Early in the election season, the race for District 3 of the Wake County School Board already offers clear choices to voters — with a caveat.

The North Raleigh district’s incumbent, Kevin Hill, has not yet officially declared his intention to run for re-election. As a teacher education instructor at North Carolina State University, he must receive approval from the university system to make such a move.

But if he receives approval, he will enter the race.

A map of the school board districts.
Heather Losurdo announced her candidacy for Hill’s seat more than two weeks ago, making her the first Republican-backed challenger to enter a school board race in which all of the Democrat-aligned incumbents are facing re-election.

A Hill-Losurdo battle would pit against one another two candidates with very different resumes and stances on the issues. The election would give District 3 voters very clear choices on supporting the new school board community schools policy or not.

Hill spent his entire career as a teacher and principal in the Wake County Public School System before retirement, when he began preparing new teachers at NC State and successfully ran for the school board in 2007.

After a career in the Air Force, Losurdo worked as an accounts manager for First Union National Bank, overseeing a portfolio of about $2 billion in small-business loans for North Carolina and South Carolina customers.

As a parent of two middle school children in Wake public schools, Losurdo presents herself as invested in the school system, but not an insider.

“I believe I’m the best person to represent District 3 because I’ve paid attention,” she said. “I’m a mom. I understand when our children come home and my biggest concern is that the bar of expectations has been lowered across the board for all children. And I believe that I bring to the table a creative mindset, a fresh set of eyes that have not been involved in the system per se.”

Finishing up his first term — of which the last year and a half has been spent on a board marked by partisan rancor over monumental changes to the school system — Hill points to challenges that he has helped the board meet.

“For three years the district has had a declining share of funds from the state and, in a nominal sense, from the county,” he said. “This is the third year that school appropriations have been flat from the County Commission. With an increasing number of students, that’s a cut per pupil. We’ve been able to mitigate, if you will, the impact on classrooms.”

Hill voted with his Democrat-backed colleagues against the board majority in 2010 when they abolished the decade-old socioeconomic diversity policy. He is concerned about funding for high-poverty schools such as Walnut Creek Elementary, which will open under a new student assignment policy.

“If indeed a plan creates more high-poverty, low-achieving schools, and we must make those communities equitable and equal, yes, it will cost more money,” Hill said.

With finite resources in years of tight budgets, he added, such moves force tough decisions about where to allocate resources without funding increases.

“You either re-slice the pie or bake a bigger pie,” he said.

A supporter of the board majority’s diversity policy decision, Losurdo agrees that high-poverty schools present special challenges.

“What I do know is that a school in that situation does need different resources,” she said. “It needs a different approach.”

But she cautions that the difference does not include more money. She favors the district partnering with local businesses and universities to provide learning opportunities for students.

And she favors more charter schools.

Charter schools, Losurdo said, “are giving the education that they’re giving for less money per student,” she said.

“Charter school high-poverty graduation rates: high,” she added. “Student achievement: high. What are they doing? Let’s find out. Let’s find out what they’re doing and let’s find out if we can implement that in the Wake County Public School System so our high-poverty students can achieve all of that.”

Unlike Losurdo, Hill does not support the North Carolina General Assembly’s attempts to raise the cap on charter schools in the state.

“I think it has a negative impact on schools. Due to a recent [North Carolina Court of Appeals] ruling, charter schools can take an increasing share of public dollars from the system,” he said.

“I don’t believe we should have a dual school system,” he added. “I believe we should have a public school system.”

Charter schools are considered public schools. They receive public money that would go to traditional public schools, but charter schools can operate with more autonomy when budgeting, hiring staff and developing curricula.

One way many charter schools seem to achieve more with less funding is by paying teachers less than teachers in their traditional counterparts. In high-poverty schools around the country, this often results in high teacher turnover.

Lusordo does not blame poor teacher retention in charter schools — or any school — on salary.

“I don’t believe that in most cases teachers come or go because of money,” she said. “Teachers typically don’t get into teaching for the money. They typically have a service heart.”

Losurdo supports merit pay for teachers deemed highly effective. Hill does not.

“It’s my belief that that most teachers give 100 percent effort,” he said. “They want kids to be successful.”

Hill does not believe that the prospect of extra money for high state-test scores will motivate teachers to do better.

What will motivate Wake County voters Oct. 11 remains to be seen.Similar Posts:

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A six-member student assignment task force is examining six distinct courses of action before picking one to offer to the school board for approval. The most publicized of the proposed plans is the Wake School Choice Plan, or Alves plan, which features a mix of base schools, magnet programs and traditional and year-round calendar options for students similar to those available now.

Last year the conservative board majority dropped the district’s decade-old policy of reassigning students based on socioeconomic status. A comprehensive retooling of the assignment policy began shortly after Superintendent Tata took office in late January.

