November 27,1997
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17944
The Perquimans Weekly
350
VcH. 65, NcJ, 47
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Cox resigns Hertford Council seat
Inside
Officials read
■ to HGS
^ students
Page 6
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vRerquimans County
an
' All Of Us
:. Community
November’s theme:
Show a positive
attitude.
Board begins
search for
replacement
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A man whose name has
been synonymous with poli
tics in Hertford and beyond for
decades resigned his seat on
the town’s governing board
earlier this month.
W.D.”BiH” Cox notified his
fellow council members earli
er this month that he is no
longer able to fulfill the duties
of his office and will step down
effective Dec. 1.
“It is with deep regret and
after much thought and con
sideration, that I have decided
to resign from the Town
Council, effective December 1,.
1997,” Cox wrote in his letter
to council.
“Due to health related diffi
culties; I do not feel that I can
dedicate the necessary time
and attention to fulfill my
duties as a member of the
council. It is my belief that my
resignation will best serve the
town of Hertford at this time.”
Cox sat oh council before
being elected mayor. He was
the town’s first manager, first
serving part-time as mayor
and part-time as manager. He
later served as full-time man
ager, a position from which he
resigned in December 1993.
In 1995, Cox again ran for
council.
The Hertford board accept
ed Cox’s resignation with
regret, citing the positive
New DWI
law kicks
In Dec. 1
- North Carolina is putting
drunk drivers on notice that
tougher anti-impaired driving
laws go into effect on Dec. 1.
‘■‘Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker,
who helped steer passage of
tiie Governor’s DWI Initiative
through the recent legislative
session, and Insurance
Commissioner Jim Long will
tour the state to inform North
Carolinians about the changes
in the state’s driving while
impaired (DWI) laws that
include:
• Seizure of vehicle for
repeat DWI offenders.
• A prohibition on register
ing vehicles to DWI offenders
with revoked licenses.
’.‘•An increase in immediate
administrative license revoca
tion from 10 days to 30 days.
• :• Strengthened sentence for
habitual impaired driving.
• Tougher penalties for DWI
offenders.
The new law also has impli
cations for local school boards.
Local board attorney John
Matthews said Monday night
that school boards must decide
where to store seized vehicles.
After the court proceedings for
the driver charged under the
law, the board may be the
.tecipient of the seized vehi-
‘cies. The vehicles could be
Used by the board or sold with
'the proceeds going to the
hoard.
>’New public service
'artnouncements to educate the
tJUblic on the new DWI laws
:and to reinforce the “Booze It
j&.Lose It” message will be
Tj^puted. County and city offi-
•ci^ls, Mothers Against Drunk
priving (MADD) members,
law enforcement officers and
highway safety advocates from
Across the state will attend
■several regional events.
PCHS teacher earns national certification
Robin M. Ward-Dassler, a
teacher from Perquimans
County High School, has
been named by the National
Board for Professional
Teaching Standards as one of
317 teachers nationwide to
receive National Board
Certification. This brings the
nationwide total of National
Board Certified Teachers to
911.
A graduate of the
University of South Florida
and East Carolina, Ward-
Dassler has been teaching
advanced math courses at
Perquimans County High
School for the past 15 years.
In addition to her classroom
duties, she serves as Junior
class Advisor, Chairperson of
the Math Department and a
member of the PCHS
Discipline Committee.
To earn National Board
Certification, teachers
demonstrate their knowledge
and skills through an exten
sive year-long series of per
formance-based assessments,
including portfolios of stu
dent work, videotapes and
rigorous analyses of their
classroom teaching. Teachers
also complete assessment
center exercises designed to
probe the depth of their
knowledge.
The President of the
United States, in his State of
the Union address, praised
the National Board for
Professional Teaching
Standards for “establishing
this nationally accepted cre
dential for excellence in
teaching.”
“These new National
Board Certified Teachers
embody the professionalism
and dedication that is so
important to their profes
sion,” said James A, KeUy,
president of the National
Board for Professional
Teaching Standards. “They
are dedicated to continuing
the development of their
careers, to improving the
way their students lesirn and
to strengthening the teaching
profession as a whole. We are
extremely gratified that
President Clinton has given
the national Board such high
visibility. This will help us
meet our goal of certifying
hundreds of thousands of
teachers.”
The National Board will
eventually offer more than 30
different certificates cover
ing K-12 student ages and
subject areas, enabling hun
dreds of thousands of teach
ers to seek National Board
Certification each year. ,
The National Board of for
Professional Teaching
Standards is a no profit, inde
pendent organization whose
mission is to establish high
and rigorous standards for
what accomplished teachers
should know and be able to
do, to develop and operate a
national, voluntary system to
Robin Ward-Dassler, a mathematics teacher at Perquimans
County High School, is the first teacher in the district to
complete the steps for national teacher certification.
assess and certify teachers
who meet these standards,
and to advance related educa
tion reforms for the purpose
of improving student learn
ing in American schools.
