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P The
ERQUIMANS
.aLWEEKLY ^
"News from Next Door"
FEBRUARY 26, 2014 - MARCH 4, 2014
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Board agrees to tenure/pay formula
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
School Board agreed Mon
day to a system that decides,
which teachers will be of
fered a $500 pay raise.
The N.C. General Assem
bly has directed local school
boards to make the offer to
25 percent of their teachers.
In exchange for the money,
those teachers would lose
tenure and instead be given
a four-year contract.
Half of the Perquimans
County teachers polled by
the school system said they
don’t want the deal. Even
the school board went on
record Monday that they
didn’t think it was fair to re
ward some teachers when
many are deserving.
“Educators in Perqui
mans County Schools are
greatly valued and do an
exemplary job for our stu
dents,” the board said in
a statement following the
vote. “Selecting one quarter
of our educators just doesn’t
seem fair.”
Still the board agreed to
the criteria they will look at
when considering who will
get the offer.
The matrix was devel
oped based on input from
teachers, as well as a focus
group that included the four
teachers of the year, prin
cipal of the year Melissa
Fields and school board
member Susan Cox.
“This is about as fair as
it gets,” Cox told the board
Monday.
There are 84 teachers
who are eligible to be con
sidered and the school sys
tem can only pick 21 for the
raise.
The criteria includes
seven items. Three would
disqualify a teacher from
consideration. They include
teachers who have had a
discipline issue document
ed in their file for the period
from 2010 through 2013.
Also teachers who have
been placed on a mandatory
See TENURE/PAY, 4
Most
J
teachers
excel in
testing
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Virtually all of Perquimans
County’s teachers are “pro
ficient” in what they teach
and more than 70 percent
can be considered “accom
plished” or “distinguished”
according to a state report
released last week.
However the local perfor
mance is slipping compared
to the two previous years.
The N.C. educator ef
fectiveness data looks at
standards like demonstrat
ing leadership and knowing
content. Each standard is
measured on a scale from
“not demonstrated” — the
worst— on up to “distin
guished.”
In the middle is the cat
egory of “proficient” That
means an educator has dem
onstrated basic competence
of the standard. Only one
Perquimans teacher failed
to make that level in 2012-13
and instead was considered
“developing.” The other 117
teachers ranked as profi
cient or higher.
Statewide, the combined
number of teachers ranking
at either “accomplished” or
“distinguished” ranged from
46 percent to 62 percent
across the five categories..
In Perquimans it was 71
percent to 76 percent.
The numbers used to be
much better.
In 2010-11, the percent
age of Perquimans teachers
who placed in the top two
categories ranged from 89.8
percent to 95.4 percent. The
next year, the range was
from 80 to 88.7 percent.
Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings said some of the
decline is due to more rigor
ous evaluating on the part of
local supervisors. Another
factor is the adoption of the
new common core standard,
See TESTING, 2
Couple PLAYS KEY
ROLES IN AVIATION
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A husband and wife
team from Per-
XX quimans County
hold key leadership roles
in an organization that
promotes the country’s
agricultural aviation
industry.
Craig Craft is treasurer
of the National Agricul
tural Aviation Association
and Leslie is the president
of the Women of the
National Agricultural Avia
tion Association.
Together they are Craft
Air Services, a company
with two planes based out
of a field in Belvidere.
Leslie Craft admits she’s
shy about talking about
her industry because it’s
received some unjust criti
cisms.
“Not everybody loves
what you love and in gen
eral a lot of people don’t
understand agriculture or
they take it for granted,”
she said.
On the local front right
now, planes are doing the
job of applying fertil
izer on crops in the field
because the ground is far
too wet for other equip
ment to do it. That can be
critical for farmers.
There’s a specific time-
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Craig and Leslie Craft operate Craft Air Services. One of the two aircraft owned by
Craft (top) is loaded recently. The system is used for seed and dry fertilizer.
table on when fertilization
needs to take place as
well as weed control and
planting.
“If it’s wet and farmers
miss their window of op
portunity they may not be
able to plant,” Craft said.
She grew up around
agriculture. In a column
in the trade magazine
“Agriculture Aviation” she
writes about Perquimans.
She’s a 1993 graduate of
Perquimans County High
School.
