Wayne Week: Jan. 14, 2024

N E W OL D NORT H M E DI A PR E SE N T S A W E E K LY N E WS M AG A Z I N E

JA N UA RY 14 , 2 024

Wayne

WEEK

LOTTERY

LANDMINE Wayne County Public Schools’ new superintendent wants to change the way the lottery system works for WCPS’ three specialty schools to lure non-WCPS students back to the district.

BY RENEE CAREY

NEWS Downtown officials defend controversial parking rules

p. 6

SPORTS Jarrod James, guided by his late father, is changing lives p. 18

N E WOL DNORT H .C OM

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

CONTENTS 4 Council members ready to

pull the trigger on GPD raises

JANUARY 14, 2024 Volume 1, Issue 22

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Recent events — from a shooting inside Berkeley Mall to a corpse found near Target — have led to public outcry for a fully-staffed Goldsboro Police Department and left the majority of members of the Goldsboro City Council resolved to provide the pay increase GPD Chief Mike West believes will make that happen.

6 Keep an eye on the clock

Downtown Goldsboro business owners say parking measures put into place by the city are costing them customers — and putting their employees in harm’s way.

12 Cover story

Wayne County Public Schools’ new superintendent, Dr. Marc Whichard, wants to change the lottery system for the district’s three specialty schools in an attempt to lure non-WCPS students — and the state funds that would come with them — back to public school campuses. Some say it ignores the real problems and reasons so many have moved their children onto charter and private school campuses.

16 Legendary

Jarrod James learned many lessons from his father, the late Elvin James, that he is using as he coaches members of the NFL’s Houston Texans — mainly, that there is more to life than the game his players will all have to walk away from one day.

20 Coming events

There are plenty of family-friendly events happening around Wayne County in the coming weeks that are sure to satisfy every member of your crew.

© 2023 NEW OLD NORTH MEDIA LLC All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without permission.

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SHAN STUMPF

newoldnorth.com

. Wayne WEEK . 3

NEWS +VIEWS Council members ready to pull the trigger on GPD raises

It remains to be seen if their words will lead to action, but the majority of the board says crime emergency leaves them with no choice.

B Y K E N F I N E / Goldsboro

A

17-year-old shot to death on Hugh Street.

A lunchtime shootout inside Berkeley Mall.

A corpse found on Sunburst Drive.

In the Jan. 7 edition of Wayne Week, we shared the jarring number of shots fired incidents and rounds fired in Goldsboro in 2023 — how each represented a nearly 50-percent increase from 2022.

Since then, the above incidents that have unfolded in the city have drawn strong reactions from many of our readers — some of whom say they no longer feel safe in public because “criminals have taken over.”

Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West reiterated that he and his officers are doing the best they can to keep local residents safe, but noted that preventative policing would remain on the backburner until his department is fully staffed.

And that, he believes, will likely happen only if the city raises salaries to a level that would make it competitive with neighboring communities.

We had it on good authority that members of the Goldsboro City Council were preparing to vote at the end of January for the “Plan A” increase recommended by West last summer — but that in order to be “fiscally responsible,” the money would not start flowing until July 1, the beginning of the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The murder, the Berkeley Mall shooting, and the body found near Target — and the public’s reaction — seem to have changed the plan.

Here is where every council member stands on a vote that would increase the salaries in the coming weeks:

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

MAYOR

DISTRICT 1

DISTRICT 2

CHARLES GAYLOR

HIAWATHA JONES

CHRIS BOYETTE

Goldsboro’s new mayor said he is less concerned with the Goldsboro Police Department’s ability to respond to large-scale crises than he is with its ability to stop crime before it happens. But to ensure preventative policing can accomplish its mission — taking guns, drugs, and criminals off the streets before tragedies unfold — the Plan A raise recommended must happen. And it will. “When there’s a massive event, there’s no shortage of resources. It’s when you’re just trying to do the day-today building relationships and integrating yourself into the community, that’s where there are shortages,” Gaylor said. “I think that we’ve got to give the police the resources they need as quickly as possible, and I think that you’ll see something change very soon. I want to be very clear. You’re going to see it on the agenda very soon and it’s not going to be a July 1 start date.”

Hiawatha Jones says she and her fellow council members are “very serious” about ensuring the Goldsboro Police Department is fully staffed — particularly in light of the recent shooting that unfolded inside Berkeley Mall.

“We’ve heard the concern.

We’ve seen the crime rate.

We are very concerned with everything that’s going on in this city,” she said. “A stray bullet could have hit anyone — a child, a baby, a mother.

You need to feel comfortable shopping at the mall. You need to feel comfortable anywhere. You need to feel safe.

Several lives could have been taken in that mall.”

Before he was elected — and moments after he was sworn in — Chris Boyette made it clear that funding the Goldsboro Police Department was Priority No. 1. He hasn’t walked back that statement yet and said he will fight to ensure raises are approved at the earliest possible convenience. “I’ve banged my fist on the desk that this needs to be done, and in light of the recent situations that have happened, this is an absolute crisis situation that needs to be dealt with forthwith,” he said.

DISTRICT 3

DISTRICT 4

DISTRICT 5

DISTRICT 6

JAMIE TAYLOR

BRANDI MATTHEWS

BEVERLY WEEKS

RODERICK WHITE

Jamie Taylor knows how it feels to lose a loved one to a violent crime. So, for her, voting yes to raising Goldsboro Police Department salaries is a must — particularly given what she is seeing as a bail bondswoman. “We need our housing unit back up, we need our warrant squad back up, we need our gang unit back up,” she said. “We need the raise today because we cannot afford to have any more lives lost.

People are taking Goldsboro for a joke. They think they can do anything they want to. It’s crazy. It’s out of hand.”

