Bull City Rising: BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for November 3, 2009

by Bull City Rising

The big news of the day, naturally, is Carl Harris' departure from Durham Public Schools; the superintendent will leave DPS at calendar year's end to take a deputy assistant superintendent position in the Obama administration's Department of Education. The Herald-Sun ( #1 , #2 , #3 ) notes that the school board has been more harmonious since unanimous-pick Harris took over for Ann Denlinger -- though the change in elected officials on the board likely also played a role.

The statistical performance of the district has been uneven, with improvements in some measures and declines in others -- something a data-driven Harris administration watched closely. As the commenters here yesterday from a group of parents organizing around the Reading Street program attest, the data-centric approach of Harris is a staple of the educational reform movement spearheaded nationally with Broad Foundation and other philanthropic monies.

Both Mayor Bell and BOCC chair Michael Page praised Harris for his work, as did members of the school board in comments to the paper; the Rev. Mel Whitley tells the N&O in their coverage that Harris "exceeded expectations" given the deep animosities that troubled the school board and schools before his arrival. Harris had served DPS starting in the 1990s, heading back to his home of Franklin Co. to lead their county schools before his return to Durham.

In other news:

Families First Put Congregations Last?: The trimming of the Families First program last spring allegedly wasn't over budget cuts, but unmet performance goals -- and the Dept. of Social Services didn't come out and say it to "save face," an auditor reports in a scrutiny of the program's shutdown. The audit found that while Rev. Pebbles Lindsay-Lucas reached out to find the 85 families who needed the pricey program's help (at a total cost of $600k+ over the years), the intent of the program to work with congregations to identify families in the community and work with them more directly, presumably impacting more families more efficiently. ( Herald-Sun )

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