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N.C. Officials Back
17 Charter Schools
Bv Alex Kaplun
Staff Writer
North Carolina education officials
recently approved 17 new charter school
applications, providing N.C. public
school students with additional alterna
tives to traditional public education.
The N.C. State Board of Education
approved the new schools on Thursday,
increasing the total number to 97 in the
state. North Carolina is now only three
schools short of the maximum allowed
by a 1996 state law.
Only one of the new schools is locat
ed within the Triangle area. Most are
located in rural N.C. counties that have
had few charter schools until now.
All but one will be open for the 2000-
01 school year. The other school, Arts-
Based Elementary, will open in fall
2001.
Richard Clontz, N. C. Charter School
Office consultant, said the new schools
would be at capacity at 2,650 students.
He said there were already 12,691
students enrolled in charter schools but
that number would likely increase.
Clontz said he expected around
17,000 students in charter schools by the
beginning of the next school year.
Charter schools are financed through
public money but run by private, non
profit corporations. This gives schools
more flexibility over both the adminis
trative process and the curriculum.
But the state could revoke a school’s
charter if a state evaluation determined
that it failed to meet its stated goals.
State Board of Education member
Kathy Taft said charter schools were cre
ated to give both parents and students
an alternative for their education.
“The purpose of charter schools is to
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give parents a choice and to let them be
free of some of rules and regulations of
traditional public school,” Taft said.
Taft said it was too late to approve
three additional charter schools for next
year, and it was too early to tell if the
law would be changed to allow for more
than 100 charter schools. “There has
been some talk of (adding more charter
schools), but we first like to see what’s
working and what’s not,” she said.
Taft said the charter school system
had existed in North Carolina for only
three years so it was too early to tell if
the system was a success.
But founders of some charter schools
have seen the schools as an opportuni
ty to provide an alternative type of edu
cation to students.
Patsy Sheppard, Tar Heel Charter
School Board of Trustees member, said
schools officials wanted their students to
leam in a smaller environment.
Sheppard said officials in Bladen
County, where the new school would be
located, were moving to a system of
large, centralized high schools.
She said the charter school was a
response to the consolidation.
“We want to put smaller schools in
the community,” Sheppard said.
Similarly, Elaine McCollum, head
mistress at Bethany Community Middle
School said children needed to be
taught in a small environment.
McCollum said children needed to
feel a sense of family and a sense of being
a part of a community in their education.
“The benefit of small school school
ing is you have more of a family atmos
phere.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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Top Stories From the
State, Nation and World
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Hillary Clinton to Run
For U.S. Senate in N.Y.
PURCHASE, N.Y. - With the pres
ident beside her and 2,000 supporters
chanting her name, Hillary Rodham
Clinton formally launched her cam
paign Sunday to be U.S. senator from
New York, a state she has lived in for
only a month.
The race for the seat being vacated
by fellow Democrat Daniel Patrick
Moynihan is likely to pit Clinton against
New York City Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani in what could be one of the
most flamboyant political campaigns in
memory.
No other first lady has ever run for
public office.
“1 am honored today to announce
my candidacy for the U.S. Senate from
New York,” Clinton said as shouts of
“Hillary! Hillary!” rang through a uni
versity gymnasium not far from her new
home in the suburbs north of New York
City.
“I may be new to the neighborhood,
but I’m not new to your concerns,” she
said, while President Clinton, her moth
er, Dorothy, and daughter, Chelsea, sat
beaming behind her.
Clinton Gets Criticism
For Cigarette Tax Hike
RALEIGH - Sen. John Edwards
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called the Clinton administration’s plan
to raise the excise tax on cigarettes and
to fine tobacco companies for teen
smoking “a two-bit bad idea.”
“I strongly support efforts to reduce
teen smoking, but piling additional taxes
on the backs of North Carolina farmers
and workers is not the right way to help
our young people,” Edwards, D-N.C.,
told leaf growers Friday at the annual
meeting of the Tobacco Growers
Association of North Carolina in
Raleigh.
He pledged to fight the proposed
pack tax increase.
“I don’t need to tell you what a bad
idea this tax is,” Edwards told the tobac
co farmers. “I’ve fought it every time it
comes up, and I will fight it again.”
The plan calls for raising the federal
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
AT
CHAPEL HILL
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Susan T Kitchen. Ph.D.
CM 5000. 104 Steele Building Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Chapel Hill. NC 27599-5000 Sue_Kitchen@unc.edu
tel: 919-966-4045 - fax: 919-962-2090 url studentaffairs.unc.edu
Dear Students:
As you may now be aware, there was a residence hall study lounge fire Tuesday morning at 12:45 am. With that
in mind, we are again reminded of the important role that fire safety equipment, evacuation, and emergency
procedures play in our daily lives.
Thoughout this year there have been a number of concerns regarding fire safety and evacuation procedures in
the residence halls. Most of you are cooperative, responsible, and follow all fire safety procedures, and we have
been fortunate that these recent incidents have not resulted in personal
injury.
I want to assure you that, through heightened hall security and other preventative measures, we are going to do
our part in responding to this problem. We are also expecting you to take an active role. In fact, while the
leading cause of fire is arson, the causes of many if not most fire alarms are accidental and preventable. More
awareness of and caution regarding what cause an alarm would significantly improve the situation.
Note, however, that starting a fire, pulling a fire alarm without due cause, tampering with smoke detectors,
falsely reporting a fire emergency to the police or fire department, and the unauthorized use or damage of any
emergency or safety equipment, are considered serious violations.
We also think it is important to remind you, as a member of our community, of your individual obligations to be
helpful during a crisis and/or emergency situation. While some alarms appear to be an inconvenience, these
alarms serve an important purpose. In the event of a fire alarm, ALL residents and their guests must evacuate
the building completely and immediately. North Carolina State Law prohibits interference with or non
compliance with emergency evacuation procedures. Your obligation is to quickly and efficiently evacuate the
building whenever an alarm sounds, and wait for further instructions.
The Office of Public Safety will be issuing a citation to any or all students who do not evacuate a building when
a fire alarm sounds, as identified by observation or random room checks after a fire alarm has sounded. This
citation will result in a misdemeanor charge to your record and a monetary fine. We will also forward all names
of those in violation to the Honor Court for campus disciplinary action.
Fire safety and prevention is of paramount importance in a residence hall living environment. Clearly, our
safety in this community is at its best when all members understand their individual and collective roles.
Sincerely, •
Kitchen, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
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excise tax on cigarettes by 25 cents a
pack and fining cigarette makers $3,000
each year for each underage smoker if
youth smoking is not cut in half by
2004.
The penalty could cost the industry
an estimated $6.5 billion in 2004.
9 Passengers Released
After Airliner Hijacking
MOSCOW - The Afghan passenger
airliner forced by hijackers on a tense
journey across Central Asia and Europe
left Moscow early Monday after nine
passengers were freed.
The plane’s destination was not
immediately known, but a spokesman
for Russia’s Federal Security Service said
the hijackers had demanded European
Monday, February 7, 2000
flight maps before leaving.
There was no immediate indication
of why the nine passengers were
released, security service spokesman
Alexander Zdanovich told reporters at
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-1 airport. He
said the hijackers had made no political
demands. Similar releases took place at
the plane’s previous refueling stops in
Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.
None of the people aboard the
Boeing 727 belonging to Afghanistan’s
Ariana Airlines had been harmed,
Zdanovich said, although it remained
unclear how many people were aboard.
Russian news reports said there were
131 passengers and nine crew before the
release in Moscow, but other sources
said there were as many as 160 aboard.
Associated Press
5