North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 01/30/1996

It's Thursday January 30th. Join us as we celebrate the Asheville bicentennial tonight on North Carolina now. Hello I'm worried I'm afraid. Thanks so much for joining us on this cold Thursday evening for another edition of North Carolina now and I will be traveling to both ends of the state. We'll find out about a program underway in the East to help train and keep teachers in the rural regions of North Carolina. And a bit later Mitchell Lewis heads out to the mountain town of Asheville. The city is celebrating a very historic event this year 1907 marks the bicentennial anniversary of Asheville and we'll find out about the plans there to mark that occasion. Also a bit later North Carolina's superintendent of schools is our guest. He'll be here to share some of the concerns and the plans of our state's education

system. One of the issues this teacher retention which brings us to our first story nearly 20 percent of new teachers in North Carolina leave their jobs after the first year and 35 percent are gone. After five years the percentage is much higher in the state's northeastern counties. Producer Clay Johnson shows us how an innovative program is addressing the problem. Well at the same time creating a pool of qualified teachers in an area that badly needs them. It isn't easy to find teachers for the children of northeastern North Carolina. The area is mostly rural and it's mostly poor but even they traditionally have state short periods attached to greener pastures when they get experience and traditionally very probably greener pastures are not found here but instead in the more metropolitan school districts where pay is higher. Classrooms are fancier opportunities for continuing education are greater and the

recreational and cultural environment is richer. It means that some children have a long term substitute teachers. A child might have a teacher one week another teacher for another three weeks and this goes on for two three months. Half way through this school year there are still three unfilled positions in Halifax County and one in Vance. The solution to the problem lies in teachers like Pat Fields. Teachers with roots in these rural counties who need help to blossom into the kind of educators this region needs. They're getting it through a program called the North Carolina model Teacher Education Consortium. And if I had and I would. As a company and I've learned a lot for that. The consortium was born in 1989 after a legislative pass forced on Teacher Education said collaboration is the key.

We have the colleges the universities we have school systems we have community colleges and everybody's singing off of a different page set. So 10 school systems in northeastern North Carolina formed the consortium by getting on the same page with five colleges and universities three community colleges and the State Department of Public Instruction. We have colleges and universities fab who have signed off so that we will accept each other's courses as residents credit. That is not an easy thing to happen in the world of education. Thanks to the consortium teachers with only temporary emergency licenses teachers assistants substitutes and others seeking permanent teaching licenses can take the courses they need at nearby community colleges. So it was a good experience.

The consortium makes it affordable by subsidizing the educational costs for its participants. They pay no more than 40 dollars for each undergraduate course they need to ration for graduate courses is cut in half. The consortium was designed to help them remove the road blocks to become teachers for courses. I had to go to college campuses after work and making it affordable for them. And now I see why funding for the consortium is a collaboration to most of the Consortium's $400000 budget comes from the state. There's also a grant from a private foundation and contributions from the participating school systems. The system contributes $1 for each one of its students to the consortium. And we don't want them to want to do this like many of the superintendents of those school systems say they are seeing a good return on their dollar per student

investment. Thirty eight teaching assistants clerical secretaries and substitute teachers have gone through the four year program and are now fully licensed teachers. Many more like teaching assistant Jamil Williams are on their way. All my life as long as the teachers like PADFIELD Williams says cost and distance were roadblocks to his dream until the consortium remove them. It helped me a lot in having a lot of affordable was in the community. You know the beginning of it is a and again it's a sleep I can go right here to the community college and the school that you're affiliated with come to the college to the you know community college and you know best that's a blessing. The consortium not only removes road blocks it also builds bridges through seminars cultural excursions and even recreational outings aspiring teachers bond with each other and with a new world outside their rural homes.

When you're here you almost forget about the rest of the world. So they brought the world to us. It opened so that we might not. Field says a trip to a play or even the beach can make rural teachers better teachers. But what those Eat sleep. Because of the model Teacher Education Consortium there is a growing crop of qualified teachers in a rural area where it is sorely needed. People like Pat Fields and Jamil Williams who want dreaming about greener pastures but instead have their feet firmly planted in their own field and dream of nurturing their own crop of students being somewhere that and being able to make a difference and it's more important to me that's very important to me and I think I can make a difference here. One day I will be teaching somewhere right here and there is going to be this year the General Assembly plans to study an

expansion of the model Teacher Education Consortium to more counties. Still ahead on North Carolina now celebrating 200 years of history. And Nashville but first let's find out what happened today all around our state from Michel Louis who's at the news desk. Good evening that's Thanks Zoraida. Good evening everyone. The first true work day of the 1997 legislative session tops our news tonight. Today both chambers got down to taking care of the business at hand. Seven bills were introduced in the house including one that would set term limits for the General Assembly and the Senate bills on campaign reform or among the dozen that were filed measures were introduced in both chambers to lower the food tax by 1 cent. The Senate passed a resolution inviting Governor Hunt to give his State of the state address to a joint session tomorrow at noon. We'll have highlights from the governor's speech and all the business of the legislature tomorrow evening. Governor Hunt is reportedly considering collapsing the state's two existing health service agencies into a single bureaucracy. The plan is to bring together the State Department of Human Resources

