North Carolina Now; 4207; Interview with Martha Cox

It's Tuesday April 15th. Tonight the potential effects of a controversial Mecklenburg County Commissioners vote in North Carolina. Nail. Good evening everyone and welcome to this Tuesday edition of North Carolina now. I'm Shannon Vickery in for more reading with Wright. Tonight we tackle several topics of debate in our state focuses on the question of how to keep good teachers in North Carolina classrooms. In part two of our weeklong look at education in our state and for all you working parents will finally get some answers to a long debated question how does daycare affect our children's development. But first we turn to a growing controversy in Charlotte to Mecklenburg County Commissioners Democratic chairman parks Helms and Republican Tom Bush

are proposing measures to restore 2.5 million dollars in county arts funding earmarking is soley for children's art education programs. Two weeks ago the Mecklenburg County Commissioners passed a resolution to cut more than two million dollars in funding from the Arts and Science Council some commissioners say the group offers quote exposure to perverted forms of sexuality. But there. Here's another portion of the recently passed resolution that has child and health service agencies questioning support for their role in counseling youngsters about sexuality. Mitchell Lewis reports resolution the Mecklenburg County commissioners decision to cut off 2.5 million dollars and you have an event into the Arts and Science Council appear to be the focus of the meeting. The move was made because some county commissioners say the council funded art productions that included so-called perverted forms of sexuality. But there was another section of the commission's resolution that drew attention from people in child and health service organizations. Section

B of the resolution reads the county manager is directed from that day henceforth to cease all funding with taxpayer dollars of any and all performing arts contract agencies nonprofit agencies and all other outside organizations without a resolution of the Board of County Commissioners. There is concern about the language of S.B. in terms of interpretation and implementation. Commissioner Hoyle Martin who introduced the resolutions wants to take a closer look at agencies that provide counseling for you. Martin would like to make it a requirement that parents are present during counseling. Commissioner Daryl Williams made a motion to remove section B from the resolution but the motion failed Commissioner Lloyd Sherr then made an emotional plea to the commission. I beseech you I beg you please do to kids to get off of the item then we will deal with the yard since that's what this was supposed to be about. Let's deal with the arts. Let's save the lives of the

children. Commissioner Hoyle Martin had this response and any scheme that says that a 14 year old child is sure she would be counselled by a private independent bureaucrat or some private agency counsellor with the absence of the parent is not a crisis. This is why we have. This is why we have never coded with children. Sometime in my view she is going to have to talk about the issue particularly sexuality and if they're blocked out from it they're never going to have any kind of relationship we can sort of play the role of bringing together if anything parks help secure about the county commission science S.B. is impossible to implement because literally hundreds of agencies are funded by the commission and it's logistically impossible for the commission to oversee every funding petition. Still community members are worried. Townly moon executive director of the Mecklenburg

Council on adolescent pregnancy says a third of their funding about $65000 a year comes from the county. She believes the commission's Glatt will stop youngsters from seeking help at all any car their parents would personally like to see every child able to talk to their parents. Now what their parents value system has. And when they have problems go straight to their parents. But unfortunately an awful lot of young people don't they don't have good communication with their parents they don't have good relationships with their parents their parents are involved in their lives so are we just going to close the door on those young people whom according to the most recent statistics remember gallery of 1995 sexual activity among youngsters is increasing. And she believes it will take help from groups outside the family. In the 1995 1615 young people under the age of 19 became pregnant and either had the

baby or had an abortion. 14 and under. There were 84 young women 14 who became pregnant and either had a baby or had an abortion. So we're seeing more and more it seems to me that the younger children are getting more involved in sexual activity. Toddler Taylor is the founder and executive director of timeout youth a six year old program in Charlotte that provides support for gay lesbian and bisexual youth. Talking about youth Handels about 300 youngsters a year the organization is not a counseling center but it refers youth seeking guidance help and support to various agencies that are currently funded by the county. Taylor says the commission's resolution could affect their operations as well. But for our youth who can't afford you know the private therapist we need to refer them to mental health. We get foster youth coming here from departments social services in emergencies when we have a suicidal youth we take them to

