The Southern Highland Reader

STATEWIDE–North Carolina’s charter school law is weak, according to the Center for Education Reform, a national organization based in Maryland that promotes charter schools.

Lynn Bonner at the Raleigh News and Observer blogs that the organization criticizes North Carolina for limiting the state’s number of charter schools to 100, and for failing to help existing schools with facilities costs. The Center ranks North Carolina 29th of 40 states that have charter school laws.

View state-by-state rankings here.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University’s soaring pool of applicants is described as a “success story in outreach and marketing” by Smoky Mountain News reporter Giles Morris in this piece for the November 18 issue. News editor Becky Johnson adds, in a sidebar, that the quality of students could rise with the number of applications, and that the university’s student retention rate — often a problem in Cullowhee — has risen past the national average.

Here’s a clip from Morris’s story:

“What our staff is hearing — whether during an Open House, a campus tour or one of our regional recruitment events across the state — is that people are attracted by the affordability WCU offers and the dynamic, unique blend of academic majors available at WCU,” [WCU employee Mark] Anderson said. “Prospective students and their parents are very aware of all the new buildings and construction on campus, what a beautiful place Cullowhee is, and that the total student experience is possible at WCU.”

Here’s an excerpt from Johnson’s sidebar:

Despite a rise in applications –– tripling over three years –– enrollment at WCU has not risen significantly. The bigger pool has allowed the school to seek a higher caliber student, said Chancellor John Bardo.

The school has raised its academic standards, as measured by the average GPA and SAT scores of new students. The SAT went from 1023 to 1033 between 2003 and 2009. In 2003, the GPA was 3.25, compared to 3.48 this year.

“That’s a really, really big change in the nature of students,” Bardo said.

Left for future issues, maybe, is another number that is rising at Western: the student-to-teacher ratio. Traditionally one of Western’s calling cards, that ratio is rising quickly because of budget cuts, and those cuts are likely to worsen in the next couple of years. How will the school meet the challenge of teaching this growing pool of smart students?

Read the Smoky Mountain News story here.
Read the Smoky Mountain News sidebar here.

STATEWIDE–The Raleigh News and Observer’s Mark Johnson writes today that North Carolina’s community college system is seeing a huge jump in enrollment.

We posted here, earlier, about increases in enrollment at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, and also noted a substantial increase at Western Carolina University. The WCU jump bucks a trend of more-or-less steady enrollment at four year schools statewide.

Here’s an excerpt from the N&O story:

College enrollment nationally hit an all-time high last October of 11.5 million, or 40 percent of young adults from age 18 to 24, according to a Pew Center study released Thursday. Enrollment has been rising for years, but the recent spike was entirely at community colleges, according to the report.

While enrollment at four-year institutions was flat from 2007 to 2008, community college student ranks jumped from 3.1 million to 3.4 million young adults. The schools have seen that uptick continue this year.

“That’s the community college story,” said Scott Ralls, president of the state system. “The worse the economy is, the more likely we are to grow.”

Read the entire N&O piece here.

STATEWIDE–Jack Betts at the Charlotte Observer writes that Governor Bev Perdue and Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton endanger their legacies as leaders in education by wavering on the matter of undocumented immigrants in North Carolina colleges.

Writes Betts:

Democrats such as Perdue and Dalton generally hold in high regard the views of a former education governor such as Jim Hunt or a lion of American higher education such as Bill Friday. But on the issue of illegal immigrants in public colleges, their view is more in line with Republicans in the legislature who hope to push legislation next year to prohibit the admission of undocumented students.

Read his entire blog post here.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University professor Casey Hurley’s new book is Six Virtues of an Educated Person, and in it he argues that our educational system is teaching students to be good at “Jeopardy”, but not so good at being people.

An excerpt from Teresa Killian Tate’s story at The Reporter:

[Says Hurley] “In my book, I argue that if we define being educated as having high standardized test scores, we teach only one of the six virtues of the educated person,” said Hurley. “We educate for the virtue of understanding, but we neglect imagination, strong character, courage, humility and generosity. Unless we embrace this richer definition of what it means to be educated, educational improvement is unlikely.”

Read Tate’s story here.

Visit Hurley’s website here.

STATEWIDE–North Carolina government spending per state resident has dropped to its lowest level in 13 years, a new study shows.

The study, “Down in the Valley: General Fund Appropriations Per Person Lowest in 13 Years,” from the North Carolina Justice Center’s Budget & Tax Center, examined inflation-adjusted General Fund appropriations — the primary portion of the state budget that is funded by income and sales taxes, which pays for education, health and human services, justice, public safety and other public needs – over the past several decades.