Brandi Matthews is ready to go all-in on raises for the Goldsboro Police Department but wants to ensure the money is in place to avoid hardships on her constituents and other city residents. “I am in full support, again, of trying to get our men and women who keep us safe every day where they need to be in terms of salary. I am OK with yielding to the powers that be, our chief, saying, ‘This is what our officers need.’ He’s the subject matter expert,” she said. “But I want to figure out how we can do that. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as flipping a switch because we have such a financial responsibility to everything else.”

Through her ministry, Beverly Weeks has seen what is at stake should the city not figure out a way to ensure the Goldsboro Police Department is fully staffed. So, she is “100 percent committed to getting law enforcement the raises” but stressed that this be a real solution and not a Band-Aid. “Not just a little bit. What (Chief West) is specifically asking for,” she said. “I honestly think if we had voted on it (Jan. 8) there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you would have had an adequate number of votes to get it passed.”

Roderick White believes that the crime problem in Goldsboro is bigger than the number of lawmen on the beat — that in order to beat down the increasingly brazen criminal element in the city, a “holistic approach” is necessary. And while he was not ready to commit to how he would vote should the Plan A pay increases appear on an upcoming City Council agenda, he said he would look at the facts and make the decision he feels is in the best interest of his constituents and the city at large. “I believe you have to evaluate before you begin to make decisions and assumptions,” he said. “So that’s where I’m at right now. I’m in evaluation mode.”

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. Wayne WEEK . 5

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PHOTO BY KEN FINE

Keep an eye on the clock Downtown business owners say new parking rules hurt.

B Y K E N F I N E A N D R E N E E C A R E Y / Goldsboro

G

oldsboro’s new downtown parking policy is drawing the ire of many of the very shop owners the rules were supposedly put into place to help.

And one of them is a sitting member of the City Council.

But those who created the new rules — and who are standing by them — say that in the long run, keeping the on-street parking clear will encourage more business, not less, in the city’s core.

The concerns raised by a slew of residents at City Council’s Jan. 8 meeting revolved around safety for staff members as they come and go to work and worries that a parking limit — and the threat of a ticket — would be a problem in some service businesses.

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Concerns about finding a place to park, they say, might make customers choose somewhere else to shop, get their hair done, or host an event.

But Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Business & Property Specialist Greg Mills says he has heard it all — even calls that the downtown parking policy is a money grab.

That, he said, is ludicrous.

“There is not even any money involved in it right now,” he said. “You do not have to pay to park downtown.”

But what the parking policy will do is create an environment that fosters responsible parking that is not clogged with long-term cars that sit in spaces for days, limiting Continued from page 8

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

where potential shoppers can park their vehicles if they want to patronize a downtown merchant.

It will also stop employees and business owners from monopolizing downtown spots.

So, there is no secret agenda or financial grab lurking behind the parking policy, Mills said.

It is about helping to continue growing an already booming and thriving business community.

“What’s really going on is that it is about downtown economic development,” he said. “And it is critical to have a managed parking plan to have successful downtown development, whether it is Goldsboro or Mount Airy — pick a city.”

That said, Mills said there have been discussions with local landlords about downtown residents who seem to be using parking on Center Street as their “garages,” leaving their cars on the street for sometimes days at a time.

One developer, he said, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars creating a parking lot on James Street for his new downtown residential complex — The View at Wayne National.

The problem, though, is that he can make it available to his residents, but he cannot force them to park there, Mills said.

“The street belongs to everyone,” he said. “Until there is regulation about parking from the city, you can’t modify behavior.

If there is a regulation, then those people will be motivated to move to the lot that has been built for them because if they don’t, they are going to get a ticket.”

And the threat of a ticket for parking on city streets is already working to make that mental change for downtown residents, Mills added.

He said he spoke to someone in the know who said that the parking problem was already “100-percent better” — that residents are now parking in their assigned lot instead of the street, leaving more spaces for potential customers.

And that, Mills said, is good for business.

The same argument can be made to business owners who want street parking for themselves or for their employees, he added.

He said he has heard the complaints that there is a security concern for workers if they have to walk from out-of-the-way parking lots to their places of employment.

The answer to that, he said, is not allowing a parking free-for-all on Center Street.

It is getting the security concerns addressed — more police presence, better lighting, and cameras.

Councilwoman Beverly Weeks, a downtown business owner and opponent of the new parking regulations, is in a position to be part of making sure that happens, Mills said.

“You have to keep pounding the metal: ‘We want more security,’” he said. “Changing the parking regulation is not going to make people more secure just because they are parked on Center Street.”

And then there is the other concern, Mills said, that employee and owner parking on the street for long hours does not make it easy on customers.

“The average parking space in front of your store is worth $20,000 to businesses.

That’s the research,” he said.

Keeping that space open to potential buyers increases the chance that someone will choose a downtown business to buy from.

“That is what is most important is that customers have the best access they can to come in and shop in the business,” Mills said.

And that is what city staff charged with creating downtown policy wants to see for all of the businesses that are located downtown — more traffic, more growth, and more sales.

“That’s really what this is about,” Mills said.

But that being said, he said the city is willing to consider alterations to the parking policy — maybe it’s a placard that can be put in a window to indicate that a customer will be getting her hair done for several hours, or some other special circumstance.

But Mills said those changes, if they happen at all, would not come to fruition until sometime in the future.

Right now, it is about changing behavior. “(If we allow placards,) then everyone will want a placard,” he said. “Placards are an option, but they have to be controlled and they have to be controlled by the City Council.”

A little inconvenience will have a big reward if downtown business continues to thrive and more people feel comfortable heading to downtown Goldsboro to shop, to eat, or to enjoy a show.

