Wood: LIFT Academy addressing financial problems :
By PAUL COLLINS
THBCWMWOLB
The LIFT Academy has been
taking measures to address its
financial problems, Dr. Frank
Wood, chairman of the school's
board of directors, said Monday.
He said the situation has stabilized,
and "we expect no further prob
lems the remainder of this school
year."
He declined to discuss the situ
ation in detail until after the
board's meeting yesterday after
The Chronicle's press time.
The Chronicle contacted Wood
after Ansylene Mitchell, a former
teacher at LIFT Academy, told
The Chronicle that her 403-B
retirement account with the school
was, according to her calculations,
$1,379.13 short. She also said that
on several occasions she had been
paid late by the school or her pay
chocks bounced because the school
had insufficient funds, and on one
occasion the school paid her in
cash.
The LIFT Academy is a public
charter school in Winston-Salem
*
m
that is geared toward at-risk stu
dents, but accepts any students
Richard KJontz of the Office of
Charter Schools of the N.C.
Department of Public Instruction,
said that LIFT Academy receives
state and local tax funds This
school year, the school received
about $3,200 in state money per
student.
Kerry Crutchfield, director of
finance for Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County Schools, said the LIFT
Academy received about $1,642 in
local tax money for each student
this school year. He said the aver
age number of students at LIFT
Academy this school year was
about 167.
Mitchell took a layoff from
LIFT Academy effective March 31
after Ear line Parmon, executive
director of LIFT Academy, gave
her a choice of either taking a 39
percent pay cut or layoff. The 39
percent pay cut would have reduced
Mitchell's salary from $903 before
taxes every two weeks to $550. In
January, the staff had to "tem
porarily" take a 15 percent pay cut,
M. "I , ;r
which reduced Mitchell's before
tax salary from $1,000 to $903
every two weeks, Mitchell said. ( r
"I have two kids and a hus
band." Mitchell said. "1 have seven
years of experience. Getting $350
every two weeks, that's not me. I'm
a professional. 1 went to college for
a reason."
Mitchell said her 403-B retire- '?
ment account with LIFT Academy
was short. On Monday, Wood said
he had talked with Parmon, who
told him that "everything is right r
Set UFT on AtO
;
ftlfllftaff
?
I I I I I I ?
75 c*nts Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point vol. xxv n?. 36 rt
The Chronicle
S1?6?^ CAR-RT-SORT C012 . 7974 - Celebrating 25 Years - 7999
MM FORSYTH CNTY PUB ^M||
| WINSTON SALEM NC 27101-2755 1 -w^ <tf ^ ^ ..&. ?
The best of times
Photo by Brace Chapman
fmif lOAA jkA M/|ga?A(uBaCMlAaM CfwvfM IIfifiMMfik# jgiM 0m ?? 0mm u ranf li ? JinlAHMf CMIIIMIMW JBA IjnimMM IAAJ AkltMimi
wwww VIBIl or IttT or VvlfWivii'OUioiii oiutv vnirm ?njr or u Off srrirics os rrtcy reccivea meir aipiornof fururouj or towr erne row Lorrsfjurn.
IWSSU graduates largest class ever
' ? . ' * . ' y
By T KfiVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
For more than two hours Sat
urday morning, they were
celebrities.
Flashes from cameras record
ed their every move. Messages of
adoration, scrolled across color
ful banners, dangled from rail
ings and balconies. *
And their names were yelled
out by thousands as they made a
dramatic march into the
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memori
al Coliseum while a band played
a protracted version of "Pomp
and Circumstance."
More than 550 Winston
Salem State University students
walked away with bachelor's
' * > ' m
degrees this past weekend. They
made up the school's largest
graduating class ever. The gradu
ates fBTmed a sea of blade caps
and gowns as they sat anxiously
in chairs on the coliseum floor,
waiting for the official words
that would finally transform
them from students to alumni.
But before that transforma
tion would come, they were
treated to a host of speeches. The
speakers spiced their addresses
with talk about the "real world,"
"taking risks" and other typical
graduation spiel.
The chairman of the univer
sity's" board of trustees,
Theodore Blunt, told grads to
keep WSSU in their hearts wher
ever their careers take thent The
city's mayor, Jack Cavanagh,
urged them to keep their
addresses in Winston-Salem.
Cavanagh used some of his
time to ask the the students not
to say good-bye to the city just
because they are leaving WSSU.
Keeping Gen-Xers here has
become one of Cavanagh's cru
sades.
"I hope you will remain here
because we need you here in
Winston-Salem," Cavanagh said.
But it was commencement
speaker Chuck Stone, a national
ly renowned journalism profes
sor at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, who
brought them to their feet and
awakened their Ram pride.
"You are a bad class!" Stone
?f - ? . , *
said to thunderous applause. "I
hold these truths to be self-evi
dent that to f>e a Ram is the high
est power....A Ram will butt an
Aggie into bad health."