and the State Department of Environment Health and natural resources. The new agency could become the Department of Health and Human Services. Governor Hunt may need the support of the legislature in order to make such a change. Champion International is facing a lawsuit over pollution of the Pigeon River. Two hundred landowners along the Tennessee side of the river have filed suit seeking forty five thousand dollars in damages for each landowner. The plate of say champions paper mill in Canton North Carolina is polluting the river and damaging their property. Champion got clearance in December from the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to release waste into the river at levels above what's a law allowed by law. A spokesperson with Champion calls the suit without merit. The company paid a 6.5 million dollar settlement in a 1993 lawsuit. Attorneys say the new suit covers property damage since that time. The Environmental Protection Agency is calling for tighter limits to be placed on waste deposited into the Noosa river. The federal agency is discussing the matter with state environmental

regulators. A lawsuit recently brought by a North Carolina environmentalist group claims the EPA has failed to enforce the Clean Water Act. The Neuse River Foundation believes the lawsuit is the prime catalyst forcing the EPA into action. The number of federally licensed gun dealers is dropping in North Carolina as well as the rest of the nation. Nationwide there are a 56 percent fewer gun dealers than three years ago. The number of dealers in North Carolina has dropped from over seventy five hundred to just over thirty four hundred in three years. That's down 54 percent. The Treasury Department says the decline is due to tougher licensing requirements higher application fees and more inspections. Gun control opponents say the statistics illustrate how new requirements have forced the small dealer out of business. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather and upturn in temperatures we'll bring highs in the low to mid 50s to most of the state for Friday mid 40 degree highs in Boone and the upper 50s at Wilmington represent the extremes. Gone from tomorrow's weather picture are clouds and rain

partly to mostly sunny skies will be back. Talk of a shortage in skilled and unskilled workers tops our business news tonight. North Carolina small business community is expressing some difficulty in finding suitable candidates to feel certain positions within their companies. In a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business about two thirds of the small business owners polled reported having trouble finding the right candidate out of the total businesses surveyed 32 percent say they have plans to add workers in the next six months. Most say the hardest employee to find is the experienced worker. North Carolina has joined the 35 other states in reaching a settlement with the Internet access service America Online. AOL has been criticized for initiating a new pricing and access structure without having the system capacity to meet peak demands. Under the agreement AOL will provide refunds or credits to customers who complain about problems connecting with the service. The company has also agreed not to advertise unless it maintains

sufficient capability to deal with a reasonably expected demand or notifies consumers that they may be. There may be problems during peak hours and now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Last week state school superintendent Dr. Mike Ward appeared as our guest here on North Carolina now

at the time we unfortunately only had just a small amount of time to gloss over the topics that we wanted to discuss. So we have invited Dr. Ward back and he joins us this evening. We were talking a little bit last week and we barely got into the topic of academic standards and what you're hoping to accomplish for the North Carolina schools. Why don't we go over just a little bit for our viewers who didn't see last week's discussion about what you're hoping to accomplish in that arena. Well I think the bottom line is that we want to restore. Community confidence that the diploma really means something. And I think the way we do that is insist on proficiency in core areas like reading and writing and mathematics is the basis by which students move up through the system. And when youngsters are ready in those areas we need to be prepared to help build a level of proficiency so that they can move on to the next level. But we have to I think we really have to take a firm position that we're not going to advance youngsters who aren't ready for the next level and that's a disservice to children

and a disservice to communities. I believe I have seen a news reporter something on the wire where you were talking about devoting more resources more energy into the smaller grades and building a foundation there and then that will help them in the long run. Where is that money going to come from are we talking about new resources are we talking about allocating old ones. Well the phrase that I have used very frequently as I've talked about this is front loading the process investing in youngest children and in the programs which serve our youngest children to make sure that in those earliest years they are experiencing academic success because so much of the long term success of a child in school depends on that academic success early on. So it's important that we invest in those early childhood experiences. I think there may be a need for some new resources in that area. I think the public is willing to see us invest new resources in that area if we're very serious about academic standards and holding to

those academic standards. I also think it's possible to think about how we use money that we presently have in the system and whether or not we have to shift some priorities. So I think some combination of the two new resources and re prioritizing existing resources is in order. Are you considering going before the legislature and asking for more money. Absolutely. Over the course of the next four years it will be before the General Assembly making the case for an investment in high academic standards. Making the case for an investment in safe schools. Those those measures that help to ensure that classrooms are safe haven for teaching and learning and I think an investment a strong investment in how we prepare and how we keep and how we reward good teachers in the classroom. Let's talk about teachers we hear so much about teacher retention low morale low pay. Do you have any plans to help bolster the teaching profession keep good teachers in the classroom. There are a number of important steps to take to strengthen the