Everyone benefits, he said.

“We just have to go through it and do the best we can with it,” Mills said. “The city is open to adjusting certain aspects of it, but not before we even get it implemented.” n

“Until there is regulation about parking from the city, you can't modify behavior. ”

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{ our TAKE }

All points emergency bulletin

T

here is a difference between a want and a need.

And there is an even clearer delineation between a change that can wait for careful planning and “the next budget cycle” and an emergency.

And if you have paid any attention at all over the last two weeks, you probably agree with us that the city of Goldsboro is in an emergency.

In fact, it has been in one for months now.

And it is getting worse.

Before we begin, we should acknowledge that we literally just published an editorial about the alarming increase in gun violence in our community.

We had no idea that a few hours after the paper went to press, there would be an “all-call” for police at our local mall — in the middle of the day — because three high school-aged wannabe gangsters sprayed bullets inside.

So, a typical community newspaper might call the Berkeley Mall incident another example of the deterioration of society and move on.

Its editors might say, “We just wrote about this” — hoping the incredibly public shooting was an anomaly, a fluke even.

Well, we are not your typical newspaper.

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And we know that the incident at the mall unfolded on the heels of a teenager killed by a barrage of bullets — and that it preceded a body being found near a local store.

So, no more sugarcoating.

No more giving the new members of the Goldsboro City Council — even the ones we (confidently) supported — a pass.

We asked them directly how committed they are to making the changes — immediately — that are necessary to get the city’s crime problem fixed.

Inside today’s edition, you will see their answers. A majority have said they will support immediate action on police salaries.

Here’s why we will keep an eye out to see if they really mean it — and our argument for why it matters.

Our new mayor and his peers on the council need to push forward the salary increases that are necessary to recruit and to retain city police officers.

Now. There is no more pretending that we can hang on until budget time — in July — even if Police Chief Mike West says he will try to hold on until then.

Of course he said that.

He is a gentleman and a professional.

And a responsible department head tries his darndest to make do with what he has.

But West is not a magician, and the problem has not stabilized.

He and his team have been asked to juggle for far too long.

So, again, we need action now.

No hemming and hawing.

No more distractions and prattle about “responsible spending.”

The bottom line is this: We need to attract experienced, ready-to-hit-the-streets-and-getthis-city-cleaned-up officers right this minute.

The criminals are taking over.

We have 100 percent hit that point.

So, no, we will not wait to get this done until February or April — and certainly not July.

The “what” is clear.

The “how” can wait.

And by the way, a note about leadership here.

Any city manager who can sit back and watch what is happening in this city and recommend anything other than immediate action — and who cannot develop a plan to make sure funding is available to execute that mission — is not right for the office.

Yes, we said it.

Again.

This is not about egos, turfs, or power.

And it is not even about if that city manager’s “heart is in the right place.”

It is about execution.

It is about the safety of this community.

There are too many times when it comes to the city government that we hear that somebody — or the council itself — “inherited a mess,” that these are problems caused by a “previous administration.”

Nope. No more.

We’re done with the excuses.

That’s how we got years of delayed audits, and a crime problem that is getting worse by the day.

If we need a more competent city manager, we need to find one — and not just some name picked out of a hat or someone whom the mayor or the county commissioners can boss around.

We need someone with experience — and the courage to do and say what this city needs to move forward.

If you want to see what happens when you wait too long to make a leadership change — and when you ignore the signs that there is something really wrong or when good people flee leaving unqualified staff in key positions

— ask Wayne County Public Schools about the massive task of that cleanup.

Goldsboro can’t afford to go down that road.

Some of you — and honestly, we doubt it’s that many — might think that we’re being a bit extreme.

Well, perhaps you haven’t stopped to think about what could have been.

The young people who shot up Berkeley Mall are the type of out-of-control punks who think they are a big deal and don’t think any rules or consequences apply to them.

They are three of hundreds and hundreds like them scattered across the most notorious neighborhoods in this city.

They start with the petty stuff — everything from blowing off school and disrespecting a teacher to getting high on a bus or in a locker room and lifting a bag of chips from a store.

When they don’t face consequences, they no longer fear getting caught.

In fact, they are emboldened.

Then, they flash around guns they can’t shoot or aim properly and endanger anyone in their wake.

And that includes innocent children.

The truth is, any of us could have been caught in that crossfire in the mall.

Your son or daughter could have gone out for a pretzel.

Your mother could have stopped in to pick up a gift for an upcoming birthday party.

Maybe your husband was trying to surprise you for your anniversary.

Perhaps a family member or friend works at one of the stores.

Well, all of them could have been killed.

Think about that for a minute.

Are you willing to spin that wheel?

Are you willing to let the GPD’s gang unit remain idle while those criminals continue to spread drugs across your community and claim more and more of our youths?

Are you willing to take a chance that the reduced police presence — the knowledge that there are just not enough officers engaged in preventing crime — is not creating an even more emboldened and dangerous criminal element?

Many of you, since the mall shooting, have told us no.

Some have gone so far as to say — in writing and on phone calls with members of our team — that you have reached a point where you are afraid to go out.

So, it is time to act.

If the City Council approves a salary increase now, which the city government has the money to fund, we keep the officers we have and, perhaps, attract back a few we have lost.

We can still go after new hires — and get them started training now.

If we act immediately and decisively, we

can build back our police force.

We can, with one vote, send a message to these thugs that their days are numbered.

And our city leadership will have plenty of time before budget talks begin to figure out what needs to be done to make sure those salaries can continue.

We aren’t the only ones facing this dilemma.

Remember in 2021 when three people were shot at Southpoint Mall in Durham?

