Uniforms,
suspension
top list for
school board
By FULLER ROYAL
Central Middle School, in-school suspension and uniforms were the major issues discussed Monday night during the Whiteville City School’s April Board of education meeting.
In the wake of last week’s community safety forum at Central Middle School, Monday night’s meeting was the first time board members could offer their take on the situation in the neighborhoods surrounding the school.
Superintendent Danny McPherson, who had requested and organized the forum, said he was pleased with the diversity of comments from the two-dozen speakers that night.
“All of the board members where there and that says something about their commitment to this,” he told the audience. “It is important that this oneness of purpose doesn’t stop.”
McPherson repeated his call for a task force comprised of residents, parents, teachers and law enforcement.
“Any program must belong to someone for it to happen,” he said. “I hope we can pull a group of folks from these communities and leaders-at-large.”
CIS
McPherson said that one way to involve the greater community is already in place – Communities in Schools of Whiteville.
CIS-W, which coordinates resources, materials and volunteers to assist day-to-day with children, is firmly entrenched at Whiteville Primary and Edgewood Elementary schools. Both have dozens of volunteers and church-based resources.
CMS only has a counselor and a few volunteers, mostly because of lack of interest from the community. Where Edgewood and Primary have been “adopted” by several churches, CMS has no such benefactor. There are no other CIS schools in the county.
“I thought that the speakers were all passionate and concerned,” said board member Larry Hewett. “I am impressed with their concern and their willingness to be better parents. It makes you feel good about tackling such an issue.”
Hewett said that the business community needed to be more involved. He suggested that businesses make available internships or positions for students.
He said that not much has changed during the past 30-plus years.
“In 1973, when I first began as assistant principal at Central Junior High School (CMS), Mr. (Lloyd) Best, the principal, and I walked the campus all day long chasing folks away during school. There was nothing for them to do then and we haven’t come too far today.”
Hewett said there needed to be more worker skills offered at Southeastern Community College for high school students.
Keeping kids in school
Board Chairman LaDeen Powell said she had reflected on the forum during the weekend and had come up with an idea similar to Hewett’s.
“How can we keep kids in school?” she asked. “They’re sent home three or five times and are on the streets with nothing to do. Wouldn’t it be great, if instead of sending them home, we could send them to someone in the community, a business or church where they could be monitored, mentored and counseled?”
Powell said that students, instead of wasting the day walking the streets, could spend the day with someone genuinely interested in them. “They might get interested in a trade and develop a relationship with someone in the community, a caring person.”
She said there would be legal and liability issues “but nothing that couldn’t be worked out.”
Board member Greg Merritt suggested that students suspended for infractions of a violent nature, could spend their time with law enforcement officials or as observers at the county jail or local state prisons.
McPherson said the idea has merit and would be beneficial as a way to intercede before a student goes as far as in-school-suspension.
“I see it as a pre-emptive measure rather that a reactive measure,” he said.
Merritt said he is curious to see what businesses would actually be willing to help.
School uniforms
The school board shifted its discussion to the possibility of implementing uniform requirements in the future.
“We’re not here to decided ‘yeah or nay’ on uniforms,” McPherson said. “We need to gather information and contact other school systems and see how this would affect the community.”
McPherson said that a policy as far-reaching as a uniform requirement would require a public hearing.
He also suggested that it is possible to make the current dress code tougher. He said the board needs to reach a consensus on at least looking into the policy before the administration begins putting time into it.
McPherson said that Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Jeff Moss implemented the uniform policy on a trial basis in one section of the county – affecting about 3,400 students in grades kindergarten through senior for this school year.
McPherson, who talked with Moss, said the county would expand the requirement to the entire system next fall.
“Jeff suggests we take about a year to look at it and put it into place,” McPherson said. “We want everybody to come to the table on this.”
“This is something we really do have to consider,” said board member Dave Flowers. “I would like to see it in place. I would like to see a stricter code of dress for the young men and women.”
Strangers on campus
Flowers said that it is possible to hide anything in some of the clothing being worn. He added that it is easier to spot strangers on a campus when everyone else is in uniform.
Both Whiteville High School and CMS have had some problems with older former students or strangers coming to the campus and mingling with students.
It’s difficult to discern, especially at the high school, who is and who isn’t a student. Both campuses are wide open to non-student walk-throughs.
McPherson said that the schools in the test area reported 343 fewer out-of-school suspensions so far this year.
“At the high school all but one of the end-of-course tests saw increases in scores,” he said.
McPherson said that Moss would welcome the board if it would like to tour the system or he would be glad to come down and address the board.
Merritt asked McPherson why Beaufort enacted the law. McPherson said that it had long been a priority of Moss, who succeeded former Whiteville Superintendent Tony Parker there.
“It takes away the competition in people, seeing who can out dress each other,” Flowers said. “It puts real focus on academics.”
“It removes some of the peer pressure also,” Powell, said.
“It’s definitely something to pursue,” Merritt said. “We need to walk in this direction and listen to our community. They’re the people we represent. Is this what the community wants?”
Merritt said that if the board voted on uniforms that night, it would probably pass.
Powell said the mention of uniforms at the safety forum last week drew applause.
“Perhaps we should establish a committee to investigate this,” she said.
Teachers too
Board member Carlton Prince said the dress code standard needed to be raised for staff and faculty as well as the students.
“The dress code should include teachers and staff,” he said. “I am concerned with their dress code.”
Prince said that just enacting a uniform dress code is just the beginning of all the things that need to be done in the schools.
“We really do need to raise the standards across the system,” he said. “I thought the session the other night was one of the most positive things I’ve seen since coming on the board of education.”
Prince said that most of the speakers had similar ideas.
“We just need to hear one another to develop some ownership in the school system as we do in athletics,” he said.
“Unless we take the community with us it doesn’t matter what we do,” he said. “This is not unique to Whiteville. We’re not alone in this.”
Re-invent ISS
Prince then turned his attention to in-school suspension.
“I think that our in-school suspension programs need to be completely re-invented,” he said. “We ought to have our very best teachers in ISS. These teachers could be working with these youngsters in academics. There could be visiting speakers and businessmen. Outsiders might have more influence.”
WHS and CMS both have ISS programs, designed to handle students with acute or chronic discipline problems.
Prince said the system’s ISS programs don’t meet the standards.
“We need our best teachers in there,” he said. “We’re trying to change behavior and consistency does that better than anything else.”
Prince said that parents should be invited to ISS where they can sit with their sons or daughters. Grandmothers and pastors could also be invited to help create a support base.
Price called for mentoring to be a part of ISS and that conference between the students, parents and teachers should be required before he or she can return to regular classes.
ISS programs vary from system to system. Some are major operations, staffed with certified teachers who have developed extensive curriculums and programs.
Others involve non-licensed staff who mostly act as monitors making sure the students are present and behaving.
2N2TV
Prince also spoke out against the huge amounts of television and Internet usage by students.
“We need to convince adults that television has to be controlled,” he said. “There’s too much. It teaches bad habits. Parents have to become aware of that.
“We as board members are going to have to model what we except our youth to give,” he said. “I encourage more dialogue and listening sessions.”
After the meeting, Prince said that now is a wonderful opportunity to revisit the minimum academic requirements for athletes, which were removed by the board in 2004.