WEEKLY
Volume 62, No. 20
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, June 24, 1993
35 Cents
*
Sports:
r. % : '• ,■
Perquimans Youth
League, adult softball
updates: Pages
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■A"1 f- •If'.-'r. "
sV
Speciakflllillltilil
Annual Progress Edition
looks at Perquimans and its
people: section b
Smith
appears
before
board
Supporters
crowd board
meeting room
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
FditOf
The Perquimans County
Board of Education spent over
45 minutes in closed session
Monday night listening to Sha
ron M. “Sherry” Smith tell the
stoiy of her suspension and re
turn to the classroom from her
point of view.
Smith was accompanied by
her attorney. Luke Largess;
N.C.A.E. representative Lueta
Sellers; her husband, Bruce; and
a family friend. School board
members, superintendent Ran
dall L. Henion. assistant superin
tendent Jake Boyce and school
board attorney Ken Soo were also
present during the session.
Smith said she prepared the
written statement <she read to the
board with the assistance of Lar
gess and Sellers. She said after
the meeting that she was glad to
have the opportunity to meet
with the board and appreciated
having them listen to her story.
Smith was put on a 90-day
suspension with pay on March
15 by Henion pending.an Investi
gation into misconduct charges.
The board voted on May 17 after
meeting in closed session with
Soo not to renew her contract for
next school year. On May 19, He
nion met with Smith and told her
she could return to the class
room as early sis May 20. Smith
resumed her teaching duties on
May 24.
The board initially agreed to
hear Smith at the June 7 board
meeting, but Smith requested to
meet Monday because her attor
ney could not meet on June 7.
Board chairman L. Wayne Howell
agreed to postpone the meeting.
After hearing from Smith, the
board and administrators stayed
in closed session with Soo. the
Smith delegation was called back
in just prior to the board recon
vening in open session.
Howell said the board had
heard Smith's presentation,
would sturty the information she
presented to them, and would
f make a decision on her disposi
tion on June 28. The. board
$ meeting scheduled for July 5 was
| moved to June 28 earlier this
month. The board, meets at 8
. p.m. ' i - . . . .
It appeared that Smith was
not alone Monday. Over 60 peo
ple, including parents, students,
school personnel and citizens
from every township in the
county, filled the board room.
Most waited until the board re
entered open session to file back '
in and hear Howell's statement.
“We’re here to see that Jus
tice is done,” one parent said
while waiting outside during the
closed session.
Most of the people informally
during the closed session
they would return to hear
A bad year for tom-ah-toes
BUM
ISM
Willa Mae Wilcox and Myrtle Durdle discuss the neighbors in
this scene from A Bad Year for Tomatoes, Bootstrap Acting
Company’a summer comedy now playing on weekends
: through July 4 at Angler’s Cove. Please see page 8 for a re
view. (Photo by Susan Harris)
L
Students make the grade on state tests
By SUSAN R. HARRIS ^ 3
Editor ■ ‘ v"
Initial results on the state’s
' new end-of-grade tests show
Perquimans students performed
overall above the state average.
Students in grades 3, 4, 6, 7
and 8 scored above the state av
erage set using the field test re
sults from the 1991-92 school
year. Fourth graders were on av
erage.
Perquimans students were
above state average across the
board in reading, where grades
3-8 were all above the state aver
age. - .
Social studies and science
scores were a mixed bag with
third and sixth graders below the
state average in both areas and
eighth graders on average in so
cial studies and above average in
science. Fourth, fifth and sev
enth graders did not take a so
cial studies or science test
.£ "The North Carolina State
Testing Program was quite an ex
perience during the 1992-93
school year,” said , Paul Ward,
To wn eyes
The Hertford Town Coun
cil will hear from the public
on Wednesday. June 28 at
7:30 p.m. about the munici
pality’s proposed $932,288
fiscal 1993-94
budget The bui
a tax rate of
$100 valuation.
ieral fund
et requires
cents per
Almost a third of the pro
posed budget covers law en
forcement Under the plan. /
the town’s police department
would receive $330,800. The
next largest appropriation
would be for street mainte
nance, at almost $190,000.
Sanitation will gobble up
$135,192 and administration
$123,500. Non-departmental
expenses, including unem
ployment Insurance, FICA,
group insurance and retire-'
ment will cost $70,500: fire
department, $43,000; contin
gencies, $20,981 and ceme
tery. $19,000. ,
Overall end-of-grade reading test scores
for grades 3-8 were above state average.