Nobody would have expected to hear that.

So yes, crime is bad everywhere.

Criminals, in general, are more brazen and less afraid of police and consequences.

But we can change that here.

We can give them a reason to be afraid — not the other way around.

We start by telling our local law enforcement officers that they matter, that we don’t want them feeling like they cannot effectively do their job — or keep their community safe.

We need them to know we appreciate the risks they take and have their backs — and that this community supports responsible, firm, and properly-staffed policing.

We stop talking about “incentives other than money.”

That ship has sailed and it’s a ridiculous concept anyway.

Because, bottom line, it isn’t just about the money.

It’s knowing that you have the resources and the backup to keep this community safe — to weed out the criminals and to arrest them and to keep them in jail.

It’s knowing that preventative policing stops crime and changes lives by thwarting gang recruitment and drug addiction.

It’s knowing that a lone officer will not have to come face to face with a violent abuser or criminal and not be sure if backup is coming.

So, council members, the ball is now in your court.

Many of you campaigned on ending this crisis and yet here we are.

Our advice?

Be bold and add the GPD pay increase to your Jan. 18 “special-called meeting” agenda and get it done.

And tell the naysayers — including the one leading those who clock in every single day inside City Hall — that you don’t want another innocent person to fall victim to the next kid with a gun who doesn’t know how to aim it.

That is the only way you fix this problem.

That is how you truly lead.

We think we have the right team in place in the city to do just that.

They’ve said they’re ready.

So, we’ll wait, hopeful those words will soon be backed up with action. n

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LOTTERY

LANDMINE Some say changing the odds for non-WCPS students who want to attend the district’s specialty schools is ignoring the real problems facing the other 30.

BY RENEE CAREY

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. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

WAYNE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAST FACTS NON-PROFICIENCY

NORTH CAROLINA

WAYNE COUNTY 100%

SAT SCORES: WCPS: 1,060 State Average: 1,122 75%

86.5% 78% 59%

50%

41.1%

62%

57.1%

49.8%

47% 38%

44.7%

25%

32.3%

27.1%

FOUR-YEAR GRADUATION

ACT PERFORMANCE (Percent scoring 19 or above)

AP

(Percentage passing exam)

SOURCE: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

I

n just five years, Wayne County Public Schools enrollment has dropped from 18,301 to 17,125.

At the same time, the number of students attending charter and private schools in the county has boomed — sparked, most recently, by the opening of Wayne STEM Academy this past fall.

But even before the latest — and very popular — charter school opening, 11 schools enrolled 1,648 Wayne County students during the 2022-23 school year, according to numbers from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

And this year, locally, schools like Wayne Christian and Wayne Country Day are also reporting more interest and higher enrollments.

Those numbers do not include students who have chosen one of the private schools outside the county’s borders — or parents who have bought homes outside Wayne to put their children in a neighboring county’s schools like Johnston.

Percentage-wise, the number of students lost across that five-year period might seem small, but the impact is big, district officials say. And the increasing numbers of students making that “other” choice is concerning.

Lower enrollments mean less state funding. And those lost funds are, they say, hurting Wayne County Public Schools.

MATH

The combination of EOG Mathematics scores at grades 3-8 and the NC Math 1 scores at grade 8.

READING

Measures students’ performance on the NC Standard Course of Study for English Language Arts in grades 3–8.

At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, WCPS Superintendent Dr. Marc Whichard proposed a solution — or a start — to get those numbers up, to encourage more students to come back to Wayne County.

And it involves the district’s three specialty schools — and a major shift in how students are chosen to attend.

But changing the lottery system used to make those admission offers — and skewing them to allow more non-WCPS students the chance to be on that chosen list — is not going to fix the concerns in the other 30 schools in the district, critics say.

The district’s other numbers, they say, show why.

• Test scores have been plummeting for years, with nearly every academic metric, from reading and math proficiency to ACT and SAT scores falling well below the North Carolina average during the 2022-23 school year.

• Class sizes have ballooned — with three middle school grade-levels averaging more than 27 students to a room.

• Not even 40 percent of students who take Advanced Placement classes pass the exam that nearly 60 percent of their peers across the state do.

• Sixteen of the district’s 30 qualifying

SCIENCE

Measures a student’s performance on the NC Essential Standards for Science in grades 5 and 8.

schools are designated as “low-performing” by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction — making Wayne County Public Schools one of only 25 Low-Performing Districts in the state.

They say Whichard’s plan to start luring students currently attending local private and charter schools back to the district by changing the lottery process misses the point and creates a different problem: Lost opportunities for some of the county’s disadvantaged students.

Whichard and Central Office staff say that it is a start to stem a tide that is hurting the district’s future and educational opportunities for all Wayne County students, and that the new lottery process can be scrutinized to make sure the opportunities go to the students who deserve them.

So, who is right about who should have the first crack at spots in three of the only four schools that received a B or better on their school report cards?

Should the admission process be altered to increase the odds of admission to Wayne School of Engineering, Wayne Early/Middle College High School, and Wayne School of Technical Arts for non-WCPS students?

Continued on page 14 newoldnorth.com

. Wayne WEEK . 13

From ‘Lottery Landmine’, page 15

The discussion — and this issue — is far from just a simple yes or no.

I

t started in November, when the Board of Education voted to repeal what was, at the time, an existing lottery policy that gave favor to current WCPS students applying for the limited seats available at WSE, WEMCHS, and WSTA. When asked, the following day, how students would be selected for the schools in the new year, district spokesman Ken Derksen said a new policy was being drafted — that it “will look very similar to the repealed policy,” but would have “added language for WSTA and accounts for changes in state accountability results for minimum admission requirements.”

