P The
ERQUIMANS
I WeEKLY
Barbershop quartet will be delivering
singing Valentines on Feb. 13,3
"News from
Schools
athletic
policy
questioned
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A youth coach asked the
Perquimans County School
Board last week to relax its
standards when it comes to
student athletes.
Tony Riddick said the
current policy excludes
some students who may be
struggling academically or
had a brush with the law.
The board listened to
Riddick’s request Jan. 26
but took no action and did
not discuss it.
Chairman Susan Cox
said that doesn’t mean the
issue won’t come up.
“We will discuss it again,”
Cox said Wednesday. “Ath
letics is always a continu
ing topic. We are open to
any discussion from any
body about anything.”
Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings said the school
system is looking at the
policy it has now and con
sidering if it’s still the best.
“One big thing that is be
ing done is ensuring that
everybody understands
what procedures or poli
cies we’re going forward
with,” Stallings said.
Stallings said it’s possible
that a new policy could be
in place by the start of the
spring sports schedule. It’s
equally possible it might
be the fall of 2015 before a
new policy is in place.
“There are some lan
guage issues that need to
be addressed. If a student in
their ninth grade year does
something wrong, does
that mean their high school
career is over with?”
Without naming them,
Riddick mentioned two
football players who were
kicked off the team last
year. Senior receivers Ra-
heim Kee and Trevon Cole
man, had been among the
area’s leaders to that point
- had been involved in an
altercation in the spring of
2014 and were convicted
on misdemeanor assault
charges in July.
Under the rules set by
the North Carolina High
School Athletic Associa
tion, both players would
still be eligible to play
sports. The NCHSAA only
Sanctions players who are
convicted on felony charg
es.
However Perquimans
County High School has
See POLICY, 2
Next Door"
FEB 0 1
FEBRUARY 4, 2015 - FEBRUARY 10, 2015
• 1^
PHOTO BY^CHUCK PAGELS
Amber Stallings stands
on crutches to cheer her
team irta game against
Plymouth last week. An
injury sidelined her from
playing but she's still doing
herduties as team captain. ^
Stallings wants to make comeback
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
P erquimans County Senior
Amber Stallings suffered a
serious knee injury last month
in a basketball game at Plymouth.
A torn ALC can sideline some
athletes for a year. For some, it can
mean the end of sports altogether.
But volleyball Coach Kristie
Thach says Stallings isn’t your
average athlete and nobody should
count her out just yet.
“If anybody can work hard and do
it, she can,” Thach said last week.
At first Stallings thought she
might have just dislocated her knee.
“I heard two ‘pops’ the first when
I fell and then a second one,” Stall
ings said. She hoped the second
“pop” was the joint coming back
together.
An MRI on Jan. 20 confirmed it
wasn’t that simple and she under
went surgery on Jan. 26 in Ahoskie.
See COMEBACK, 2
PHOTO BY DAVID-
LAWSON
Perquimans
volleyball
players Haley
Cooper (left)
and Amber
Stallings were
recognized as
two of the area’s
best during
the All-Area
banquet on
Saturday at the
Northeastern
cafeteria.
Stallings was
named the
Area Player of
the Year for a
second-straight
season.
50 cents
Schools
looking
to the
future
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A dozen school officials
sat down last week with a
like number of community
and local officials to ham
mer out a strategic plan for
the next five years.
The last plan for the Per
quimans County Schools
was adopted in 2009 and
runs through this year. The
2009 plan replaced one that
was done 10 years earlier.
“We took a different ap
proach,” said Teresa Beard
sley, a spokeswoman for
the school system. “The
group wanted to burrow in
and focus and make it into
something everyday people
and parents could read and
understand.”
The 2010-15 plan set some
high goals. The plan would
have 100 percent of students
graduate, be proficient in
state tests, participate in
community service, have
the skills to be successfully
competitive and graduate
high school with an associ
ate’s degree or eight college
transfer credits.
The school system came
close on meeting first goal.
Last year 92.1 percent of
students graduated within
four years. That was nearly
10 percentage points higher
than the state average. The
2009 goal was to increase
the graduation rate nine
percentage points each year
from June 2009 through
June 2014.
Clayton Griffin, who runs
a local anti-gang program,
was one of the community
participants. He applauded
the effort of getting com
munity input on the school
improvement plan.
“I think it was great,” he
said. “Everybody had some
great input and there was a
lot accomplished.”
Griffin is in favor of
setting the goals high.
“If you set the goal at 100
percent you might reach 90
percent. Some people say
100 percent is unrealistic
but if you set your goals
high you will work to reach
them. If you set them lower,
you might not be as aggres
sive.”
Beardsley said the group
did go back and forth
about putting a lower, more
achieveable goal in place.
“We talked a lot about
See FUTURE, 4
New academic grades
to be released Thursday
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Local educators are brac
ing for the release of new
letter grade scores for each
school coming out this
Thursday.
And they aren’t anticipat
ing getting straight As.
The new state grading
system will focus most on
how- students perform on
state tests. Just 20 percent
of the score will be based
on the growth of students
during that school year.
Educators would have
rather seen the formula
turned around. However let
ter grades of A, B, C, D or F
will be issued.
Vanessa Jeter, director
of communications for the
N.C. Department of Public
Instruction, said the way
schools are graded in the
future could change. The
current formula was set by
the General Assembly.
“We do anticipate more
conversation at some point,”
she said last week during
a on-line conference about
the upcoming grades.
Gone will be titles like
“School of Distinction.”
That was a designated
where North Carolina used
the ABCs to rank schools.
Jeter said the new let
ter 'grades aren’t supposed
to be the ultimate word on
how schools perform.
“The letter grades are one
indicator of what’s happen
ing in their school,” Jeter
said. “I think the full scope
of the School Report Card
information is indicative of
the many indicators that are
important to parents and
educators.”
The report card will also
be issued Thursday.
As a former classroom
teacher, Teresa Beardsley
is worried that low scores
in February could lower the
morale of teachers who are
See GRADES, 4
Chamber holds banquet
TOI ■ BS t
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Jake Forbes (left) calls for bids during an auction Friday night for the Perquimans
County Chamber of Commerce. Also pictured is Sid Eley, director of the chamber.
The annual event drew more than 200 people to Louise’s Meeting Place.