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73 cents WlNSTON-SALEM GREENSBORO HIGH POINT XXVI No. 8
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6 60 w 5th st #q 1974 - Celebrating 25 Years - 1999
winston salem nc 27,0^-2755 . 1 ____...,.
Robinson stalls effort for bond passage
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE '
Christmas cards from col
leagues on the Board of Aldermen
may be slow to arrive at Vernon
Robinson's house this season.
For the second time in three
months Robinson moved "no con
sideration" on time-sensitive items
on the board's agenda, clearly
angering other aldermen who had
hoped to vote on the items Mon
day night.
A move
of "no con
sideration"
stops a vote
on a particu
lar issue and
pushes it
back to the
next board
meeting,
Northington
usually two
weeks.
Rob i n -
son moved
no consider
ation on two
> items relat
ing to the
city's iss
uance of
two-thirds
?t binson
&
bonds. The bonds, which do not
need to be approved by voters, are
a form of debt-issuance that the
city has used for years to fund pro
jects. In this case, the money
would have gone toward every
thing from street and sidewalk
improvements to upgrading at
' city-owned facilities like Ernie
Shore Field.
Sec Robinson on A10
Move by alderman prompts outburst by a senior board member
Sharing memories
ni
Photo by Ibnisha Bailey
Fourth-graders at Ashley Elementary School lock arms and bend to illustrate the words of a children's story. The students learned
the craft from a nationally-known storyteller.
I Performances bind youth and experience
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
1 .
Celeste Miller dances to
words - jumping, spinning and
twisting to the sound of her own
voice.
A dancer and storyteller by
profession. Miller has been danc
ing to the words of children's sto
ries for years, honing her craft at
schools and community theaters
from California to New Eng
land.
"Movement makes its own
music," she said. "Sometimes it's
just the rustling of a jacket."
Miller shared this philosophy
with a roomful of bright-eyed
youngsters last week at Ashley
Elementary School. For the third
, time, a residency with The Chil
dren's Theatre has brought her to
Winston-Salem to share her
magic with school children.
This year's residency was a
little different, though; she
worked with a fourth-grade class
at the school and a group of
senior citizens from the Mount
Zion Senior Life Enrichment
Center.
Miller's choreography and
the students' and seniors' enthu
siasm resulted in "Memories," a
spoken-word and dance perfor
mance that brought to life mem
orable moments from the per
formers' past.
"There was some apprehen
sion at first, but (the students
and the seniors) have learned a
lot from one another," said Vicki
Grant, marketing director for
The Children's Theatre.
. It was the first time Miller
had worked with youngsters-and
seniors at the same time, though
she's carried the idea around for
quite sometime.
Last Thursday and Friday,
the group staged five perfor
mances of "Memories" in a car
peted room adjacent to Ashley's
gymnasium. By the time they
See Performances on A10
? :
Wealthy black youths often don't achieve
Even advantaged
minorities have
trouble in school
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Black and His
panic students lag behind white
and Asian students academically
- even when they come from sim
ilarly privileged backgrounds,
according to a new report.
To bridge the gap, the report
issued Sunday by the College
Board recommends tutoring,
mentoring and other support to
minority students in all grades
and from all socioeconomic
backgrounds.
"We are not just talking about
disadvantaged youngsters," said
Gaston Caperton, president of
the College Board. "Even minor
ity students from relatively
wealthy families with well-edu
cated parents do not typically
perform as well as white and
Asian students from similar
backgrounds."
Surveying data going back to
the 1960s, the report found that
academic underachievement
among black and Hispanic stu
dents begins in the earliest grades
and persists all the way into high
er education.
Even among students whose
parents had PhDs and high
incomes, black and Hispanic stu
dents got lower test scores and
grades than white and Asian stu
dents. The wealthier minority
students' "patterns of academic
achievement tend to resemble
those of less affluent whites and
Asian Americans," the report
said.
Minority students also take
fewer Advanced Placement
courses, which offer college-level
work and college credit to high
school students.
But the report also found
some signs of progress. For
example, the gap in average math
scores for 17-year-old minorities
versus white students decreased
by 30 percent between the early
1970s and the mid-1990s. And 87
percent of all black students
graduate from high school or
pass equivalency tests about the
same rate as white students.
The report did not address
criticism that standardized tests
may contain cultural biases that
keep minority scores low, but
instead cited racism, peer pres
sure that disparages intellectual
achievement and other condi
tions.
To remedy the problem, the
College Board is recommending
that potential high-achievers and
gifted students be identified from
the earliest age and encouraged
by parents, educators and other
community leaders. Successful
programs - such as one at the
University of California at
Berkeley that uses a workshop
approach to increase minority
students' proficiency in calculus -
"stress both scholastic excellence
and social development, includ
ing the building of strong rela
tionships with both peers and
faculty members."
Parents being held
accountable for kids
Judges have new tool in fight
to curb waywardjuveniles
BY PAUL COLLINS
THE CHRONICLE ? ^ .
Some parents may be in for a rude awakening when it comes to juve
niles and crime. ,
"Parents think nothing is going to happen if their children don't go
to school because nothing has happened before," said William B. Rein
* * T-v? . ? . ; i__
gold, cmei uismci toun juuge. oui us a new
day," he said, referring to changes that took effect
July 1 in state juveniles laws.
Now judges have the power to hold parents in
contempt for failure to attend Juvenile Court hear
ings (if a summons is served) or failure to comply
with court judgments. ' *?
"We're going to hold their feet to the fire," Rein
gold said.
"We're not trying to be mean. ... We're trying to
help the children," Reingold said. "We'll extend a
hand (to parents), but if they don't meet us halfway,
sanctions (are available) through contempt."
Reingold
Sanctions may include a fine, jail time or something more creative
ordered by the judge. For example, a judge could order a parent to go to
school with his or her child for 30 days.
"We have kids who routinely miss 20, 30,40, 50 days," Reingold said.
See Juveniles on All
Teen beauty queen
\ ' w
Winston-Salem youth gearing "
up for run at national title
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE ? _____
With a refined confidence beyond her 13 years, Ashlei Baker
reflects on the summer of '99 - a season filled with travel and tiaras.
"I can't let myself get a big head about it," Ashlei said, motioning
a hand to the sparkling rhinestones atop her ?
swept-back hair. "With the crown or witnout
the crown, I am still going to be me."
The crown has been hers for more than
three months now, one of the many perks that
came with her victory at the Miss North Car
olina American Preteen Pageant. It and the
sash, which carries her lofty title, only see the
light of dqy on special occasions an open
house at her school, a chufch social, a Chroni
cle interview. ,
The $1,000 she won will go toward her col
Baker
lege education, which she hopes to obtain
someday at Spelman. Ashlei has vivid memories of her big night,
memories she shares with lots of smiles, laughter and excitement.
The crowd that night at the Greensboro Holiday Inn Four Seasons
was massive; the competition, made up of more than 50 girls from
across the state, was steep. Ashlei remembers sizing up the competi
tion; she noticed one girl in particular, and hud herself convinced that
the girl would win the pageant.
"She just looked like the type that would win a pageant," Ashlei
said. ? v
But when it was all over, the girl's name would be read immediate
ly following the words "runner-up." The title belonged to Ashlei.
"I didn't think I would win. ... 1 just cried; my whole face was wet
See Baker on A11
File photo
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