“We grow corn, wheat,
soybeans, peanuts, cotton
and cute children,” she
writes.
“Growing up in a farm
family was one of the
greatest experiences of
my life. I think back to
special days of getting off
the school bus and hitch
ing a ride to the field to be
with my Dad. I would ride
for hours. The days were
filled with sometimes one
sided conversations, one
story after the other. Then
my Dad would ask ‘do you
ever breathe?’
I’m still blessed to have
him and his humor around
and I still eryoy riding a
round or two with him.”
But she said fanning
has dramatically changed
over the past years and
continues to evolve. That’s
something that non-farm-
era may not grasp but
those in the agriculture
aviation industry have to.
They used to be called
“crop dusters” but what
they apply now isn’t a
dust, it’s a liquid. Craft
said most people would be
amazed just how little
See CRAFT, 4
Four
more file
for public
office
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A Hertford
town board j
member is
seeking a seat
on the Perqui ¬
mans County school board
while a school board is try
ing for a post on the county
commission..
In addition, Stanley Nix
on also filed for the county
WHITE
the school
is a retired
commis
sion, mean
ing there
are four
people run
ning for
three avail
able seats.
Incum
bent Ralph
Hollowell
filed Tues
day morn
ing so four
people are
running
for three
seats on
the school
board.
Anne
White, a
member of
the town
council
since 2002,
has filed
to run for
a seat on
board. White
educator and
for a time was principal at
Perquimans County Middle
School. She’s been on the
town board since 2002.
The deadline to file for
office is Friday at noon.
So far, Perquimans County
Sheriff Eric Tilley and Clerk
of Court Todd Tilley are run
ning unopposed.
Hollowell could hot be
reached for comment in
time for this report.
Wallace Nelson now sits
See ELECTIONS, 4
Group wants Boys, Girls Club
aaaRED
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A group is moving forward
with plans to develop a Boys
and Girls Club in Hertford.
The need for something for
youth to do has been highlighted
by studies and by elected offi
cials and members of the com
munity.
Now the Boys and Girls Club
of America is involved. Steve
Morris, director of organization
al development for the group,
had his first meeting Tuesday
with a 15-member steering com
mittee.
The drive was spearheaded
by Pastor Arthur Manigualt of .support for the plan.
Spirit & Truth Ministries and
Dave Goss, a lay leader at Hert
ford United Methodist Church.
The two churches joined to
gether in May to hold d block
party involving residents of the
Covent Garden neighborhood
and church members. The need
for youth activities was one of
the things many people there
mentioned.
The Methodist church has of
fered the use of a 5,000-square-
foot home it owns at 211 Market
St. to house the club rent-free. It
will cost about $150,000 a year
to operate it, according to Mor
ris. Goss said they’d like to start
some program as early as this
fall if the funding is available.
At this point Goss said the
group is reaching out to the com ¬
munity to get input and gauge
Boys and Girls Clubs typi
cally target youth between the
ages of 6 and 18. Goss said the
Hertford club would initially be
geared more to high school-age
children. There are already two
clubs in the Albemarle area, one
in Elizabeth City and another in
Edenton. Morris said the Hert
ford club would partner with
one of them in the early stages
of development.
Goss said the program doesn’t
have to be solely focused on the
Hertford area.
“We know churches have fa
cilities they can use and a lot of
them have transportation,” Goss
said.
If the club can partner with
See GROUP WANTS, 4
Em ir|tncyCcmmiinic«tlAi» Made Eaar.
Some may be missing out on
county reverse-911 system
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Newer residents and people
who recently added a cell phone
line may be missing out on a sys
tem that alerts them of dangerous
weather and other emergencies.
Perquimans County has had a
emergency notification system to
send out automated phone mes
sages since October 2007.
Now it’s been upgraded to ac
commodate e-mail and text mes
sages.
Residents who were a Centu-
ryLink customer prior to April
2010 don’t need to do anything
more, but those who were added
after that do. The process only
takes a few minutes and can be
done over the phone by calling 1-
866-939-0911 or registering on-line.
There is a link to Code Red, the
service provider, on the county’s
web site in the lower left corner.
The site is http://www.perquiman-
scountync.gov/
Kyle Janovsky, a technical sup
port specialist for CodeRED said
See REVERSE-911, 4