The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its people
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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944
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The
November 30, 2000
Vol. 68, No. 48 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
I i
NOV 2
Perquimans
Weekly
i 12 1
Harrell
chosen
interim
super
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Pat Harrell is coming home.
The Perquimans native and
former superintendent of
Perquimans County Schools
was named interim schools
superintendent Monday night.
School board chairman
Walter Leigh said the board
will meet with Harrell in
Decmeber to finalize a con
tract.
Harrell served as superin
tendent in Perquimans County
from June 1976 until July 1988,
^ter serving as both assistant
superintendent and principal
at Hertford Grammar School.'
He left the county to accept the
position of superintendent in
Dare County Schools. After
retiring, he has held interim
positions including schools
superintendent, executive
director of Albemarle
Commission and chief admin
istrator at COA.
Harrell will serve upon the
Dec. 31 retirement of Gregory
Todd. Todd resigned last
month to accept a position as
executive director of Tarboro-
Edgecombe Habitat for
Humanity.
The board also set a sched
ule for the process of hiring a
new superintendent.
Application packages are
being distributed and accepted
.through "the office of board
lattorney John Matthews. The
.deadline to apply is Feb. 28.
I The packages will be reviewed
.by board members March 1-15.
'Initial interviews will be
scheduled March 16-April 16,
with final interviews April 17-
‘21. An announcement will be
made as soon as possible after
that date. The candidate cho
sen would be expected to begin
work in Perquimans no later
than July 1.
In other personnel items,
the board approved:
V • the appointments of Beth
Hughes as behavioral special
ist at Oasis, Brian Page as PE
teacher at Hertford Grammar,
Melissa White as exceptional
children teacher at Central
and the high school, Tonya
Brothers as part-time teacher
assistant at Hertford
Grammar, and James Newby
Jr. as custodian at the middle
school.
• the transfer of Ed
Williams from custodian at the
middle school to transporta
tion/maintenance.
• the retirement of Elonza
Joyner as special populations
coordinator at the high school
as of Dec. 31, and a temporary
contract for Joyner to contin
ue to perform those duties
through June 30.
• the resignations of Todd
Hunter as PE teacher at
Hertford Grammar, Hilda
Knight as bus driver at the
middle school, Kevin White
from maintenance/trans-
{jprtation, and Susan Winslow,
ijho was on a leave of absence.
> • the addition of Karen
Nowlin to the substitute
teacher list.
Santa to arrive at parade Saturday
Smiths serve as
grand marshalls
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Paul and Anna Wrae Smith
are grand marshalls of this
Saturday’s Christmas parade.
The Hertford couple and
their son, Jason, are well-
known in the community as
owners of Smith’s Jewelry and
Fine Gifts and as farmers. Both
are active in a variety of com
munity, business, and church
organizations. Mr. Smith is
currently chairman of the
county elections board. Mrs.
Smith has served on the cham
ber board of directors.
Flynn Serat will serve as
master of ceremonies for the
holiday event.
The parade will leave
Perquimans High School at
1:30 p.m. It will proceed north
on Edenton Road Street and
turn east onto Grubb. Then,
the parade will move south on
Church Street before turning
west onto Dobbs Street, then
back onto Edenton Road to end
at the high school.
Highlights of the parade
will include music from the
PCHS Marching Pirates and
PCMS Marching Tigers, and
the man every child wants to
impress at Christmas, Santa
Claus. Santa will leave his
sleigh downtown to listen to
the wish lists of girls and boys.
The theme is Joys of
Christmas Past.
Also on parade day, craft and
food vendors will have booths
downtown.
“We hope people will spend
the day shopping, eating lunch
and enjoying our parade,” said
Gay Murray, Chamber of
Commerce president. The
chamber sponsors the parade.
The Perquimans Arts
League is responsible for
parade judging.
Last year’s parade day drew
large crowds to shop and enjoy
the holiday event.
The parade is the first of
several holiday events. The
next will be on Dec. 7 when the
annual caroling on the court
house green and merchants
treasure hunt, extension
Christmas Ramble and
Antique Dealers Ramble are
scheduled.
