Ask Anything: 10 questions with Durham schools Superintendent Carl Harris
Durham Public Schools Superintendent Carl Harris answers your questions about the school system's image, lottery money and future schools.
Posted — UpdatedDurham Public Schools has a very bright future, thanks to the most supportive community around!
DPS is committed to having the best teachers we can possibly find – and supporting their work! We recruit not only from our own schools of education here in North Carolina, but from many states across the country. We have a greatly successful teacher mentor program that serves as a national model, and we offer hundreds of professional development opportunities for our teachers every year. We all know that our teachers deserve much more than they earn, but North Carolina has made great progress in raising teacher salaries over the years. We support this with a competitive local supplement.
It is always thrilling to hear from a satisfied parent, Diana, and I assure you I hear more and more stories like yours each and every day. Durham Public Schools has made tremendous progress over the last decade, and more and more people are talking about it. We are often, however, compared with our neighbors in Wake County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Being an urban district as we are, we face the same types of challenges as other urban school systems, and when compared to them, we are very favorable.
That said, we have significantly bolstered our communications efforts with parents and the community.
We have an award-winning Web site and a 24-hour cable TV channel. We have electronic newsletters to communicate with our parents, staff and community partners. We use a computerized phone system to regularly communicate with our parents. But most importantly, if parents like you keep spreading the good news about Durham Public Schools, others will see the quality of education we provide our students.
While we are grateful to receive some funding from the Education Lottery, it is earmarked for construction and K-3 teacher salaries, with no discretionary funds for supplies. State funds are inadequate in funding instructional supplies. DPS only receives $59.04 per student per year for this, and allotments have not kept pace with inflation. State technology funds are only $6.77 per student and textbooks are funded at $67.85 per student. Instructional supply funds, therefore, must be used to offset these and other deficit areas.
We are very fortunate to have generous community partners who often come to the aid of our less fortunate students by donating school supplies, backpacks and other needs. Two years ago, students from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill partnered to open the Crayons2Calculators teacher warehouse in downtown Durham. This is a wonderful collaboration that has provided tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of classroom needs for teachers at no cost.
We have found that our ESL students have mostly served to enhance the educational opportunities of their English-speaking counterparts. By the time they graduate, many of our students are bilingual whereas they might not otherwise have been. This will aid them in life and in their careers. Our students also have the opportunity to learn about other cultures. Durham’s diversity is one of its richest resources, and we celebrate that. We have a rigorous curriculum that challenges all students.
Surveys that we have conducted show us that the community wants Channel 4 and finds it to be very useful. It is a very important communications tool that features information on upcoming school events and activities, as well as showcases the many different educational, artistic and sports activities that make Durham Public Schools a great school system. It also serves a significant number of parents who do not have Internet access at home.
Many school systems have cable channels and they have found that their parents support their existence. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Gaston County, Guilford County, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth school systems all operate their own TV channels. Wayne County will add one this fall.
Under the leadership of Principal Earl Pappy, along with a supportive staff and community, Hillside High School has made great strides over the last few years. In fact, Class of 2008 graduates received scholarships to many outstanding universities, including Harvard, Duke, North Carolina Central University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
You are right about the excellent International Baccalaureate program. We are working hard to spread the good news about that and the many great things going on at Hillside. In 2008 a record number of Hillside students completed the necessary courses and scored high enough on their exams to receive the highly regarded IB Diploma. We have the largest number ever of rising ninth-graders enrolled in this program for the 2008-09 school year.
The New Tech High School is its own school operating on the Hillside campus. There is no plan to “phase out” Hillside High. In fact, the growth at both Hillside High and New Tech High will require that New Tech eventually relocate to its own freestanding site.
Durham Public Schools welcomes the invaluable experience gained from those who have had careers outside the classroom and now want to build on it by becoming teachers! Many of our lateral-entry teachers have found it to be a highly rewarding experience, and of course, countless students have benefited from the expertise they bring from their previous jobs and experiences.
If you have a bachelor’s degree you can become a teacher while working on your certification. Please contact Fred Williams, DPS executive director of Teacher Recruitment and Retention, 919-560-2298, for more information.
Every approved course in Durham Public Schools has criteria that determine the textbooks and other materials to be used, along with the number needed for each classroom. In addition to books assigned to students, some core classes have a classroom set on hand to allow the student to leave the book at home for studying, so as to avoid having to transport books.
Some non-core courses/electives require only a classroom set. If the teacher assigns homework that requires the use of a textbook or the student would like to take the book home for further review, the student may check out the book to take home for the evening. If a textbook is required for a course, then every student in that course should be provided one.
Every school has a Textbook Contact, usually an Assistant Principal who will be able to answer your questions. We encourage parents to contact this person at their child’s school with any questions regarding textbooks during the school year.
I think a better question is what aren’t we doing! One of the top priorities of my administration is to significantly increase parental involvement in our schools. We have created a Parent Involvement Coordinator position and we have introduced a litany of programs and activities to ensure that more parents take a strong interest in their children’s education. This is critical for schools with challenges to improve, and we are already seeing positive results.
We have teams of Central Services professionals who work very closely with the teachers in these schools to ensure that they identify students who need extra help and get them that help. As stated in Question 1, we are committed to finding the best teachers possible, and we provide them with mentors and professional development support.
We are using the Board’s renewed commitment to providing all students with the best possible education as the blueprint for our work. You will find the same level of passion among the principals, teachers and staff members in all of our schools. With this kind of dedication to serving our students, we are looking forward to our best school year yet!
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