He mentioned nothing about changing the odds for non-WCPS students.

But that’s just what the new policy does.

According to Derksen, who presented the proposed replacement policy at the School Board’s Jan. 8 meeting, the new system would give all Wayne County children an equal shot to claim a seat at one of the three WCPS specialty schools.

“It’s about making sure every child has a similar chance of getting into one of these

specialty schools,” he said.

But after Derksen’s presentation, board member Bill Joyner raised concerns about what he saw as a blow to “marginalized students.”

“In my opinion, I am really surprised that we’re not hearing more of a pushback from marginalized students. The way I understand this policy, basically we are opening up more spots for non-Wayne County Public Schools students to apply and to enter into our specialty schools,” he said. “It just seems to me that what we’re doing is we’re taking a situation where you have students whose parents have the means to remove their student from our schools, take them to another district or take them to a private school, take them to a charter school, and we’re giving spots to those students — an opportunity to come back into the special schools — at the expense of the students whose parents don’t have the means to take them to other schools.”

Based on “simulations” provided to the board and obtained by Wayne Week via a records request, that’s exactly what it does.

Joyner pointed to a simulation for Southern Wayne High School Feeder Zone students who applied to WEMCHS — noting that their chances fell from 88

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percent to 45 percent.

But Derksen pushed back, saying that “we have poverty in every area of our county” — that the proposed changes were about leveling the playing field, not further subjugating any particular group.

Joyner disagreed.

“If part of the purpose (of these schools) was to enable students of poverty or students with lesser means to have an opportunity to get college credits, to get an associate degree, then we’re taking those opportunities away from those students whose parents don’t have means and inviting them back to the parents who do,” he said.

Former board member Jennifer Strickland went a step further, characterizing the proposal as “out of control” and a blatant attempt to beef up enrollment numbers and improve test scores from more affluent students with more involved parents while ignoring the glaring issues at the other 30 schools in WCPS. “We are putting a Band-Aid on something that requires a tourniquet. This is a very obvious attempt to bring students back into the district that are considered good students to help pad the numbers instead of addressing the problem, which is bad curriculum coming out of Central Office,” she said. “The answer

is not to bring students to skew the numbers so we look good. The answer is to fix the problems that we have so people want to come back to Wayne County Public Schools.”

Whichard did not deny that part of the impetus behind the policy change was to entice parents of private and charter school students to bring their children — and the state money that comes with them — back to WCPS. “I do want us to create avenues that we can begin to pull back individuals who are opting for other choices in our community,” he said. “As I’ve said from the beginning, it is my desire for Wayne County Public Schools to be the system of choice for parents that live in Wayne County.”

B

ut there are other reasons parents are pulling their students from local public schools, too.

Wayne County Public Schools has faced sharp criticism from a very important clientele — Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

In fact, back in October 2020, a study commissioned by the Department of the Air Force revealed that of the 157 school districts that serve children of airmen across the nation, the districts that serve Continued on page 16

WCPS LOTTERY SIMULATIONS

{our TAKE }

B

etween a rock and a hard place.

We get it.

It isn’t easy trying to dig out of the hole that has been created by the slew of questionable decisions, bad hires, and financial crisis that have crippled Wayne County Public Schools.

Money woes, staffing shortages and cutbacks, low test scores, and continued concerns about discipline and classroom efficacy.

Those are pretty big obstacles to overcome.

Add a couple really, really bad looks — and votes — from the Board of Education, and you have a real problem.

And in this case, that means more parents are choosing to put their children elsewhere.

That is why charter schools and private schools are booming. That’s why so many Air Force families are buying homes outside the county.

The enrollment numbers don’t lie.

And in case you don’t already know, fewer students means less money. And that is a Catch 22 of its own.

Fixing it is a top priority.

Stemming the tide is the very first step.

Your Superintendent, Dr. Marc Whichard, told you — well, the handful that were watching on YouTube — that at this week’s board meeting.

In a discussion about changing the system by which students are chosen for the district’s three prime schools — Wayne School of Engineering, Wayne Early/Middle College High School, and Wayne School of Technical Arts — Whichard told the board he has a goal: to get more students to return to Wayne County Public Schools.

He is not shying away from the call.

He is making it, he says, because parents have told him that they will return their children to the district if they have more of a chance at those opportunities.

And Whichard knows that the district needs those enrollment numbers to rise.

So, according to the new policy proposed this week, there will be more “lottery admission chances” opened up for non-WCPS students.

It also means that there will be less opportunity for students currently enrolled in Wayne County Public Schools to have their shot at getting one of those coveted special admission spots.

And as board member Bill Joyner pointed out, that skews the game.

And, he said, it will likely be the students from the county’s more disadvantaged schools that bear

the brunt.

He is right, of course.

Opening up the county’s most successful and highest-performing schools to students of families that can afford private education or are affluent or in the know enough to get a voucher will absolutely take away opportunities, possibly from children who cannot make any other choices — whose family resources do not allow them to go to another school.

So, some students will not get a special spot that they might otherwise have qualified for because one has been held to entice a student to return to WCPS. That doesn’t sound right, Joyner said.

And he is not wrong about that either.

That was not why these schools were created.

They were supposed to offer extra opportunities for any student who wanted a chance to excel, to strive for a different kind of school experience.

They were not carrots to be dangled before wealthy residents to keep them from taking their children elsewhere.

The chance at admission should be offered to the top, qualified students — not just those with the connections, the pull, the superintendent’s ear, or any other advantage.

Not a prize and not a substitute.

An enhancement to the education offered in Wayne County.

So, while we get the intent, we think the lottery system change sends a dangerous message.

“Come back to Wayne County,” it says, “and you just might get a chance to attend one of three elite schools.”

