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Carolina Curious: What is WS/FCS doing about all the 'F' schools in the district?

More than a quarter of the schools in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County received an “F” grade for school performance from the state last year. 

WFDD listener Carol Penick was wondering what the district is doing to correct this enduring problem.

In the latest installment of Carolina Curious, WFDD’s Amy Diaz looks into how the district supports these schools, as well as how performance grades are calculated. 

An “F” school

On the morning of Feb. 14, teachers and staff wearing pink and red waited by the entrance of Petree Elementary School on the east side of Winston-Salem.

As students trickled in, they wished them a good morning and a happy Valentine’s Day. 

“Are you ready for a good day?” asked Principal Alicia Bailey, sporting heart-shaped sunglasses. 

The school’s STEM classroom is visible from the front door. Nearly every inch of this

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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