Two Rowan County educators have been selected to play major roles in the Public School Forum of North Carolina, a statewide education research and advocacy group.
Phil Kirk, vice president for external relations at Catawba College, assumes the position of chairman of the Public School Forum board of directors and executive committee on July 1. He has been a member of the Forum board for nearly 20 years.
Dr. Judy Grissom, superintendent of the Rowan-Salisbury School System, has been elected to a two-year term on the board of directors that meets four times per year to give guidance to the Forum’s statewide activities.
Serving on the board are approximately 45 representatives of K-12, public and private colleges and universities, community colleges, elected officials, non-profit educational groups and the business community.
Founded in 1985, the Forum aims to make North Carolina’s public schools among the country’s best. Its activities have included proposing and administering the Teaching Fellows Program and setting the framework for North Carolina’s entry into school accountability with the School Improvement and Accountability Act of 1989. It also proposed changes to the way the state funds its schools, resulting in supplemental funds for low wealth and small schools. The Forum’s staff regularly provides research on school funding and other issues to members of the N.C. General Assembly and U.S. Congress.
Grissom is a native of Rowan County and has served as superintendent of the Rowan-Salisbury School System for more than two years. She is a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence, the winner of the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Gifted Education, and a published author.
Kirk, also a native of Rowan County, served as chairman of the State Board of Education for six years and as vice chairman of the State Board of Community Colleges while in his position as president/CEO of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, the state chamber of commerce. He currently serves on a number of boards of other public agencies.