Stone bought their attention
with his knowledge, wit and even
his money. During his speech,1
Stone gave one graduate a crisp
$50 bill after he correctly guessed
the origins of the phrase "It was
the best of times. It was the
worst of times." .
The phrase is the opening
lines of the Dickens classic "A
Tale of Two Cities."
Stone used the famous
phrase to describe the state of
blacks in America seven months
before the millennium. The high
See WSSU on All
/
I N D K X
OPINION A6
SPORTS * ?l
RILIOION B6
CLASSIFIEDS B9
NIALTH C3
INTER. C7
CALENDAR CI1
I Thi* Week In I
| Black Hiitory... I
May 13, 1871 - Alcorn
AAM^CoUjtgc opens la
May 17, 1954 - The U A
Supreme Court rules on
Brown ?. Board o4 Bdu
j I
???sihiliasasnsiasi
i
?
Rookie finds life on the streets different
The following article is part of an
ongoing series about Officer Stephen
Williams, a rookie with the Winston
Salem Police Department. The
Chronicle will follow Williams
through his first few months on the
force to see how he ad/usts to life on
the streets
By T.KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Like many students, Officer
Shen Williams burned the mid
t oil during his months in rook
ie school. There were search and
seizure procedures to be learned,
state and federal laws to be memo
rized and weekly tests and quizzes.
After becoming a Winston
Salem police officer in March,
Williams, like many graduates has
come to the realization that a class
room and textbooks can never fully
prepare one for the real world.
"You learn certain things in
school, but then you get out on the
street and it's not really how it
works," Williams said. "The book
scenario is always perfect and
peachy-keen..and it just doesn't
work like that on the streets."
But even though he received his
law enforcement certificate weeks
ago, his full acclimation into the
force could take several more weeks
or months.
This week Williams will enter the
second phase of his post-rookie
school training. All rookies in the
department must complete 12 weeks
of on-the-job training. Rookies
shadow a senior officer for the first
six weeks, observing the procedures
they use and picking up helpful
hints. During the last six weeks,
rookies are assigned to a different
senior officer, and they take on a
larger share of the policing duties
while the senior officer closely mon
itors their every action.
Williams was scheduled to begin
the second phase of his training on
the day of the interview. Although
he says he still has much more to
learn, he was confident and ready to
complete his training.
"So far it has been a challenge.
It's kind of a juggling act. You're
answering calls, you're writing
reports, you're helping back up the
other guys on calls, and you're trying
to get a bite to eat in edgewise. I
think I've lost a couple pounds
because I've missed some meals," he
Set Rookie on A9
WmMMCU * 'OR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (BBS) 722-8624 ? MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMSRICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED ? I
^ ** v* V
* * V r
Blaylock makes
mark on Wall
Street, golf course
By DAMON FORD
THE CHRONICLE ^_ .
Ronald Blaylock is a busy man.
After watching, his company, Blaylock and Partners, clinch an $8 bil
lion bond deal for AT&T along with financial bigwigs like Merrill Lynch
and J.P. Morgan last month, the Winston-Salem i i
native is ready to wind down.
This weekend he'll put up his suit and tie and
trade his briefcase for a golf bag during the first
James E. Blaylock Senior Golf Tournament.
Blaylock says attending the event, named for
his father who passed away last year, is-a pleasure.
"I'm just immensely excited about it that they
decided to do something that substantial," he said.
"It means more than any business deal."
That's saying a lot. The AT&T deal was the
largest in history. Because of deals like this and oth
ers inrlndinp a *100 million bond deal for the Ten
nessee Valley Authority in 1996. B&P has garnered national acclaim in
the business industry, including Black Enterprise's Financial Company
of the Year award last summer. ,
"We raise money primarily for Fortune 500 companies on Wall
Street," Blaylock said.
First-quarter returns this year have the company ranked 23 in under
See Blaylock on A8
m
Black leaders ask
, ?>'.
commissioners to
deny school request
; ^
By T. KEVIN WALKER , '
THE CHRONICLE ? ' A
* W
African American leaders are asking one local elected body to throw
a wrench into a controversial plan conceived by another elected body.
NAACP President Bill Tatum, the Rev. Carlton Eversley and other
rnnrprnpH piti7pn? thp Fnrcvth Cnuntv RnarH . - #
of Commissioners Monday to deny a request by
the city-county school board for $1.25 million to
support the system's theme schools.
Overall, the school board is asking commission
ers for $4.5 million more than the nearly $75 mil
lion budgeted for the system by the county this
year.
In a brief, rapid-fire speech to commissioners,
Eversley used strong words to denounce theme
Schools, redistricting dnd the school system top
brass.
"It has been a sham." he said at one point,
describing themes, the redistricting plan and the system's defense of
both. t A
Themes for schools range from arts and science, to math and medi
' NAACP on A11
EvmrtUy
Pltto by T. bote OUkar
Officer Stophon William* flip* through on* of Mi textbooks from
rook it school. Williams says ho often rotor* to hi* hook*, ovon
though ho it now rocoMng on-tho-job training.