During the March 15th primary, five Democratic candidates for New Hanover County’s Board of Education are hoping to land three open spots on the November ballot. Sandra Leigh says her experience and commitment set her apart.
Before retiring last year, Sandra Leigh worked for 42 years as a teacher and principal in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Hoke County. If elected, Leigh says her number one goal would be turning around the failing inner city schools:
"I have worked all my life in inner city, public, predominantly minority, predominantly poverty-driven schools. I have a lot of experience, a lot of practice with a variety of different approaches, none of which are being used, to help support and turn these schools into successful schools."
She says grading the schools based on one standardized test doesn’t accurately depict the work being done within the classroom, which she aims to highlight. Leigh says part of the solution is improving and supporting the magnet programs so that they attract a wider diversity of students:
"Diversity in the classroom is key. If you’re teaching a segregated or monolithic group of students who have similar backgrounds and similar experiences in life, you’re going to get a similar outcome, and when you have diversity, people start to learn to work together, classrooms become enriched by the diversity that’s within them. So, the first thing to do is to look at how to make those schools more diverse."
Leigh says teachers at underperforming schools should be given incentives, such as a stipend, to encourage them to stay.