Tata has also made racial and ethnic diversity in the teaching force another major priority. Although the district’s student population is roughly 50 percent non-white, only about 16 percent of its teachers are in minority groups, Tata said.

“It’s about hiring the right people for all of our children to have the right kind of role models as they grow and learn,” Tata said.

To meet this goal, Tata cited recruiting efforts at historically black colleges and universities and in high-density Latino states such as Florida and Texas.

Wake Superintendent Anthony Tata answers questions during the new monthly online Town Hall meetings.

Bus Safety

With an increase in the number of school bus accidents in the first two months of the calendar year, Tata said he will establish new efforts to promote safety in district transportation.

In addition to new mandatory monthly safety trainings for bus drivers run by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Tata has initiated review of the Transportation Review Board, which investigates every accident.

Tata is quick to emphasize that the selection process for district bus drivers is more rigorous than required by the DMV. Only 40 percent of driver applicants are accepted.

Transparency

As he enters the final third of his 90-day plan for the beginning of his tenure at Wake County, Superintendent Tata is pitching himself as involved and engaged with the community.

Aside from visiting 63 schools in the first 61 days after his appointment and spending time in each board member’s district, Tata has begun a series of weekly press briefings and monthly virtual town hall meetings.

On Friday beginning at 9:45 a.m., parents, students and other community members were invited to post questions on a live chat site linked to the district’s home page. By the time the town hall officially began 10:00 a.m., over 40 participants had posed queries about numerous topics, ranging from AdvanceEd accreditation to dropout rates.

If readers have any questions to ask Superintendent Tata, Raleigh Public Record will gladly ask them for you at the next Friday press briefing. Post your questions to the comments section or visit the Record on Facebook or Twitter.Similar Posts:

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Attendees marched around the block and returned to the front of the convention center, shouting “Unite, organize, empower!”, “Save our schools!”, and “No more cuts!”

NCAE members are angry about education budget cuts currently under discussion in the state legislature.

“We’re marching because we want the General Assembly to do the right thing and fund education first rather than undercut it,” said David Beaver, a member of the NCAE’s board of directors and a teacher in Davidson County. “We can’t do better with less. This is not about the teachers, it’s about the kids.”

Click image to view larger.

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By C. Duncan Pardo

Two hot topics brought West Raleigh residents to today’s city council meeting. The council discussed the new building proposal for Cameron Village, but held the real debate for next week. Moving down Clark Avenue to Peace Street, council members assured Broughton High School parents and alumni they would help find a compromise for student parking at the school. And a 6-2 council vote approved new permanent water conservation measures and increased the number of days people can water each week.

The proposed six-story building in Cameron Village at the corner of Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road will be back in front of council in another two weeks. The project’s developer increased the setback for the building from 10 feet to 15 feet, but councilors expressed reservations about the six-story design. The Urban Design Guidelines say buildings should be capped at three stories, but those are guidelines and not requirements.

A yard sign near Oberlin Road protesting the new building proposed for Cameron Village. (Photo: C. Duncan Pardo)

A yard sign near Oberlin Road protesting the new building proposed for Cameron Village. (Photo: C. Duncan Pardo)

Thomas Crowder (District D) was concerned about the building height and confusion between the guidelines and regulations. Russ Stephenson (At-Large), who lived a block from the building site, commended the developer for “the work put into addressing residents’ concerns.” The council pushed the proposal to a special item at the next council meeting. After the council moved on the next item, more than two-dozen people wearing bright green “Smart Growth for Cameron Village” stood and walked out of the council chambers.

The council did not give its blessing to the proposed parking lot at Broughton High. The planning commission voted 6 to 3 to deny the school’s request to pave over the lawn in front of the school along Peace Street. Mayor Charles Meeker pointed out that during the day there are a number of open parking spaces at Cameron Village and along St. Mary’s Street that could be used for student parking.

Philip Isley (District E) pointed out the traffic problems around Broughton before school and after classes get out, drawing cheers from the more than 20 people who came to support the parking lot. Recognizing the controversy, Isley said, “Whatever decision we make, it’s gonna be the wrong decision.”

The council handed off the parking lot question to City Manager Russell Allen to work with the school board to figure out a good compromise. Meeker said, “We are going to try to satisfy both sides here.”

On the water front, the council approved additional permanent conservation measures. Residents can now water three days a week instead of two. The new restrictions include language about “water waste,” such as sprinklers watering sidewalks and driveways. The take-home message on wasting water: don’t do it. The council also voted to move “indoor water restrictions” from Stage 2 Restrictions to make them standard practice. That mean Raleigh residents will always have to ask for water in restaurants and local hotels have to limit the washing of linens.

Meeker voted against implementing the restrictions now. He said he wanted to wait for the full package of water restriction changes expected by the end of the year. Meeker said he doesn’t want “the public to get the impression” that the time for water restrictions has passed, but said he doesn’t want to change the rules too many times.

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