2
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2004
Plan reaches out to teachers
-15 districts test
funding program
BY ERICA E. ELLIOTT
STAFF WRITER
Anew program that helps K-12
teachers fond classroom activities
was introduced to North Carolina
on Wednesday, eliciting statewide
praise from education leaders.
DonorsChooseNC allows teach
ers to receive funding for programs
their schools cannot afford by post
ing their proposals online and
waiting for donations to arrive
through the Internet.
Missy Sherburne, executive
director of DonorsChooseNC,
picked 15 test school districts in
North Carolina that now are pilot
ing the program.
Durham, Granville, Wake and
Pasquotank counties, among oth
ers, were chosen because they rep
resent the state’s diversity, she said.
N.C. Democrats to hold April caucus
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH The state Board of
Elections removed the require
ment for political parties to hold
presidential primaries Monday,
clearing the way for North Carolina
Democrats to hold April caucuses.
With the state’s primary elec
tion delayed until July by a battle
over legislative districts, the board
voted that recognized political par
ties Republicans, Democrats
and Libertarians are free to do
whatever they need to select its
presidential preference.
While Democrats will hold cau
©hi' Sailij ®ar MM
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“We are using this opportunity
to make sure that when we roll out
to the whole state, it will be as per
fect as possible,” Sherburne said.
With the support of Gov. Mike
Easley and Charles Best, the
national president and founder of
Donors Choose, North Carolina
became the organization’s first
branch outside of New York, where
the program began.
More than 150 N.C. proposals
have been posted online so far, and
about 70 of those have received
funding.
If the program is a success, it
will move statewide in August.
Jan Allen, public information
officer for Granville County
Schools, said Donors Choose will
allow teachers to be more flexible
in their lesson plans and obtain
supplies they might not be able to
otherwise.
She also said teachers are show
ing great interest in the program.
“(Teachers) are just in the leam-
cuses, Republicans told the board
there was no need for them to hold
any contest, as President Bush is
unopposed from within his party.
State Republican Party political
director Bill Peaslee said holding a
primary would be wasteful.
Peaslee said he expects that
Republican district conventions in
April and the state convention in
May will determine whether the
state’s 67 delegates head to the
party’s national convention in New
York committed to Bush or not
committed to any candidate.
Meanwhile, state elections
director Gary Bartlett said the N.C.
Libertarian Party had notified the
board that they plan no presiden
tial primary this year.
Last week, the Board of Elections
delayed North Carolina’s primary
election from May 4 to July 20
while federal judges continue to
review the constitutionality of state
legislative district maps. In 2002,
redistricting battles delayed the
News
“Any time (teachers) are ready to make
a proposal , the community can
come and help.”
AMIE AYDLETT, ELIZABETH CITY-PASQUOTANK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ing and growing part (of the pro
gram) themselves. Everyone is in
the great excitement stage where
everyone is going, ‘Oh, what a cool
idea.’”
In order to educate the commu
nity about the program, Allen said,
she will be promoting it through
the Granville Education
Foundation, a nonprofit organiza
tion that provides necessary sup
port to schools.
Another advocate of the pro
gram, Amie Aydlett, said she is
looking forward to reaching out
and letting others know about it.
“Oh, it’s awesome,” said Aydlett,
community-school relations direc
tor for Elizabeth City-Pasquotank
usual May primary to September.
Democrats then said they would
hold caucuses April 17- Although
earlier than the original primary
date, N.C. Democrats are expected
to have little say in who becomes
the party’s presidential nominee. By
April 17, the national Democratic
Party expects 79 percent of its dele
gates already will be pledged.
In the traditional form of cau
cuses, party members gather in
precincts or counties to nominate
candidates for general elections. In
the planned N.C. caucuses, regis
tered Democratic voters will fill out
a paper ballot listing only the party’s
contenders for the presidential race.
The ballots will be tallied imme
diately in each county and should
provide a fairly clear picture of the
overall winner, according to Scott
Falmlen, the executive director of
North Carolina’s Democratic Party.
Because convention delegates are
chosen by congressional district and
some N.C. counties are split
Public Schools.
“The reason I say that is because
teachers tend to need things very
quickly that cost money. ... Any
time they are ready to make a pro
posal, the community can come in
and help.”
