AN INDICATOR OF OUR RAIN-SATURATED LAND

Board gives teachers cell-phone discretion
New state law clears the path for policy modifications

Prompted by newly enacted state legislation, the Johnston County Board of Education by unanimous vote Tuesday tweaked its recently adopted cell-phone policy to permit teachers to authorize use of cell phones by their students "for educational purposes."

At the same time, the board removed policy statements that had banned teachers' use of cell phones in class except "for emergency response purposes and when not responsible for supervising or instructing students."

The policy on use of electronic devices basically prohibits students in all grades from using cell phones "from the first bell to the last bell each day." Unauthorized use brings penalties to bear, starting with temporary confiscation of phones followed by suspension from school if repeat violations occur.

The board's adoption of the initial policy by a 5-2 vote on June 10 brought forth outcries from Johnston's teachers who complained their severely restricted use of cell phones during instructional times would "undermine our professionalism."

Assistant Superintendent Patty Whittington pointed out Tuesday that new state legislation ratified in late June gives teachers permission to allow cell-phone use in class. According to a summary posted on the General Assembly's website, the legislation "permits student use of a wireless communication device during instructional time if authorized by the teacher for educational purposes."

While Tuesday's acceptance of policy revisions came by unanimous vote, board members Michelle Antoine and Terry Tippett expressed reservations.

"What is it they can't do on their Chromebooks that they need their phones for?" asked Ms. Antoine, who said teenagers are likely using their phones to play video games when they say they're working on classroom assignments. "Kids need structure; they need rules," she declared.

"I just feel like we're giving teachers another headache," added Mr. Tippett as he envisioned teachers spending much of their time policing students to make sure they're not misusing their phones.

Superintendent David Pearce asked the board to "give the staff a chance" with the new policy. "I believe we need to have a wait-and-see," he said. "This can only get better; I don't think it can get much worse." He concluded with a pledge: "If we need to adjust it, I'll be the first one to come back here and tell you."

"Public Comment" blocked from meeting's live-streaming

Chair Lyn Andrews announced the change in procedure at the outset of the "Public Comment" segment of Tuesday's monthly meeting of Johnston's school board:

"Tonight we are going to change one aspect of our Public Comment. We will not broadcast the Public Comment section during this meeting. Public comments will take place but this segment of our meeting will not be live-streamed."

Furthermore, "the school district will no longer facilitate the distribution of the information shared through Public Comment. We do this with the advice of our legal counsel," Ms. Andrews said.

"There's no attempt here to prevent transparency, no attempt to deny access for people to share information," she continued. "All of those who want to come and share their thoughts with this board are welcome, so we will always listen and we're always going to take into consideration what you want to share with us," adding that "from tonight on we will not broadcast our Public Comment section."

Other members of the board were silent as the announcement was made, although The News & Observer (which regularly monitors the meetings on YouTube), reports that April Lee has posted on Facebook that she disagrees with the change.

The Public Comment portion of the school board's monthly meeting at times draws a dozen or more speakers limited to three minutes each. After making the announcement about the black-out, Ms. Andrews said just two citizens had signed up to speak at Tuesday's session. Before their names were given, the broadcast interrupted live coverage with the message "PUBLIC COMMENT IN PROGRESS" followed by video features of school activities usually shown during the board's closed sessions on confidential matters as allowed by state law.

All of the school board's regular monthly meetings are not only live-streamed but also archived for viewing at any time on the school system's YouTube channel>

Five appointed to Smithfield Middle's Advisory Council

The Board of Education Tuesday appointed three parents of students at Smithfield Middle School as new members – Tunisia Bryant, Melanie Jimenez, and Karen Acero Torres – and reappointed two others – Pedro Macedo and Deborah David – all recommended by the school's principal, LaShunda Faison.
 

Countywide revaluation nearing jump of 70%
Last week's property-tax billings a big piece of the puzzle

That's getting close to the 70.6% mark reported by Johnston County Tax Administrator Jocelyn Andrews in January at the conclusion of a year-long endeavor to assign updated values to all of the county's real estate in the wake of a surge in market prices since the previous revaluation six years ago.

