SUNDAY
OUT OF THE ASHES: Construction begins on new church. 1B
January 17, 2010 125th year No. 17
CHANGING IT UP: Market Authority seeks catering bids. 2A
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HALF AND HALF: HPU’s women net win; Panther men fall. 1D
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WHO’S NEWS
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Certified Family Nurse Practitioner Elizabeth Todd joined Piedmont Centre Family and Sports Medicine. Todd is a licensed Registered Nurse and certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
BY VICKI KNOPFLER ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – In addition to showcasing local musicians, artists and businesses, Party on the Plank is designed to benefit and build the community. Organizer Elijah Lovejoy needs $60,000 to cover expenses, and beyond that he anticipates revenue of more than $100,000 from things such as food and beverage sales and vendor fees. Three nonprofit groups will take on a large portion of the work, and each will reap proceeds. For instance, Communities in Schools is in charge of food, and it will keep vendor fees. It also will sell
HIGH POINT – Plans for next summer’s Party on the Plank are well past the organizational stage, and Elijah Lovejoy is ready for people to “join the party,” which is the slogan for the current phase of his plans. Lovejoy, a minister fairly new to High Point, began thinking about an event to enliven downtown High Point and make local people feel connected to the area more than a year ago. He began working on plans in earnest last summer. He chose the name “Party on the Plank” in homage to the old plank road that was the basis of Main Street. Symbolically, it is PARTY ON THE the foundation of High Point, PLANK he said. Lovejoy’s vision gained its Breathing life first firm footing when Kem El- into downtown lis, director of the High Point ■■■ Neal F. Austin Public Library, offered the library as the location for free events that will be held on six consecutive Thursday nights June 3-July 8. Since then, Lovejoy has secured 13 corporate sponsors and 10 community sponsors, formed 10 committees made up of 35 volunteers and raised more than one-third of the $60,000 he estimates will be needed for expenses. He also secured the services of Jessie Meriwether as executive administrator and one of the main workhorses, Lovejoy said. Meriwether is a student in the nonprofit leadership studies program at High Point University. She is being paid for her Party on the Plank work, and she gets course credit. She will be in charge of volunteers, press and grant-writing. The Join the Party effort, which kicked off Friday, includes raising additional money and recruiting entertainers, artists, food and retail vendors and volunteers. Lovejoy is restricting participation to people from High Point and the immediate area of Archdale-Trinity, Jamestown, Thomasville and Wallburg to make local people feel invested in improving High Point. “This is the full-court press,” he said. It’s time to send people to the Web site (www. partyontheplank.com), and if they want to get involved, they can send an application to the appropriate committee, and we’ll get back to them.”
WIN-WIN, 2A
vknopfler@hpe.com | 888-3601
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Party on the Plank committee members Jessie Meriwether, Elijah Lovejoy and Kem Ellis talk in a meeting room on the third floor of High Point Public Library about upcoming Party events.
Before you read...
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Party on the Plank, a series of entertainment events in downtown High Point, got off to a successful start in 2009. Planning already is well under way to make this year’s event bigger and better than before. And it promises to be a winwin situation for local nonprofits, civic groups and the community at-large. But the party may not stop there. Organizer Elijah Lovejoy sees it as a way to save downtown, making it a viable and attractive place to shop and visit. This two-part series looks at how the new Party on the Plank is fast gaining momentum, and how it could fit into the larger picture of downtown renewal.
Win-win event is the goal BY VICKI KNOPFLER ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
NC gets poor grade in charter school report BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
TRIAD – A new national report has ranked the state poorly for capping the number of public charter schools at 100. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its first state-by-state review of charter school laws last week. The report ranked North Carolina 32nd out of 40 states with charter schools. The main criticism was the state’s cap on the number of charter schools. “Our organization would love for the 2010 state legislature to remove the cap altogether, not just increase it,” said Paul Norcross, chairman of the N.C. Alliance for Public Charter Schools and chairman and founder of Phoenix Academy in High Point.
Charter school directors and other supporters will gather in Raleigh on Tuesday to start an “awareness” campaign and a series of regional round table meetings about public charter schools. In the 2009 session, a House bill that would have raised the state cap to 106 schools failed by six votes. The state also runs the risk of failing to win a federal grant for as much as $400 million in Race to the Top stimulus program because of the restrictive law, according to the alliance. State education leaders claim that capping the number of charter schools helps them focus on quality. School districts with charter schools pass along a perstudent share of local education money to hire teachers, buy text-
books and for other operating expenses. Charter schools, run by private boards, have open enrollment and don’t charge tuition. The report found that 12 other states which restrict charter school growth could be disqualified for federal grants. They are: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Rhode Island. In addition, 11 states have no public charter school laws. The states were ranked based on the strength of their charter school laws, including components such as quality and accountability, funding equity, facilities support, autonomy, and growth and choice.
CHARTER SCHOOLS
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Top 10: These states have laws favorable to the growth of high-quality charter schools – Minnesota, California, Georgia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Utah, New York, Louisiana, Arizona, and the District of Columbia. Scope: The North Carolina law allows new start-ups, public school conversions, and virtual schools. The state also needs to beef up its requirements for charter school administration and provide facilities support to charter schools. Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
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INSIDE
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SOURCE OF PRIDE: High Point’s annual MLK parade held. 1B OBITUARIES
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Graham Davis, 72 Maxine Dover, 84 Edith Faley, 74 Ava Jordan, 97 Lillian McDowell, 72 Flossie Morgan, 85 Lyda Patterson, 85 Dorothy Small, 88 Billy Walker, 74 James White, 72 Obituaries, 2B, 4B
WEATHER
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Showers likely High 46, Low 35 8D
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