The Post
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

East Montgomery High School Hosts "Saving Our Schools" Town Hall

Biscoe, NC – East Montgomery High school hosted a "Save our Schools" discussion Thursday sponsored by the Young Democrats of North Carolina. State Representative Melanie Wade Goodwin moderated the discussion.

Congressional candidate Larry Kissell, who teaches at East Montgomery, was the featured panelist. He was joined by YDNC President Zack Hawkins, who teaches at Southern Durham High School. Students, educators, parents and citizens from around the Eighth Congressional District participated in an hour-long discussion of how to improve education and better prepare students for life after high school.

"We need to have a continuing, active dialogue in all our communities to affect the changes needed. We have an appalling drop out rate, and it's even more of a problem in our rural schools than urban," Rep. Goodwin said.

"The mission of the Young Democrats is to inspire not just young people, young professionals and young teachers, but entire communities to get involved and make a difference," said Hawkins. "Larry Kissell has dedicated himself to education and making his community a better place. He didn't just sit on the sidelines. He believed a small town guy with small town values could make a difference, and he has," added Hawkins in his introduction of Kissell.

"Low wealth counties, which make up so much of the 8th District, especially need additional resources to achieve a sound basic education for all as prescribed by the state constitution," said Kissell citing a ruling by Superior Court Judge Howard Manning. "But the answers aren't always in Raleigh, a Judge's chamber and certainly not in Washington. Sometimes the answers are right there in the school and in the local community. You just have to listen," said Kissell.

EMHS Principal Trent Taylor addressed concerns of recruiting and retaining "highly qualified teachers" as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. "They're trying to make education teacher-proof. They've taken the professionalism out of teaching, so there's not just a monetary element, but a real lack of satisfaction that has to be addressed. We need to look at the whole child. We have to teach the whole child," said Taylor.

"When the paper comes out in Richmond County, and I see all the kids that aren't on the honor roll that should be, it hurts me personally," said Elizabeth Smith, a teacher from Rockingham. "We are losing generations of children because we are not getting to them soon enough and making them see how important it is that they get an education."

"The best thing about No Child Left Behind is its name. But I believe we should do better by our children than to merely assign an inspiring title to our national education plan," Kissell said. "There is way too much emphasis being placed on testing. That's the politicians' easy answer. There has to be a balance between accountability and the needs of the child. There has to be a common-sense, community-based solution to education, and No Child Left Behind does not recognize this."

Kissell also criticized the federal program for penalizing schools with more diverse student bodies.

"No Child Left Behind sets up so many sub-groups based on race and gender, then it says that a school must have a passing result in each sub-group," Kissell said. "That penalizes diversity and makes the most diverse schools the least likely to meet the standard. That simply is not a fair way to evaluate the progress made by students at those schools."

At the forum, Kissell reintroduced his "Lesson Plan" which enumerates changes he would like to see in the No Child Left Behind mandate, addressing the challenges of funding, accountability, growth, flexibility and diversity. Kissell has been endorsed by the North Carolina Association of Educators in his 2008 bid to represent North Carolina's 8th District.

The next "Saving Our Schools" forum is scheduled for February in Fayetteville.