North Carolina Newspapers

lllK OMA NKWSIVMM K JOR AM) AROUI 1*1 R^l IMAMS CoHNIA AMI) I IS nOIM i; Pirates, Lady Pirates faii in 1-A East Regional semifinals Page 9 PCHS SURGE Team urges young students to be drug-free Page 13 Historic Newbold-White House site of 18th century feast Page 8 March 18, 1999 The 01.1 !c5 10/09/1999 ,c' HA"; ’ T tS39 f s Vol. 67, No. 11 Hertford, North Carolina 27944 Weekly 350 Schools conduct quality survey From news release Perquimans County Schools will conduct a total quality measurement survey of dis trict stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, and staff. The survey is being conducted to better understand the areas that need to be addressed by the district in the coming year with the main goal of improv ing district-wide educational services. The district has commis sioned the Gordon S. Black Corporation of Rochester, N. Y. to assist with the data collec tion and analysis. Using the firm’s CSMpact for Schools program, the district will col lect data using a set of stan dardized survey instruments. The entire student body, teachers, and staff wiU be sur veyed on March 23. Parents will be mailed a survey and asked to respond via maU. All responses to the survey ques tions are confidential and anonymous. Each stakeholder group will provide their input regarding a number of key service areas important to district perfor mance. Results from the sur vey will focus on three key pieces of information. • Levels of satisfaction for major areas such as atmos phere, equipment and facili ties, communications, admin- ;*istration and principal/super intendent. • The frequency of occur rence of specific events within the district, such as availabili ty of extra help during the school year, parent involve ment, etc. • The effect specific events have on stakeholder satisfac tion, and a prioritized list of issues that should be addressed to improve satisfac tion. “This comprehensive sur vey will provide detailed, unambiguous, and accurate feedback about our perfor mance,” said Perquimans 'County Schools ' Shperintendent Gregory Todd. '' “This sort of feedback, based ■ on factual data, will give our ' ^district, its parents, and teach- *.'ers, a much better idea of our f constituents’ opinion about the job we are doing.” The Gordon S. Black ■ Corporation has over 15 years of experience in the design and management of customer- based satisfaction measure ment systems. It has designed similar systems for major American companies such as Xerox Corporation, and KPMG Peat Marwick. The firm has been awarded the 1995 New * York State Governor’s * Excelsior Award for Quality. The Award is an annual recog nition, similar to the Malcohn Baldrige National Quality > Award, of New York State > organizations that excel in quality management. The award promotes awareness of *•- excellence, recognizes quality . achievements, and publicizes ^- ^successful quality strategies. Student alleges slap by driver Grandmother of fourth grader said bus driver left hand print on child’s face By SUSAN R. HARRIS Editor Someone slapped a fourth grader on a Perquimans County Schools bus, according to her grandmother. But no one has admitted hitting her or seeing what happened that afternoon to the child’s family, even though they’ve tried to find out. Emily King said her grand daughter was extremely upset on the afternoon of Feb. 23, the day she allegedly got off the bus with a flaming red hand print across her face. King said her granddaughter was taken to the Chowan Hospital to document the injury. “There is no doubt in my mind (that the driver slapped her),” King said. “TJiis child was slapped and she was slapped by an adult.” King said the driver, Colleen Proctor, denied hitting the child. Proctor said one of the children with whom her granddaughter admits to fight ing with on the bus must have slapped her. King said in con versations between family members and the children involved in the fight, the other children deny slapping her granddaughter. There is no doubt that there was a fight on the bus that afternoon, according to King. She said her granddaughter admitted to having used pro fane language to Proctor and to her fellow students in addi tion to kicking at least one other student. King said the other riders were teasing her granddaughter about being poor and making disparaging comments about her family. The alleged victim told her grandmother that she cursed at the students and kicked at least one other child in retalia tion, King said. That is where the stories of what happened seem to part ways. The fourth grader told her grandmother and parents, Tony and Denise King, that Proctor picked her up by the front of her shirt, slapped her and then let her go so that she fell down the bus steps. Proctor then helped her up, the child told her grandmoth er. King said Proctor alleges she was helping the child up because the chUd fell down the steps. When the teasing started on the day of the fight, the young girl told her grandmother she raised her hand to let Proctor know, but was ignored. Once she used profane language, however, the child alleged that the Proctor heard her and told her she was going to write her up and have her removed from the bus. The child’s parents spoke with Hertford Grammar School principal Ed Williams after the incident. King said. King said they also tried to