Education

• Co-curricular Life (Sports, Clubs, Student Government)
• What is being done at the district level and at each individual school to address disparities? What administrative accountability measures are being used? What outcomes are being measured and tracked over time?
• Where do students go who leave the Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools, pre or post graduation?
• Hiring and Retention Rates of ACS and BCS Administrative Staff, showing multiple years
• How have  Asheville City Schools  complied with the original rules to desegregate schools by desegregating the faculty and hiring Faculty and Staff of Color?
• If the rules for desegregation from the 1970’s were applied today, how would they measure up in all areas including academic performance, hiring and retention of Facult and Staff of Color, disciplinary rates, etc.?
• How effective are Charter Schools and Private Schools in closing disparities?
• AB Tech and UNCA
• Rates of retention for specific cohorts of students between Freshman and Senior year
• Per student spending comparisons between public school, charter school, and private schools.

• The persistence of disparate racial outcomes over time indicates the failure of accountability measures. As Superintendents change and Board appointments shift, accountability continues to not exist.
  • While City Council appoints the Board of Education, there is disjointed accountability of government oversight, with little report back and performance indicators.
• One year of progress in closing disparities does make up for decades lost. An increase in a couple of points does not negate large decreases over many years.
• The culture of Students of Color is not reflected and expressed in the culture of faculty and administration. The expectations and objectives of the school system are not in synch with the values of the Students of Color.
• We do not know what happens to youth who become adjudicated and do not complete their education in the district.
• Grossly imbalanced disciplinary rates by race and gender.

• Over the decades, there have programs and community initiatives that were designed to meet challenges of racial disparities. These have included such programs as Project Steam, Homework Stations, Gentleman on the Move, Project Creed. These efforts could be documented, rediscovered, and their value assessed for modern day circumstances.
• The large number of community groups – recognized and unrecognized – that provide tutoring, mentoring, college prep, and life skills. Many of these programs existed without recognition from the schools and with limited resources, but invested heavily in the development of students.
• • Standard operating procedures — process by which rules are made to determine who is suspended are usually not
    • Community input into disciplinary guidelines
    • Standard way to review procedures

Historical Tidbits

• The Crown and Scepter Club was the Honor’s Society at Stephens-Lee, symbolic of the high academic achievement Black students. This club did not transfer over to Asheville High after desegregation.
• In 1965, to avoid consolidation of Stephens-Lee High School (Black High School) with Lee Edward’s High School (white High School), Asheville City School Board voted to construct a brand new high school on South French Broad for the Black students. Federal court monitors rejected this as a response to desegregation and then ordered the consolidation of Stephens-Lee HS and Lee Edwards HS into Asheville High School. The newly constructed high school remained empty and later became the site of Asheville Middle School. This building was demolished in 2017 [source needed]
  • In the consolidation of the schools, very few of the Black teachers from Stephens-Lee (with Masters degrees) were hired at Asheville High School and none of the trophies from Stephens-Lee were showcased at Asheville High.

• WRES FM http://www.wresfm.com/

Available on DVD – The Mighty Heroes of Stephens-Lee High School