Trust invests big in future of local kids
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable
Trust has great expectations of today's
youth.
The Winston-Salem-based Trust -
created in 1947 by the will of R.J.
Reynolds heir Katherine Bitting Reynolds
to improve the
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of life of the
state's financially
needy - will
invest $30 million
over the next
decade in a pro
gram designed to
help Forsyth
County youngsters
excel.
"We're making
a huge investment
and a huge com
mitment, concep
tion through
kindergarten," said
Karen McNeil
Miller, president of
KBR. "The
research just con
tinues to be over
whelming that if
children can get off
in the developmen
tal years and in the
first school years to success, it changes
the trajectory for their school years and
their lives." ?
The Great Expectations initiative
kicked off recently with the awarding of a
$202,000 grant to pre-k and kindergarten
teachers at Equity Plus and Title One-des
ignated schools.
In addition to covering membership
dues to the North Carolina Association of
the Education of Young Children for
teachers and principals, the money
includes a $200 per classroom stipend to
cover the out of pocket expenses that
many teachers incur in trying to provide
materials and supplies for their students,
and $1,000 per classroom to invest in
developmental^ appropriate materials as
the teachers see fit.
The Trust deliberately made the grants
to the individual teachers, so each teacher
can fill the needs that he or she feels are
most pressing; McNeil-Miller said.
"We want the teachers to have com
plete control over those funds," she stat
ed. "We just want to give them money
because we know this money will be well
spent." ?
The school system is just one of the
agencies that Great Expectations is part
nering with. Others include the Family
Nursing Program and Reach Out and
Read, which targets low income mothers
of babies and infants, and early childhood
development centers.
The Nurse Family Partnership, a com
munity healthcare program for low
income, first-time mothers, was awarded
a $2.5 million five-year grant from the
Trust last year, before the inception of
Great Expectations. The Partnership,
which now falls under the Great
Expectations umbrella, sends out nurses
to make monthly in-home visits with
mothers and their babies until the infant's
second birthday. The Reach Out and Read
program, which has been awarded a
$49,500 Trust grant, develops babies and
toddlers' vocabularies by providing a
series of books for their mothers to read
to them during the crucial early years of
their mental development.
Funds from the initiative are helping
these partners to enhance programs that
foster intellectual growth and develop
ment before children reach kindergarten,
according to Crocker, who as director of
the Trust's Poor & Needy Division, over
sees Great Expectations.
"There is much research around the
benefits of investing in early childhood
education," said Crocker. "...Great
Expectations just sets the stage for the
expectations of these children that we're
going to invest in, that they will continue
to succeed and be well in life."
Trust leaders believe strongly that
Great Expectations has the potential to
make a tangible impact on the quality of
life and future of countless children, said
McNeil-Miller, who has led the Trust for
the past eight years. McNeil-Miller added
that she is especially excited that Great
Expectations is proactive, rather than
reactive.
"We would rather not do remedial
efforts," she remarked. "We'd rather sup
port (children) and help them flourish and
sprout when they're younger."
Northwest Child Development
Centers rounds out the current Great
Expectations grantees. The agency's
Mudpies Coliseum location received
nearly $42,000 from the Trust to cover
the cost of staff, materials and tuition for
nine preschoolers who would otherwise
not be able to attend the facility, which is
ranked highly by the state for its educa
tion and other standards. Mudpies also
received a $350,000 grant from the Trust
last year to aid in the procurement of the
land for its forthcoming Mudpies
Downtown East Facility. Northwest Child
Development Centers CEO Dr. Tony
Burton III praised the Trust for recogniz
ing the importance of early childhood
education.
"Most of the kids who drop out (of
high school) had not as successful early
starts to their education. The studies that
are out there show that by third grade,
you can tell whether a child is going to be
successful in school," Burton explained.
"I think the Trust recognized that (the
problem) starts a whole lot earlier than
kindergarten. We've got to do something
to get these kids better prepared for
kindergarten."
Burton said the program has a high
probability of living up to its own name,
because it focuses on fixing the issue at
its core, essentially stopping the problem
before it starts.
"If we can equal the playing ground
for children, we can have more successful
children across the board in our commu
nity, which makes our whole community
more successful," he said. "...It's only
(supporting) nine kids, but that's nine
more kids that we have a chance to make
I11UIC suttcssiui.
Crocker said Great Expectations lead
ers hope to work with other area agencies
in the future in order to further its mission
of ensuring that every child in the com
munity gets a strong start to his or her
education.
