High school seniors in New Hanover County who plan to major in education may soon be eligible for one of four $7,000 college scholarships. The scholarships would be awarded to students attending North Carolina state universities.
“That would pay for a full year of their education,” Jeannette Nichols, vice chairperson of the New Hanover County Board of Education, said.
The board considered the proposal during its Oct. 20 meeting. In the past, the board has provided two $1,000 education scholarships.
“The thing I would like you to think about is how are we going to select these recipients?” Nichols said. “The whole board is involved in making this selection. We want to make sure all high school students understand it’s available to them. There are a lot of variables we need to have in place before we start advertising.”
The board will consider the proposal again in November.
Later in the meeting, assistant superintendent LaChawn Smith addressed the needs of the county’s low-performing elementary and middle schools: Rachel Freeman School of Engineering, Gregory Elementary School, Snipes Academy of Arts and Design, Winter Park Elementary School, D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy and Williston Middle School.
Smith said she wants to see increased communication between faculty members at different schools within the county.
“If third grade math is a challenge, then we want to bring those principals of those schools together on how to address the issue of third grade math,” she said.
Smith also listed the specific goals of each school, which include improving reading comprehension, decreasing behavioral referrals and lowering teacher departure rates.
“We see a lot of turnover at these schools. It’s hard to have high-quality instruction when you have a tremendous turnover rate,” she said.
Smith suggested that Virgo and Freeman implement a year-round school schedule, which would give faculty and students four long breaks throughout the school year as opposed to a two-month summer vacation.
“By adapting a year-round calendar, we can create opportunities for extended learning when school is not in session,” she said.
Nancy McCullough, a retired teacher from Maryland who volunteers at Snipes Elementary, said the only way for New Hanover County to improve its low-performing schools is to redraw the school districts.
“The reason these schools are low-performing is because they have been re-segregated. They’re neighborhood schools,” she said. “They are overwhelmingly poor children and they are overwhelmingly minority kids. When you create a situation like that, you’re not going to have a successful school. These kids come to school hungry, they live in neighborhoods where shootings are going on, and they bring all those stresses to classes. You have to have economic integration to have successful schools.”
McCullough also said teachers at low-performing schools face more discipline challenges than those at higher performing schools.
“The class sizes in the low-performing schools aren’t any smaller than those at other schools in the county, and the teachers don’t get paid any more,” McCullough said.
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