What does that say about the rest of the schools in the district?

We think you already know the answer to that one.

But Whichard has a problem.

He has a district that is not maintaining standards.

The test scores are not good, and while there have been some bright spots, the numbers are staggering, with reading and math scores that are shockingly low.

Morale is bad.

Teachers, the experienced ones, are leaving and retiring in droves.

And, despite the hurrah and the cheerleading, the Central Office staff and administrators at several schools just aren’t making the cut.

Solving the problems requires experience and expertise that some of them just don’t have. And the schools are suffering because of that.

Continued on page 16

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. Wayne WEEK . 15

From ‘Lottery Landmine’, page 14

{ our TAKE } From ‘Lottery’, page 15

There are other issues, too.

Discipline has been a problem in Wayne County, much like it has been in schools across the country. It needs attention, quickly, but the effects of the pandemic on student discipline and performance have been profound.

Teachers say classrooms are not the same. And they are right.

So, what to do?

Wayne County Public Schools does not need a PR campaign.

They don’t need positive publicity and rah-rah board meetings.

They need action, decisive and meaningful action.

And that means major decisions — and hard ones — about what really needs to be done to fix not just the enrollment at three schools, but at the other 30.

A major decision was made at one of the district’s flagship schools this past week — one that was long overdue.

We’re sure you have read the headlines.

And there need to be more.

You might ask, how can we attract good teachers and administrators to the district if all the news is bad?

The answer? Show them that the students really are top priority and that there is a superintendent who is laserfocused on the mission of getting back to what made schools what they were in the “olden days.”

And that means quality teachers who are supported and rewarded.

It means administrators whose qualifications are more than which board member they are related to, or what sorority or fraternity membership card they carry.

It means a curriculum that makes sense, works and gets students back on the academic success plan.

And it also means a no-tolerance policy for bad behavior on campus — no matter what your basketball or football stats are.

Standards, respect, and excellence — one school at a time.

There were a lot of reasons not to like the employment a few years back of the temporary superintendent Dr. Jim Merrill.

He was expensive, very expensive — at a time when the school district’s biggest problem was financial ruin.

But there was something about Merrill that made sense and was likely why he was such a success in so many large school districts across the state.

He told it like it was.

He wasn’t afraid to tell the board, “You

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can’t afford that.”

He wasn’t afraid to say, on an open microphone, that board members were about to make a “foolish” decision.

He wasn’t afraid to tell the truth about what wasn’t working.

He hired quality staff — and knew where to look for more.

He could do that because his livelihood and the future of his family did not rely on the money he was getting from WCPS. If the school board decided to turn on him, he would simply walk away — retirement intact.

He could afford to be honest.

But we suspect he couldn’t have operated a massive school district like Wake County without a similar stance.

Whichard has to walk a finer line.

He is employed by the board. Its members are his boss. And he has a career to think about.

But there was a spark last week on the Goldsboro High School campus that signaled he is moving in that direction — that he is done with the nauseating pablum of “thank the board and the Central Office staff for its hard work” every week and is ready to make choices his predecessors didn’t have the resolve for.

And if he does, after a while, he might not need to rig an admission system to get students back to Wayne County.

He won’t have to monitor it to make sure it “doesn’t hurt WCPS students.”

If he builds it, they will come.

He just needs to get the bench ready, quickly.

We think they are out there — educators and administrators who want to work somewhere they can make a real difference, a real impact.

They are just waiting for the call that there is a real change in direction.

But they have to hear the truth — the Jim Merrill, unvarnished truth.

And so does the public.

Confidence in a school district doesn’t come from flashy brochures and cute Instagram drops.

And syrupy, rah-rah press releases or board kudos on YouTube televised meetings less than a few dozen people watch don’t work either.

People don’t trust spin anymore. They have seen way too much of it.

Honest communication, the courage to answer tough questions, open discussion, and admitting when you screw up, that’s what people respect.

Start there. n

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base — mainly Wayne County Public Schools — ranked among the worst.

The assessment, military leaders said, would “now be one of several factors considered in future basing decisions” and detailed where the schools that served SJAFB stood in three categories: “Academic Performance,” “School Climate,” and “Service Offerings.”

At the time, some members of the Wayne County Board of Education pushed back on the findings, claiming the ratings reflected “old data” and the low scores were more about Duplin and Lenoir schools than Wayne’s.

But two years later, the new version of the same report told the same story.

“Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina received an overall red rating in public education as it fell within the bottom 33 percent of all Air Force installations assessed,” it read.

It also received the worst possible rating for “Student Learning Rate,” which is defined as the “average increase in grade level competency as measured by federally mandated test scores across grades three through eight.”

control of 30-something kids at the same time?” said a high school teacher who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“I barely have room for all these kids, and it creates an uncomfortable environment that is really not conducive to learning. In our department, we have three teachers for the entire student body. Some schools have multiple teachers in each department per grade level. Honestly, it’s insane. How are three of us supposed to effectively teach this many students?”

The number of students per classroom is significantly higher across the county.

Some fourth- or fifthgrade classrooms that once only sat 20 students now have 28-30.

And the teachers say those numbers make a difference.

When children can’t get extra help or attention, their test scores show it.

Report card results seem to substantiate the claim the something has changed dramatically since 2020, as the number of low-performing schools in WCPS has doubled, from 8 to 16, since the 2020-21 school year.

Whichard has not yet presented the test scores from the first semester of the new school year, telling the board that he and his staff are still reviewing them.

Some teachers say that lower scores and poor performance in classrooms are not surprising considering the challenges the students and staff face.