profession and to keep people in the classroom. And some of them have to do with how we prepare teachers the quality learning experiences they that they get as part of the university preparation program for teaching. Some of it has to do with issues we've already talked about safer classrooms more conducive environments for teaching and learning I think a part of the answer. Teachers tell us frequently that salary isn't our way is their largest consideration when they think about continuing in the profession a lot of times it's whether or not the classroom is conducive to teaching and learning whether or not there's a quality environment free of disruptions. That's part of the answer. But I also think a big part of the answer is in how we reward teachers. And one of the things that we'll be talking a lot about in the General Assembly this year is how we strike a balance between increasing teacher salaries in North Carolina across the board and how we also recognize performance on the part of exceptional teachers and exceptional groups of teachers as part of their salary

package as well. I find it interesting that you've used the term striking a balance quite a bit that's going to be a real tight tight rope to be walking on the you know so many things that we talk about really are an issue of striking a healthy balance. And that's one of them. I think it's important to address teacher salaries across the board. But I also think it's important to address the issue of performance based incentives in the compensation plan for teachers. Teachers I think expected out this. I know that the business community expects it of as the general in the General Assembly expects expects us to address the issue of quality performance in the compensation plan for teachers. Balance balance is the right word. Dr. Ward last question I'll let you go if there's a student that graduates from high school and doesn't learn what he or she was supposed to have learned whose fault is that. There's a lot of folks to blame. The school certainly have to take their share of the blame when a youngster can make it through the system receive a diploma and be

prepared for what comes next. But communities schools are part of a community and a reflection of a community and communities have to join with us. And I prefer to think instead of joining with us in the blame. I think communities need to be prepared to join with schools in the process of strengthening schools so that we don't have to worry about who's to blame but so that we can celebrate success together. Dr. war Thank you for your time this evening and good luck to you. Thanks. Thanks again. Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks. Thanks to earth the earth Asheville

has reached a major milestone this year as the city celebrates its 200 birthday and residents in the Mountain City are preparing for a major bicentennial Bash. Michel Louis takes a look at Nashville's history as well as the party plans taking place. I live in peace. I live in beauty. This is a community of diverse active people. It's growing but it's growing nicely so far. And there is there's a wonderful faith feeling of community here. And not only in crisis but in celebration. Asheville North Carolina the city nestled where the Great Smokies meet the Blue Ridge Mountains National is well known for its beauty. But this year marks something special. A bicentennial birthday Trina Roy Yar is the events manager for the celebration. The thing is celebrate Asheville so you can make it into

anything you want. It's about enjoying where we live. The community that we have Asheville is a small town city really. You can walk down the street and know a lot of people. Asheville is got a vast cultural diversity and heritage and the whole theme is to celebrate that National's creation began along the French Broad River in the early 1790s land formerly belonging to the Cherokee was open for settlement in November of 1790 seven 400 acres of land was incorporated in Buncombe County and was called Morristown. The area then became Asheville named after Governor Samuel Ashe. Asheville is well represented when it comes to historic figures of the past. Riverside cemetery is the resting place of such North Carolina notables as Gov. Zabulon Baird Vance who was governor of North Carolina during the War Between the States. Governor Locke Crick was governor from

1913 to 1970 in the construction category. William Sharpe Smith supervised the construction of the famous Biltmore Estate. In the literary realm there is a William Sidney Porter best known as short story writer. Oh Henry. And who can forget novelist Thomas Wolfe author of Look Homeward Angel. Let me set Nick co-chair of the actual bicentennial board says part of that work is a main ingredient in the celebration. Yes you can come home again. Hometown reunion. Calling all bashful sons and daughters home to celebrate a reunion. It'll be family oriented and it will be a pedestrian friendly. Will have everything from games to discussions by natives of Ashville pictures displayed both food and drink and crafts. Everything we're trying to have is local in

origin rather than a vendor from Florida coming in. In all the Asheville bicentennial board is overseeing more than 30 events. The group is made up of various community and civic leaders. Members hope that while folks are celebrating downtown among the Gothic style buildings the gargoyles and the griffons that this special milestone will not only be a time of reflection but also re dedication to making Asriel an even better place to live. Everybody is invited. All inclusive. Everybody young. Now our old native those those blessed enough to have been born here or those fortunate enough to have been drawn here. Although many events have been planned throughout the year for Asheville's bicentennial the main celebration will take place September 20th. Well that's our program for tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Tomorrow is Friday so that marks the start of

our end of the week legislative wrap up each Friday evening until the end of the legislative session we'll review the week's activities at the legislature. Tomorrow John basin will join us for the summary. Also we'll hear from House Speaker Harold Brooks-Baker and Senate Leader Mark this night in an extended interview. And Sanya Williams will examine the actions lawmakers are taking in regards to establishing a graduated driver's licensing system for teenagers. It promises to be an informative program so please make plans to join us. In the meantime have a great evening. We'll see you back here again tomorrow night. Good night everyone.