Achievement gap focus of forum

Community members focused on bridging the minority achievement gap Tuesday night at a forum for Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education candidates.

The Parent-Teacher Association held the event at Ephesus Elementary School.

Pam Krakow, co-president of the school's PTA, said the forum would allow parents and community members a chance to find out who the candidates are and what is important to them.

"The board usually is pretty good at listening to parents" Krakow said.

The candidates were given two to three minutes to introduce themselves and propose policy issues that they would like bring to the table.

Incumbent Lisa Stuckey, chairwoman of the school board, outlined her policy issues which also are the school board's present policy - closing the achievement gap, attracting and keeping good teachers, collaborating with Orange County Schools and increasing parent and teacher involvement are the top priorities for her.

The significant gap in minority achievement is a primary concern of the district.

All the candidates emphasized the importance of fulfilling the board's mission to provide equal education for all students.

Jean Hamilton, a newcomer and also the only minority candidate running for the three available seats, had a different take on the issue.

Though providing equal education is imperative, she emphasized instruction in classroom.

"For the past five years we have been working on minority achievement, and there is still a lot of work to be done," said Hamilton.

Unlike majority students, minority students usually fail to have the support structure at home to fill the gaps caused by weak instruction in the classroom, she added.

"If we want to solve the minority gap we have to strengthen the classroom instruction," Hamilton said.

Pam Hemminger, another incumbent candidate who has four children in the school system, commented on minority achievement but wanted to approach the problem from the bottom up.

"We need to talk with the kids, and hear what they have to say," Hemminger said.

She also proposed assessing teachers more efficiently. "We now have data, and we can tell which teachers are good with teaching all children and who need help."

Jeff Danner, who holds a doctorate in chemical engineering, brought a fresh look at the monetary side of policy.

He advocated that his background in working with project budgets and management would help him push "data-driven actions."

He also encouraged addressing children as individuals.

"Every child has different skills," Danner said. "We need to teach them what they need to learn next."

He claimed his experience with world travel brought him a more global perspective on the minority achievement problem.

The audience was invited to ask questions, and parents responded by asking a range of questions from expected budget questions to which teacher influenced them the most.

Elections will be held Nov. 8.

 

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