By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

After hours of heated discussion, tears and pleas for equity across the district, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education postponed a decision on a redistricting plan and instead voted to rework one of the four proposed plans while rejecting the other three.

The board is redistricting in order to move students to a new elementary school when it opens in the fall of 2008. School officials had recommended a plan that would move 1,095 students to different elementary schools, including 481 to the new school, which has yet to be named but has been dubbed Elementary No. 10. The new school will be located at the corner of Dromoland Road and Eubanks Road.

More »

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Longtime board of education member and outspoken schools advocate Mary Scroggs died last week. She was 85.

Scroggs, who served on the school board from 1961 until 1977, is known for her work toward desegregation as well as for the construction of several schools at a time when schools were extremely overcrowded.

“When you talk about my mom, the first thing you’ve got to talk about is principles,” said Steve Scroggs, Mary Scroggs’s son and assistant superintendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools. “She was truly devoted to educating all the kids and she believed in what she did.
More »

Carrboro High names football, basketball coaches

The school board on Thursday approved the hiring of the men’s head basketball coach and head football coach at Carrboro High School, which opens in August.

Jason Tudryn was named head football coach and exceptional education teacher. Tudryn comes to Carrboro from Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Fl., where he also served as football coach and exceptional education teacher.

Alvin Thompson was named men’s head basketball coach and social studies teacher. Thompson presently is the men’s basketball coach and social studies teacher at E.E. SmithHigh School in Fayetteville.

According to athletic director Steven Reinhardt, Carrboro High will have a full league schedule for all sports, with all the same programs as Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools.

More »

Compassionate friends

Our wonderful 27-year-old son died as a result of a car accident in Australia in 2003.

Our grief will never go away but healing has been taking place in our hearts and minds. One of the big reasons we have been able to heal is due to our involvement with the local chapter of the Compassionate Friends.

More »

Joshua Bell

UNC News Services

Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, k.d. lang and Brazilian vocalist Caetano Veloso will be among artists presented in the 2007-2008 Carolina Performing Arts season at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Three major international orchestras also will perform during the organization’s third season in Memorial Hall – including the legendary Saint Petersburg Philharmonic with chief conductor Yuri Temirkanov in a rare North Carolina appearance for both.

More »

Mrs. Bernice M. Senour, 98, of Chapel Hill died Thursday, April 12, 2007 at her home.

She was born September 23, 1908 in Marion County, IN to the late Harry M. and the late Phoebe Jane Shannon Murphy. She was a retired nurse of public health and she was of the Methodist faith.

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Phoebe Shackelford and husband Dr. Joseph R. Shackelford of the home; her grandchildren, Dr. Ann Shackelford, Dr. Steven R. Shackelford and Dr. Thomas R. Shackelford; and one great-granddaughter, Amelia Shackelford-Hill.

More »

Lucy Whittlesey Straley died peacefully at home on March 29, 2007. Born Jan. 28, 1914 in Brownhelm, OH to Hayes and Elsie (Cooper) Whittlesey, she always valued her father’s humanism and her mother’s efficiency. Helping her father on their farm, she developed a respect and a capacity for physical labor. As a teen she was her church’s pianist and played for her high school basketball team.

Lucy majored in music at Bowling Green State College, and met her future husband, Joseph, when schedule conflicts resulted in both regularly arriving late to a class. After graduation she taught school music for four years before marrying Joe, who took a position at the University of Toledo. Two sons were born in Toledo.

More »

Doug O’Dell, a 35-year resident of Chapel Hill, passed away on March 23, 2007, at the age of 53. He was a Morehead Scholar, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, and, for over 25 years, the owner and operator of Chapel Hill Rare Books. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Maureen O’Dell, and a sister, Kayse Dean of Creve Coeur, Missouri. A memorial service is being planned for Sunday, May 20, in the afternoon. If you would like to be informed of the details of the service, please write to info@chapelhillrarebooks.com or Chapel Hill Rare Books, P.O. Box 456, Carrboro, NC, 27510. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Doctors without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org).

More »