Community rallies behind keeping Snowden open | Eastern North Carolina Now

Is S. W. Snowden Pre-K through 8 School on the Chopping Block? 

September 5, 2024

By Ray Leary,  Chairman, Beaufort County Conservative Club Education Committee

Aurora NC – New Growth Unlimited Ministries Church

Bishop Dr. Stuart Ham, New Growth Unlimited Ministries, facilitated a community town hall meeting at the Aurora, North Carolina New Growth Ministries church on Thursday, September 5, 2024. The topic of discussion was the current situation and the potential future of the S. W. Snowden Pre-K – 8th grade school in Aurora, NC.

Dr. Patricia Horton, principal at the S. W. Snowden school and Charles Hickman, Beaufort County School Board member from District 2 led the presentation and discussion.

Bishop Dr. Stuart Ham opened the meeting with an invocation and comments on the reason for calling this meeting.

There were 90+ attendees from the local community and other eastern NC citizens.

The recent action by the Beaufort County School Board that eliminated the Pre-K class for the 2024 – 2025 school year at the school prompted the call for this meeting. 

Dr. Horton explained that the Pre-Kindergarten class is a federally funded program with strict application and screening processes that must be adhered to in order to be accepted as a student in this class. Parents or guardians cannot show up on the first day of school with their Pre-K child and be admitted on the same day. The Pre-K class and teacher were eliminated by the board due to less than eight students having timely applied for the 2024-2025 school year. Although there were more total applications, with some turned in late or incomplete which resulted in the elimination of the Pre-K class for the 2024-2025 school year. Many attending the meeting were concerned this move was the first step toward closing the S. W. Snowden community school leading to consolidation with other schools on the south side of the Pamlico River – South Side High School and/or Chocowinity Primary School.

 Dr. Horton explained the elimination of the Pre-K class is a federal and state school board policy which allowed no exceptions if too few students timely applied. She said she expected to have Pre-K back next year. She left the Pre-K registration instructions with the attendees and encouraged them to work with parents of prospective Pre-K students to gather all the required registration documents prior to the cut-off date in 2025. 

Also, she explained that two classrooms are typically required to be dedicated to the Pre-K classes. The school board has allowed one classroom Pre-K at Snowden due to the lower overall attendance at Snowden and that there are only two categories of students attending Snowden – majority minority and economically disadvantaged. The current enrollment at Snowden is 130 – 140 students. The enrollment was reported to be 122 students just after school started in August, but this was attendance recorded prior to the Labor Day holiday. The lower enrollment number coupled with the difficulty in maintaining a full staff of certified teachers and the designation as a low performing school created a ripple of concern related to the future S. W. Snowden. This meeting was called to bring clarity to the rumors of a possible closing of the school.

Principal Horton said there have been no discussions related to the closing of the S. W. Snowden school with the school administration officials.

The NC Department of Public Instruction presents a number and letter grade to all public schools each year in September for the preceding school year. For the school year ending in 2023, the Snowden scores were D with a corresponding 44 number grade. The 2024 school year the scores are D with a corresponding 47 number grade. To achieve a C grade, the numerical score must be 55 – 69. Schools with a D or F grade are designated as low performing schools, requiring school improvement plans to be forwarded to the NC DPI. These proficiency scores are calculations based upon end-of-course and end-of-grade scores on standardized tests.

Dr. Horton lamented that with tests being administered on computer tablets and chrome books many students just check an answer with very little attention or deliberation on the questions. This results in low scores on these tests that make up the overall school proficiency scores. She reported some parents expressed dismay that their child scored low on reading and math tests while explaining the students perform well on these subjects on homework. She told the attendees that parents must be supportive of their students and explaining these state DPI scores affects the school’s standing in the community.

Charles Hickman, school board member, explained he was one of nine board members and could not speak for the board or superintendent. He told the attendees of the difficulty of attracting certified teachers to Aurora. This is not a problem isolated to Aurora. It exists in every county and school district in eastern North Carolina. Many of the teachers at Snowden do not live in Aurora. Some teachers must travel up to two hours every day to work in the Aurora school. 

An audience member asked about teacher certification. Principal Horton explained that all teachers have BA degrees. Certified teachers have attained this designation through additional training and education in the discipline they desire to teach.

Board member Hickman told the attendees of the importance of communicating and interacting with the school board during the board meetings, which are typically held twice per month in Washington, NC. When asked how to interact with the board, Mister Hickman explained the public comment session at the regular monthly meetings during which four presenters are allowed to speak for three minutes each on the same subject during the meeting. He also told the group they could request to be placed on the agenda for longer presentations. Such requests can be made through him or directly to the board chairman.

Pastor Barry Squires encouraged attendees to get more involved in supporting the staff at Snowden. Principal Horton relayed several opportunities available through her office to interact with the school administration. Any interaction directly with students requires a background check and other administrative processes.

There were many questions from the attendees to Dr. Horton and board member Hickman to which they responded. 

Thank you to Bishop Ham and New Growth Ministries for facilitating this community town hall meeting, Snowden principal Dr. Horton, and board member Hickman for attending.

The video below are excerpts from the two+ hour meeting.

Click here to view the video: