Community offers up thoughts on schools
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 13, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/PHYLLIS MOORE
Wayne Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore discusses a point during a strategic planning meeting at Rosewood High School on Monday night. It was the first of a half dozen such meetings scheduled around the county.
Wayne County Public Schools' Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore on Monday night kicked off the first of six meetings being conducted this month at area high schools to develop a strategic plan for the district.
The session, held at Rosewood High School, drew about two dozen people, most of them school personnel.
Parents and community members are encouraged to attend one of the events. While each is catered to that particular part of the district and its feeder schools, after a brief overview of the test scores, the discussions provide a chance for input in structuring goals for the next three to five years.
June Gray and Ron Melchoirre from the Masonboro Group, a consulting firm in Wilmington, facilitated the hour-long discussion, which featured a series of guided questions based upon recommended outcomes by the state.
"Just opening up this process to the community really means a lot and when you open that process up and you try to get as much input as you can, your strategic plan is going to be one of the best," Melchoirre told the audience.
One of the state Board of Education's goals is that every student graduate from high school prepared for work, further education and citizenship.
Maguy Yancey, parent of two children in Rosewood schools, said she places a premium on all students in the district being able to speak another language and high schoolers being offered AP classes.
"I would like to see students graduate prepared to complete the freshman level courses without remediation or developmental courses," said Dr. Ruby Bell, a former administrator in WCPS, now in charge of teacher education at the University of Mount Olive.
Board of Education member Jennifer Strickland expressed concerns about the recommended reading lists handed down from the state for AP English courses.
"I'm incredibly concerned that the lists are social agenda driven and they are not citizenship, moral character, personal responsibility, things that we were instilled with as children and things that have made this country amazing," she said. "That is a serious problem for me and I would like to see that changed."
Board member Rick Pridgen said he is frequently asked why the district does not have industrial arts and vocational programs like it once did.
He explained that there are nearly 80 programs that fall into that category, just under a different name.
Another recommendation by the state is that a PEP, or Personal Education Plan, be cultivated for every student and not just those considered exceptional children or academically gifted.
Technology, or the lack of it, was another hot topic. Mrs. Strickland, a self-professed "textbook person," said she feels every student needs to have access to a device, even if it means they bring their own.
Sarah Willoughby, a teacher at Rosewood Elementary School, said WiFi is slow and the district would benefit from the infrastructure to back up technology.
Parent Trent Tripple suggested the need to include a plan to upgrade hardware on a regular basis.
Among the other topics were how schools and teachers communicate with parents and ensuring that every student has excellent educators.
"What can they do with beginning teachers to help them become better educators? Melchoirre asked.
Mrs. Willoughby suggested that having mentors on-site at each school would be helpful.
"I think that a lot of our teachers with fewer years of experience need to have someone that they can grab onto when the have a question, to go to for that support," said Alan Williams, assistant principal at Rosewood Middle.
Students also deserve a safe and healthy environment, the group said.
"We need better food," Mrs. Strickland said. "It's very simple. When you have kids that are hungry and even though it's free food all day long, you have more being thrown away than you've ever seen before."
Parent Wendy Tripple expressed concern over lack of physical activity during the school day, even during P.E.
"A lot of it is sitting down talking, talking, talking," she said "I'd rather them be up and exercising. That's what they're supposed to be doing so I think that would help with health. Cut out some of the talking and just get up and do it."
Mrs. Strickland said if the district simply followed the state board policy on exercise, she believed the situation would improve.
Community member Shirley Bond said she had some concerns about SROs, or student resource offices, imposing charges against students with seemingly minor infractions. Even though juvenile records are sealed, she said the charges still "follow the child."
"That's something that in North Carolina it's been detrimental to many students and especially students of poverty," she said. "That environment follows them to school and then they are targeted by the authorities."
Dunsmore said the plan is to hold similar discussions at five other high schools, collecting information that will studied and presented to the school board before being released to the public as the district's strategic plan.
The sessions continue tonight at Charles B. Aycock High School. Officials will be at Eastern Wayne High on Monday, Oct. 19, at Spring Creek High on Oct. 20 and at Southern Wayne on Oct. 22, wrapping up at Goldsboro High on Oct. 26. They will all start at 6 p.m. and be in the respective school cafeterias, with the exception of GHS, which will convene in the auditorium.
A link is also being added to the district website, waynepublicschools.org for public comments.