School board talks violence, districts
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 3, 2015 1:46 PM
A Wayne County Board of Education member clarified that he meets the requirements to serve -- even though he spends part of his time in New Jersey -- at Monday night's board meeting.
Board member Dr. Dwight Cannon used his board comment time to clear up his residency status, saying he had received a number of calls from constituents upon learning that he has a home in New Jersey, where he also pastors a church.
Confirming that he does work there, he maintained he is also a "taxpaying citizen of Wayne County."
"I do have a home in New Jersey and a home in Dudley, North Carolina," he said. " I'm here when the board needs me."
Skype has been helpful when he has had to miss a meeting, said the District 2 representative, whose term is up in 2016.
"I'm in it for the long haul and if you need me, I will be there," he said.
In addition to Cannon's statement, other board members discussed redrawing district lines and school violence during the board comment period.
Arnold Flowers raised the issue of district lines to address capacity concerns at a January meeting, saying that in his fifth year on the board, there had yet to be "serious conversation" about the issue.
He said he hadn't planned to address the issue at Monday's meeting, but joined in the discussion after board member Eddie Radford brought it up.
"Before we do anything like that, I would think that we would look at our transfer policy," Radford said, noting that an estimated 1,600 students go to different schools through that option. "If we would make it harder to transfer, it might take care of some of the division."
One obstacle he cited was the reticence of many in the community to change schools.
"I'm certainly not for drawing any district lines," he said.
Flowers maintained the merits of studying the current enrollment numbers around the county, saying he was not advocating doing a "huge overhaul." He does, however, not feel the issue is set in stone, adding that it warrants discussion.
"I'm just looking at numbers on a piece of paper. I know there are so many things that go into it," he said. "I encourage you to look at these numbers."
He said he understands that citizens as a group might not want to move their children right now, but were the board to ask commissioners to build classrooms in the future, it might be a hard sell.
"When I look at these numbers, it's just hard for me to grasp the concept -- you've got huge schools, the numbers are there," he said. "We're piling these kids up in mobile units. They've got 16 mobile units at Northwest Elementary School. Fremont has no mobile units."
Board member Pat Burden said she had not given a lot of thought to the issue but supports further investigation before taking action.
"We need to look at what we're doing before we make any major changes," she said.
Radford also expressed his concern about the rise of school violence in schools and the lack of respect for authority.
"We need to protect our teachers and we need to protect our administrators," he said. "We have had teachers kicked. We have had teachers hit. We have had all kinds of stuff. It's just not fair for us to tolerate this from kids."
He said not only do such actions reflect lack of respect for staff, but when law enforcement is summoned, they also do not receive due respect from students.
"I hope that we can do something in the near future that would make it so that our teachers our kids, custodians, the complete school is safe," Radford said. "I certainly hope we do something about that."
In other business, Robbie Ferris, president and CEO of SfL+a, the architect firm building Grantham and Spring Creek middle schools, told the board the district will have two very energy efficient buildings when they open in the fall.
"It's definitely leading the pack when we compare what you're doing nationally with other school districts," he said.
Even better than Sandy Grove, the Hoke County middle school that served as a prototype used to gauge the merits of a design/build option when the district was considering construction plans for the two new schools.
"Sandy Grove was one of the first net positives, I think the first net positive school in the country and I think your schools will take it to the next level," he said.
Board members praised the efforts of SfL+a and voted to craft a letter of recommendation for the company's work so far.
"We're charged with being good stewards of the taxpayers' money and with these two projects, I see the return on the investment," board member Rick Pridgen said. "These schools will cost less and less over time. Eventually they'll have paid for themselves."
Board Chairman Chris West admitted at the outset there had been some skepticism.
"This all felt like something that was too good to be true," he said. "The closer we get to completion, I think no doubt we made the right decision and I think we'll have a lot of eyes in Wayne County on our facilities."