He said, she said: School board hopefuls talk

What goals would you like to accomplish? Maya Barton: "Support the teachers in the classroom and recruit as many community volunteers as possible. There are a lot of wonderful parent volunteers out there - recruit them." Christine Lee: "Continue to broaden our character development. Collaboration among the schools themselves, within the school system." Lorraine Forbes: "Reach out to the community. Help the parents so they can help their kids."

What are Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' greatest strengths and weaknesses? Jeff Danner: "The greatest strength in this school system is community support. People volunteer. They're willing to have their taxes raised to improve the school system." Forbes: "There's no action in some of the goals we put forth."

What factors contribute to minority achievement gap? Barton: "We definitely need minority parent involvement." Shang Yin: "We need to educate our school teachers and administrators not to stereotype their students, particularly minority students."

What improvements need to be made to our high schools? Yin: "We need to focus on the small number of students who do not necessarily want to go to college." Annetta Streater: "The well-roundedness and emotional well-being of children are overlooked because of our academic focus."

How would you advocate for students of all ages? Danner: "You have to think of the students in a manner the same as if they were your own children." n?What are the most important issues facing "gifted" students? Streater: "Identify and incorporate academically gifted students with intellectually gifted students." Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.