Education

Some local parents have been watching the process to appoint a new member to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education and hoping for someone who would represent the growing Asian population in our schools.

Roughly one in eight Chapel Hill-Carrboro students is Asian.

Among school board members, it's more like none in seven.

A group of Chinese parents hope to change that by presenting an Asian candidate to fill departing member Ed Sechrest's seat.

"It's a different culture with different thinking," said Yu Lou, member of the Chinese School at Chapel Hill's board of directors. "If the school board could have at least one Chinese representative, it will bring a lot of benefits."
- newsobserver.com | Asians want board seat, 5/19/06

Guest Post by James Protzman

In 1930, the US had 262,000 public schools for 28 million students. Guess what those numbers were 72 years later?

In 2002, the US had 91,000 schools for 54 million students. That's a drop of 170,000 schools while the student population nearly doubled. The average public school has gone from serving 100 students at a time to almost 600 students. This doesn't seem like a positive trend to me.

Here in the southern part of heaven, this trend is evidenced by our chronic difficulties in siting schools and in the growing popularity of both charter and private schools. For example, the Emerson Waldorf High School in Chapel Hill will graduate its first senior class this year. The Carolina Friends School has a growing waiting list in all grades as well. Both offer small school environments – but at a hefty price. Long gone are the days when Chapel Hill High School and Lincoln High School were both in the downtown area and young people were part of daily life in our communities. Maybe we should add “public school” to list of important assets when we think about planning the future of downtown.