October 23,1997
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OCT J2J997
The Perquimans Weekly
000 U Sly
350
Vol. 65, No. 42
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Inside
Rescue Squad
celebrates
its 30th
anniversary ^
Page 4
Band takes
second place at
Colonial Classic
competition
Page?
Group forms
to found
hospitality
house for
families of
Albemarle
Hospital
patients
Page 5
Perquimans County
an
All of Us
Community
October’s theme:
Have patience
and listen
Tice back before school board
Former principal
wants to set the
record straight
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Bill Tice told the school
board Monday night that he
wanted to go on record that
teacher evaluations were
being performed at Hertford
Grammar School under his
tenxire.
According to Tice, in the
spring of 1993, system adminis
trators decided it was an inef
fective use of both teacher and
evaluator time to perform
standard observations for
career status II teachers.
Instead, the administrators
decided that it would be more
beneficial for career level II
teachers and evaluators to
work coUaboratively to identi
fy problems, come up with
strategies to solve those prob
lems and assist with the con
tinued professional develop
ment of the teachers, rather
than perform a formal obser
vation or written summative,
Tice said.
Former Central School prin
cipal Gary Stubbins backed
Tice’s comments.
The collaborative work
plans were used in the 1993-94
and 1994-95 school years.
In March 1995, Tice said
principals were told all teach
ers were to receive formal
evaluations and written sum-
matives. He said summatives
are usally done by mid-May,
1
SUBMITTED PHOTO
3rd District U.S. Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. was at Perquirnahs'County High School
last Thursday evening to meet the people he represents in Congress. The Perquimans
County Republican Party hosted a reception in his honor. Over 100 people attended the
event.
Town applies for sidewalk grant
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Hertford Town Manager
John Christensen wants to be
proactive where pedestrian
safety is concerned.
Christensen recommended
that the town apply for state
Department of Transportation
funds to begin a sidewalk pro
ject on South Church Street
Extended.
The manager made council
aware of the availability of
state funds for the project in
September. He told them last
week at their regular meeting
that if the town doesn’t move
soon, the funds may be gone.
“We can get the money now,
we’d better move,”
Christensen said.
The number of people walk
ing along Church Street
between King Street and
Hardee’s shows the need for a
sidewalk project, Christensen
said.
Under the program for
which the town will apply, the
state will fund 90 percent of
the cost of constructing the
sidewalk, including piping the
ditch.
Christensen got estimates
on installing the sidewalk
from the state in September.
District Engineer Jerry
Jennings said it would cost
about $113,000 to do the entire
project. He broke the cost
down as $70,000 from Trade
Mart to Albemarle
Commission, $13,000 from
Albemarle Commission to the
bridge, $15,000 from the bridge
JobReady
Expo a
success
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The JobReady Expo held
last week at the Edenton
Cotton Mill by Perquimans,
Chowan and Gates county
school systems and the coun
ty’s Chambers of Commerce
was a success, organizers said.
Chowan Chamber Director
Richard Bunch said the group
set a goal of having 20 busi
nesses in the tri-county area
participate in the expo. Thirty-
seven businesses set up booths
for the two-day event.
- The event allowed students
and parents to see the skills
they need to learn in order to
compete in the job market. It
Please see JobReady, page 3
gi\ ing principals little time to
do the performance appraisals.
He asked superintendent
Randall Henion, “Why didn’t
you tell us (principals) that
teachers were to be evaluated
if they were supposed to be?”
Henion said Tice signed his
name to a list of evaluations,
but some were missing. Some
were never completed, Henion
said.
Tice said he wanted to go on
record that teacher evaluation
requirements were in accor
dance with administrative pol
icy with the collaborate work
plans.
The 32-year educator also
said that principals “seem to
be catching all the flak” about
evaluations, but that last
school year four other school
employees were responsible
for evaluations and observa
tions at Hertford Grammar
School also. Tice began to
name the four, but was
stopped by Nelson. He said no
action was taken against the
other administrators.
Please see TICE, page 7
to White Street, and $15,000
from White Street to King
Street.
Christensen recommended
starting at King Street and
working toward U.S. 17
Bypass, but councilmen Sid
Eley and Erie Haste recom
mended beginning on the
other side of the bridge, citing
more danger to pedestrians on
that portion of the road. Eley
recommended started at the
bridge and moving toward U.S.
17. Haste recommended mov
ing toward King Street fromS^
U.S. 17.
The speed limit changes
from 35 to 45 at the bridge.
Although no definite order
of construction was decided,
council did instruct
Christensen to apply for grant
funds.
Board’s integrity
questioned
Gill Underwood took up
where he left off in September
as he addressed the school
board Monday night.
The retired principal again
spoke to the issue of the
integrity of the school board
and superintendent regarding
events surrounding the sus
pension and subsequent resig
nation of Hertford Grammar
School principal Bill Tice, a 32-
year system employee.
Underwood said a newspa
per account of the board’s
August meeting reported that
chairman Wallace Nelson said
the board would take no action
on personnel issues at the
meeting. However, after a
closed session that lasted
about four hours, the board
came back into open session
and voted to back the superin
tendent in the Tice case.
“This to me calls into ques
tion the integrity of the chair
man and his leadership,”
Underwood said. “In so doing
he committed political suicide
that night.”
Underwood also questioned
how Tice could have been
guilty of showing “little or no
improvement” in teacher eval
uations when the board’s
attorney, Richard Schwartz,
said in September that teacher
evluations had improved.
Information presented in
September by Schwartz
showed a 43 percent sys
temwide improvement in eval
uation docmnentation.
Underwood also said many
school system employees are
fearful of losing their jobs.
“The people in Perquimans
County (Schools) are scared to
death and that’s a fact,” he
said.
He said the Tice incident,
where the board said concerns
were real and documented,
added to employees’ fear. He
said the feeling is, “your Ps
and Qs ‘cause if we can’t get
you for A, we’ll giet you for B.”
The work environment
stiffles innovation and inde
pendent solutions to circum
stances in the schools,
Underwood said. He added
that Gary Stubbins put it
blimtly to the board in August
when Stubbins said an
employee is not in the superin
tendent’s comer, the employee
has a problem.
Please see Underwood, page 7
Council undecided about
fate of U.S. 17 business
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Heilford Town Council
is stUl trying to decide what to
do about restricting truck traf
fic across the S-bridge and
causeway.
In August, council was pre
sented with three options by
state DOT officials. The board
was told by Don Conner, DOT
Division Engineer, that the
least complicated and most
enforceable means of restrict
ing traffic would be to reroute
Highway 17 Business to enter
Hertford from South Church
Street Extended, turn west
onto Dobbs Street, then south
onto Edenton Road Street back
to its junction with U.S. 17
Bypass south of town. Then he
said Church Street south of
Dobbs Street could be desig
nated a light traffic road.
Conner said the process to
get the changes through would
take about 60 days from the
time the town passed an ordi
nance.
Conner said he would not
recommend designating a
truck route because truck
routes can be difficult for trav
elers and truckers to under
stand. He added that the only
way to eliminate truck traffic
over the bridge is by weight
restriction. Conner added that
the state’s Attorney General
has said that limiting by axles
is not legjd.’
Councilmen said they want
ed to move quickly and not
wait until September to make
a decision.
Please see US 17, page 3
Outside
Students and parents look over the tri-county JobReady Partnership information.
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