WS Chronicle

Photo by Todd Luck

BY TODD LUCK 

THE CHRONICLE

As students returned to Carver High School on Monday, Aug. 29, the school is readying itself for an academic comeback.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools started its school year on Monday. While every school has challenges, none are more apparent than in the school system’s 11 priority schools, which include Carver. Priority schools are among the state’s lowest performing Title 1 schools, which have high percentages of low income students. According to state academic standards, Carver’s students are at 9 percent proficiency as of last school year. Carver opened in 1936 to serve African-American students during segregation and still has a largely black student body.

Principal Travis Taylor said Carver is putting measures in place to improve student performance to make sure that it won’t face reorganization like Cook Elementary School did.

“We’re in our 80th year of being open at Carver High School, we don’t want the school to go down on our watch,” said Taylor.

He said that starting this school year, there are weekly assessments to track the progress of students in the state-tested courses of Math I, Biology and English II. There are also new teacher assistants for each of those classes who will work with struggling students individually. The school has tutoring Tuesday through Friday and on Saturdays, which utilizes both school staff and community volunteers. The school has also hired a dean of students to develop programs to help with discipline issues and keep students with behavior problems in the classroom.

Another thing Carver is currently working on is adding an Information Technology Academy, which is expected to start next school year. Carver already has a Hospitality and Tourism Academy, with classes that prepare students to pursue careers in that field.

He said the school system, Carver alumni and the community have been supportive of the school. He hopes to see that support grow, since Carver needs volunteers, not just for academics, but also in other areas like marketing the school and beautifying the campus.

Kanijah Edwards started her senior year at Carver this week. She said she was looking forward to it. She stayed at Carver even after she moved out of its district. She said she’s received support from Carver staff, who have gotten her involved with the athletics department, which she volunteers with. She said she’s learned a lot that will help her as she pursues athletics as a career field.

Edwards, who works part-time at Cook Out, said she is looking forward to improving her grades this year. She credits tutoring last school year with turning her D in Biology into a B. She said she thought the tutoring and increased one-on-one attention for students will help improve the school’s proficiency if the students are willing to do their part.

“I hope that the freshmen help improve (Carver’s) reputation, and not just the freshmen, every grade,” she said.

Daniel Piggott, Jr., a math teacher at Carver, said he was hopeful that that the school will begin heading in the right direction academically this school year. A Carver alumnus who’s taught at the school for 13 years, he’s seen Carver bounce back before, like when it was one of the low performing schools Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, Jr. threatened to shut down. He said he believed Carver would rise to the occasion again.

Piggott recently wrote an editorial that was published in The Chronicle asking the community to help Carver. He said there’s been a good response with people coming for-ward to volunteer. He said he felt it’ll take “the entire village” rallying around Carver to make a difference.

“I know what this community is capable of because I’m a product of it, so I just think we just need to reenergize ourselves as a community and make Carver a focus, a priority, again,” said Piggott.