Perquimans Schools testing di
rector. }
Ward said all students In '
grades 3-8 took the tests for the
first time.
"The new tests are more
challenging than the California
Achievement Tests used by the
state In die past,” Ward said.
“The end-of-grade tests put more
emphasis on higher level think
ing skills and skills that require
students to apply what they have
learned.”
The scores from die 1992-93
testing will be used to establish
provements over the years. In
addition, the scores will be a part
of the statewide report card.
The state tests differ In three
primaiy areas from the achieve
ment tests formerly used:
■; 1. The tests are developed by
marks to measure im
North Carolina teachers and De
partment of Public Instruction
staff.
2. The tests measure the cur
riculum, the Standard Course of
Study, that should be taught In
North Carolina Schools.
3. The test has two types of
questions, open-ended and mul
tiple choice.
Open-ended questions re
quire descriptions, analysis,
comparison or other written ex
planation.
Items in the math, science
and social studies areas related
to situations and problems en
countered in everyday living,
such as doubling a recipe or de
termining the length of time it
would take to ride a bike from
one place to another at a given
rate of speed. ,
Reading items were based on
stories, poems, articles and pas
sages appropriate to each grade
level. The open-ended question
at the end of the passage might
require students to consider
and explain the emotion of the
writer or a character in the pas
sage.
The tests were designed to
ensure that students are taught
higher level thinking skills es
sential to school improvement
and preparing students to enter
the rapidly changing technologi
cal world.
Grading also differed on the
state tests. Test scanning equip
ment and testing assistance
was provided to every school
system, which allowed each sys
tem to quickly grade the mul
tiple choice sections of the tests.
Open-ended test scores will be
available in the fall after grading
by 900 specially trained teach
ers grade them this summer.
Actual figures on percentiles
will be available later this sum
mer.
Patrol targets
drunk drivers
RALEIGH - The North Caro
lina Department of Crime Control
and Public Safety, in cooperation
with local law enforcement agen
cies across the state, kicked-off
Operation Eagle this month. The
highly successful enforcement
program was begun in 1988 and
has resulted in more than 20,000
charges, including 3,554 for driv
ing while impaired (DWI).
"This program has done more
than just arrest drunk drivers,”
said Thurman B. Hampton, Sec
retary of Crime Control and Pub
lic Safety. “It has also raised the
public’s awareness of the magni
tude of the drunk driving prob
lem in North Carolina, and has
hopefully convinced some people
to not take the chance of driving
after drinking.”
Operation Eagle will continue
to concentrate its efforts on
drunk drivers this year, but
speeders and drug traffickers will
also be targeted by officers of the
State Highway Patrol, Alcohol
Law Enforcement (ALE) and local
police and sheriff departments.
Operation Eagle will be con
ducted in a different manner
than in past years, according to
Highway Patrol Commander Col
onel R.A. Barefoot. Checking sta
tions to stop drunk drivers will
no longer be used. Instead, offi
cers will do saturation patrols of
the area, known as “wolfpack
ing.”
In the past, this program
has been directed at the larger
population centers,” said Colonel
Barefoot. “But the problem of
drugs, drunk drivers and speed
ers is not unique to the bigger
cities and towns. It’s also a prob
lem in the smaller communities
and rural areas. That’s why we
modified the initial concept of
Operation Eagle."
In addition participating in
the saturation patrols, ALE Di
rector Roland Dale says his
agents will concentrate on en
forcing alcohol laws in the tar
geted communities.
“ALE agents will be checking
establishments that serve alcohol
to see that laws preventing serv
ice to minors and intoxicated
persons are obeyed. We may also
target illegal shot houses or trou
ble spots,” said Dale. “Illegal use
or abuse of alcohol can’t be toler
ated. The cost in lives and prop
erty is too high.”
Thousands of law enforce
ment officers have participated in
Operation Eagle with the ulti
mate goal of improving safety on
your highways by arresting viola
tors and reminding the public of
the commitment by North Caro
lina to enforce the law.
Operation Eagle will be con
ducted on weekend nights
throughout the summer across
the state. The exact dates and
cities in which the program will
be conducted will not be an
nounced at this time.
Thera were not enough
chairs for the 60-plus
people who attended i
Monday night’s board of I
education meeting. All of *
the people polled after f
the meeting said they
would be back next Mon
day night to hear the
board’s decision in the
Sharon M, ’’Sherry”
Smith case. (Photo by
Swan Harris) 1