From the Center’s report:

The $4.6 billion state budget shortfall – 22 percent of the state’s General Fund for fiscal year 2009-10 – forced state lawmakers into difficult choices. Significant service cuts were enacted, such as deep cuts to mental health services and cuts in funding to local school districts.

Rather than allowing the quality of public services to retreat to such an extent, lawmakers opted to take a balanced approach, filling the budget gap with spending cuts, federal assistance and $1 billion in higher taxes.

Even with this tax increase, however, state appropriations per person have fallen to their lowest level in thirteen years.

Without the tax increases adopted this year, state appropriations per person would have dropped even further, to the lowest level since fiscal year 1992-93.

NATIONAL–Rob Schofield at NC Policy Watch and the Progressive Pulse provides this list:

Police protection – Just call 911 and competent, honest folks are at my door in minutes
Fire protection — Ditto
Roads –N.C. DOT may be flawed, but imagine if streets were owned by Halliburton
The military – Save the private armies for Somalia
The courts system – One of America’s greatest achievements and a chief guarantor of the capitalist system
Jails – Just look at how badly our current experiments with private prisons have gone
The U.S. Postal Service – Amazingly cheap and effective
Universal public education – At the heart of our success as a democracy
Social Security and Medicare – Anyone who questions these should look at how older Americans lived before we had them.
Public water and sewer services — No privies or polluted wells for me

STATEWIDE–A recent study showed that the flagship campus of the University of North Carolina system is a little top-heavy.

An excerpt from a Raleigh News and Observer editorial:

A private consultant, funded by an anonymous donor, has found that the Chapel Hill campus spends more on administrative costs than it does on academics. The categories may be somewhat overlapping – the academic enterprise requires administrative support – but the strange balance suggests that something is out of whack.

The consultants, Bain & Company, cited findings showing that the university has too many layers in its bureaucracy, more than 100 academic centers and institutes without standard reporting structures — many with their own finance, human resources and technology staffs — and inadequate technology supporting its research projects.

At a time when North Carolina’s budget is a few billion dollars in the hole, and the public universities are fighting economic moves they say could affect classrooms and course offerings, the last thing that a flagship institution in the UNC system needs is a report indicating bloat at the top. The report says, for one example, that up to $6 million a year could be saved if those centers and institutes consolidated their support services.

There is no shortage of people who argue that higher education is falling away to simple commodity–this is a common theme these day–but when academically-renowned UNC Chapel Hill’s priorities are askew, how bad might the situation be at the sister campuses that are less in the spotlight?

RALEIGH/STATEWIDE–Lawmakers in Raleigh will get down to the nitty-gritty of finalizing a budget this week, after months of bouncing proposals and ideas to-and-fro.

Dire economic straits have drastically reduced state tax income, and have pushed costs up, creating a budget situation worse than any in decades. This truth seems to be lost on many, including some supporters of education, who argue, simply, “cut someplace else”. Fact is, there is no someplace else. North Carolina, by law, must balance its budget, and trimming here and there won’t come close to doing the trick.

From the Raleigh News and Observer:

Reality is that teacher layoffs, higher tuition and less spending on health are in the cards. Reality is that for all the teapot museum grants everyone decries, only cuts to the biggest, most sensitive budget categories produce enough savings. That’s why the House budget, as passed, includes tax increases to ease the cuts’ sting. The specifics here are sobering – and not just the small hike in the liquor tax.

A quarter-percentage-point increase in the state sales tax (to 4.75 percent) hits folks in the wallet every time they shop. And while the House widens the sales tax’s scope, extending it to some services, this is hardly the long-sought, comprehensive sales tax reform that would lower the rate in return for broadening the tax’s reach. It’s just a tax hike, necessary but regrettable. A boost in income tax rates for earnings over $200,000 also produces big money, but does nothing to keep our tax burden in line with surrounding states’.

Lawmakers are dancing fast to figure out which tax hikes will offend fewer people less, but can draw some consolation from a recent poll that shows 60 percent of Tarheels are OK with tax rate increases.

HIGHLANDS–Two unique presentations will draw crowds to The Bascom on Saturday, June 13, as the art center presents a knit-in and a three-hour pottery demonstration.

David Stuempfle works in his studio. Stuempfle is one of three of America’s most celebrated potters who will show their throwing techniques, discuss glaze and clay formulas and share personal stories during “Pottery Making,” a three-hour bonanza at The Bascom on June 13. Photo by Tim Ayers

“Whether you are a collector, a potter or just curious, you won’t want to miss this remarkable event where you can get acquainted with highly acclaimed artists and watch them demonstrate their craft,” said Norma Smith Hendrix, The Bascom’s education director.

