Last light on Perdue's education positions (3)

What started out as a Saturday-morning experiment turned into a week-long adventure. But I've satisfied my own mind that media coverage during the past several years makes clear Bev Perdue's support for education. Based on what I already knew, I didn't doubt it. But when a television ad came out a couple weeks ago and attacked her as anti-education, and nobody at BlueNC said anything about it, I went looking for facts and figures, and I found a lot of them.

That's how this little bit of research came about. As I said, I meant for this to be split in two, but the second part was still too long, so I clipped it in half. So this will be the last part, at least the last part of this research.

In the second part, I included press coverage from 2003, 2004 and 2005, and little bit of early 2006, and that's where I'll pick up again.

On February 17, the Durham Herald-Sun reported that Perdue was still pushing others to see the benefit of "virtual education," where students could take certain programs over the internet:

An update on the New Schools Project was among innovations and plans heard Thursday by members of the N.C. Education Cabinet. The cabinet, along with an allied consortium, the N.C. Education Governing Boards, met at Duke University. The latter group, an annual gathering of administrators of public schools and public and private colleges and universities, also heard from Gov. Mike Easley on issues involving education funding and the new state lottery.
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Members of the Education Cabinet also heard about the American Diploma Project, a national effort now active in 22 states including North Carolina that seeks to increase high school graduates' readiness for college. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue introduced N.C. Virtual, a distance-learning initiative for kindergarten through college. High-speed Internet access "is critical to everyone in North Carolina; I believe that with all my heart," she said.

And on May 3, the Winston-Salem Journal caught Perdue praising the Triad for adapting to a changing economic situation, and still focusing on improvements to education.

They wrote,

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue said she likes bragging about what she calls hubs or clusters of excellence in North Carolina, including the Triad. "Whether you realize it or not, you in the Triad have figured out how to grow the economy," Perdue said yesterday to an audience of 330 at the Embassy Suites in downtown Winston-Salem.

When textiles, manufacturing and tobacco were at risk and so many jobs were leaving the area, community leaders - men and women - in this area didn't sit back and whine like so many people and communities did across the country, she said. "You, as a region, found good leaders who thought out of the box, and you raised the money on your own," Perdue said.

"You didn't wait for a handout and you began to paint a picture of what the 21st-century economy should look like and you began to grow that cluster right here in the Triad area," Perdue said. "You are really a poster child for how a city should adapt in a global 21st-century economy."
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Perdue said that because education plays a central economic-development role, it is key to success for North Carolina in a changing global environment. She challenged the audience to take 100 ordinary ninth-graders anywhere in North Carolina. "You know what happens to those kids on graduation day four years from now," she said. "Fifty-eight of those 100 kids will graduate," she said. "We lose 42 in four years. They quit school."

She said that 38 of those students who graduate go on to college and only 18 of those students will graduate from college. "We can all make a difference in stopping that bleed so that North Carolina can be the most competitive state in the country and the best in the world," she said.

The Kernersville Journal published a similar report of the same event in its May 11 edition, saying,

Although more women than men are graduating from college, women are earning 77 cents on each dollar that men earn, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue recently told an audience of businesswomen. She urged attendees to make a difference in the lives of young people by tutoring or mentoring and to keep striving for equal pay for equal work and training.

"We must demand a strong work ethic from our kids," Perdue said. "We need workers who are sophisticated and educated enough to any job. They must be nimble and quick and not limited to being able to do just one job. Our goal should be to have the most diverse work force in the world."

The same month, Perdue spoke to two graduating classes, one in Fayetteville and one in Raleigh. The Fayetteville Observer included a brief note of Perdue's speech on May 14, 2006:

WHAT SHE SAID: “Lifelong learning is going to be as essential for you as breathing because it's what you're going to have to do to survive in a global economy.”

HER HOPES FOR THIS GENERATION: That it finds a cure for cancer, ends racial divisions in the country and puts an end to poverty.

And the News & Observer covered her speech at Meredith College in its May 15 edition:

What she said: If graduates think they can "slow down and take a breath" now that they have earned their degrees, they are mistaken. As Meredith women, they mustn't let up or they will slip backward. Perdue said she hoped the class of 2006 will become known as "The Class" and "The Generation" that changes the world. At the end of life, Perdue said, how many degrees people earned or how much money they made will be unimportant compared to the difference they made in the world. The short list of tasks Perdue gave to the graduates: Bring about world peace, end poverty in America, cure cancer, embrace diversity and take care of our Earth.

Memorable quotes: "Meredith has given you a first-rate education . Now you have to go out and make a first-rate difference."

"Well, that was something, wasn't it?" Perdue remarked after Meredith's president, Maureen A. Hartford, conferred upon Perdue an honorary doctorate.

In June, when Perdue spoke to the Downtown Durham Rotary Club, the Durham Herald-Sun said she "praised the region's forward-looking leaders and urged more educational reforms and aggressive economic development."

In its June 27 edition, the Herald-Sun wrote that Perdue again, as always, promoted education:

In the 1940s and '50s, when leaders from Durham were among the proponents of the still-to-be developed RTP, "it was nothing but a dream," Perdue said. "You look at the reality of that dream today" as companies continue to relocate to and expand in Durham.