take out warrants against Proctor through Perquimans County Magistrate Todd Tilley, but Tilley would not issue a warrant. What the child’s family Wants, according to King, is a full-scale investigation. “We’re not going to stop at this until we have an investi gation,” King said. “There’s a lot of kids that this bus driver picks on and abuses. Every child on there has had prob lems with this woman on the bus.” King said her granddaugh ter and grandson were imme diately assigned to another bus after the incident. The Kings met in closed ses sion with the Board of Education Monday night at the start of the Board’s regular meeting. King said her grand daughter told the same story to the board, administrators and board attorney John Matthews she has been teUing for three weeks. “Her story has not changed. If she was lying, her story would have changed,” King said. “She admitted what she did (using profanity and kick ing another child) to her par ents.” King said schools officials said they will review the situa tion and the information pre sented to them during the closed session and will let the Kings know what they con clude. In the meantime. King said her son and daughter-in-law have contacted an attorney to get information on filing a civil suit against the school system and Proctor. King said there is liability involved even if another child and not Proctor slapped the child because the child was under the care of Proctor at the time of the incident. Schools superintendent Gregory Todd verified that the board met in closed session to discuss a personnel issue, although he said he was not at liberty to divulge specific information about the session. He did say that a recent incident on a school bus was brought to his attention and that a careful investigation fol lowed. No bus drivers have been relieved of their duties over the past three weeks, he added, although some have resigned. In any case brought to his attention involving allegations that an employee acted inap propriately, Todd said a thor ough investigation is per formed to determine exactly what happened. From there, appropriate action is taken at the administrative or school board level per policy. Park GROWTH The Town of Hertford com pleted another phase of its waterfront development/pub lic access plan with the reno vation of an oid boathouse into a covered pavilion and rebuilding a deiapidated pier at the east end of Missing Miil Park. The newly-renovated areas connect to the board walk that meanders through the wetlands. A cement path takes walkers from the park ing iot to the waterfront areas. The geese seem to iike the expansion, also. The work was completed with financiai support from grant funds. PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS DSS does away with handicapped line at distribution By SUSAN R. HARRIS Editor Past abuses of the handi capped line at the county’s USDA commodities distribu tion site have led social ser vices officials to do away with the service for the March 31 distribution. According to Carlyn Chambers with the Perquimans County Department of Social Services, offering a special handicapped line at the site has become unmanageable. Up until the March distribu tion, commodities recipients meeting the handicapped crite ria were not required to take a number and wait their turn to be served. A growing recipient population meeting the techni cal definition of handicapped has led to problems at the site. Chambers said. There will be relief avail able for those physically unable to stand in line for long periods of time, as well as for those who are unable to pick up their commodities during the 9-11 a.m. time period. Provided that the commodities card or application is signed in the correct places, a represen tative may pick up the com modities on behalf of the hand icapped individual or other recipient. The representative may be an individual who is also picking up his or her own commodities; however, no one wUl be allowed to pick up food for more than two households. There wUl be one line at the distribution site. Everyone must get a number when they arrive and wait to be served. Those qualified to receive commodities may arrive as early as 5 a.m. Chambers said there wUl be someone one site to begin giving out numbers. All recipients must complete an application and be deter mined eligible before receiv ing the food products. Cars will not be aUowed in the distribution area. Cars should be parked only in authorized areas. The Hertford Police Department will be patroUing. The Commodities Distribution Program is avaU- able to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, reli gion, handicap or political beliefs. There are income crite rion that must be met in order to qualify. Information about regula tions against discrimination and how to file a complaint may be secured from the N.C. Division of Social Services, 325 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC or from the Perquimans County Department of Social Services. Applications are available beginning Friday at the department of social services, health department and senior center. On the day of the distri bution, applications should be picked up at social services. Weekend Weather Thursday Friday Saturday High 70s High 60s High 60s Low 40s Low 40s Low 40s Fair Skies Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy