23 May 2005

message

Date: Monday, 23 May 2005 1:58pm ET
To: JWHITEHURST
From: BSALPIETRO
Subject: message

David Howell from Human Resources called. Please call back at 854-1770. Thank you.

Barbara L. Salpietro
Apex High School

18 May 2005

Jane Whitehurst - Apex High

Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2005 3:23pm ET
To: DHOWELL, ksullivan@dpi.state.nc.us
From: JWHITEHURST@WCPSS
Subject: Jane Whitehurst - Apex High

I had a phone conversation with David Howell on Friday, May 13th. He indicated that he would be in contact with Kathy Sullivan, one of whom would get in touch with me as soon as they had met and discussed my situation. I have not heard from David nor Kathy and was wondering if I should be expecting a call. I will be in the office until 5:00 today, Wednesday, May 18th. If either of you could return a call before Friday, that would be great.

Thank you,Jane Whitehurst

13 May 2005

RE:Jane Whitehurst Employment

Date: Friday, 13 May 2005 10:08am ET
To: JWHITEHURST
Cc: JSANFORD1, TDIXON
From: MCHAPPELL
Subject: RE:Jane Whitehurst Employment

Ms. Whitehurst: I have read your letter. I will be happy to include this e-mailed letter in your personnel file if you desire. Please advise.

Based upon this e-mail you have not actually resigned from your position; therefore, there is no action for Human Resources to take at this time. Your employment as a teacher in the Wake County Public School System is still active. As I understand it your assignment from the administration at Apex High School is to teach mathematics (your clear area of North Carolina teacher licensure) for the school year 2005/06. This assignment is in accordance with Wake County Board of Education policies 3210 and 4201. The policies state that "the Principal or other appropriate administrator will make specific assignments in keeping with the qualifications of each employee and the needs of the program."

If you choose not to accept this assignment you will need to officially resign from your position.
Mike Chappell

Jane Whitehurst Employment

Date: Friday, 13 May 2005 8:39am ET
To: MCHAPPELL
From: JWHITEHURST
Subject: Jane Whitehurst Employment

Mike Chappell:

Please print and read the "resign letter".
I felt that this was a faster tool of communication than inneroffice mailing.

Jane Whitehurst

Blank Resignation


12 May 2005

Re: FW:great teacher gets axed

Date: Thursday, 12 May 2005 5:06pm ET
To: JWHITEHURST
From: billlumaye@wptfmail.com
Subject: Re: FW:great teacher gets axed

Unbelievable! I'm sorry to hear that the system is that broken. What are your plans Jane?Bill

FW:great teacher gets axed

From: "JANE WHITEHURST"
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 16:27:00 -0400
To: billlumaye@wptfmail.com “680 WPTF Radio”
Subject: FW:great teacher gets axed

Bill,
This is Jane Whitehurst. I've tried several times within the last week to get
back on your show. Today I was forced to sign a resignation letter. I thought you might like to read the response from my father, a caring voter and public office candidate for North Carolina. I am also sending along a resume and my letter to June Atkinson that explains what I was fighting for and unfortunately lost.

ThanksJane

great teacher gets axed

Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 15:59:45 -0400
To: missseipp@aol.com “Reason Magazine Online”
Cc: JWHITEHURST
From: charlies@triad.rr.com
Subject: great teacher gets axed

Howdy,

I don't want to be terribly biased (this is her dad talking), but I don't think this was right - especially for her students who volunteered to march on the the NC Capitol for her.

I would like to relay what just happened in North Carolina to my daughter, Jane (Jenny) Whitehurst, who has a masters - with honors – in computer science education from Cardinal Stritch, Milwaukee.

The reason she got her degree from Stritch was that NC, her home state, did not, and still does not, certify that degree nor can they certify teachers from other states who have an out-of-state certification to teach the subject.

Jenny wanted to return to NC to be near her family and teach computer science. She taught three years in the Oak Creek, WI public system and designed the computer science curriculum for her school.

She did finally land a job in Raleigh where her husband is getting his PhD in biochemistry. She had to be certified in something to be employed in NC, so the NC System granted her a mathematics license after she passed a math exam, and she was allowed to teach her love, computer science. By the way, Jenny is a certified grader for the national AP computer science exams.

After teaching for three years, Jenny got another offer at a more technology centered high school in the same county and began to teach there, but computer science in the new school (within the same school district) was not in the math department but the business ed department. She taught in the new school for another year under a provisional license. To continue to teach the exact same course, she was now required to be certified in business (two more courses and another exam). She agreed to do this, but her schedule and two kids made it quite impossible to comply.

Jenny hoped, in the mean time, that reason would prevail and she would get a waiver to continue teaching.

Such was not the case, the school had to hire someone certified in business to teach her courses and let her go - even though the school acknowledged that Jenny was highly qualified and even had her holding seminars for the other teachers in the business department in the best methods of teaching computer science.

She was offered a job teaching math, but was told that another teacher would lose her job if she took it.

She resigned.

