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North Carolina Releases List Of Low-Performing Schools Eligible For Takeover

KERI BROWN/WFDD

State education officials are warning schools around North Carolina they need to make academic improvements or risk being taken over by the state. 

69 schools qualify for inclusion in the Innovative School District program, which allows the state to gain control over low-performing schools and turn them over to charter school management companies.

The rankings are based on low test scores. The News and Observer reports that Forsyth County had the most schools of any district on the list at eight. Guilford County has six.

The Innovative School District was created by Republican lawmakers, who say it can help raise student achievement. Opponents say the program privatizes public education for financial gain.

The 69 schools on the list released Thursday make up the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools in North Carolina. They have four years to show gains in test scores. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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