mental health. We're not going to have none of those places will be an option for safe honest counseling if this you know if this proposition holds true. Larry King is executive director of counsel for children an independent organization that addresses and buying solutions to problems children face. He says there may be legal questions surrounding the resolution if there is a right to treatment for all children adolescents and adults in North Carolina. That would supersede any local ordinance or local resolution. So that would have to be looked at by the treatment providers if the Mecklenburg County government holds true to the perspective that they're putting forward and I have many contract and nonprofit agencies that receive funding from the Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners aren't quite sure yet how they're going to be affected by the resolution. But those agencies that provide counseling are concerned about the impact of the commission's decision may have on children and

teenagers. My appeal would be not to shrug off what's happened and take it to by everybody. To join those of us in the straight and gay community and get involved and send out a strong message that you're going to stand up for all children. Now we have an excellent professional population America Bergkamp who can deal with problems that children and youth have around sexuality question that we will have good professionals who will not be able to exercise good professional judgment if they're dealing with such a narrow focus resolution. The commission meets again tonight. Tomorrow night U.N. CTV and Charlotte's in B.C. 6 will host a live forum to discuss this controversy. The hour long form gets underway at 8:00 p.m. at the Children's Theater in Charlotte. The public is welcome to attend.

Saving is on a first come first serve basis. A panel of Charlotte residents will answer questions from the audience. You can also see the form live at right here on U.N. see TV. That's tomorrow night at 8:00. Well coming up I you would say Chapel Hill researcher will show us the impact of day care on children's development. But first let's take a look at today's statewide headlines with Michel Louis at the North Carolina now news desk. Hi Mitch. Hello Shannon. Good evening everyone. Topping our news state lawmakers are vowing to introduce comprehensive legislation to deal with water pollution and all its sources. Senate Democrat Beverly Perdue plans to unveil a bill requiring clean up measures by cities and municipalities as well as hog farms. At the core of the legislation is a change in the law giving counties new authority to zone large scale hog farms produce plan also calls on cities to draft long range growth management plans and upgrades and wastewater treatment facilities and emergency bill allowing community colleges to pay for worker training is back in a state House committee. The measure would cover a

more than 4 million dollar shortfall in an incentive plan used to lure industries to the state. The Senate passed the measure last month and it won tentative approval in the House last week. Lawmakers are seeking additional funds because the program is overcommitted and the budget law prohibits the transfer of funds to cover the shortfall. More than six months after Hurricane Fran devastated parts of coastal North Carolina Onslow County has received the payment from the federal government. Onslow County officials have accepted a six point four million dollar check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This latest payment raises the total amount of FEMA's funds paid to the county to more than 10 million dollars. State officials say Onslow County can soon expect another 3 million to aid in debris cleanup and public assistance. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather mild temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s are expected statewide mostly sunny skies a forecast for most of the state. The chance of rain is a possibility during the afternoon hours in the mountains. In business news documents revealing what R.J. Reynolds tobacco executives knew about the effects of smoking have come to

light. The documents presented today in a Florida courtroom indicate RJR officials knew for years that nicotine is addictive and that cigarettes can be spiked to hook smokers. A 1969 document suggests the Winston-Salem based tobacco company should not decrease nicotine levels in cigarettes because smokers would just buy other brands to fulfill their craving. The documents were presented in a wrongful death suit against the company on Wall Street today the Dow Jones Industrials posted their second biggest point gain in history. Let's take a look now at the numbers. Does orderly child care hinder or enhance your child's social and cognitive

development. And what's considered the largest and most carefully controlled research study of its kind. Searchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and nine other universities have discovered the answer to that question. And here to tell us more about this groundbreaking study is Dr. Martha Cox who was the principal investigator for the study from you and see Chapel Hills Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center and Dr. Cox thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Your study has hit on a topic that is very important to so many North Carolina families. Why don't you tell us first about the impact you found daycare having on a child's social and cognitive development. We've recently reported findings so about development during the first three years of life for children who have been in child care and those who have not. And what we found was that the quality of child care was very important to cognitive and language development. Children who were in child care centers where. Caregivers were more warm and involved with the