We are hoping for a position somewhere in the Raleigh area so she can help support her kids and hubby while he finishes up.
Resume's available

Teaching of Computer Programming


06 May 2005

Statement Ready for the Press

Statement Ready for the Press
May 6 2005, 2:09 PM

Soon the United States of America will create and implement national certification for all areas of education, elementary through high school as has already happened in the higher education institutions. The main area I would like to focus on is computer science. We are evolving into a Technology Society where children as young as three years old are helping their parents program their DVR’s (Digital Video Recorders). It is imperative that the computer science curriculum, which has for decades been accepted as a major field of study in universities across the globe, becomes an educational field in the primary and secondary grades. This curriculum should be backed by an accredited certification in the field of computer science. We as a nation can no longer afford to have such a vital instrument in our education be taught by those teachers unequipped with the knowledge and background of the science. It is not enough to employ a math or business major to instruct the youth well enough to have them consider computer science as a future career. I do think that the Boards of Education across the nation will soon see that the children of the future are in need of more highly qualified teachers in such an important field as computer science.

States that offer Computer Science Certification:
California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

States that DO NOT offer Computer Science Certification: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming

RE:Jane Whitehurst

Date: Friday, 6 May 2005 12:50pm ET
To: JWHITEHURST
Cc: bprivett@wcpss.net, DHOWELL, TDIXON
From: MCHAPPELL@WCPSS
Subject: RE:Jane Whitehurst

Jane: Everything that was discussed in the March 1st meeting that was held between you, me, and David Howell was the best information we could provide you at that time. Your eligibility for a license extension for 05/06 at that time---and our discussions of the "what if" scenarios---was still strictly dependent upon the successful completion of the courses during the summer session and the Praxis II test in Business Education (since there is no Computer Science license in NC the Praxis waiver is also not possible because the waiver would have to be based upon a Business Ed. license from Wisconsin). Since you have now recently communicated that your search for courses has been unsuccessful, unfortunately assigning you to teach Computer courses for the fall is now an impossibility. While I am quite certain that you are indeed disappointed not to be assigned Computer courses to teach in the fall, the best advice that I could provide Dr. Dixon and Mrs. Privette yesterday (given all the present circumstances) was that the following would need to occur:

1. Assign you to teach in your already certified area for the Fall Semester 2005(math). In order for the state to pay your salary this is the only option without a license extension.
2. The school administration should schedule any computer courses that would have been taught by you in the fall of 2005 with another certified teacher.
3. You will need to complete coursework and Praxis requirements prescribed by the NC Dept. of Public Instruction during the Fall semester 2005 for the Business Ed. license.
4. If the Business Ed. license requirements are completed by the end of Fall semester, Dr. Dixon could then schedule you---at his prerogative---for the Computer Science courses in the Spring 2006 semester. Please remember that Principals have the sole authority within their schools to schedule teachers at any time to teach any courses that they are licensed to teach.

It is my understanding that David Howell will work with you in attempting to secure reimbursement assistance for course work that is necessary. Praxis reimbursement is handled by our Recruitment Division---contact Chris in that Dept. at CPSANNIPOLI@wcpss.net for more information about Praxis reimbursement.

Mike Chappell

"Our mission is to establish quality systems to recruit, retain, and develop committed employees who promote student success."

Jane Whitehurst

Date: Friday, 6 May 2005 9:24am ET
To: DHOWELL, MCHAPPELL
From: JWHITEHURST
Subject: Jane Whitehurst

Here is the schedule of courses.
I would like to know how to apply for reimbursement and what money I can receive to pay for the Praxis. I was very upset yesterday to hear that I will not be teaching computer science in the Fall. I thought it was settled in our meeting on March 1st that the Praxis could be extended. I had discussed also that there were no summer courses to enroll in, so I would not be able to complete the requirement before the first of the year. I would have liked to have known that I had no chance to teach CS back in march at our meeting.

Please let me know what it is I can do now.
Jane Whitehurst

05 May 2005

Evaluation


Discussion for hB706 and sb181

Discussion for hB706 and sb181
to: senator tony rand
from: Jane s. whitehurst
subject: out-of-state teachers licensed to practice in north carolina
date: 5/5/2005
cc: rules and operations of the senate Committee
Dalton, Horton, Albertson, Apodaca, P.Berger, Brock, Clodfelter, Dorsett, Forrester, Hoyle, Kinnaird, Nesbitt, Pittenger, Soles, Swindell, Thomas
education/higher education committee
Lucas, Swindell, Garwood, Allran, D.Berger, Bingham, Dannelly, Garrou, Goodall, Graham, Hagan, Hartsell, Holloman, Jenkins, Malone, Purcell, Smith, Snow, Stevens, Tillman

1. HB706 (Facilitate Hiring of Teachers) in companion with SB181 (Reciprocity for Teachers from Other States) should be heard and passed this session.
a. North Carolina is in need of teachers.
b. Classes are being cut (if not taught by substitutes or provisionally licensed teachers)
c. A one-year trial period to monitor highly qualified out-of-state teachers is a great compromise.
2. Out-of-state teachers currently under provisional licensing requirements should be grandfathered.
a. These bills were written to end the strain for highly qualified professionals.
b. Superiorly trained teachers will be lost or must completely retrain.
3. No Child Left Behind is not being supported by North Carolina
a. The law mandates support for higher institutions to evaluate and improve teacher-training programs.
b. North Carolina does not have a Computer Science certification that other states provide.
4. North Carolina requires two certifications for the same curriculum depending on where you teach.
a. Some schools have Computer Science in the Math department
b. Some schools have Computer Science in the Business department.There is no reciprocal agreement with other states’ computer science teaching license, so teachers are asked to retrain in other fields to continue to teach Computer Science.