Education

Three new high schools that feature an innovative curriculum are up and running in North Carolina this school year. The schools focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

The new STEM schools are the City of Medicine Academy in Durham, Craven Early College East, and Wake NC State University Early College in Raleigh.

Tony Habit is the President of the North Carolina New Schools Project.

The State Department of Public Instruction has unveiled a plan to consolidate the three residential schools that serve deaf and blind students. The two schools in Wilson and Morganton will remain open, while the Governor Morehead School or the Blind in Raleigh will become a satellite school.

A task force at UNC-Chapel Hill has approved sizable tuition hikes.

The Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force voted to raise in-state tuition 16-and-a-half percent and out-of-state tuition 6-and-a-half percent.

Student leaders offered proposals for much smaller increases. UNC-Chapel Hill officials say state budget cuts necessitate large tuition increases to maintain quality.

It's the first step in a months-long process toward possibly increasing tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Wake County School officials are holding information sessions for parents starting today. The five events are designed to help families navigate a school choice plan that will take effect next year.

The five information sessions will take place in churches, preschools, and town halls in an attempt to reach out to populations that may not be easily reached otherwise. One of the sessions will be held in Spanish.

Only five people have ever been the president of the 16-campus UNC system. Tom Ross, Erskine Bowles, Molly Broad, C-D Spangler, and Bill Friday got together last night to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of the UNC system. It was a night of shared experiences and behind-the-scenes stories. But, the best story of all may be how the system was created in the early 1970s.

Democrats have regained control of the majority on the Wake County School Board. Incumbent Kevin Hill defeated Republican Heather Losurdo in a runoff election last night.

Looking worn out and even slightly embarrassed, Kevin Hill greeted supporters last night after the final votes were in.

In the most expensive Wake School Board race in history, Hill defeated Losurdo by just four percentage points. He is the fifth Democrat to win this election season – a strong rebuke of the Republicans who held the majority the last 2 years.