The National Board for
Professional Teaching
Standards is governed by a 63
member board of directors,
the majority of whom are
classroom teachers.
For more information on
the National Board for
Professional Teaching
Standards, please call Ryan
McDay at (202)667-0901.
Daycare operator earns Reynolds award
By ANGELA FOREST
The Daily Advance
Nothing pleases Valerie
Chenay Costen more than the
smiles of children who greet
her at the Perquimans
Learhing Center every week
day.
Her joy comes not only from
seeing them have fun. It also
comes from knowing that she’s
helping these children and
their families overcome pover
ty, illiteracy and hopieless-
ness.
Costen, 42, operates two
daycare centers and an unaffil
iated non-profit organization
for low-income families in
Pasquotank, Chowan,
Perquimans and Gates coun
ties.
She works hard at what she
does. And on Saturday, Costen
was honored for her efforts.
She was named on of three
recipients of the prestigious
1997 Nancy Susan Reynolds
Award. The awards are funded
by the Z. Smith Reynolds
Foundation, a trust set up in
1936 to support projects that
focus on community/economic
development, education and
the environment, or women
and minorities.
Winners are presented with
$5,000 for their personal use
and $20,000 for use by their
non-profit organizations.
Costen said she plans to use
her organization’s $20,000
expanding a housing assis
tance program. The money
win be added to a $30,000 grant
the program received in
January from the state Rural
Economic Development
Center, she said.
So far, Costen’s housing
program has resulted in the
construction of two homes in
Chowan County and the
planned construction of a
third.
The affordable housing
assistance program is one of
many services available
through United Family
Support Services, the non-prof
it organization Costen created
in 1993.
UFSS offers low-income
families help in juvenile crime
prevention, justice system
education and parental train
ing. One program provides
families transportation to var
ious social services agencies.
“Not only to we provide
transportation to other agen
cies, we will go with them
(clients) on social service
interviews and set up hearings
for them if they are denied
public assistance,” Costen
said.
“We teach them about the
appeal process and help them
obtain Social Security
Supplemental Income if their
children have medical prob
lems.”
One of UFSS’s most impor
tant functions, according to
Costen, is helping those in
poverty improve their educa
tions. The agency’s primary
resource is College of The
Albemarle’s Adult Basic
Education and GED programs.
Costen also is committed to
upgrading the work skills of
professional child care givers.
She’s currently working with
Elizabeth City State
University officials to develop
a licensing program for those
who work with newborns and
pre-kindergarteners.
Students would be child
care workers at area day-care
centers, including onces
Costen owns in Elizabeth City
and Winfall. Classes are tenta
tively scheduled to begin dur
ing the 1998-99 school year, she
said.
At the same time, Costen is
trying to help children who
don’t get child care because of
their parents’ job or education
al status. The state Smart Start
program only offers child care
for parents who are employed
or enrolled in educational or
job training classes.
mark Cox’s years in politics
left on the town.
Under statute, it is up to the
members of the council to
select a replacement for Cox.
The boeurd is accepting applica
tions from town residents to
fill the position. The deadline
to apply in Dec. 11. Interested
persons should contact the
town office at 426-1969 for
information.
School
board
tables
Costen believes improving
child care workers’ profession
alism and enrolling more low-
income children in day care
are two ways to reach the
goals of educated children and
parents who are able to break
free from poverty.
“Our approach is not to do
things for the people that come
to us,” Costen said. “We show
them how to do it so they
become empowered. ...It’s not
anything great that we’re
doing. We’re helping ordinary
citizens solve their problems.
We’re helping them meet those
everyday needs.”
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Perquimans County
Board of Education tabled
indefinitely a proposed adden
dum to its public comment pol
icy in regidar session Monday
night.
Board chairman Wallace
Nelson said that after hearing
discussion regarding public
comment at last week’s North
Carolina School Board
Association meeting, he had
some concerns about amend
ing the board’s present policy.
Other board members agreed.
The proposed addendum
read, “Discussions regarding
particular individual employ
ees, litigation, student records,
or other matters which may be
required to be kept confiden
tial may not be discussed in
the open forum setting. It is
not the purpose or intent of
this policy to allow for or to
provide a forum to air repeti
tive complaints, or complaints
about individual school
employees. The Chairman will
have the responsibility to
determine matters of discus
sion that may be inappropriate
and to rule the speaker out of
order, if necessary.”
Both Gill Underwood and
Roy Murray spoke during the
public comments portion of
Monday’s meeting about the
proposed addendum.
Underwood urged the board to
consider the policy again
before voting to pass it.
“I think the public sees this
as trying to put a gag order on
them,” Underwood said. He
said he thought he understood
the purpose of the policy, but
questioned its wording and the
way it would be perceived.
The addendum was pro
posed to protect employees
from being mentioned by
name in open session. Under
state statute, discussion of
individual employees is
allowed in closed session to
protect the employee. A law
suit stemming from personnel
discussion in open session in
Durham County prompted the
board to review its policy.
Outside
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