North Carolina News Service

NC Parents Fight for Power in Administration Changes

Stephanie Carson

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Just how much control do parents have over what happens at their child's public school in North Carolina? That's the question Asheville parents are trying to find out as they protest a series of administration changes put in place by their system's school board.

The reassignments were decided in a closed session, and public comment was scheduled after complaints from students and parents. The superintendent has said she is making changes to help "close the achievement gap" in the school system.

"They are making a lot of changes and doing a lot of shifting without really expressing how these changes are going to close the achievement gap," said Julie Porter-Shirley, a PTO advocacy liaison who has children at Claxton Elementary, where the principal has been reassigned. "What's frustrating to me and to many other parents is the lack of openness and transparency."

Unlike many other school systems in the state, school board members in Asheville are appointed by members of the city council and not elected by voters. Only two other systems in the state -- Thomasville and Lexington -- have appointed boards. Public schools in the state are within their rights to make staff changes, but because board members are not subject to re-election, some parents feel they have less of a say when there are unfavorable policy changes.

Asheville City Schools did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Molly Peeples, PTO co-president and a teacher at Claxton, said the loss of the school's principal is impacting all of her students.

"Since they've announced that she's leaving, they literally are different kids," she said. "They are angrier. It's harder for them to focus. They don't want to come to school because they know that they're going to have to say goodbye to somebody in their life that has been probably one of the most stable adults that they've had their entire life."

Porter-Shirley has been heavily involved in her child's school for several years and recently received recognition for her service. She has a message for other parents across the state who are confronting similar issues in their schools.

"To be perfectly honest, there are times like this that I question what I do," she said, "but somebody is going to hear - for every student in the school, for my own kids and every other kid that I work for, it matters because if people just sit back and do nothing, nothing is going to change."