Gov.
Hunt, Mac Everett Lead Business Summit for
Education
 What will it take to increase
business and community support for North
Carolina's public schools? For one, better
communications -- businesses need to know more
about what schools need; schools need to know
more about what businesses expect and have to
offer; and parents need to know more about
opportunities for involvement in – and out
of – the classroom.
That's just one of the conclusions drawn by 200
business, community and education leaders at the
North Carolina Business Summit for Education 2000
held June 27 in Research Triangle Park. The
day-long working session at IBM, led by Gov. Jim
Hunt and Mac Everett, President of First Union
Mid-Atlantic and chairman of NCCBI, brought
together company CEOs, chamber of commerce
presidents, classroom teachers, community college
presidents, principals and university leaders.
Sponsored by IBM and Glaxo Wellcome, the Summit
followed a similar event in 1997 that paved the
way for North Carolina's focus on higher
standards and accountability. North Carolina was
the first state to launch a Business Summit for
Education following the 1996 National Education
Summit, which brought together governors and
business leaders.
In his remarks, Hunt reiterated his challenge to
make North Carolina's schools "First in
America" by 2010 by continuing to boost
early childhood education, excellent teachers,
high academic standards, safe schools, and
business and community support. "Our
businesses are doing more than almost any other
state, but we've got to have every business,
every community and every family working to
support their schools," Hunt said.
Barriers identified by the Summit attendees
included the business-school-parent
communications gap; the state's economic and
geographic divide; the need for more parental
involvement; finding the time to volunteer in
schools; the change in North Carolina's
demographics; and sustaining commitment to public
schools.
Attendees also spent time brainstorming on ways
to overcome those problems. To close the
communications gap, the group suggested
businesses should conduct regular meetings with
local educators to find out what local schools
really need. And teachers could use some teacher
work days to visit local businesses to find out
what resources – beyond the obvious –
may be available to schools, attendees said.
Technology could help create a website connecting
schools' needs with business' resources. And
schools should look for specific ways to help
parents understand what they can offer the
classroom if they can't volunteer during the
school day.
The entire list of strategies – and the
detailed discussion behind them – will be
part of a report on the Summit that will go to
the Governor's Education Cabinet, which will
carry out the strategies. The Education Cabinet
includes the leaders of the UNC system, community
colleges, public school system, private colleges
and universities and the State Board of
Education.
"These are great ideas," Hunt said
after sitting in on the working session all day.
"This workshop has laid out dozens of
specific strategies that I hope businesses,
families and communities can implement across the
state."
Daughtry Tosses Hat
Back Into the Ring
 Leo Daughtry, the former House
majority and minority leader who didn't seek
re-election and lost to Richard Vinroot in the
GOP gubernatorial primary, said he will accept an
offer by the Republican candidate hoping to
capture his 95th District seat to step aside and
let Daughtry take her place on the ballot.
Daughtry, a Smithfield lawyer and business leader
who is a member of NCCBI, apparently will replace
Johnston County Commissioner Cookie Pope as the
Republican nominee for the seat. Pope, who was
unopposed for the nomination, offered to step
aside after Daughtry lost the May 2 primary for
governor. The Johnston County Republican Party
executive committee will meet July 11 to consider
County Commissioner Cookie Pope's offer, though
there seemed little dought that it will choose
Daughtry. Daughtry, who was first elected to the
General Assembly in 1988, told reporters he made
up his mind to run again during a vacation to
Acapulco with his wife. He returned last week and
said "I'm going to run." He will face
Democrat Jim Johnson, a Benson lawyer, in
November. Pope said one reason she decided to
step aside was the possibility that Daughtry
could become House Speaker if Republicans regain
control of the House in the fall elections. Pope,
who is in the middle of her second term as county
commissioner, said she might consider a state
Senate or congressional seat in a few years.
Highway Patrol Out
in Force Over the Fourth
The Highway Patrol said it will put special
emphasis on traffic enforcement along 25 highway
corridors during the four-day July 4th weekend
that begins at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at
midnight, July 4. The 25 roads are ones that have
been identified as having the most wrecks during
July 4th holidays over the last five years. Those
roads, ranked in order of the most wrecks, are:
N.C. 58 in Carteret County, I-85 in Mecklenburg
County, I-40 in Guilford County, I-95 in Robeson
County, U.S. 70 in Carteret County, U.S. 17 in
Onslow County, N.C. 12 in Dare County, I-77 in
Mecklenburg County, U.S. 158 in Dare County, U.S.
421 in New Hanover County, I-440 in Wake County,
I-95 in Halifax County, U.S. 321 in Watauga
County, U.S. 19 in Haywood County, U.S. 74 in
Union County, I-95 in Cumberland County, I-95 in
Nash County, I-40 in Orange County, I-240 in
Buncombe County, N.C. 24 in Carteret County, I-40
in Haywood County, N.C. 24 in Onslow County, U.S.
74 in Mecklenburg County, U.S. 258 in Onslow
County, I-85 in Durham County, U.S. 70 in
Johnston County, and I-40 in Wake County.
Miller Appeals to
State Board of Elections for New Primary
 Rep.
George Miller, the veteran legislator from Durham
who lose in the botched District 23 Democratic
primary, was joined by eight residents in
appealing to the State Board of Elections the
decision by the county elections board not to
hold a new Democratic primary in the district.
The state board will hear the appeal in a couple
of weeks. Miller also asked for an independent
investigation by the state. The Durham Board of
Elections two weeks ago voted to dismiss
complaints filed by Rep. Miller and others on
grounds that irregularities in the May 2 primary
were not enough to justify a new primary.
According to newspaper reports, 4,600 voters were
moved into or out of the district without their
knowledge. George Miller lost the primary to Paul
Miller, a former Durham City Council member.
ALF Refuses to Halt
Cleveland County School Merger
A state administrative law judge ruled Monday
that there was no reason to halt the merger of
Cleveland County's three school systems. The
Kings Mountain School Board, which opposed the
merger, failed to prove the State Board of
Education exceeded its authority in approving the
merger, Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison
ruled. The decision means that, barring further
legal action, the merger will take effect on
Saturday.
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