"We know that this works. We know
that investments in early childhood edu
cation is a primary way to stem poverty
and all that goes along with that," said the
Kings Mountain native. "We will hope
fully be adding other supporters that
might have this same interest in this con
cept of making sure that early childhood
education is a focus of this community."
For more information about the Kate
B. Reynolds Charitable Trust or the Great
Expectations program, visit wwwJcbr.org.
McNeil-Miller
Crocktr
Superintendent
from page A1
service, was on hand to talk
about the search process.
After the School Board
reviews applications,
Board members will inter
view candidates in
February and March and
hire a new superintendent
by March 26, said Schafer,
who said that the School
Board will decide who to
hire without any help or
direction from the
Association.
Mil 7. J ?* L. 1
ttc uun i nave a ruic
in deciding who the board
hires," said Schafer. "We
don't screen candidates.
We don't recommend them
to the board. What we do is
get them good candidates
and good information
about who those candidates
___ ??
are.
Many forum speakers,
including a couple at
Carver, have asked the
School Board to hold
another forum once the
finalists for the job have
been selected in order to let
the public question the
applicants. Although such
a forum was held more
than 18 years ago before
Martin was hired, Schafer
shot down those sugges
tions.
State law, she said,
mandates that candidates'
names be kept private
unless the applicant con
sents to having his or her
name made public. She
said usually the most qual
ified candidates - such as
those currently employed
by another school system
- are typically turned-off
by having their" names
made public since it reveals
to their current employers
that they are job searching.
Diversity and equality
were major issues for the
racially-diverse group at
last week's forum. Many
voiced their disapproval of
the School System school
choice plan, which ended
, cross-town busing more
than IS years ago and
resulted in a mass exodus
of white students from
inner-city schools. Critics
say that the re segregation
has further widened the
achievement gap between
white and minority stu
dents, and inner-city
schools lack the kind of
financial resources that
have been shown to
enhance a child's educa
tional experience.
"I think overall, the
issue of equity, transparen
cy and zip code justice
have not been met as much
as they should've been,"
said County Commissioner
Walter Marshall, a former
member of the School
Board.
Qru*akinff nn Kphalf nf
the Minister's Conference
of Winston-Salem and
Vicinity, newly-elected
president Willard Bass said
as long as some children
are falling through the
cracks, the school system is
failing at its primary mis
sion.
"We've always
believed in one consistent
vision for education: that
every child must be provid
ed high quality, well fund
ed, constitutional, diverse
education," said Bass, a
minister at Green Street
Church.
Speakers representing
the business community,
like Womble Carlyle
Sanridge & Rice partner
Betty Quick, urged the
School Board to hire a
superintendent that will
work with local businesses
to produce a highly quali
fied, educated and diverse
workforce.
"The business world
has now embraced diversi
ty; they understand it's
important," said Quick.
"We seek talented and well
educated, diverse employ
ees because we know we
are better able to respond
to the needs of clients who
are diverse when we have a
variety of view points and
backgrounds when analyz
ing the problems we face
every single day."
Dave Beveridge, a
teacher, said the next
superintendent should
address increasing class
room sizes and work to
build stronger bridges
between his or her admin
istration and educators.
"In the last couple
years, I've come to believe
the six words you don't
want to hear as a teacher
are:" 'This is coming from
Central Office,'" said
Beveridge.
Alfred Harvey, a
teacher at Atkins Academic
& Technology School,
asked his students what
they wanted in a superin
tendent. He told the School
Board that their responses
included someone with
high educational expecta
tions, integrity and skills to
engage the community.
Several parents also
spoke, including Lindsay
Upson, who told the Board
that her son faced such a
hostile environment at his
elementary school that she
had to have him transferred
to a different school. She
hopes that the next superin
tendent will be supportive
of parents going through
similar situations.
"The school system is
9, which will be up until
Jan. 3. Schafer said that the
survey - which is available
in paper form by calling
336-727-2696 - has
already yielded more than
1,500 responses. School
Board members say that
they will use the input that
they have received from
residents to formulate their
questions for applicants.
supposed to be a support
system," said Upson, a
mother of two. "Fbr many
African Americans who are
single parents and raising
kids on their own, this is
their hope."
The School Board is
also receiving public feed
back through an online sur
vey at
wsfcs.k 12.nc.us/Page/6695
Walter Marshall
Betty Quick
Ann bylbdd Luck
Board Members (from left) Jane Going, Donny Lambeth, Vie Johnson and
Elisabeth Montsinger.
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