“Go find the best teacher you know — the teacher that changed your life and made an impact,” the high school teacher said. “Bring them to my school and put them in my classroom with 30-plus teenagers for a few weeks. They’ll walk out. I guarantee it. This is simply not sustainable.”

They say that the district’s next step should be not about lotteries, but about fixing “what is already broken.”

A former WCPS teacher, now retired, said lack of support and impossible classroom conditions were why she left.

“I will never go back,” she said. “I just can’t.”

Getting the schools back to where they need to be — and re-earning the trust of the parents and teachers — will require wholesale change.

“It’s not about some fancy program. It is about getting back to basics,” she said. “It’s got to be about the kids.”n

“We are putting a Band-Aid on something that requires a tourniquet. ”

I

f you talk to local educators, many would tell you the most serious problems in WCPS have emerged in the last few years.

COVID-19 was a factor, they say, but the biggest gut-punch was a 2020 Board of Education decision to cut back the number of teachers to the state allotment — a result of a financial crisis that saw WCPS forced to overcome a $2.4 million budget deficit and pay back a $2.1 million state loan.

According to Aaron Beaulieu, the president of School Operations Specialists — the company hired to help the district dig itself out of its financial hole — Wayne County was paying for 90 to 100 teaching positions that were not funded by the state allotment for teachers based on WCPS enrollment. Cutting many of those positions was among the ways to get out of the red.

But some WCPS educators say those decisions have resulted in increased class sizes, fewer bodies on campus to intervene when students act out, and a more difficult teaching experience.

“How am I supposed to teach and keep

newoldnorth.com

. Wayne WEEK . 17

SPORTS +REC

LEGENDARY

Jarrod James’ father, Elvin, showed him the way, and now, as a coach on a National Football League staff, he is still compelled to change lives.

BY KEN FINE

Jarrod James walks the Houston Texans’ sideline during practice.

A

little boy comes home from school with tears in his eyes.

He is “huskier than everybody else” at Tommy’s Road Elementary — making him an easy mark for those who take pride in teasing others.

He is “picked on” relentlessly.

“I remember I would come home crying every once in a while,” he said.

But then, Jarrod James hears his father’s voice.

“Dad would say, ‘One day, your size is gonna pay off,’” he said.

Back then, Jarrod had no idea that his father had been inspiring youths to meet 18

. Wayne WEEK . newoldnorth.com

adversity head on for nearly his entire adult life — that his mantras and pep talks quite literally changed lives.

At home, he wasn’t the Elvin James who became known around Goldsboro and across the state as “Legend” for his ability to lead winning teams while molding teenagers into men both on and off the football field.

To Jarrod, he was simply an involved, loving dad.

But now that the younger James is the one inspiring the next generation as a member of the Houston Texans coaching staff, it’s impossible to ignore just how much of the

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HOUSTON TEXANS

elder lives inside his son.

“I want to continue carrying on his legacy just by the way he treated people and the way he poured into players’ lives,” Jarrod said. “Making them the best that they could possibly be on the field and making them the best men and husbands and sons they could be off the field.”

• • • A fourth-grader realizes that the “cool kids” are playing sports.

So, tired of being bullied, he decides to join them — and signs up for tackle football

at the Goldsboro Boys & Girls Club.

“That’s when the football dream started,” Jarrod said. “Things just kind of took off from there.”

It turned out that his father had been right — that one day, being “overweight” would pay off.

“My size really became an advantage for me,” Jarrod said. “From there on.”

And as he grew older and ultimately made the Charles B. Aycock High School varsity team, his participation in a team sport gave him a second family, a group of “brothers” who would do anything for one another on and off the field.

“We had a bunch of really, really good football players, but it went beyond football. We would go to McDonald’s and just hang in the parking lot and recap the game. Saturdays we would go to the movies or go to Empire Fire Mongolian Grill and just eat a bunch of food. We had such a close-knit team that when we got out onto that field together, we played out of our minds,” Jarrod said. “It got to the point where it was, ‘I don’t want to let my brother or my teammate down.’ When you get to that point as an individual where you’re looking at the next man on the field and say, ‘I’m gonna give you everything I got’ … that’s when it became special.”

And that is when he realized that the game was only part of the power of what was unfolding on the gridiron.

“I turned out to be a good player — a really, really good player — but I also fell in love with the team aspect of it. You know, a lot of people today have a lot of differences. I felt like on the football field, my teammates and I, we all had the same color jersey on,” Jarrod said. “We all played for each other.

We all loved each other.”

• • • When Elvin donned headsets and paced sidelines everywhere from Livingstone College to Goldsboro High School, he understood that there was more to life than the game — that the overwhelming majority of his players would never make a living throwing touchdowns or sacking quarterbacks.

So, when he delivered one of his famous locker room speeches or motivational oneliners, he knew his words were preparing “the men,” as he called them, for life.

And when he would take his son to the Charles B. Aycock High football field on hot summer days to “hit the sleds” and the track, he offered him the same tough love he poured into the hundreds of players who, since Elvin’s death in 2022, have paid tribute to a man they say changed the trajectory of their lives.

“He’d say things like, ‘You’ve got to work extra hard to be good. You’ve got to work even harder to be the best,’” Jarrod said.

They were words that stuck with the younger James as he worked his way to a Division I scholarship from the University of North Carolina.

And when an injury ended his playing career — a herniated disk in his neck that required him to endure spinal fusion surgery — the lessons learned from his father about the importance of education and life being about more than sports gave him comfort.

His life as a player might be over, yes.

But his future could still be a bright one.

It was all about “making a decision” about who he wanted to be.

• • • An assistant coach gets chills when the thousands of green and white-clad fans packed inside Michigan State University’s Spartan Stadium begin to chant.