Hard work translated the dream into reality, she said. "It didn't just happen by magic," Perdue said.
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Education goes along with economic development, she said. "Our schools are getting better," said the former schoolteacher. "Nothing makes me angrier than to hear somebody say in front of me, 'Schools in North Carolina are just awful.'

"Our schools in this state, regardless of what you read, are some of the fastest-improving in math and reading in America."

An article in Newsweek magazine earlier this month highlighted the state's early college high school program and other innovations in secondary instruction, but teacher pay remains an issue, she said. "Teachers have got to make more than the national average," she said.

Perdue said afterward that North Carolina teacher salaries reached the national average in 2000, her last year as chairwoman of the Senate's Appropriations Committee. Since then, "with the challenges we've had with money, the salaries have slipped. And so the first goal is to get them to the national average. But I continue to say that if we know economic development is synonymous with economic development, you've got to have your best and brightest in those classrooms."

When Perdue was invited to the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce's annual Business Expo at Nash Community College in October, 2006, she turned the visit into an opportunity to push the business community to do more for schools.

The Rocky Mount Telegram reported on October 11, in an article called "Perdue rightly stresses education,"

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue came to Nash Community College Tuesday to salute the Twin Counties' efforts to improve Eastern North Carolina's economic picture. Then, after a pause, she encouraged leaders at the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce's annual Business Expo to do more. Perdue hit some of the highlights of the past year — most notably the recruitment of Spring Hope Biofuels, a plant that will soon make ethanol from crops commonly grown in Eastern North Carolina.

But she also put a bright spotlight on educational shortcomings in the state. Perdue is the daughter of a coal miner and housewife, neither of whom ever graduated from high school. That's not an unusual background. In fact, Perdue noted that of every 100 students in ninth grade today, slightly more than half — 58 — will graduate from high school. That means that 42 percent of the kids who make it to ninth grade fail to leave school with a diploma. That's not just in the Twin Counties, Perdue noted. That's in all of North Carolina.
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Economic development starts with education . It can go only as far as the talented students in our schools take themselves. Pushing them to their full potential is a job for all of us, and the rewards will benefit all of us. Plenty of folks knew that before Bev Perdue came to see us this week. But the lieutenant governor framed the message in an unmistakable way. Let's hope some folks were paying attention.

A week later, the Laurinburg Exchange reported that the state had finally launched a "virtual school," the program that Perdue had long promoted on the State Board of Education, that would give new education access to students in rural areas of the state:

North Carolina launched a virtual public school Wednesday that allows students to take classes online.

Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue said the program would give students opportunities to advance their education by offering courses that may not be available in some local schools. Online classes would supplement students' regular in-school courses. The classes are available free of charge. "This is another step to insuring that students have access to high quality courses and learning regardless of their zip code," Perdue said.

The new year found Perdue back in Charlotte, studying a "mini high-school" program at Garinger High School.

The Charlotte Observer reported on February 18, 2007,

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials used a visit by the state's No. 2 elected official Thursday to lobby for more money and patience as they try to reform one of the system's low-performing high schools. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue , in Charlotte for a series of meetings with local officials, visited Garinger High School so she could see how CMS officials are faring in their effort to improve student performance by creating mini high schools.

"This is impressive," Perdue said, after visiting classes in the New Technology and International Studies high schools at Garinger. "I've been following this school for three years. It's exciting to see how this place is coming alive."
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When she had finished watching International Studies students in a Chinese language class and New Technology students use computers to design artwork, Perdue caught a sales pitch from CMS officials. Ann Clark, assistant superintendent of high schools, asked for more time to improve student performance. "We have a long way to go," Clark said. "We all know that. But we're on our way. A lot of good things are happening."

Barry Blair, principal of the New Technology High School, and his International Studies counterpart, Natasha Thompson, reminded Perdue that state money for equipment and other resources is badly needed. Watching students work with laptop computers, Perdue said, "The goal for us is for the kids to be able to take the laptops home, to make sure all students have access to technology."

And almost a year to-the-day later, she was in Sampson County, still promoting easy access to education. The Sampson Independent wrote on February 16,

She said that during her tenure as lieutenant governor, she has put a focus on leading the state in health and wellness. In fact, she said she is hoping to set out to make sure that every child in the state has health insurance.

As lieutenant governor, Perdue said she has been honored to hold the post for many reasons, the most important of which is the opportunity it has afforded her to listen to the concerns of citizens across the state. What some may not know about Perdue is that niether of her parents had a high school education. Thus, from her humble beginnings, her parents instilled in her the need to get an adequate education.

She listened to her parents, set her goals and worked toward them, a determination that led her through the educational realm, where she received a docotorate in education. Her father, she said, drilled it into her heart and her mind that education was the key to her success. "I was blessed to have them as my parents," said Perdue.
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[Perdue's ongoing goals include] ensuring that North Carolina is globally competitive. "We need to help our folks become the best educated workers out there by nurturing the skills and ideas to have it happen," said Perdue.

That seems to have been Perdue's message for the past many years, hasn't it? No matter where she's gone -- Asheville, Pactolus, Kernersville, Laurinburg, Fayetteville, Charlotte, Greenville, New Bern, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Elizabeth City, Greensboro -- and every else in between?