This article was originally published in the March 26 print issue of The Scuppernong Reminder

Education requires change.

School officials from Tyrrell, Washington, and Hyde counties met on March 22 at Beaufort Community College to discuss how they can effectively adapt to change.
The event was planned and implemented to share school district needs.
Lloyd Armstrong, Chair of the Tyrrell County Board of Education, and Pearl Sutton, Assistant Superintendent, at Tyrrell County Schools were two of the closest local officials.
“The invitation was from Beaufort Community. They have had some beefing up of some programs. They opened a new building as well as a remodeled building. They called school district representatives and the board chair to give some information about their programs,” said Sutton.

Sutton noted that the Beaufort representatives talked about how they wanted to serve the surrounding districts.
Officials in attendance included:

BCCC:

Dr. Barbara Tansey, College President

Dr. Crystal Ange, Dean of Student Services

Ms. Lisa Hill, Director of High School Programs

 

Beaufort County Schools:

Dr. Don Phipps, Superintendent

Sharon White, President, Board of Education (BOE)

Hyde County Schools:

Dr. Randolph Latimore, Superintendent

 

Tyrrell County Schools:

Lloyd Armstrong, Chairman BOE

Pearl Sutton, Assistant Superintendent, Tyrrell County Schools

 

Washington County Schools:

Rev. Russell Wilkins-Chairman

Dr. Joe Davis, Superintendent

“Part of what the Beaufort representatives talked about was how they wanted to serve the surrounding districts from their service areas. Students from any county attend Beaufort Community College. But BCCC is primarily responsible for their service area.
“They called their service area representatives to come there. They were talking about the programs, the classes, and the buildings,” said Sutton.
Sutton mentioned that she explained that Tyrrell County’s biggest educational needs were to offer online courses for the county’s Early College program. The community as whole also needs online courses offerings.
“We would like to be able to offer to the people a place where they could take some community college courses. Traveling to Beaufort Community or College of the Albemarle is a distance for many of our people. Depending on any given year, they may or may not have transportation. So hopefully we could offer up some courses here staffed by Beaufort Community College,” said Sutton.
Sutton mentioned that the building for the Tyrrell County’s Ag Program has been revamped.
“Our school also provides Microsoft Academy, so it is possible that we could have a Community College course for the community. Then people could take Microsoft Office exams and get some certification,” she said.

 

Beaufort Community College President   Barbara Tansey attended the March 22 meeting between the three counties.

She stated that Beaufort Community College has the largest service area of 58 community colleges in the state.

“We cover 2,008 square miles. Because of the distance involved, it has been difficult to serve the other counties. Ocracoke, Engelhard, and Columbia are some examples of this. Now that technology has improved and we have all kinds of different technology, we see the opportunity to provide that service to the parents, the students, and the citizens, and businesses that we have been providing to other area. We will just provide it in a different way,” Tansey said.

Tansey mentioned videoconferencing and online courses as examples of technology that can be used to serve areas outside of Beaufort County.

“We will be able to do one on one advising if someone that will be able to go to a library or high school  can get on a computer,” she said.

Tansey discussed different methods of delivering classroom courses at the March 22 meeting.

“We explained to them that no two delivery methods have to be alike. We have to have a variety. The school officials helped us figure out a model that works best for their area,” she said.

Tansey mentioned that expanding videoconferencing classes was discussed for Tyrrell County. Tansey said the issue was being addressed.