Three of America’s most celebrated potters will show their throwing techniques, discuss glaze and clay formulas and share personal stories about the lives of full-time ceramic artists during “Pottery Making,” a three-hour bonanza with Cynthia Bringle, Mark Hewitt and David Stuempfle. From 9 a.m. to noon that day, watch three of America’s most renowned practitioners spin and shape clay and gain insight into their secrets of creativity. Stuempfle will be showcased from 9 to 10 a.m., Bringle from 10 to 11 a.m. and Hewitt from 11 a.m. to noon. Cost is $45 ($30 for Bascom members).

Bringle is one of North Carolina’s Living Treasures, and she is the recipient of numerous awards. She shares with her audience from 40 years of dedicated studio practice. Hewitt’s work has been featured in Smithsonian magazine and on the cover of American Craft magazine. British-born Hewitt offers lively commentary on his travels to potteries all over the world. Stuempfle’s command of throwing impossibly large pots will make for an immensely educational and fascinating demonstration.

People will also be to see and purchase works from these three highly collected potters at The Bascom’s exhibition, The Three Potters: Bringle, Hewitt and Stuempfle, which runs June 13 to July 11.

Then, from 2 to 4 p.m., join fellow knitters on The Bascom’s new terrace for the free World Wide Knit In, a program for all ages and genders. Bring a folding chair along with your yarn or fiber project. Ask for help, share your expertise or just stop by be part of the fun.

The presentations will be held at The Bascom’s new campus, 323 Franklin Road, Highlands.

“June 13 will be a terrific day to visit The Bascom and attend one or both of these two fun and informative events,” Hendrix said.

CULLOWHEE – What do Heath Ledger and Ben Harper have to do with Western Carolina University? They both were artistic partners in the creative team that designed a new Web site for the Beachcare program, located at WCU.

Beachcare is the educational outreach arm of the Santa Aguila Charitable Trust, an international organization devoted to the protection and preservation of beaches around the world. The trust’s U.S. activities are housed in WCU’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines.

Located at www.beachcare.org, the Web site is designed to inform and educate people about threats to the world’s beaches and to help celebrate and protect the wide variety of shoreline environments spanning the globe. The site was designed by the California multimedia team The Masses, an artistic outlet whose membership included the late actor Heath Ledger. The Masses is better known for producing music videos for Ben Harper, Dido and others. The Web site also features original video documentaries produced by French-American actor Jean-March Barre and producer Pascal Arnlod, and featuring Rob Young, director of WCU’s PSDS.

“The Beachcare project has been an incredible boost for our educational outreach mission,” said Young. “We are extremely interested in targeting a global audience of young people. Working with this creative dream team of international celebrities will allow us to reach people we have never been able to before. This project also has been great public relations for Western.”

Established by Olaf Guerrand-Hermes, a member of the family that founded the Paris-based Hermes fashion house, and wife Eva, the Santa Aguila Charitable Trust strives to educate the general public regarding issues that threaten the world’s beaches and coasts.

The trust is especially interested in illustrating the negative impacts of sand mining (where sand is removed from beaches, often for construction purposes elsewhere) and shoreline armoring (where hard structures such as seawalls, jetties or groins are used to try to halt the naturally occurring movement of beaches), said Adam Griffith, director of the Beachcare program.

The trust relocated to WCU through the efforts of Young, a member of the advisory board of the trust. The advisory board oversees the trust’s strategy and works to ensure its mission of global mobilization to stop the decimation of beaches worldwide. Other members are architect David Adjaye; Prince Pierre d’Aremberg; Yasmina Filali of the Orient-Occident Foundation; musician Aretha Franklin; Philippe d’Ornano, president of the Sisley corporation; Orrin Pilkey, founder of PSDS; and Glenna Patton of MTV Networks International.

STATEWIDE–North Carolina’s “Healthy Youth Act” has traveled a long way since February, when the sex education legislation was introduced by Greensboro state legislator Alma Adams.

It went through four committee hearings and much floor debate before the North Carolina House recently passed the legislation, and it now heads to the Senate, where it faces more opposition.

Among the changes the bill saw as it slogged through committee was a matter of implementation: state lawmakers decided that parents should be allowed to choose whether their child was sent through a “comprehensive” sex-ed track or the “abstinence-based” track that the state has used in recent years.

And then there arose an argument over which of the two would be the default curriculum track if the parent had no preference. (No preference?) Legislators seem inclined to add a third, no-sex-ed track as well.

Read an opinion piece here, from Paige Johnson at NC Policy Watch.

