By Frank DeLoache

Salisbury Post

The members of the state-appointed School Assistance Team met with the

superintendent of the Rowan-Salisbury School System and her curriculum team

for two hours Friday morning and made preparations for visiting local

schools, where they will interview principals, teachers and students.

The three-member team will return Tuesday morning — Monday is a scheduled holiday

for students – and spend the day at Granite Quarry and China Grove

elementary schools. Those are the two schools in the system that receive

federal Title 1 funds for tutoring and other programs that have not made

Acceptable Yearly Progress (AYP) under federal guidelines for four years.

Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom welcomed the three-member team and said

local officials are looking forward to the team’s feedback.

Likewise, the team members praised the work of Rowan-Salisbury educators.

“We’ve been very impressed with what we’ve seen here,” Doris Wilson, a

retired Charlotte educator who is leading the team, said. “We’ve all seen

lots of school systems, some good and some not so good, and from everything

we’ve seen here, it seems like things are going in the right direction.”

“This is one of the most organized group of people,” added Vicki Roland, a

member of the state team from Shelby.