Duke has accepted its moral responsibility

Guest Columnists

BY MICHAEL PAGEAND AND STEVE TOLER

Duke University has been a wonderfully supportive partner with Durham Public Schools for many years. J. Wesley Null ("duke's question of moral responsibility", April 11) and his colleagues at Baylor University would do well to visit Durham and learn from this national model for town-gown relationships.

The duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership has set high standards for community involvement for the last decade. Dozens of programs representing millions of dollars in monetary and in-kind support have successfully worked toward improving student achievement and professional development efforts in our public schools. Perhaps that is why the Durham Public Schools nominated this collaboration for a Governor's Education Partnership Award, and why duke rightfully won.

More than 500 volunteers from duke can be found in Durham Public Schools on any given day. duke professors serve as guest lecturers. duke employees and students devote thousands of hours serving as mentors and tutors for DPS students each year.

Just seven weeks ago, duke and Durham Public Schools announced three major initiatives valued at just under $1 million to support public education in our community:

*The Durham Teaching Fellows program will provide full tuition and a stipend for a total of 24 duke students over three years to complete the Master of Arts in Teaching Program if the students will make a two-year commitment to teach in the Durham public schools.

*The Spanish Leap program will offer language training for teachers working with Hispanic students (including a language immersion trip to Mexico) to help address a critical need as our public school enrollment of Hispanic students has grown from 2 percent in the mid-1990's to 14 percent today.

*duke will provide professional growth support for early career Durham Public School teachers from the Center for Teacher Learning and Collaboration at duke University.

These programs are but the latest over the past decade where duke and K-12 education have worked in partnership. Some others -- but only some -- are described below:

*A $1 million grant from PepsiCo Foundation to duke Libraries is boosting computer access and technology training in low-income partner neighborhoods and public schools.

*A BOOST (Building Opportunities and Overtures in Science and Technology) grant of $438,000 to duke given by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is improving student performance in the 5th-to-6th-grade transition and encouraging under-represented minorities to pursue science as a career.

*With funds provided by duke, E.K. Powe Elementary School opened a $270,000 Science Resource Center. This initiative won a national Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) award for community/university partnerships.

*A $250,000 Learning Network Grant from AT&T to duke's Perkins Library has been used to train public school teachers in the effective use of technology.

*A $450,000 grant from the GE Fund and duke's Pratt School of Engineering is being used to improve math understanding of children at Rogers-Herr Year-Round Middle School and Lakewood Elementary School.

More than 160 duke volunteers work with Project HOPE (Holistic Opportunities Plan for Enrichment) in five Neighborhood Partnership community centers and African-American churches with after-school programs. duke is partnering with N.C. Central University on efforts to provide year-round training opportunities, including NCCU's Saturday Academy, thanks to grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to both of our community's excellent education institutions.

duke also has contributed to the construction of an Outdoor Learning Environment at Morehead Elementary School, assisted in the design and construction of an amphitheater at Watts Elementary School, repaved the running track at Durham School of the Arts and donated approximately $60,000 toward the completion of the outdoor learning environment at E.K. Powe Elementary School. duke's music department has also donated pianos to our schools.

duke's collaborations with Durham Public Schools have directly resulted in the improvement of countless thousands of lives, and will enrich this community for decades to come. Under the leadership of duke President Richard H. Brodhead, duke continues to lead the nation in a university's support of its schools. Michael Palmer, director of duke's Office of Community Affairs, and his talented, creative and committed staff have developed the prototype for a fruitful partnership.

The events of the last few weeks have brought duke's commitment to Durham into question, in the minds of some people. We urge those people to become familiar with the facts. The undeniable truth is that duke University is a caring, compassionate and supportive friend of DPS and the broader Durham community.

Michael Page is a Durham County Commissioner and a former chairman of the school board. Steve Toler is former chairman of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce.

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