Then, last week, the New York Times ran a story about the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, based in Durham, which has begun the innovative “Birds and the Bees Text Line”, which allows teenagers to text questions about sex to the center from their cell phones, and within 24 hours “receive a cautious, nonjudgmental reply, texted directly to their cellphones, from a nameless, faceless adult.”

Here is an excerpt:

Sex education in the classroom, say many epidemiologists and public health experts, is often ineffective or just insufficient. In many areas of the country, rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases remain constant or are even rising. North Carolina – where schools must teach an abstinence-only curriculum – has the country’s ninth-highest teenage pregnancy rate. Since 2003, when the state’s pregnancy rate declined to a low of 61 per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 19, the rates have slowly been climbing. In 2007, that rate rose to 63 per 1,000 girls – 19,615 pregnancies.

Another:

Modeling their service on a similar city program in Alexandria, Va., the North Carolina staff members worked up guidelines: No medical advice – urge questioners to speak with a doctor. Do not advocate abortion. When necessary, refer questioners to local clinics, Web sites or emergency hot lines. Give reasoned, kind advice. Read answers twice before sending. No sarcasm.

Nancy Liddle, of Sylva, thinks the program is worth a shot.

“After living wth a teenager, who, despite my numerous attempts to be open and willing to talk about anything, still won’t ask me anything at all, I can see the beauty of this service,” she says. “Also, she and her friends are absolutely attached to their phones and texting is just how it goes. No talking is ever done. Ever. I’m worried she might throw her thumbs out one day soon.”

There are gaps in the program, Liddle emphasizes, especially for those who might already be in trouble, but for the average kid with a phone in attached to them, she thinks its great for getting nonjudgemental info, quickly and on thier terms.

CULLOWHEE – A delegation of Russian regional governmental officials and agricultural business executives visited Western Carolina University on Monday, May 4, to explore potential partnership and exchange opportunities with the university.

The 12-member group, hosted by former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, met with university administrators and faculty members, learned about agricultural- and environmental-related research efforts now under way, and toured WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization. The center is located in WCU’s Center for Applied Technology. It was built using federal appropriations secured by Taylor when he was a congressman.

James Zhang, associate dean of Western Carolina University’s Kimmel School (center), leads a Russian delegation on a tour of the Center for Rapid Product Realization as part of a campus visit Monday, May 4.

Taylor also is founder of the International Trade and Small Business Institute, which fosters educational exchange programs to bring foreign students to study business and entrepreneurship at several colleges and universities in Western North Carolina.

“We are expanding the activities of the institute to be more meaningful, with increased opportunity for exchange between Russian students and American students,” said Taylor, who has personal banking and agricultural interests in Russia.

The delegation included the head of the agricultural department of the government of the Ivanovo region, chairman of the Komsomolsk district agricultural cooperative, chairman of an agricultural food cooperative from the town of Kineshma, chairman of a regional committee on local economy and agriculture, and representatives of private farms and agricultural companies.

As part of the Russian delegation’s daylong visit, Cynthia Atterholt, head of WCU’s department of chemistry and physics, discussed her ongoing research into the use of pheromones – the externally released hormones that many living creatures use to trigger a behavioral response from another member of the same species – to disrupt the mating patterns of insects. The research has led to the development of an environmentally friendly form of pesticides that do not rely on chemicals, Atterholt said.

Jerry Miller, who holds WCU’s Whitmire Distinguished Professorship in Environmental Sciences, told the Russian visitors about his work in South Africa studying the impact of agricultural runoff, including sedimentation, fertilizers and pesticides, on water quality. Miller, who also is director of the Institute of Watershed Research and Management housed at the university, is especially interested in how agricultural activities may affect the supply of drinking water.

Peter Bates, director of WCU’s natural resource and conservation management program, described his ongoing research on sustainable forestry in WNC. Bates oversees the Western Carolina Forest Sustainability Initiative, which provides “objective information” to private forestland owners and biophysical assessments of several municipal watersheds across the region.

REGIONAL/NATIONAL–The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced that Western Carolina University’s nursing school is one of five new partner schools in its nursing academy program.

Representatives from WCU and Charles Georges VA Medical Center in Asheville will make a formal announcement Thursday.

The VA Nursing Academy is a virtual five-year pilot program with central administration in Washington.  It expands learning opportunities for nursing students at VA facilities, funds faculty development of VA staff for additional faculty positions to competitively selected school partners.  The five-year, $59 million program began in 2007.

Joining  WCU are the University of Alabama in Birmingham; University of Hawaii at Manoa; Pace University in New York City; and Waynesburg University in Pittsburgh.