Downtown entertainment, 6-
9 p.m., will feature Brittany
Perry and the PCMS band. The
treasure hunt will begin at
Detour
-v
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Motorists will continue to detour off Grubb Street until
the end of the week, according to workmen on the site
installing new sewer equipment at the intersection of
Grubb and Edenton Road streets. Work crews have been
on the job for several days. The road should be cleared
in time for Saturday's Christmas parade, which will
leave the high school at 1:30 p.m.
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Board questions maintenance work order report
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Reported leaks left unre
paired for a month on the
maintenance department work
order report caused raised eye
brows at Monday night’s
school board meeting.
Board member Iris Byrne
asked why there were several
requests for dry erase boards
not honored.
Board vice chair Marjorie
Rayburn said she was more
concerned that a faucet report
ed constantly dripping at
Hertford Grammar School on
Oct. 18 had not been fixed by
the time the work order report
was updated on Nov. 17. She
also asked why two leaks
reported in the high school
cafeteria two days later had not
been fixed.
“Leaks cost money and they
also do damage if they’re not
contained,” Rayburn said.
While Rayburn said she
appreciates the importance of
installing dry erase boards,
priorities should be items that
left unrepaired cost the system
money, endanger the structur
al integrity of the buildings
and are a safety concern for
students and staff.
Rayburn’s questions
prompted board chair Walter
Leigh to ask who is responsible
for following up on mainte
nance requests.
Superintendent Gregory
Todd said principals are
responsible for maintenance
employees assigned to the
school. In the maintenance
department. Director Richard
O’Neal is the overseer. Todd
added that O’Neal prioritizes
and assigns work to the main
tenance employees. While
there is some cross-training,
one employee specializes in
plumbing, one in electrical
maintenance, one in carpentry
and repairs and one in paint
ing.
Todd added that ceiling and
roof leaks are priorities as
leaks can cause structural
damage if left unchecked.
Electrical problems are also
top priorities.
Board member Helen Shaw
noted that repair requests are
highest at the middle emd high
schools, which are the oldest
buildings. The middle school
Frankie’s Hertford Cafe at 7
p.m. Merchants will he open
until 8 p.m. The activities are
sponsored by the Historic
Hertford Business Association.
The Extension and
Community Association’s
annual homes tour wiU be held
at 6:30 p.m. The ramble wiU fea
ture three homes and Burgess
Baptist Church. For tickets,
brochures, and information,
caU 426-7697.
The antique dealers ramble
begins at 3 p.m. and includes
mystery coupon specials. CaU
or visit local antique and col
lectibles dealers for informa^-
tion.
Todd
unhappy
with ■ :
remediation
attendance
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Getting students to attend
on remediation days buUt into
the school calendar is proving
chaUenging.
Superintendent Gregory
Todd said he is disappointed in
the number of students taking
advantage of the remediation
and acceleration opportuni
ties.
Only 22 students at Central
School participated in the Oct.
17 remediation/acceleration
day. Sixty-eight students in
grades K—2 were invited to
participate. Forty-two
responded that they would
attend. However, only 22 did.
At Hertford Grammar
School, 53 students, almost
half in the third grade, attend
ed.
The middle school had 93
students show up, about half
who attended the ECSU math
workshop for female students.
Participation was highest at
the high school, where 78 stu
dents participated in the PSAT
workshop and 20 in remedia
tion activities.
WhUe board members dis
cussed the problems of non
participation, how to raise test
scores, and how to reach par
ents about the importance of
helping students through
remediation, board member
Helen Shaw was optimistic.
She said remediation is new,
and people must be given tinte
to accept change.
had 58 requests on the list ran-
ing from instaUing dry erase
boards to ceiling leaks.
In addition to sending
employees to fix problems,
Todd said periodically the
entire crew is sent to one loca
tion to fix as many problems at
that site as possible.
The 10-page work order
tracking report goes back to
April and is updated each
month. The report shows that
175 out of 243 requests have
been completed. A couple of
items have been contracted
out.
The maintenance depart
ment is responsible for aU the
repairs and maintenance at all
of the school properties, as
well as constructing and
installing new items.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 52
Low: 30
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 53
Low: 35
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 48
Low: 30
Partly Cloudy