Aydlett said she plans to raise
awareness through e-mails, in
meetings with principals and via
links on the school district’s Web
site and cable channel. She also said
she expects many people to donate
in order to help teachers who post
proposals. “Our community truly
steps up to the plate,” she said.
Contact the State National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
between districts, the ballots will be
resorted and recounted April 30.
Organizers expect low turnout,
possibly only 5 percent of eligible
voters, due to the combination of
the event’s narrow purpose and its
lack of impact on selecting the
Democrats’ presidential nominee.
Democrats have said also they
plan to submit their plan to the
U.S. Department of Justice for pre
clearance under the U.S. Voting
Rights Act.
Justice Department civil rights
attorneys have until Feb. 27 to
decide whether to object to the lat
est district boundaries for N.C.
General Assembly seats. State offi
cials have asked a three-judge panel
in the District of Columbia to
determine if the latest House and
Senate district boundaries comply
with the Voting Rights Act. All elec
tion law provisions must be cleared
by the Justice Department or fed
eral courts to make sure they don’t
harm the rights of minority voters.
Three hopefuls
eye House seat
County leader Jacobs among them
BY ALEX GRANADOS
AND TRISTAN SHOOK
STAFF WRITERS
Three Orange County
Democrats have set their eyes on
the N.C. House, winning praise
from local officials but garnering
skepticism from some who think
the county could wind up being
misrepresented in the legislature.
Barry Jacobs, chairman of the
Orange County Board of
Commissioners; Kenneth
Rothrock, a Hillsborough lawyer;
and Bill Faison, a Durham lawyer,
plan to throw their hats in the ring,
aiming to represent a legislative
district created last year by the
General Assembly when it passed
its latest set of maps.
The district encompasses north
ern Orange County and all of
Caswell County on the Virginia
border.
Although the N.C. Republican
Party has said it expects to have a
candidate in the race, no party
members have come forward. But
this fact, combined with the issue
that nobody from Caswell County
is on the ballot, has some officials
concerned that Orange County
might have power in the House
disproportionate to its population
and influence.
If one of the three Democrats in
the race were to win, the victor
would join Reps. Joe Hackney and
Verla Insko, giving Orange County
three Democrats in the state
House.
Mel Battle, chairman of the
Caswell County Board of
Commissioners, said the voting
demographic in his county differs
from that in Orange County.
“I don’t know how someone
from Orange will appeal to
Caswell,” he said.
Orange County Commissioner
Moses Carey added that his coun
ty is an “upscale” community com
pared with its northern neighbor,
something he said might inhibit
another Orange County lawmaker
from representing Caswell County
well.
Despite these worries and the
fact that none of them have
declared officially, the candidates
have begun to discuss the issues
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that will define their campaigns.
Jacobs said that there is a lot of
work to do in the state but that he
is concerned about two areas in
particular.
“I think we could do a much bet
ter job at preserving the environ
ment and preserving jobs.”
Hackney pointed to Jacobs’ cre
dentials in local government
such as his spot on the Board of
Commissioners —as an indicator
that he is ready to serve in a high
er office.
“I think he has worked well as a
commissioner with all of the
diverse groups in the county,” he
said. “I would expect it to continue
if he were elected.”
Rothrock, who ran an unsuc
cessful 2002 campaign for a House
seat, said he will make civil rights,
the economy and a state lottery the
central issues of his campaign.
“I want to fight right now so that
we don’t forget the laws protecting
minorities, particularly Hispanics,”
he said.
Many Hispanics are low-wage
workers, he said, adding that “you
don’t solve the world’s problems by
cutting the legs out from under the
legs of the workers trying to fix
them.”
Rothrock also said that he
would not vote for any new spend
ing measures in his first term and
that he would vote in favor of a lot
tery, which has been championed
by Gov. Mike Easley but has not
received much support elsewhere
in the legislature.
Faison, of the Faison & Gillespie
law firm, said his campaign will
focus on job creation, education
and health care.
“I think I can make a difference
in the community and speak for
the community,” he said.
“I have four children in the edu
cational process, so I am very
much aware of issues pertaining to
education,” Faison said.
The first test for the candidates
will come in the state primary.
Uncertainty surrounding redis
tricting has pushed the primary
date to July 20.
Contact the State £2 National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.