Salisbury High unveils strategy to attract students

Principal Windsor Eagle unveiled a nine-point plan Tuesday to attract students to Salisbury High School.

It calls for more technology, including laptop computers for teachers.

It envisions more space for the Salisbury campus and better athletic facilities.

And Eagle’s plan puts a top priority on offering challenging courses to all students, from tech prep to college prep.

Salisbury High should not be considered a “problem” as the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education struggles to find space for its growing student population, Eagle told members of the Salisbury Rotary Club.

“We should be a part of the solution,” he said.

So should the area’s charitable foundations and other donors, if Eagle’s proposal is to be realized. While the plan calls for funds from the school system for expansion and maintenance, it also envisions support from the local philanthropic community.

Eagle first shared the plan with directors of the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation in November. Since then, it has already drawn an additional $162,000 from the Robertson Foundation for lighting and other equipment for a new baseball field and nearly $370,000 from Elizabeth, Fred and Alice Stanback for updated computers and wiring.

The strategy evolved after Salisbury High worked to recruit students from the Southeast Middle School attendance zone last spring.

Reasons families cited for not wanting their children to attend Salisbury High, Eagle said, included the age of the building, the lack of athletic facilities on campus, the lack of the kind of open space found around most of the county’s high schools, a feeling of insecurity in the city and a desire by students to remain with their friends.

Thirteen Southeast students chose Salisbury, nevertheless.

Factors that they said attracted them, according to Eagle, included challenging curriculum and academic opportunities, the quality of teachers, extensive technology, the lower student-to-teacher ratio, strong community support and the high degree of satisfaction among current students, their parents and city officials.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, he laid out a nine-point plan of action:

• Maintain a challenging, high-quality curriculum for all students. Already 91 percent of Salisbury grads earn certification under the college prep or tech prep programs, he said. The school offers courses for Advanced Placement, college prep, workforce development, special education and non-English speaking students. No additional funds are needed to keep this up, he said, but the school will need more students to be able to continue offering so many programs. Current enrollment is around 800, while three Rowan high schools have enrollments well over 1,000.
• Maintain a safe and orderly environment: For the past three years, Salisbury has had the lowest number of violent incidents among the county’s high schools, he said. (It also has the lowest enrollment.) The closing of the A-OK convenience store has increased the safety of the school’s surroundings, he said. The school system provides a uniformed resource officer to patrol the campus, and a grant from the Proctor Foundation funded a system of 16 surveillance cameras.
• Provide incentives to hire and retain quality teachers: Eagle called for a technology boost for teachers, including$79,400 in laptop computers for the 40 teachers of academic courses to use while they’re on the staff. Hoping to phase in the program, Eagle has submitted a grant proposal to the Proctor Foundation for the first nine computers.
• Continue to produce high test scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the state’s ABC tests:Salisbury is the only high school in the county to have posted exemplary growth the past three years under the ABC plan, Eagle said, and its 1006 average SAT score is above county and state averages, he said. To keep this up, he said, the school must maintain the quality of the teaching staff and continuously update computer software for remediation and acceleration.
• Upgrade and expand technology for students and staff: Eagle has already had this wish fulfilled with a $369,548 gift from Elizabeth Stanback and Fred and Alice Stanback. It will pay for 63 new computers for the school; a “digital divide” program to lend old computers to qualified students who do not have computers in their homes; four mobile computer carts outfitted with 25 laptops that have wireless connections to the school network and the Internet; and wiring to help other buildings on the school’s campus access the school network and the Internet.
• Complete the athletic complex:Already the city and the school board have worked together to get underground utilities reconfigured for a new baseball field going in off Caldwell Street. Several grants from the Robertson Foundation and one from the Salisbury Foundation should help complete the field.

Next, Eagle will be looking for $150,000 for tennis courts. Then would come a $500,000 track and field area. Jim and Gerry Hurley recently donated $52,000 to help buy property for part of that plan.

• Insist on regular maintenance and request renovations for the school:This is where Eagle looks directly to the school system for help. Private foundations and families have given money for everything from refinished floors to new lockers. Eagle hopes to use school bond funds to replace windows, remodel restrooms, clean the school’s brick exterior and replace gym bleachers.
• Purchase available property around the school as it becomes available: Recent city efforts to revitalize the neighborhood around the school have helped, Eagle said. He would like to see the school system work toward creating a buffer around the school, both to provide open space and to create a greater feeling of security. He proposed that the school system maintain a reserve fund to buy property.
• Support a bond proposal that best serves the children of Salisbury and Rowan County.

Eagle said the system needs more space, and Salisbury High has room to accommodate more students and more classrooms.

He built a case for improving and expanding the current campus.

The school board’s $100 million school bond proposal calls for $3.2 million for Salisbury High for additions and renovations. It does not expand the school’s capacity to the 1,200-level several other county high schools would have.

The factors for keeping Salisbury High where it is and building on that success “seem more substantial,” Eagle said, than arguments for closing or relocating the school.

Contact Elizabeth G. Cook at 704-797-4244 or editor@salisburypost.com .