Minus individual valuations amounting to $334,548,399 under appeal as of July 30, the total used for property-tax bills mailed by the county last week was $37,051,212,110, Ms. Andrews reported. That's an increase of 68.8% over total valuations of $21,952,890,438 used for last year's initial billing.

This year's percentage increase is bound to rise as the appeals are resolved and the results are added to this year's valuation total. How much of an increase remains to be seen, but it's safe to say it'll top the 70% mark.

Obviously, some property owners have gotten tax bills with percentage increases higher than that, while others have seen lesser jumps.

And some taxpayers, especially businesses with "personal property" that includes machinery and other equipment, are seeing reductions in at least a portion of their 2025 tax bills. That's because the state requires such business property to be revalued each year while real-estate values hadn't been adjusted since 2019.

Going forward, Johnston County will be undertaking real-estate revaluation every four years. Prior to 2019, it was done every eight years – the maximum gap allowed between revaluations by state law.
 

L. Lamar Armstrong Jr.	Marcia Armstrong	L. Lamar Armstrong III	Eason Armstrong Keeney

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UNC Health in full control of county's hospital
Taxpayers no longer underwriting expansion of facilities

Actually, UNC Health Care has been behind the financing of major construction projects and expansion of medical services at Smithfield and Clayton since the County of Johnston chose to partner with the UNC system a decade ago.

What has recently changed is governance of our local hospitals. Effective July 1, UNC Health became the sole owner of Johnston Health Services Corp., which had been set up in 2014 to administer the county's joint venture with UNC.

As a result, a 15-member governing board made up of eight members appointed by Johnston's County Commissioners and seven appointed by UNC Health Care will, in time, give way to a 13-member board entirely appointed by UNC officials. Even so, county commissioners and other local leaders will be consulted before new appointments are made, stressed Tom Williams, CEO of UNC Health Johnston, during a briefing with the Weekly Sun. VIEW list of current board members>

He explained that the new corporate setup will make it easier and cheaper to borrow money for expansions as identified capital needs of more than $100 million at Smithfield and Clayton are beyond the debt capacity of Johnston Health alone.

Meanwhile, the County of Johnston retains ownership of the real estate in Smithfield where both older and newer sections of the hospital are situated as well as the site of the Medical Mall in the former Burlington Mills building across the street. The county does not own the real estate where the Clayton hospital was built.

Currently, the Smithfield hospital – which relinquished its original name as Johnston Memorial Hospital with construction of a new five-story "patient tower" in 2008 – is licensed for 179 medical and surgical beds and 26 beds for behavioral health. The Clayton hospital is licensed for 50 inpatient beds.

In addition, UNC Health Johnston operates primary-care offices in Smithfield, Clayton, and Kenly as well as the SECU Hospice House in Smithfield.

UNC Health Johnston has more than 2,000 full-time and part-time employees and nearly 300 physicians on its medical staff, plus a cadre of about 150 volunteers.

An historical review of the evolution of Johnston County's hospital system, dating back to the late 1940s, appears on the UNC Health Johnston website>



Parts of what used to be known as Johnston Memorial Hospital remain in place facing Bright Leaf Boulevard. (Photo from UNC Health Johnston's online archive)
 

Coates Hearing on U.S. list of fast-growing enterprises

Started just six years ago in Smithfield by Dr. Kathleen Coates and her husband, Jordan, Coates Hearing Clinic is No. 2706 on the annual Inc. 5000 list that ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the nation.

PRISON MEN RAISE DONATIONS FOR TWO CHARITIES

  DEATHS AND FUNERALS  

EDDIE MELVIN MOZINGO, 76 – died August 11

CAROLE LOIS SCHWARTZ, 81 – died August 10
 

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Teachers on Monday welcomed back students enrolled in Johnston County Public Schools' programs based at Johnston Community College. (JCPS Facebook photo)

 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

Should've been first day of school for everyone!

Students enrolled in the county school system's Career & Technical Leadership Academy and the Early College Academy went back to school on Monday. The reason: Those programs are based at Johnston Community College, which opened its fall semester this week.

Publicly funded Neuse Charter School also began classes for its students this week.

But the rest of Johnston's public-school students won't return until Monday, August 25. The reason: State law still doesn't allow North Carolina's traditional public schools to begin classes any earlier than the Monday closest to August 26.