Dave DeWitt

The three finalists for Wake County Schools’ Superintendent answered questions from members of the community at a forum last night.

As expected for three people vying for the top job in the Wake Schools, Dana Bedden from Irving Texas, Ann Clark from Charlotte, and Jim Merrell from Virginia Beach, had some very nice things to say about the system they hope to lead.

“Coming to Wake County presents an opportunity to come to the state’s largest school district,” said Bedden, “but also one of the best school districts in the country.”

Thousands of visitors are expected to visit Jordan Lake on this Memorial Day. It’s a popular spot for boaters, kayakers, and campers. It’s also at the center of an ongoing fight over clean water.

In 1997, the State Legislature began the long, arduous process of addressing pollution in Jordan Lake. Algae blooms caused by upstream runoff threatened recreational activity on the Lake, and the drinking water that serves much of western Wake County.

This is a story about choice. And it starts in the lunch line at Arapahoe Charter School in Pamlico County when students choose between pizza and french fries.

And while that choice may seem easy to make, the choice to offer it is a little more complicated.

Charter schools aren’t required to offer meals, even to kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But Arapahoe does – and sixty percent of the students here qualify.

It was a day of goodbyes at today's UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees meeting. Chancellor Holden Thorp and several trustees are leaving after a tumultuous tenure. 

Over the past few years, Trustees meetings have often been tense, uncomfortable, and even demoralizing for the members, as the leaders of UNC-Chapel Hill have dealt with scandals in athletics and academics. But with Thorp on his way out, Board chairman Wade Hargrove offered nothing but praise.

Charter schools have been around in North Carolina for about a decade and a half, and for most of that time, the relationship between charters and traditional public schools has alternated between frosty and hostile.

It’s commencement weekend across North Carolina. Thousands of college students will get their degrees and begin their professional lives. This year, they’re not the only ones who will get a fresh start. After five years as the chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Holden Thorp is leaving to become the provost at Washington University in Saint Louis.

If you live anywhere near a college campus and don’t have a compelling reason to attend the half-dozen or so graduations going on in the Triangle and Triad, this might be a good weekend to get out of town. Tens of thousands of family and friends are set to descend on Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro for commencement events throughout the weekend.

Being on a school board is a little like being the head chef at the local Applebee’s. You don’t get to choose the ingredients and it’s not your recipe, but if someone doesn’t like the Bourbon Street Steak, you’re going to hear about it.

In other words, school boards in North Carolina have relatively little power but plenty of responsibility. And it’s been that way for a long time.

The State Senate is scheduled to debate a bill tomorrow that creates a separate board to oversee the growing number of charter schools in North Carolina.

Senate Bill 337 has gone through several revisions since it was introduced by Republican lawmakers two months ago. One of the provisions in an earlier bill, for example, removed the requirement that charter school teachers be college graduates. That requirement has since been re-instated.

Duke University has dropped out of a consortium of schools that will offer for-credit online courses. Duke faculty made the decision last week in a close vote.

In ending Duke’s participation in the Semester Online program, faculty on the Arts and Sciences Council said the decision to offer for-credit online courses had not been fully vetted by them. Some faculty members also expressed concern over the partner universities not being as highly-ranked as Duke.