TMCnet News
Group vents concerns about Albemarle High [The Stanly News & Press, Albemarle, N.C. :: ](Stanly News & Press, The (Albemarle, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 04--Dressed in white and armed with frustration, a group voiced its discontent about perceived educational deficiencies at the inner city schools. A grassroots campaign to promote changes at the city of Albemarle schools, namely Albemarle High School, took another assertive step Tuesday night when the group divided its concerns into individual topics with designated speakers to address the Board of Education. After assembling for two community meetings prior to the board's regularly scheduled meeting, the speakers sounded off during the period allotted for public comment. Nicole Williams was the group's first to speak about the lack of classes offered at Albemarle High, compared to others in the system. She talked about how her son, a junior at AHS, was forced to bounce back and forth between AHS and North Stanly High multiple times per day to complete his course work. She said her son carpools with others to offset the expense of travel. "I realize high school is not like it was when you or I was in school, but this is not what high school is about," Williams said. Her comments about course offerings came on the heels of Sandra Carter, assistant superintendent, earlier talking about the rise of advanced placement courses and honors courses at all four of the district's high schools. AP courses and honors courses are designed to meet the needs of students whose individual academic needs are met through courses more rigorous than standard courses. AP courses, created by the College Board, offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities often grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high scores on the examinations. Because of the more rigorous requirements, AP and honors courses carry additional GPA (grade point average) weight. Many of the advanced courses are available for students online, but there are others for traditional classroom settings. Online course opportunities for AP, honors and standard courses are made available by the N.C. Schools of Science and Math as well as the N.C. Virtual Public Schools. "We have student enrollments in AP physics, AP world history, AP psychology, AP music theory, AP art history," Carter said. Stanly Online continues to grow with more than 20 course offerings, including honors and standard courses. Williams lauded the online courses, but countered that AHS lacks courses on campus. "I realize online courses are a great option, but that's not for everyone," Williams said. "We all can't be virtual students." She suggested the lack of course options is due to a dwindling enrollment and shortfall of resources, which could be remedied by redistricting and consolidation. "We are settling for less by not being more equitable," Williams said. Carter revealed that SCS offers a variety of seated classrooms that do not require students to travel from school to school. At an enrollment of 467 students, AHS offers 26 seated honors courses and five AP courses (statistics, chemistry, English literature and composition, calculus and U.S. history. South Stanly High School, which has fewer students with an enrollment of 427, offers 22 honors and five AP courses. North Stanly High School and its 494 students have 28 honors and five AP courses. West Stanly High School, which maintains the system's largest enrollment at 816 students, offers the most advanced courses. It provides 44 honors and six AP courses. SCS offers other educational opportunities, too. "Students can also earn high school and college credit through Stanly Community College's Career and College Promise, which offers courses that introduce students to the college experience and give them skills needed for entry-level jobs," Carter said. "Our schools also offer career opportunities for students," she added. "These courses prepare students for entry level to college and/or the workforce." Such opportunities include subjects related to finance, information technology, manufacturing, human services; STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and business management Michael Snyder told the board that the school system holds the key to Stanly County's economic future. He urged the school board to steer the system into the 21st century or risk becoming a system in "perpetual decline." Lori Ivey, who spearheaded the group, pointed to the system's teacher turnover rate as evidence that something is amiss within Stanly County Schools. Ivey said AHS had lost 18 teachers from the previous calendar year. Eleven teachers at North Stanly High had left since the previous year, she added. "We're losing tenured teachers and we're replacing them with inexperienced teachers," Ivey said. Ninety-nine percent of teachers within SCS are deemed as highly qualified, or teachers who are fully certified and/or licensed by the state. The state average of HQ teachers stands at 98 percent. SCS employs 610 classroom teachers, including 65 new educators who are highly qualified. "In order to provide strong support to our already outstanding new teachers, Stanly County Schools has partnered with UNC-Charlotte College of Education and Stanly Community College to provide a series of professional development workshops and networking opportunities for teachers during their first three years of teaching," Carter said. Ivey suggested the school system needs to do more to learn why teachers are leaving so measures can be taken to curb turnover. Board Chairman Jeff Chance was generous with the time limit on speakers, as speakers usually only receive three minutes each. The majority of board members expressed gratitude for those coming forward to speak publicly and taking an interest in the betterment of the schools. Carter earlier informed the board that 94.5 percent of the system's third graders passed the state's reading proficiency standards. Read to Achieve legislation provides measures to ensure every student reads at grade level by the end of third grade. "The third grade students of Stanly County Schools worked diligently during the 2013-14 and subsequent Summer Reading Camp," Carter said. "We are proud of the results of student progress in third grade reading." At the request of SCS, the N.C. Department of Instruction will assess the school system throughout the year as part of the system's quality assurance inventories, a new process developed to strengthen collaboration and best teaching and learning practices across the district. A component of this process is to receive baseline feedback as to areas of strengths and weaknesses within the school system. DPI will be obliging SCS with baseline feedback. The first instructional team visits will be Tuesday and Wednesday at Albemarle Middle School and North Stanly Middle School. DPI next returns Sept. 16-17 at AHS and NSHS. To submit story ideas, contact Ritchie Starnes at (704) 982-2121 ext. 28 or email [email protected]. ___ (c)2014 The Stanly News & Press (Albemarle, N.C.) Visit The Stanly News & Press (Albemarle, N.C.) at www.thesnaponline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |