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Monday, October 9,1995
School Board Candidate Profiles ELHBu
Chapel Hill and Carrboro will elect five new members to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education Nov. 7.
Today, The Daily Tar Heel profiles four of the 13 candidates seeking to improve the school system.
■ Schools Need More Support Systems
Elizabeth Carter says her children are
her gift from God, and she believes her
charge is to make sure they are ready to
face the world.
Support systems for at-risk students,
open discussion on race relations, more
emphasis on raising minority standardized
test scores and a zero tolerance policy
toward violence in schools are just a few of
the issues Carter would seek to address if
elected to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board
of Education in November. Carter said
these goals would help to prepare her kids
for the “real world.”
Students who slip through the cracks
and are not successful in the schools’ out
line are the major problem facing the school
system, Carter said. These children should
be guided toward improvement rather than
discounted as statistical failures, she said.
"Any time kids are not educated, it is a
problem,” she said. “Weneedtoputthings
in place that help all students excel.”
Race relations in the school system is a
major concern Carter said was purposely
not discussed openly. Leaders seem more
content to stay at a happy medium and
employ a “don’t rock the boat” attitude,
she added.
“People need to appreciate (people) for
who they are and stop the preconceived
notions. Respect for one another is a key.”
Vigorous proficiency standards should
also be utilized to help raise minority test
scores, Carter said. These standards would
mandate that students master their current
grade’s curriculum before being promoted
to the next grade level. She said she be
lieved current standardized tests were more
of an exercise in test-taking ability than an
assessment of the subject matter learned.
■ Overcrowding Should Be Eliminated
Nicholas Didow, candidate for a seat
on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board ofEdu
cation, has four major priorities he plans to
address if elected to a seat.
“My first is the overcrowding situation,
especially atthe elementary and high school
levels,” he said.
To end the severe overcrowding in
schools, Didow said he believed a S4O
million bond referendum would probably
be required in the future, in addition to the
new East Chapel Hill High School.
“1 have advocated that the time to begin
discussion about the referendum is now,”
Didow said. “The overcrowding is recog
nized widely in the community.”
Chapel Hill and Carrboro have offered
to develop what he calls “anew partner
ship” with the school system to develop an
understanding of problems in the schools.
“A good school system is one of the
major benefits of this larger community,”
he said. “We want to keep these schools
good.”
Didow, whose leadership record also
includes serving on the original Frank Por
ter Graham Elementary School Gover
nance Committee, said he also believed
there should be more constructive public
input from groups like Save Our Schools.
He said he thought SOS was a good
example of a community group whose
positive constructive involvement has
helped better the schools.
But Didow added that public opinion
often came too late in the school board’s
decision process, and he would like to see
public input and involvement long before
plans come to the school board for final
vote.
MONDAY
5 p.m. DELTA PHI ALPHA GERMAN
HONORSOCIETY will meet to plan the Oktoberfest
in 403 Dey Hall.
6 p.m. SEAC LOGISTICS COMMITTEE will
meet ui Union 220.
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Overcrowding in schools is also a prob
lem she said she believed could be dealt
with by continued collaboration between
government officials, the school board and
land developers. She said the construction
of newer facilities and year-round schools
were options for reducing overcrowding.
Violence in schools is not a major prob
lem but is a problem worth dealing with,
Carter said. Zero tolerance on the part of
the school district could be the best policy
for dealing with the violence, she said.
“School is a place for education, not a
war ground.”
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Involvement is also important for rais
ing student achievement, he said. With a
variety of intervention programs that have
led to success and others just coming about,
such as mentor programs, more students
need to be more actively involved, he said.
Didow said parents also needed to be
more involved in interaction with the stu
dents and the schools, which would also
benefit the school board and the work it
does. Parents need to be encouraged to
help with homework, read notices and
return notes sent home by the teacher.
“There seems to be an opportunity to
7 p.m. HONOR COURT AND ATTORNEY
GENERAL’S STAFF will hold mandatory presen
tations for freshmen and transfers in 100 Hamilton
Hall and 111 Murphey Hall.
