Board discusses drug testing, demographics
By Sierra Henry
Published in News on July 24, 2018 5:50 AM
The Wayne County Board of Education discussed a set of new policies during its monthly meeting on Monday, including two involving a comprehensive demographic study over Wayne County for redistricting purposes and a drug testing program for students who participate in athletics and other extracurricular activities.
The meeting opened with a presentation by Jerome McKibben of McKibben Demographic Research LLC. McKibben discussed forecasted demographics for Cabarrus County as an example of the type of research and data the company could provide Wayne County with for school redistricting.
According to McKibben, his demographic research relies on five data sets, which are then used to generate population and enrollment forecasts.
The data sets included a base year population, a set of age specific fertility rates for each small area, a set of age-specific survival (mortality) rates for each small area, a set of age-specific migration rates for each small area and historical enrollment figures by grade for all facilities to be projected.
Board member Arnold Flowers requested that McKibben provide current data rather than projected data for redistricting the schools. He also asked if the company would be able to draw a school district where the school would be in a centralized location as much as possible.
"We have school districts in Wayne County where the actual schoolhouse is the extreme, righthand corner of the (district), and in my opinion those districts were drawn in the past to keep the poor kids on one side of the creek so that the more affluent kids would be on the other side of the creek.
"... It's time in Wayne County that we stick to the real issue."
Flowers said he thought the data provided by McKibben's company in the presentation would help.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Charles Wright Sr. requested that the board review documents discussing redistricting and demographics that were found in the Evergreen study. Wright said that the study, which was done 25 years ago, already provided the information the board was seeking from McKibben's study.
"A lot of the stuff that was presented by Mr. McKibben is already in here -- it's nothing new. The thing that we have to stay focused on if you really want to move forward is cut out all these variables, the charts, the studies ... This is not hard to do. I was able to do this at my dining room table 10 years ago using an Apple computer just moving lines ..." Wright said.
"If I can do this at home in my dining room, why has it taken 25 years for us to really address it? ... I'd rather see you build off something that's already been established than go through this process again and hear a lot of things that sound good, but you're paying money for."
McKibben maintained that the board needed to use the data the study would provide because it would help define district boundaries that would work for years.
"You want boundaries that not only work today, you want boundaries that work in 2024 and 2028," McKibben said.
The board advanced the study 5-1 with one abstention. Board member Raymond Smith voted against the study, and Flowers abstained.
The board has been working on redistricting for around a year now, having formally voted to go ahead with the process in July of 2017. A demographic study in Wayne County would be one of several steps the school district has taken toward that end, including a moratorium on student transfers and the upcoming reduction of class sizes at five low performing elementary schools.
Redistricting is seen by many as the best tool to fight overcrowding in Wayne County Public Schools, which has become severe in elementary schools, especially toward the northern end of the county.
Redrawing district lines -- something which the county has not done in decades -- could also afford the district an opportunity to address racial diversity issues in inner city schools such as Goldsboro High.
The process has taken longer than some originally anticipated. A draft timeline from district leadership originally had the process complete by March of this year, but catching up on years of immobile district lines has proven to be a larger, slower task than that.
A new policy of drug testing students involved in athletics and other extracurricular activities was heard by the board from Ron Jennette from Absolute Assurance Drug Testing. The company recommended testing with a broad spectrum eight-panel test.
"What we have found is if you give the athlete a reason not to do drugs -- I want to play sports -- the peer pressure is not as great," Jennette said. "The ones that are using, it gives them a reason to stop, so it's a win-win situation."
The company would test 15 to 20 students every month at every high school in an efficient manner that would not interfere with the classroom. Each test would cost $14, and if any would be sent to the lab it would cost $32.
Absolute Assurance recommended a punishment policy for the student athletes and students participating in extracurricular activities if they test positive.
In the case a student tests positive, the parents and student would be brought into the school and would be unable to finish the sport they tested positive in until next year. For example, Jennette said, if a football player was caught, the player would be unable to participate in that sport or season, but could participate in a different sport that year.
If the drug testing policy is adopted, the parents and students will be notified 30 days prior to the implementation of the policy so the students will have a chance to get clean before starting the season if they were using drugs.
The board approved advancing the drug testing program to the policy committee for further review.
The board will meet next for a special session in August.