Including the new facilities, the VA Nursing Academy now has 15 participants. According to VA officials, participation in the program is associated with an increase in teaching ranks, improved recruitment and retention, and new educational and research opportunities

SYLVA-Martha Hall, of Sylva, is being honored today in Phoenix as one of 20 “USA Today All-USA Community College Academic Team” members.

Hall, 18, now a student of watershed hydrology at N.C. State University, was an active member of the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River while at SCC, with whom she helped secure grants, collected rainfall data and studied local streams. Hall also designed an award-winning filter that improved water quality in fish production tanks.

Nearly 1,450 students from 800 community colleges in 49 states and Guam were nominated for USA TODAY’s 2009 All-USA Community College Academic Team.

Read the USA Today piece here.

STATEWIDE–North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has shaken up a NC department of education that has never been known for smooth sailing. Perdue named a CEO and board chaiman, Bill Harrison, to run the department.

Harrison takes precedence over the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, June Atkinson.

Atkinson has objected.

Perdue had this to say to the Raleigh News and Observer last week:

“I want the kids educated. I’m not going to sit around waiting for the General Assembly to do what they’re going to do. And if there is a Constitutional referendum, waiting for the voters to decide.”

Here’s the entire piece.

STATEWIDE–Governor Beverly Perdue’s first budget, made one of the most challenging in state history by the current economic downturn and by a state budget gap, was released today.

North Carolina’s budget, by state law, must be balanced, and Perdue started work on this budget facing a shortfall of over $2 billion.

She made it clear from the outset that many program cuts would be made, and that none would be protected. She also stressed that education and job creation would be her priorities. A first glance at her budget shows that to be true, particularly in terms of education.

Included in her budget were these education proposals, according to the Raleigh News and Observer:

• $350 million increase for education, from kindergarten through college.
• No new bond projects.
• Cuts at the state Department of Public Instruction and local school administrative staff.
• $3 million added for low-income schools.
• 12 additional early-college high schools spread across the state but concentrated in rural areas.
• A “founder’s tax credit” that will encourage entrepreneurship at universities.

Another excerpt:

Spending would be slashed across every single category of the state budget. The state Department of Correction would be hit particularly hard with a loss of 527 jobs and a budget reduced by $68 million. Universities will lose $167 million and 73 jobs.

Earlier posts from us here.

More coverage from the N&O here.

STATEWIDE–The Raleigh News and Observer reports today that Governor Perdue’s budget, to be released Tuesday, includes massive cuts.

An excerpt:

Her budget office has suggested scenarios that call for cutting from $1.3 billion to $2 billion from the state’s $21 billion budget – from 10 percent to 15 percent at most agencies. On the chopping block: the state’s apprenticeship program and its drug treatment courts, as well as three small prisons. Cuts for the public schools, higher education and health wouldn’t be as deep.

STATEWIDE-Governor Beverly Perdue told the Asheville Citizen-Times editorial board this morning that her budget plans assume no tuition increases at state community colleges or universities.

From the Citizen-Times:

She cited what she said is her record of supporting education. “I have never believed in tuition increases,” she said. “I’m not going to die over it, but I’m going to fight for it.”

More here.

NATIONAL/STATEWIDE–In a shocking announcement, Bristol Palin, daughter of last year’s Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, has announced that she and the father of her newborn baby have split up.

Palin, 18, discovered that she was expecting after her mother had accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination. At that time, she and her baby’s father, Levi Johnston, announced their engagement. Critics wondered aloud whether the engagement was a measure of political expedience rather than undying devotion.

Palin, who’s in a clear position to know, declared recently on Fox News that teaching “abstinence-only” to teenagers was “unrealistic.”

You think?

Fortunately, a full continent away, the North Carolina legislature has hit on the same idea. After falling under the sway of various levels of the abstinence-only argument in past years, the legislature is considering making the The Healthy Youth Act (HB 88) law.

This law would provide parallel curriculums between which parents could choose for their North Carolina children. One curriculum would be abstinence-based, the other based on detailed sex education.

The legislation just passed the NC House Education Committee, but is facing strong opposition.

Here’s a story from Mark Binker at the Greensboro News and Record that details the legislation.

Here’s an excerpt from a piece in the Raleigh News and Observer:

The bill has a long way to go in the legislature. Another House committee will consider it before it goes to a vote of the full House. If the House passes it, the bill would then go to the Senate for consideration. So far, Republicans have shown little interest in changing a law that was passed in the mid-1990s, when they controlled the House.

In 1995, the legislature passed a law requiring schools to focus sex education classes on abstinence until marriage. The courses in seventh and eighth grades include information on the effectiveness and failure rates of birth-control methods.