7:30 p.m. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
GROUP 84 will hold a program meeting titled “The
Eliiabeth Carter
Age: 44
Address: 203 King St.
Previous Experience:
Elementary school volunteer,
Carrboro Parent Teacher
Association, Girl Scout leader
Occupation: Secretary at
UNC Hospitals
Children: Two, both in public
school
Length of Time in
Community: 44 years
College Attended: Shaw
University
Public input at school board meetings is
something Carter would also like to see
continue, provided there is mutual respect
from both sides. “The voices of the public
should be heard, but they should respect
board members as well and stop the per
sonal attacks,” she said.
Carter said that she believed strongly in
the value of an education and that she
thought the best way to ensure future suc
cess for all students was to make sure
parents were committed to being involved
in their children's educational experience.
PROFILE COMPILED BY LUTHER CALDWELL
Nicholas Didow
Age: 47
Address: 117 Springhill Forest
Rd.
Previous Experience: Chapel
Hill-Carrboro Public School
Foundation Board of Directors,
UNC Faculty Council
Occupation: Professor at Kenan-
Flagler Business School
Children: Three, all in public
school
Length of Time in the
Community: 22 years
Colleges Attended: Northwest
ern University, UNC-Chapel Hill
work with the families to make students
more active in success and accomplish
ment,” Didow said. “When I listen to the
teachers in the classroom who have
struggled to remedy this situation, they
stress families need to be involved.”
Didow said he thought students had
made some significant advances in the
previous years in race relations and in
curbing violence with programs such as
peer mediation that encourage students to
have mutual respect for others and to solve
their disputes successfully.
PROFILE COMPILED BY KELLY GARDNER
Campus Calendar
Case for Torture?" in Union 208.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
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CITY
■ Past Experience Will Bring New Ideas
Rebecca Coyne, anew resident of
Chapel Hill, said that due to her experi
ences with the Los Angeles school system,
she feels she has a lot to offer the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro school system.
Coyne said if she is elected she wants to
focus mainly on the issues of overcrowd
ing and expenditures within the school
system.
“As this area continues to expand, the
problem of overcrowding will become an
even bigger issue,” Coyne said.
“L. A. Unified is one ofthe largest school
districts in the U.S., and they’ve already set
up programs to cope with problems that
Chapel Hill-Carrboro is just beginning to
face.”
She said she believes her experience in
Los Angeles with the problem of having
more people than space will help her in
bringing ideas to the board that will benefit
Chapel Hill.
“Twelve years ago L. A. dealt with land
problems that Chapel Hill is now debat
ing,” Coyne said.
Some of these problems include the tri
tract system which Chapel Hill has consid
ered, a system which Coyne said does not
work. It is in areas like this that Coyne
wants to bring her experience to the board
so that mistakes will not be repeated, and
so the board can focus on better alterna
tives that have proven to produce positive
results.
As for her position on expenditures,
Coyne said she believes that old bonds
must be re-evaluated for interest rate stand
ings. Coyne said there are innovative ways
of utilizing available sources and that these
ideas need to be addressed by the board.
With her background in special educa-
■ Students Need More Encouragement
Bea Hughes-Wemer, a candidate for
school board, said she feels there are three
main problems presently facing the Chapel
Hill-Canboro school system.
If elected she would like to combat these
problems in a way she believes would bet
ter the school system as a whole, Hughes-
Wemer said.
Hughes-Wemer said one major prob
lem facing the school system was the con
tinued failure of black students to reach
their full potential.
“We need to do everything possible to
eliminate underachievement of African-
Americans,” Hughes-Wemer said.
She said the key to solving these prob
lems is to consider the recommendations
of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, which
focuses specifically on helping black stu
dents get the most from their education.
Hughes-Wemer was a member of this task
force and said her work on the task force
gave her several ideas on how to focus on
the problems of black students.
“We need to implement Blue Ribbon
Task Force recommendations,” she said.
“We should do thisbefore any otherproject
to help African-Americans.”
