HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93009_0796IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
JANUARY 24, 1995
MINUTES
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met with the
Iredell-Statesville School Board on Tuesday, January 24, 1995, at
7:00 p.m., Mulberry Street School Building, Statesville, NC.
County Commissioners present were:
Sara K. Haire, Chairman
David A. Boone, Vice Chairman
Stephen D. Johnson
C. Douglas Madison, Jr.
Absent: Alice M. Stewart
Staff present: Joel Mashburn, County Manager
Alice Fortner, Clerk to the Board
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Long, chairman of the
i -S School Board, who gave the invocation and asked Dr. Register to
preside.
Dr. Register welcomed everyone to Mulberry. He has some
school program directors who were present to help with the program
for the evening. He said there have been discussions on facilities
and funding, and tonight they would take a different approach and
talk about the children that are served and how the service has
changed, and a little about how they are responding to the changing
needs of the children.
In 1950 they had about 12,000 students in the county, of which
823 were white and 183 were non-white. The schools were
segregated. There were 113 members in the Boys Corn Club. There
were 105 members in the Girls Canning Club.
By 1970 173 of the mothers worked outside the home. High
school drop-out rates were not recorded accurately in 1970, but
they know that 383 of the students enrolled in the fifth grade did
not remain in the schools until graduation.
In 1974 services for exceptional children were expanded.
There were 695 students identified as exceptional children in the
school system, which was about 53 of the student population. Today
there are 14,000 students in the school system. Twenty-three
percent of the students are black. There are 95 Asian students in
the system and 160 Hispanic students at the last count. This
number is rising very quickly. Many of these students are non-
English speaking when they enroll in the school system.
The exceptional children population has greatly boomed since
1974. Today 173 of the total population is identified as
exceptional children. There are seventeen categories of
exceptionality. Some of the exceptional children are in school
today that were not in school in 1974, Register said. Some
categories are autistic children and several other categories.
In 1994 the schools conducted a survey of the population. The
statistics from the study shows that 333 of the school system's
parents are divorced. 80.23 work outside the home now. 333 of the
parents did not finish high school.
This survey was conducted on grades 6 through 12 as a random
sample survey, scientifically done. 543 of the parents talk with
children on a regular basis about school. That is very low, Dr.
Register said. only 273 attend school meetings, which includes
parent conferences and PTA meetings, etc.
The survey shows other behavior patterns also. About 293 of
the students spend 6 hours or more a week on home work. 453 of the
students watch television three hours a day or more. 643 of the