THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412100209
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSTON LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
From a brand new building dedicated Friday, consultant John T. Spagnolo spread the latest innovations in science curriculum through 20 northeastern school districts.
Clint Johnson works on discipline programs that create ``good order and good feeling in the schools at the same time.''
And Jane S. Shoaf helps teachers prepare students for end-of-grade English testing.
For some 30 employees of the Northeast Technical Assistance Center, the simply designed brick building with cubicled offices and pleasant gray-blue carpeting is a huge morale boost over the center's old facilities in a rotting former school building.
State Superintendent Bob Etheridge put it in a nutshell before snipping the last strand of a red ribbon draped ceremoniously across the building's front doors:
``It is nice to have the bathroom inside.''
A men's restroom hidden down an outer corridor and requiring a key for entry was among the problems at the cold, leaky old building, about three miles from the new one across from Martin Community College.
The Northeast Technical Assistance Center, which covers 20 school districts in 18 counties, is one of five regional arms of the Department of Public Instruction that link school systems to officials in Raleigh.
Services include staff development, leadership consulting and support services such as dropout prevention and counseling. Low-performance schools take up the bulk of consultants' attention, but every system uses the center as a resource.
In January, the center also will be a base for the fledgling Northeast Alliance, a collaboration of area educators and citizens tackling the problems of local systems.
``The needs of North Carolina are too great, in my opinion, to be met by government agencies that work in isolation,'' said Etheridge, who has worked since he became lieutenant governor in 1989 to refocus the department's field offices from regulation to collaboration.
Joseph Peel, superintendent of Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Schools, who introduced Etheridge at Friday's ceremony, will head the Northeast Alliance board. It will comprise superintendents, school board members, the regional teacher and principal of the year, and business and higher education representatives.
In the past, Peel said, ``technical assistance was something that was done to you.'' With the alliance, school systems can share information and pool resources, like chipping in for grant applications or legal services.
For the more than 100 educators, local and state officials and center staff who attended the ribbon cutting, the new offices marked a higher level of prestige - and comfort - for the center.
``They're not as leaky as the others, and the heat works better,'' said center Director Jeanne Meiggs, a former Currituck County Schools superintendent.
The new half-million dollar facility is owned by Martin County and is being rented by the state, Meiggs said.
The old building, science consultant Spagnolo said, ``is a very intersting contrast to this. You could never really feel good.
``There's a feeling of professionalism that goes along with a clean work space.'' by CNB