Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Guilford County Schools Will Consider Appeals Process For Suspensions

KERI BROWN/WFDD

The Guilford County school board is preparing to take a vote on a controversial change to the student suspension policy. 

The plan proposed by Superintendent Sharon Contreras would allow students to appeal their short-term suspensions to school leaders. Any further disagreement could be appealed directly to the superintendent.

The proposal has been met with a mixed reaction.

Fox8 News reports some parents started a petition against the changes, arguing it takes decisions out of the hands of school principals, giving the final say to the superintendent.

Several organizations, including the state and local chapters of the NAACP, support the appeals process and point out that students currently have no recourse. Rev. Dr. Cardes Brown, who heads the Greensboro NAACP, says most of the students suspended are children of color, which he believes adds a racial undertone to the existing policies.

The Guilford County Board of Education will vote on the proposed changes on Tuesday evening.  

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.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate