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Public schools go virtual,
create learning options
BY CAROLINE MOAKLEY
STAFF WRITER
Public education in North
Carolina is now just a click away.
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue offi
cially launched last month the
N.C. Virtual Public School, a pro
gram that makes a variety of online
courses available to students.
“North Carolina’s economic suc
cess for tomorrow is about what’s
happening in our classrooms
today,” she stated in an e-mail.
“In order to compete in the global
economy, kids need to learn in the
classroom and online.”
Perdue said online education is
essential in providing equal oppor
tunities statewide. “This is another
step to ensure students have access
to high quality courses and learning
regardless of their ZIP code.”
During the summer, a pilot pro
gram for the state’s online initiative
offered Advanced Placement exam
reviews through the Internet for
high school students.
John Boling, interim director
National and World News
Baath party members
may reclaim lost jobs
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A day after Saddam
Hussein was sentenced to hang, the country’s Shiite
dominated government offered a major concession to
his Sunni backers that could see thousands of purged
Baath party members reinstated in their jobs.
With a tight curfew holding down violence after
Saddam’s guilty verdict and death sentence, the gov
ernment reached out to disaffected Sunnis in hopes
of enticing them away from the insurgency, which
has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and is respon
sible for the vast majority of U.S. casualties.
The United States had recently called for the Iraqi
government to stop purging members of Saddam’s
Baath party from their jobs. Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, however, has balked at U.S. requests to
set up an amnesty for insurgents.
Pump prices
drop again
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -
The price of gasoline fell to its low
est level in more than 10 months.
The federal Energy
Information Administration
said Monday that U.S. motor
ists paid $2.20 a gallon on aver
age for regular grade last week,
a decrease of 1.8 cents from the
previous week.
Pump prices are now 17.6
cents lower than a year ago and
have plummeted by more than
80 cents a gallon since the start of
August. The last time prices were
below $2.20, on average, was the
week ending Dec. 26,2005.
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of the virtual school, said almost
8,500 students took advantage of
the online review within a period of
three weeks. The recently enacted
virtual school is attracting similar
enrollment.
“This fall we have roughly 5,000
high school students around the
state taking courses online,” Boling
said. “And we anticipate that num
ber to grow.”
All courses offered by the virtual
school will be taught by a state-cer
tified teacher.
“We know that not all one size
fits all in education,” Boling said.
“Students who have a need to take
a course that otherwise they can’t
take at their local high school will
have interest in the program, stu
dents who work will have interest,
students with special needs.”
He said the program also could
help link Spanish-speaking stu
dents struggling with chemistry, for
example, with a Spanish-speaking
chemistry teacher in another part of
the state.
Power shift possible
in midterm elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - On the eve of mid
term elections, Democrats criticized Republicans as
stewards of a stale status quo while President Bush
campaigned into the evening in a drive to preserve
GOP control in Congress.
“They can’t run anything right,” said former
President Clinton, taunting Republicans about the war
in Iraq, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the
scandal involving the House page program that com
plicated GOP efforts to win two more years in power.
Some late polls suggested momentum was swinging
the Republicans’ way, and Ken Mehlman, the party
chairman, told allies the surveys summoned memories
0f1998, when the GOP lost seats but held power.
Some Republicans signaled privately they expected
to lose more than 15 seats and control of the House.
No loitering
in this school
SHALLOTTE (AP) - Students
who need to use the restroom at
West Brunswick High School can’t
go alone. They have to be escorted
by school administrators.
It’s been that way since early
October, when hall passes were
revoked after trash cans were set on
fire and fire alarms were pulled.
Some students complain of
being treated like preschoolers,
but principal Jim Jordan is more
concerned with safety.
“It’s sort of a life lesson we’re
trying to teach kids,” Jordan
said. “It takes all of us together
to be a good school.”
The N.C. General Assembly has
guaranteed $2.6 million in annual
fiinds for the virtual school. The
budget this year includes about
$200,000 extra for the program.
The virtual school will not be lim
ited to high school students, either.
“They want to have a plan estab
lished for middle and elementary
schpols by mid-next year,” said Tim
Crowley, Perdue’s spokesman.
He added that the General
Assembly has appropriated $6 mil
lion to upgrade broadband Internet
technology in schools.
Similar programs have enjoyed
success in other states. Florida has
been operating a virtual online
school since 1997-
The new school is working with
the providers to evaluate their
course offerings, and Boling said an
important goal is providing quality
education. “The new definition of
literacy is who can learn online.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Cuba leader
recovering
HAVANA (AP) - Cuba’s
foreign minister backed away
Monday from his prediction that
Fidel Castro will return to power
by early December, leaving open
questions about the pace of the
communist leader’s recovery
from intestinal surgery.
Felipe Perez Roque told The
Associated Press that Castro’s
recovery was “advancing,” but
declined to guarantee that Castro
would be well enough to attend
the postponed celebration of his
80th birthday on Dec. 2.
“It’s a subject on which I don’t
want to speculate,” he said.
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News
Students object to Title IX
Say policy hurts, not helps, athletes
BY MOLLY MALLOY
STAFF WRITER
It was an animated scene
Thursday outside the U.S.
