to net S230.000 in sav
ings," she said, adding that the goal is to have
$4.3 million stashed away for a rainy day.
"The money," she said would be on hand in
the event of federal budget cuts or to run pro
grams that did not receive outside funding.
. "We're spending taxpayers money, so we
See HAWS on AS
I
Roundtable \
won't endorse
Triad baseball -
V. ?,
By DAMON HOftD ; I
TM?OnNicLeR?qim? ? ;
With the debate over major league baseball
coming to the Triad area continuing, the Black ?
Leadership Roundtable of Winston- :
Salem/ Forsyth County gave its opinion on
Monday at noon.
"The African-American community in
Winston
Salem/Forsyth County
is not a political, ideo
logical or religious
monolith and the
diversity of our com
munity is likewiic
reflected by the differ
ing opinion! expreued
about the public fund
ing for the baseball sta
dium," said
Roundtable member
Khalid Griggs. "The
| Roundtable, as an orga
I m>w Mfamlil.
MirrJr VfvfTIDIV
nization has decided to neither endorse nor
oppose the referendum on the construction of a
baseball stadium in the Triad."
This announcement comes two and half
weeks after another contingent of leaders in the
African-American community met and signed
a covenant with N.C. Chief Executive Officer of
Major League Baseball, Don Beaver. The
covenant states that certain services and oppor
tunities will be given in exchange for the sup
port of Winston-Salem's African-American
community during the May 3 vote.
According to Roundtable member and state
Rep. Larry Womble. there are several reasons
for the organization's stance on the issue.
Statements about new jobs and the quality
of life were some reasons in favor of voting
"yes." The food tax and the stipulation of tak
ing public money and using it to finance a pri
vate enterprise are the concerns of Roundtable
members saying "no" to baseball.
Womble also feels that African Americans
need to separate the two issues at hand.
"One issue is the baseball stadium, the other
issue is the tax," stated Womble.
Speaking for himself and not The Round
table, Womble said "I support baseball, I
played baseball (and) we all love baseball, but it
i .
Set ROUNDTAMJ im A3
Watts, Clayton called pro-environment
By HERBERT L. WHITE
OoniolfalMBd M*dto Oroup
N.C. Reps. Mel Watt and Eva
Clayton are among the most pro
environment members of Congress,
according to a national conserva
tion group
Watt, a Charlotte Democrat
who reprsents the 12th District,
voted pit)-environment 81 percent
of the time, according to the Wash
ington-based League of Conserva
tion Voters. Clayton, who
represents the 1st District, scored
75 percent pro-environment on
LCV's Natinal Environment Score
card. The Congressional Black
Caucus, of which Watt and Clay
\ ton are both members, outscored
?Congress as a whole - 74 percent to
?*7. On average, members in the
>f House and Senate, both Republi
can-controlled - cast more votes
against environmental protection
than for it.
"Members of the Congressional
Black Caucus are the real unsung
heroes of environmental legisla
tion," said Bunyan Bryant, profes
sor in the School of Natural
Resources and the Environment at
the University of Michigan.
"Throughout the years, their votes
in support of environmental issues
have been unwavering. They should
be commended for their hard work
to protect our public health and
natural resources."
Bryant, a member of the LCV
Board of Directors, teaches courses
on environmental justice issues in
which pollution disproportionately
affects black communities.
The scorecard includes congres
sional votes on environmental jus
tice, natural resource protection
and funding of environmental pro
!trams as determined by experts
rom 27 environmental and conser
vationjgroups. Percentage scores
are assigned to each respresentative
and senator, with 100 percent the
strongest voting support.
Georgians were at the top and
bottom of the CBC list. John Lewis
scored 100 percent, while Rep San
ford Bishop brought up the rear af
19 percent. Carol Mosely-Brauir
(D-III). the only African American
in the Senate, scored 81 percent.
Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma,
who isn't a member of the Caucus,
had the lowest score of any black
member of Congress with 6 per
cent.
11,1
wVOJT
Ira Clayton
execut
RALEIGH
To date, nine white peopShave been executed ? two by gas and
Flowers ? eau of Investiga
tion mate named
Capes^
btweatf v i had put oc I ;
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