children where there provided more of language stimulation had better language and intellectual development than those who were in lower quality childcare centers. We have good times is really good news for a lot of parents it is good news. But the point it's important to note that it was high quality child care centers that had this wonderful effect on on cognitive and language development. So quality matters is a very important thing for parents to hear. Let's talk a little bit about your research methods how did you go about finding out whether or not daycare was significant in a child's development. This study is the largest and most comprehensive study that's been done on this topic. In 1988 there was concern expressed on the national level about the development of very young children in day care because we've seen a big change in this

society with very young with mothers of very young infants going to work early. It used to be rare for the mother of an infant to be in the labor force. Now over half of the mothers with infants under the age of 1 are in the workforce and most of them go back very early so the concern was when the infant is not having the one to one interaction with mother is a relationship with mother influenced and is the development of the infant influenced. Let's talk about. That a minute because you bring up a very significant concern for many working parents is the mother child relationship where the father child relationship impacted through day care. This was a concern of anality hours and we reported on findings regarding that last year. We found that infants in daycare were no less secure in their attachment with their mothers than were infants who were home with their mothers. However this year we did find that the interactions

between the mother and the infants and the children as they were two and three years of age were somewhat less positive. But it appears not to be enough to impair the fundamental security and trust of the infant in the parent. Let's talk a little bit you mentioned earlier that it is important to know that your study really focused on quality daycare for children. What do you mean by quality. Well we looked at all kinds of daycare we enlisted these families when the mothers were in the hospital having the baby so very early on and followed them over the first three years of life is what we reported but we're continuing to follow them. We look at whatever childcare arrangement they used. We were particularly concerned about observing not only things like the staff child ratio and the training of teachers but also what the caregivers did with the children whether they were

involved with them warm with them whether they provided language stimulation did they talk to them respond to their vocalizations asked them questions. And we we thought we considered a high quality center one where the child was getting a lot of stimulation. And we found in fact that those were the qualities of the caregivers that predicted better language and cognitive development. It's the same thing that predicts better language and cognitive development in mothers or fathers with their children. So for parents who have to find some type of daycare situation for their children what should they look for in a daycare center or provider to make sure their child gets that stimulation beyond health and safety concerns which are very important. Parents should go observe the child care settings where they're considering taking their children and they should look at the kinds of interactions that caregivers have with children are they warm and involved with them. Do they

ask questions do they respond to the things the children say. Do they carry on conversations are children getting language stimulation and is it warm is it. Is it sensitive is it nice. Those are the kinds of things that are really important. Our studies suggest and of course quickly we should note that also the home relationship is very important in all of this. Yes we've looked at relationships in the home and relationships and childcare and the qualities of the family and the relationship the child has with the parents really is more important in these outcomes. But even when we took those into account the quality of childcare predicted war about the language and and cognitive development of children. Well Dr. Martha COX We certainly appreciate you coming by tonight and sharing this information with us. Thank you. Last

night producer Maria Lundberg showed us some of the reasons public school teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers. Imagine what it would do to a company if half of its staff left each year. Well that's a close parallel to what's happening in our schools. Educators say things must change in our state's education system. If we hope to keep good teachers from leaving this evening we look at how that can be accomplished. Teaching it's probably one of the toughest professions you could find every day. Teachers in North Carolina face overcrowded classrooms discipline problems lack of respect and the need to be teacher counselors

substitute parent and friend to their students. Increasingly these overwhelming demands are driving many teachers out of the profession. We've got to change that. Turn that around and let people know that we don't just say education is important we put our money and our resources and our commitment where Matthew is and turn this thing around. If we don't do that if we lose our commitment to a good public school system we can no longer save all our children. If you would take advantage of educational opportunities offered you in America you can become all you're capable of being. That would be a disaster for school systems losing teachers means the costly expense of training new people year after year for students. The impact of losing good teachers is a measurable those in the profession say it takes time to become a good teacher. To learn behavior management and effective teaching methods when classroom veterans leave they take valuable years of experience and knowledge that are not easily replaced. Young enthusiastic teachers who