Overcrowding and a lack of facilities
are parts of another problem that faces the
Chapel Hill-Canboro system, she said. It
would be a community decision to build
more schools, because that would call for
tax money. Hughes-Wemer said looking
at alternative ways to remedy the problem
should be considered before placing that
burden on the tax payers. She said she
suggested schools that would run in sepa
rate morning and afternoon sessions.
“We are at our maximum,” she said.
UNC RUNNING CLUB will have group runs
Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday 10
a.m.. No meetings Saturdays. Call Jon at 968-8654.
SURVIVOROF SUICIDE SUPPORT GROUP
meets every first and third Thursday of each month.
Call Brenda at 489-5473 for more information.
HELLENIC ASSOCIATION is announcing the
start of Greek dance classes. Classes will be held
Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to
2 p.m. in Studio A in Woollen Gym.
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tion, Coyne said she also feels strongly
about the need for everyone to have the
same educational opportunities.
“Right now there are two cumculums
being taught in the schools,” she said.
“One is a written-down curriculum which
is a direct arrow to college; the other is a
deviation which is taught when teachers
decide that a child won’t attend college.”
Last year Coyne said she realized the
problems this two-fold curriculum pre
sented. She said she became offended and
disturbed by this curriculum when she said
teachers “would not even teach my son
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“It’s worse in the elementary schools.”
Although Hughes-Wemer said violence
in the school system is not an extreme
problem, she said there are a select few
children who continuously cause disrup
tion and create a poor learning environ
ment for others. These children are able to
disturb the class and essentially hold it
hostage, Hughes-Wemer said.
“It’sexceedingly complicated,"Hughes-
Wemer said. “We can’t just expel these
kids. It can be illegal because of special
circumstances.”
Hughes-Wemer is currently active in
CAROLINA S.A.F.E has openings for CPR and
First Aid courses. Cali 962-CPRI for more informa
tion.
DAILY TAR HEEL CANDIDATE FORUMS
Candidates for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and
mayor will come to the Union Auditorium Sunday at
7 p.m. to answer questions from students and mem
bers of the University community. Candidates for
Chapel Hill Town Council and mayor will come to
the Great Hall Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
e Satly filar Heel
Rebecca Covne
Age: 41
Address: 1054 Burning Tree Dr.
Previous Experience: Teacher
for gifted deaf at Central NC
School for the Deaf, teacher for
severely disabled and violently
aggressive students in Los
Angeles Unified School District
Occupation: Private tutor and
full-time mother
Children: Five; four in public
schools
Length of Tune in
Community: One year
College Attended: San
Francisco State University
multiplication tables."
“I think there should be only one writ
ten curriculum that the teachers stick to
regardless,” she said. “The kids can do it,
it just must be presented in a way which
they retain it, even if it takes several times
to explain.”
As an active parent who is “in the school
system for the long haul,” Coyne said if
elected she would also stress the need for
more parent involvement in the schools
and the need for parents to give more
feedback to the administration.
PROFILE COMPILED BY GIBSON PATE
Bea Hughes-
Werner
Age: 46
Address: 2447 Honeysuckle Rd.
Previous Experience: Chapel
Hill-Carrboro Board of Education,
one year
Occupation: Professor at NCCU
Children: Two, both in public
school
Length of Time in
Community: 22 years
Colleges Attended: University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, UNC-
Chapel Hill
educational organizations. She is on the
Orange County Skills Development Board,
and she is also involved with the Head
Start Program and the Recreation and Parks
Work Group for School and Government.
She founded and is active in working
with the homeless children’s shelter on
Franklin and Rosemary Streets.
She said the purpose of this program is
to provide education to these homeless
children.
“We do one-on-one stuff with these
kids. I fmd it personally rewarding.”
PROFILE COMPILED BY MEGAN DRISCOU
For the Record
The Wednesday, Oct. 4, Daily Tar Heel
story about Donald Clarke-Pearson should
have stated that the rape, assault and kidnap
ping charges that had been filed against
Clarke-Pearson were dropped by Orange
County District Attorney Carl Fox.
The DTH regrets the error.