Editor

Four candidates for three open seats on the Yadkin County board of education found themselves agreeing more often than not on the need to move forward with two new middle schools, help high school graduates make the transition to college, improve test scores, and encourage more parental involvement.

Three incumbents, Hazel Brown, Brock Matthews and Rex Baity, and two challengers, Larry Worth Vestal and Joe Dezern, are running for three open seats on the school board.

The four candidates at Thursday night's candidates forum sponsored by the Yadkin County Chamber of Commerce dismissed the suggestion that Hispanic students, the fastest growing ethnic group in the county, are creating an extra burden for teachers and administrators.

"I don't necessarily think they are causing a low standard," said challenger Joe Dezern, a retired Jonesville Elementary School principal. "But whatever the minority or whoever the students who are enrolling in our system, it is our responsibility to provide students with a quality education."

Incumbent Hazel Brown agreed with Dezern,

"The reports I get is that they (Hispanics) are hardworking and they pose no problems in the school system," Brown said. "And their parents want to help them as much as they can. They are working as hard as they can work."

Board member Brock Matthews and challenger Larry Vestal said that Hispanic students actually contribute to the school's cultural diversity.

"The cultural aspect has been strengthened," Matthews said. "Our students have been exposed to more worldly views."

The four candidates (incumbent board member Rex Baity did not attend the forum) said that the school system has generally done a good job with limited resources. Brown noted that Yadkin teachers have the lowest local supplement of area school systems. Each of the candidates agreed that the schools have to do a better job of preparing graduates for an increasingly competitive job market and more rigid admission standards to four-year colleges.

However, for those who aren't ready or don't want to attend a four-year college, Surry Community College, the candidates said, offers an excellent opportunity for students to receive two-year degrees in vocational fields or prepare them for a four-year degree. Candidates also said they support the Early College High School at Surry Community College, which allows students to complete college coursework while still in high school.

"They can see something for themselves before they entered this program," Brown said. "Coming from homes who didn't have college education. It's a real accomplishment."

Access to quality education, whether it's at the high school or college level, is an essential component in attracting new jobs to the area, the candidates said.

"We have a hotbed here of a wine industry," Matthews said. "We need to build on that with scientific schools so that these products can be sold internationally . . We need to prepare students who want to get advanced degrees."

Vestal, who served on the Martin County school board, said that quality education is a key ingredient in local economic development.

"Businesses will be looking at the education in the county," Vestal said. "When I graduated from Jonesville Elementary there were plenty of jobs. Now, it is a lot more difficult. Every job requires computer skills, even out of high school."

Brown said that Yadkin can and must improve its overall academic excellence. She worries that not enough attention is devoted into making sure that the county's "best and brightest" are prepared for college and universities.

"I have a vision that we will be known as the best school in the state; maybe the best in the nation," Brown said. "We need excellence . . .

"I feel like Martin Luther King Jr. in that 'I Have A Dream' that we will be the county of envy of others when we can turn things around. We spend so much time putting out fires all the time. We've got to have time to have enough vision and proaction and work toward that. If you always do what you done, you'll always get what you got."