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State Spends $928,000 On Istation "Emergency Purchase"

KERI BROWN/WFDD

North Carolina's State Superintendent has made an "emergency purchase" which will allow the continued use of the e-learning program Istation. This comes as a legal battle continues over the reading tests given to children in kindergarten through grade three.

Superintendent Mark Johnson says his department needed to make the nearly $928,000 purchase in order to ensure continued compliance with the state's Read To Achieve legislation.

Johnson sent an email to school districts saying he had to act now for the benefit of schools currently conducting their assessments.

The News & Observer reports that not all state board members support the emergency contract, which runs through the end of March. Some criticized the amount of money spent and complained they didn't have a role in the emergency procurement.

The decision to award the Read To Achieve testing contract to Istation has been controversial, with many teachers questioning the choice. The company's agreement with the state Department of Information Technology has been on hold since August pending an administrative review.

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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