excite and motivate students are like the sparkplugs of the system and losing them drains the schools of those who are most needed. In fact research shows that talented high achievers are the most likely to leave the profession. And if this trend continues schools could be left with teachers who are simply counting the years to retirement. The situation is a serious loss of precious human resources which is a destabilizing factor in the schools. But how can this alarming trend be reversed. One suggestion is to increase teacher salaries. In fact Governor Hunt proposes raising them to the national average by the year 2000. Another idea is to put teachers on 12 month contracts were 10 month employees. Part of the reason our salaries are not up to par is that for too much of the year we're not paid. Let us do some planning or find us something to do with the summer actually planning would be real good. If we don't have a lot of chesty that don't here pay us for 12 months.

It's just that that that that could help but higher pay alone won't fix all problems for Veronica Robinson. Other factors have a high priority. I think class sizes need to be made smaller. That is a priority. Class sizes need to be made smaller. I think that teachers need less outside responsibilities and more time to focus on students more time to focus on planning more time to work on cooperative ideas. The North Carolina General Assembly has passed legislation that decreases class size for kindergarten and first grade. But nothing has been done yet to help the higher grades for John Denning. It's especially critical that something be done to help new teachers. Often they are given the most difficult assignments in terms of students with discipline or learning problems. The most lesson preparations and extra curricular activities. It's got to be accepted that it is a major transition to come into the classroom to stablish you are as a teacher. And with that

you cannot do that if you're responsible for 150 students each day and that you're teaching five classes a day. And what I mean by that is that there's got to be some combination of there's got to be a reduction of course load of student mood at some point so that you can address the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program is one effort to recruit bright talented young people into the teaching profession and to provide them with a comprehensive training experience. The Teaching Fellows program was incredible the year I was hired to hired nine brother teachers here and I was far and away the best prepared person of the group. The Teaching Fellows program is administered by the North Carolina Public School Forum a nonprofit education think tank. In a recent study graduates of the program said that in spite of their experience it's likely that many of them will leave the profession to factors that clearly indicate teachers beginning teachers would leave in North

Carolina are number one. The and the quality of their teacher preparation program. And number two the quality of the induction or support system for them in they are first second and third year teaching in the public school level. Colleges across the state are trying to improve the quality of teacher training and schools of education are doing the best job they've ever done but we're still sending thousands of young people that teach that haven't the slightest idea what do they'll face when they walk in some of the situations I'm walking into. We've got to do a much better job of a pattern. Better training will help but teachers say they must also have a strong support system within the schools. You need to feel like you can go to someone with a problem and get a solution instead of getting brushed off. If you don't feel like you can turn anywhere then you'll just turn away from teaching completely the large number of teachers leaving the profession certainly sounds an alarm to those in positions to make changes. One change supported by the State Board of

Education is to give teachers more control and accountability. We've got to turn our schools over to the communities where the schools are to make most of the decisions and let the parents and teachers really bad end of the school you are really never be what it should be. We must in fact found a way to provide those folks who have the obligation and responsibility to provide for better student performance and to take care of our children at the building level otherwise we will not be competitive we will not be able to to go into the next century having all the skills that we need in order to produce the workforce and the citizenry that we must produce for North Carolina. What are we doing that but the future of our kids and who's going to be here next and what kind of society are we going to have. I think that at some point we've got to put our resources and investment in public education to kids. Without tomorrow night we

continue our series with a profile of an elementary school teacher in Charlotte with more than 20 years of teaching experience. Like thousands of dedicated teachers in our state she has remained in the profession despite some of the difficulties. Well that's it for tonight's show. Don't forget to join us tomorrow night for a look at how some of our state's most historic schools are being given new life in some unique ways Emerita will be back with an interview with Ryan Coble from the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research on a new power struggle within the general assembly. Have a wonderful evening everyone. We'll see you again tomorrow night.