Johnston County Board
of Education

report from August 13 session

Board members present: Chairman Mike Wooten, Teresa Grant, Ronald Johnson,
Terri Sessoms, Peggy Smith, Todd Sutton, Tracie Zukowski
 Absent: None

Retired Smithfield principal urges board

to pursue "diversity" in Johnston schools


Mary Nell Lee Ferguson grew up in Smithfield and went on to complete a 44-year career as a public educator --- for many years as a teacher and principal in Wake County before finishing up as principal of Johnston County's Cleveland Elementary School for 13 years.

She appeared before the Board of Education Tuesday afternoon to make a plea for "diversity" in the student composition of Johnston's public schools.

"So do you think it is OK to have some of our schools with extremely high poverty and others to be extremely affluent?" she asked. "It appears that Johnston County Public Schools believe it is OK to have schools in Smithfield and Selma racially and economically segregated and do nothing about it except continue to allow transfers that create more separation."

Even so, she continued, putting an end to out-of-district transfers isn't the best answer to the diversity question.

"Instead, these schools need to be fixed so parents want their children to go to neighborhood schools," she declared.

"Data I provided you this past February shows that our black elementary students in Smithfield-Selma ... are not given the same opportunity as black students in the Cleveland-Clayton schools," she noted. "Transfers through the years have created this racial and economic divide. It is past time for a change."

Mrs. Ferguson placed particular emphasis on improving reading-test scores.

"The preliminary scores have dropped again and we were close to the bottom last year. Why?" she asked. "Why is our school system moving backward when our county is moving forward?"

She concluded her remarks by urging the board to pay attention to recommendations it received earlier this year from North Carolina's Center for Civil Rights that "gave you a detailed plan on how to implement diversity." That plan recommends revised attendance districts but does not call for busing students outside their districts to achieve diversity.

Here's a link to the Civil Rights Center's Johnston County report>


STUDENT TRANSFERS APPROVED AND DENIED

As part of its "consent agenda" requiring no discussion, the board approved and denied numerous requests for reassignment of students to schools outside the attendance districts where they reside:
View this month's list of APPROVALS>
View the list of DENIALS>


SOUTH SMITHFIELD ADVISORY APPOINTMENT
The board reappointed June Lemke to the Parent Advisory Council at South Smithfield Elementary School. Principal Laura Makey reported that other members of the council had recommended Ms. Lemke's reappointment. 


SYSCO WILL PROVIDE FEDERALLY FUNDED FOOD
The board approved a contract for $5,585,935.73 with Sysco Raleigh for delivering groceries, snacks, and other supplies purchased with federal School Nutrition funds to all of Johnston's public schools during the year ahead. Sysco, which operates from a distribution center at Selma, was the only bidder through the North Carolina Procurement Alliance, of which Johnston County Public Schools is a member.


JCC TRUSTEES TOUT CAREER & COLLEGE PROMISE

Three trustees from the governing board at Johnston Community College presented a report on the Career & College Promise program --- a joint effort by JCC and Johnston's public schools to enable qualified students to take college-level courses, tuition free, while they are still in high school. Last fall 1,143 students were enrolled in the program, with an estimated 1,215 expected this fall, reported trustees Mary Daughtry, Benton Sawrey, and Haywood Watson. This past year's enrollment included 84 students from Smithfield-Selma High. Cleveland High had the highest enrollment with 233. West Johnston High had the lowest number with 57. By race, total enrollment was 66.93% white, 17.84% Hispanic, and 8.22% black. The trustees said those numbers concern JCC's administrators, who want to recruit more minorities to take advantage of the program.


PERSONNEL CHANGES FOLLOWING CLOSED SESSIONS
The board met in and out of closed session three times during Tuesday's monthly meeting to discuss personnel as permitted by the state's Open Meetings Law. As a result of those deliberations, the board approved the following changes:
• Bennett Jones, Principal of Clayton High School, moved to Lead Administrator, Choice Plus.
• Ken Byrd, Director of Post-Secondary Partnerships, moved to Director of Certified Personnel.
• Tamara Thomas, named Director of School Improvement.
• Given two-year contracts as Assistant Principals were Kenneth Angel at Smithfield-Selma High, Stephen Barnett at Benson Elementary, Thomas Callon at Smithfield Middle, and Centora Holder at McGee's Crossroads Middle.
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