Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / June 26, 2002, edition 1 / Page 1
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Bible Drill Team winners Pages Bright Ideas' Early Bird incentive Rage9 Youth League honors f^eS Perq RQuimans county ST IraHHililUliaanj HERTFORD, NC 27944-1 June 26, 2002 Vol. 70, No. 26 Hertford, North Carolina 27944 EEKLY Dublin is new principal at PCMS John Dublin was named principal at Perquimans Middle School Monday night. SUSAN R. HARRIS John Dublin sees himself as just one piece of the puz zle of success as he takes the reins at Perquimans Middle School. The present assistant principal at Pasquotank County High School believes that every staff member in a school con tributes to its overall suc cess. “Pm going to try and keep that achievement level as high as 1 possibly can,” Dublin said. “But it’s not going to be done by John Dublin, I’m just one piece in that puzzle. It’s going to take everybody there.” Dublin, a Buffalo, New York native, always wanted to be a social studies teacher. However, during his college years, he was recruited by law enforce ment agencies. He was intrigued, and began a career in law enforcement in 1971. He did not forget his dream of becoming an edu cator, however. Dublin con tinued his own education, earning a bacehlor’s degree in criminal justice from the State University College at Empire State, and later a masters in education/administration from Canisius College and a masters in criminal jus tice from State University College at Buffalo. He fulfilled his desire to teach by instructing and lecturing at police acade mies and colleges begin ning in 1979. As Dublin considered retiring from the City of Buffalo police force in 1993, he knew he was young enough to pursue a full time career in education. His first foray into the pub lic school classroom was as a substitute teacher. Before he left New York, he was assistant principal at Turner-Carroll High School. Deciding to move south to a warmer climate, Dublin served for one year as assistant principal at Abbeville High School in South Carolina, before moving to Elizabeth City, where he spent a year as assistant principal at Elizabeth City Middle School before transferring to Pasquotank County High. “The middle school is a very important part of our educational process,” Dublin said. “Students are changing from children into young adults. It’s very important to understand them...It’s really time for them to start to have more responsibility.” Dublin also believes that performance goals should be set high, and that chil dren should be challenged with interesting, attention- getting curriculum. He also believes that no one can achieve without discipline in the classroom. “You must have high expectations that you want all the students to learn and succeed, but along with that you need some disci pline and order in the clas- rooms for that to happen,” he said. “If you don’t have that order in the classroom everybody loses, that child who is disruptive and the child who’s trying to pay attention.” Perquimans Superintendent Kenneth Wells said he is working with officials in Pasquotank schools to negotiate a date for Dublin to begin work here. Summer breeze concert Los Saxofonistas, a saxo phone quartet that per forms a varied repertoire of high-energy music, will be featured at the Summer Breeze Concert, Sunday, July 14, on the grounds of Hertford’s historic 1730 iNewbold-White House. The outdoor Summer Breeze Concerts are sponsored by the Perquimans County Restoration Association and the Perquimans Arts League, and made possible with support from the North Carolina Arts Council. The concerts are free, but donations are accepted. Concerts begin at 5:30 p.m. and last about one hour. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs and a picnic for this casual outdoor family concert. The Newbold-White House is open for tours on Sundays from 2 —5 p.m. For more information call the Newbold-White House at 426-7567. State Champs t ■ T \ , School Board Chairman Walter Leigh congratulates the Perquimans Middle School shooting team for its state championship season. The board presented team members with state championship jackets during Monday night's board meeting. The team will now compete in national competition in Pennsylvania. Schools appeal writing test scores to state SUSAN R. HARRIS Perquimans County Schools Superintendent Kenneth Wells wrote a point-of-view paper recent ly designed to persuade its reader that something is dreadfully wrong with state writing test scores in the seventh grade. The letter was part of package sent to the state appealing the writing test scores. Perquimans’ scores dropped from 72.5 percent proficient last spring to 40.6 percent this spring. A decline that dramatic indi cates that there is a big problem somewhere, and Wells doesn’t believe that problem is in Winfall. “We had been showing nothing but growth over the past few years,” Wells said. “In 1997, we were at 51.3 percent and had grown to 72.5 percent last year. We had done nothing, but show steady progress.” And Wells isn’t the only superintendent with a new flair for writing. Wells said as of last week, 67 of the state’s school districts have appealed test scores, and more may officially appeal before Friday’s deadline. Statewide, scores dropped from 73.3 percent last year to 62 percent this year. The drop was not what educators expected, as the state had been hold ing steady for several years. And the state really can’t tell anyone why test scores slid. In the Northeast region, test scores have topped the state average for the past three years, and local scores were higher than the regional average. Wells said he was first made award of a problem with test scores when he spoke with personnel from two or three other school districts, asking if Perquimans had gotten writing test scores back. “They were telling me they had dropped by 30 per centage points, 50 percent age points...” Wells said. “Ours came in and we had fallen dramatically.” Wells said Perquimans has worked diligently on improving reading and writing skills, hoping to better prepare students and raise test scores. The sys tem even has higher promo tion standards because stu dents and faculty here have worked so hard to raise stu dent achievement levels. “Our teachers have pushed this (high writing standards),” Wells said. “Our teachers are commit ted to writing.” The middle school’s Instructional Facilitator, Sandra Hooker, who has a strong background in writ ing and is a trained state writing test scorer, looked over the local papers, rescoring them. Her num bers and the state’s assess ment did not match. So a team from the mid dle school looked over the papers, and agreed that there was a problem with scoring. Next, Principal Anne White wrote a letter stating her concerns. The papers then went to local Testing Coordinator Betty Waters, and were then looked over by the regional testing coordinator. Everyone agreed that there was a problem, and Wells wrote his appeal. In the meantime, fourth grade scores were received, and they were worse. Statewide, scores dropped from 68.8 percent to 46 per cent proficiency. DPI actu ally stopped the scoring due to concerns regarding the scoring process, but determined that everything was all right and had the scoring company resume. Perquimans is also appealing its fourth grade scores. “This is probably one of the most disappointing odysies of this school year,” Wells said. “Teachers, principals and certainly this superin tendent do not understand how these scores were com puted,” Wells said. ALICE BREWIN Thanks to the hard work and perserverence of the American Legion Post 126, Historic Hertford Business Association, and countless volunteers and patrons, Hertford is ready to go off with a bang celebrating July 4th. All activities will be held Thursday, July 4 at Missing Mill Park, and the day promises to be fun-filled for the young and the young-at- heart alike. The festivities begin at noon with Tommy’s Pizza and the American Legion provid ing food and refreshments. There will also be cotton candy and surprise bags for sale. The Hunter Safety Team will be on hand to educate while James and Sheila Duncan from “Party Rentals” will provide enter tainment. The band “Loose Change” is set to perform from 5-9 p.m. and the fire works will explode over the river at 9. Volunteers are still need ed. If interested, please con tact Mary at 426-2021. Weekend Weather Thursday High: 94 Low: 75 Isouted T'Storms Friday High: 91 Low: 74 ScAHERED T'Storms Saturday High: 90 Low: 70 Partly Cloudy
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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June 26, 2002, edition 1
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