If Program Closes, Public Could Open Charter School, Parents Say

BY SUSAN DICKERSON
SALISBURY POST

With one public hearing down and another one on Thursday, the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education will make a decision about the year-round school program at its Feb. 8 regular board meeting.

That's what board Chairwoman Dr. Bettie Starr announced at Monday night's public hearing, attended by 36 people, including County Commissioner Newton Cohen, former school board member Eldridge S. Williams, North Rowan Elementary administrators and Dr. Bryant Norman, president of the local NAACP chapter.

But after the meeting, Starr qualified her statement. ''Obviously, we'll have to discuss it all'' at the Feb. 8 meeting, she said, ''and we'll have to make a decision very soon.''

The board adopted calendars for both the year-round and traditional programs at its November meeting, but parents need to have the information to begin making their plans, Starr said.

The board is reacting to a recommendation from Superintendent Dr. Joe McCann to close the year-round school, now housed at North Rowan, because it costs $72,000 more than a traditional elementary school.

If the board opts for a stand-alone year-round program, as McCann recommends should the program continue, it would cost $342,600. Most of the cost would be for transporting at least 200 additional students to the school.

After the meeting, McCann said staff came up with the $342,600 by picking 200 random students across the county and adding up the cost for their transportation to the school.

But when considering a stand-alone year-round program, the board can say it will not transport the students to the site, ''but that will make a difference for some children to be able to go to the school.''

And to have a stand-alone year-round program, the board would have to find at least 200 more students to support it, ''otherwise you would underuse your facilities,'' McCann said.

The board is also considering redistricting North Rowan Elementary areas and moving some students to Henderson to balance the student population between Henderson and North. That public hearing will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at the school system's Long Street offices.

Of the 11 people who spoke Monday night, seven spoke for the year-round program, two against, and two speakers gave ambiguous comments.

Two residents mentioned the possibility of forming a charter school if the board closes the year-round program.

Former school board candidate David Bates told board members, ''If you do away with the year-round program, I hope the year-round teachers band together and form their own charter school and keep the money anyhow.''

Bates has a third-grader in the year-round program.

Martha Wilson, parent of two children in the year-round program, said she's not in the North Elementary district. After placing her children in a private kindergarten, she moved to the year-round program to help her son, who is learning disabled. ''If we don't have a year-round school, we need to start our own charter school.''

Wilson also told board members, ''It's time. It's time for you guys to make a decision.''

She said she doesn't know why enrollment has declined in the year-round program, but it might be that the board keeps debating whether to keep the program, which forces parents to come and fight for it. This is the third year Wilson has done so, although she hasn't spoken before.

''It's time for y'all to do something,'' Wilson said. ''Let us have our year-round school with a real year-round calendar.''

Sherry Rice was one of two parents who spoke against the program. ''Our money should be spent for the majority of students, not the minority,'' Rice said. ''... You should help all of our children and not a small group.''

Carol Everhart, a North Rowan Elementary teacher in the traditional program, also spoke against the year-round program. She said it wouldn't be fair to the North attendance area, which has only one feeder elementary school, to turn that school into a year-round program.

The money used for the year-round school could be used for remediation across the system. ''We're in desperate need for remediation for all the students, not just the year-round students,'' Everhart said.

The year-round students aren't the one who need intensive remediation anyway, she said.

The board formed the year-round school to help disadvantaged students and those in a lower socioeconomic level, Everhart said. ''But that's not who it's serving.''

The minority population at the traditional program far outweighs the minority population in the year-round program.

Another traditional North Elementary teacher, Sara Misenheimer, said McCann's proposal confused her. ''There are a lot of questions in my mind as to how you, as the school board, can make a decision like this (so quickly).''

McCann recommended the board send out a survey across the county to see if other parents would send their children to a stand-alone year-round school. Misenheimer hasn't seen that survey.

Wendy Edwards said she didn't know if she would send her child to a year-round school now or not. She told the board that she moved back to Salisbury and North Elementary officials told her the year-round program wasn't accepting transfers and that the program was filled.

But she pointed out if the board opts for changing North Elementary to a stand-alone year-round program, McCann has made no provisions for what will happen to the more than 700 students in the traditional school.

Former school board member Eldridge S. Williams told the board he thinks the year-round program does work. ''The year 2000 is here, and we don't have to necessarily go to school from September to June,'' he said. ''With the year-round program, you have satisfied parents, and evidently, you have satisfied children.''

The board did not discuss the issue and adjourned quickly.