“Big Ten football is on a whole different level. Big Ten football is just

different,” Jarrod said. “Everything we had there was special.”

Maybe it was because he had never intended on becoming a coach — on walking a path similar to the one that made his father a legend in his hometown and state after a storied career that included stints both on college campuses and then high schools, jobs that saw him named USA Today Weekend Magazine’s “Most Caring Coach in America” and a finalist for the NFL High School Coach of the Year.

Or maybe, game days were a reminder of the fun he had as a member of that Charles B. Aycock varsity team that helped him fall in love with the game.

Either way, Jarrod would come to find that those moments were trumped by the relationships forged with players — by his ability to be a role model and remind them that there is more to life than the game they shared a love for.

“You’d go into the office on a Sunday after a game, whether we win or lose, and you pat them on the back and say, ‘Hey man. I’m proud of you. What’d you get on your math test? How’s your girlfriend doing? How’s your family doing?’” Jarrod said. “That was special. And then, when you see them graduate and cross the stage, I mean, it was amazing.”

• • • • • Those who know the James family and those still grieving the loss of Elvin say they take comfort in knowing that the “Legend” Continued on page 20

Elvin James, left, remains a local coaching legend after his death. His son, Jarrod, retired from playing football after suffering a neck injury at UNC-Chapel Hill and now coaches in the NFL. newoldnorth.com

. Wayne WEEK . 19

From ‘Legendary’ page 19

is still making an impact on young lives through Jarrod.

And when you get the younger James talking, it’s impossible to ignore that he is his father’s son.

Like when, as the Texans prepare for a playoff tilt with the Cleveland Browns, Jarrod talked about what it’s like to be on an NFL staff — but quickly turned to how he could use his position for the greater good.

“I want to have an impact on people’s lives.

My dad, he won on the football field, but he changed people’s lives. That’s the difference.

He did both,” Jarrod said. “He instilled in me that it’s more than just about football.

Football is great. It’s going to pay the bills.

I’m blessed to be in a position where football pays my bills. But if I don’t change people’s lives, it’s a waste. It’s more than just a game.

It’s how can I use this influence and this platform that I’ve been blessed with.”

Or when he unwraps how team building can change not only the outcome of a game or the trajectory of a season, but the world.

“As a coach, you’re able to meet with a whole bunch of people you never thought you would cross paths with and then teach them how to work along with other people they would have

never crossed paths with to build great teams,” Jarrod said. “Those teams go on to build great communities. Those communities go on to build great cities. Cities build great states.

States build great countries. Great countries?

They change the world. So, you’re able to do that with people through a game.”

And, perhaps most poignantly, when he reflects on the young people living in the community that raised him — the teenagers his father so often tried to point toward a brighter star.

“Make a decision of who you want to be. Do what you want to do and don’t do what you don’t want to do. You’ve got the world in front of you. You’ve got all the potential in the world to be who you want to be. You might not have the easiest road to get there, but who does? If the road was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it,” Jarrod said. “I guarantee — I know for a fact — that people don’t want to wake up being surrounded by gun violence. People don’t want to get up and sell drugs. People don’t want to live in adverse circumstances.

They might feel like they have to, but in all honesty, they don’t. You just have to make a decision that you’re willing to go through the hardships to live the life you want to live. You can do it. Just make the decision.

Believe in yourself. Move forward.”

• • • When the Texans take on the Browns late Saturday afternoon, Jarrod believes his team has an opportunity to begin a postseason journey that could shock the world.

“We know we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us with the Browns. It’s the playoffs. It’s the big tournament. But you know, it sounds surreal coming from where I come from, but we’re all playing to win the Super Bowl,” Jarrod said. “The difference with these guys is that these guys are having fun playing football.

Believe it or not, to see a bunch of guys having fun playing football, I don’t want to say it’s rare in the NFL, but it’s special.

When guys see it as, ‘I’m not just making a bunch of money,’ it goes beyond the fame. It’s almost back to the college or the high school-like state where you have fun playing the game. And when you see a bunch of guys have fun playing the game and playing hard, man, it’s exciting to be a part of.”

But no matter what happens on the gridiron this weekend, a few things are certain.

The late Elvin James will be there alongside his son as the game unfolds — his spirit encouraging Jarrod to be the best he can be.

“I think about him every day. You know,

Did you enjoy this issue of Wayne Week? to This is howc opy a guarante e

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I used to, when people would talk about a loved one who passed and they would say they think about that person all the time or every day, I used to not understand it.

It was being naïve,” Jarrod said. “But man, I think about my dad every day. It’s almost like I hear his voice. Whether it’s, ‘Hey big guy. I’m proud of you and I love you,’ to, when I’m having a down day, it’s, ‘You can’t have no pity parties. You got to get up and keep moving.’ All those sayings that he had, I think about them every day.”

And when the clock expires, that same influence will guide him toward what he believes could be a future many might believe is out of reach — as long as he stays the course.

“I tell myself, half-jokingly but definitely half-serious, that the way I could see things working out for me, my dream world is to become a head coach in the NFL, win a Super Bowl and run for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina,” Jarrod said. “That way I can make a difference on the field and make a difference in the country that I love representing my home state.”

Making a difference both on and off the field.

Sounds familiar — almost legendary.

Like father. Like son. n

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JAN. 20 7:30 p.m.

To get tickets to this must-see concert, part of the Paramount Performing Arts Series, visit goldsboroparamount.com The Paramount Theatre

GRANTHAM GETDOWN

FEB. 3 7 p.m.

Rock out with the Band of Oz and support the Grantham Volunteer Fire Department at the same time.

A $25 donation to the firefighters gets one person in the front door for what is sure to be a great time had by all.

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VALENTINE’S DAY POP UP

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