Department of Education in
Washington, D.C., as James
Madison University athletes,
coaches and supporters rallied in
protest of Title IX.
Title IX was enacted in 1972 as
a gender-equality law, but in 2006,
U.S. student athletes are still reel
ing from its repercussions.
Just ask one of the 144 athletes
at JMU whose program was cut
because of Title IX regulations
earlier this fall.
“I can’t say that there’s one stu
dent who’s happy with this,” said
JMU Student Body President
Brandon Eickel.
Eickel said he and other JMU
students view the program cuts as
the last straw in Title IX.
“This must come to an end,” he
said. “If this thing keeps up and
continues to take teams and ath
letes away, then I’m not sure where
we’re headed.”
The program cuts, which affect
ed seven men’s varsity teams and
three women’s varsity teams, will
Group offers pedestrian solutions
Requests overpass on Fordham Blvd.
BY JESSICA SCHONBERG
CITY EDITOR
Last January, UNC professor
David Galinsky was struck and killed
by a car while walking to a basketball
game at the Smith Center.
Galinsky was one of five pedes
trian deaths in Chapel Hill in the
span of about a month.
A work group, formed in
February to make sure no one else
is hurt on the road where Galinsky
died, took its recommendations to
the Chapel Hill Town Council on
Monday night.
Its chief recommendation was
construction of an overpass that
would cross Fordham Boulevard
somewhere between Manning
Drive and Old Mason Farm Road.
“This is the treatment that the
group desperately wants out there,”
said Joe Hummer, a professor of
civil engineering transportation
systems and materials at N.C. State
University who helped the group
draft its recommendations.
The stretch ofFordham Boulevard
studied has two lanes running in
each direction with at least two turn
lanes at the intersections.
UNC’s main campus, the Smith
Center, student housing and UNC
Hospitals are on one side of the
road, while Finley Golf Course,
the N.C. Botanical Gardens, several
neighborhoods and sports practice
fields are on the other.
Nancy Tripoli, a member of the
group, said it does not make sense
to have a state road disconnecting
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2006
go into effect July 1 of next year.
Andy Perrine, JMU spokes
man, said that the administration
was not happy about the deci
sion, but that as the university’s
enrollment shifted to include
more female students, the school
needed a correlating percentage
of female athletes.
Adding more women’s programs
was not a financial option with the
school already boasting 28 varsity
sports team, Perrine said.
“We were so far out of compli
ance that we would have had to add
over 220 women athletes,” he said.
“It was a tough decision, and some
times those have to be made.”
Still, other universities initially
out of compliance with Title IX
have avoided cutting programs.
Paul Plinske, athletic director
at the University of Wisconsin-
Whitewater said the administra
tion focused on adding oppor
tunities rather than decreasing
them.
“We looked at it more as ros
ter adjustments more than roster
cuts,” he said.
The university has added 50
participation opportunities for
a state university from all of those
other things.
“You’ve seen side one. You’ve
seen side two,” she said.
“The only way to connect those
two is either by car or by peril.”
Tripoli said that the bridge
would help increase connectivity
with the town and that it could be
an icon for the University.
She suggested inscribing UNC-
Chapel Hill on the side and writing
about it in promotional literature.
The bridge would be a signifi
cant financial undertaking, but the
group also recommended some
cheaper solutions.
Marked crosswalks with push
button countdowns could be
installed at each intersection.
The group also asked that police
direct traffic at the intersection of
Manning Drive during basketball
games and all other Smith Center
events. The N.C. Highway Patrol
already directs traffic during foot-
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women since 2005 and decreased
20 opportunities for men, without
having to cut any programs.
“We are adamantly opposed to
decreasing sports programs on our
campus,” he said.
Plinske added this stance is not
limited to the athletic department,
but it is one embraced by the entire
administration.
Rally attendees said the JMU
scenario exemplifies the outdated
nature of Title IX.
Allison Kasic, director of cam
pus programs for the Independent
Women’s Forum and a speaker at
Thursday’s rally, said the problem
is how Title IX has been interpret
ed since its inception.
“It was obviously done at a time
when women faced a lot of dis
crimination, not just in athletics,”
she said. “The truth of the matter
is that women have made tremen
dous strides since 1972.”
Kasic said Title IX takes away
more than it provides, injuring the
entire university population as well
as the community.
“It doesn’t benefit men. It doesn’t
benefit women,” she said. “We want
it to be fair to both sexes.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
ball games.
The work group asked that the
University be required to study and
fund its suggestions if proposed
developments on South Campus
are approved.
After listening to the group’s
suggestions, the council referred
the proposal to town staff for con
sideration.
Council member Jim Ward, who
worked with the group, encour
aged other council members to
consider all of their options.
“It’s not a wish list,” he said. “It’s
really a reasonable list of inexpen
sive easy-to-do-within-six-months
sort of things.”
Ward also asked council mem
bers not to discount the idea for
the bridge.
“I think we just
selves be limited by wIMMIMMMI
are insurmountable obstacles,” he
said.
“They don’t have to be that vyay.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
11