{"id":6884,"date":"2011-05-03T14:32:41","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T18:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=6884"},"modified":"2011-05-04T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T15:53:29","slug":"early-school-board-race-shaping-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2011\/05\/03\/early-school-board-race-shaping-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Early School Board Race Shaping Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story has been amended from its original version to correct the misspelling of Heather Losurdo’s name. The Record regrets the error. <\/em><\/p>\n

Early in the election season, the race for District 3 of the Wake County School Board already offers clear choices to voters \u2014 with a caveat.<\/p>\n

The North Raleigh district\u2019s incumbent, Kevin Hill, has not yet officially declared his intention to run for re-election. As a teacher education instructor at North Carolina State University, he must receive approval from the university system to make such a move.<\/p>\n

But if he receives approval, he will enter the race.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

A map of the school board districts.<\/em>
\nHeather Losurdo announced her candidacy for Hill\u2019s seat more than two weeks ago, making her the first Republican-backed challenger to enter a school board race in which all of the Democrat-aligned incumbents are facing re-election.<\/p>\n

A Hill-Losurdo battle would pit against one another two candidates with very different resumes and stances on the issues. The election would give District 3 voters very clear choices on supporting the new school board community schools policy or not.<\/p>\n

Hill spent his entire career as a teacher and principal in the Wake County Public School System before retirement, when he began preparing new teachers at NC State and successfully ran for the school board in 2007.<\/p>\n

After a career in the Air Force, Losurdo worked as an accounts manager for First Union National Bank, overseeing a portfolio of about $2 billion in small-business loans for North Carolina and South Carolina customers.<\/p>\n

As a parent of two middle school children in Wake public schools, Losurdo presents herself as invested in the school system, but not an insider.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I\u2019m the best person to represent District 3 because I\u2019ve paid attention,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a mom. I understand when our children come home and my biggest concern is that the bar of expectations has been lowered across the board for all children. And I believe that I bring to the table a creative mindset, a fresh set of eyes that have not been involved in the system per se.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFinishing up his first term \u2014 of which the last year and a half has been spent on a board marked by partisan rancor over monumental changes to the school system \u2014 Hill points to challenges that he has helped the board meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor three years the district has had a declining share of funds from the state and, in a nominal sense, from the county,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the third year that school appropriations have been flat from the County Commission. With an increasing number of students, that\u2019s a cut per pupil. We\u2019ve been able to mitigate, if you will, the impact on classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill voted with his Democrat-backed colleagues against the board majority in 2010 when they abolished the decade-old socioeconomic diversity policy. He is concerned about funding for high-poverty schools such as Walnut Creek Elementary, which will open under a new student assignment policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf indeed a plan creates more high-poverty, low-achieving schools, and we must make those communities equitable and equal, yes, it will cost more money,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

With finite resources in years of tight budgets, he added, such moves force tough decisions about where to allocate resources without funding increases.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou either re-slice the pie or bake a bigger pie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A supporter of the board majority\u2019s diversity policy decision, Losurdo agrees that high-poverty schools present special challenges.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do know is that a school in that situation does need different resources,\u201d she said. \u201cIt needs a different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she cautions that the difference does not include more money. She favors the district partnering with local businesses and universities to provide learning opportunities for students.<\/p>\n

And she favors more charter schools.<\/p>\n

Charter schools, Losurdo said, \u201care giving the education that they\u2019re giving for less money per student,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharter school high-poverty graduation rates: high,\u201d she added. \u201cStudent achievement: high. What are they doing? Let\u2019s find out. Let\u2019s find out what they\u2019re doing and let\u2019s find out if we can implement that in the Wake County Public School System so our high-poverty students can achieve all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Losurdo, Hill does not support the North Carolina General Assembly\u2019s attempts to raise the cap on charter schools in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it has a negative impact on schools. Due to a recent [North Carolina Court of Appeals] ruling, charter schools can take an increasing share of public dollars from the system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe we should have a dual school system,\u201d he added. \u201cI believe we should have a public school system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charter schools are considered public schools. They receive public money that would go to traditional public schools, but charter schools can operate with more autonomy when budgeting, hiring staff and developing curricula.<\/p>\n

One way many charter schools seem to achieve more with less funding is by paying teachers less than teachers in their traditional counterparts. In high-poverty schools around the country, this often results in high teacher turnover.<\/p>\n

Lusordo does not blame poor teacher retention in charter schools \u2014 or any school \u2014 on salary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that in most cases teachers come or go because of money,\u201d she said. \u201cTeachers typically don\u2019t get into teaching for the money. They typically have a service heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Losurdo supports merit pay for teachers deemed highly effective. Hill does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my belief that that most teachers give 100 percent effort,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want kids to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill does not believe that the prospect of extra money for high state-test scores will motivate teachers to do better.<\/p>\n

What will motivate Wake County voters Oct. 11 remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The race for the District 3 school board seat may be between Kevin Hill and Heather Losurdo, a battle would pit against one another two candidates with very different resumes and stances on the issues. The election would give District 3 voters very clear choices on supporting the new school board community schools policy or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214,15,55],"tags":[207,5,189,64],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}