Funeral arrangements have been finalized for Commissioner Eddie Wright.

The funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 14 at 1:00 p.m. at South Henderson Pentecostal Holiness Church in Henderson.  The family visitation will be at 11:00 a.m. that same morning.

Mr. Wright will be buried Tuesday, September 15 at the Maryland National Memorial Cemetery in Beltsville, MD.

Longtime District 5 Vance County Commissioner Eddie L. Wright passed away during the night Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Wright was first elected in 2000.  His seat was due for election next year, although for many it seemed as if he never ran opposed all these years.   He served on the Granville-Vance Public Health District Board and was a minister of a local church.

The Vance County Board of Commissioners has 60 days to fill Wright’s unexpired term.

Vance County Attorney Jonathan Care provided WIZS News with the North Carolina General Statute.  N.C. G. S. 153a-27 essentially means the newly appointed board member must be of the same political party, a resident of the same district, that the board shall consult the county executive committee of, in this case, the Democratic Party and, if an appointment is not made within 60 days, then the appointment is to be made by the Clerk of Court.  Neither the board nor the clerk is bound by the Democratic Executive Committee’s recommendation.

For now, however, it is not about who will be appointed.

Archie B. Taylor is the Chairman of the Vance County Board of Commissioners.  Wright’s death came as a shock to him as it has to many others.  While Wright has suffered from joint ailments for years, no one in the public seems to have expected his death at this time.

Taylor said, “The county is going to feel his abscence.  He was a man of great faith and spiritual beliefs, an elder of the church, a pastor and preacher, and he was a champion of the little man.  He was definately wanting of a better quality of life for everyone in this county.  He was a great advocate for those who didn’t have a voice.  He is going to be missed.

“His voice of reason and compassion will be missed.  He showed his faith by his work.  (Wright) had a very supportive family during this illness.  They have been extremely supportive of him and that speaks highly of them and their spiritual values.”

Taylor said, “Our prayers are with the family.”

Press Release- September 3, 2015

On Tuesday, September 1, 2015, members of the Henderson Police Department Special Operations Unit and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation arrested three individuals on cocaine trafficking charges.  Those arrested and charged are as follows:

Arnold Frank Booth Jr., 52, 125 Bearpond Road Lot 8, Henderson was charged with trafficking cocaine(2cts) and maintaining a vehicle for keeping a controlled substance.  (He) was placed in the Vance County Jail after failing to post a 300,000.00 secured bond.  A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for September 14, 2015.

Rodderick Jesus Booth, 20, 125 Bearpond Road Lot 8, Henderson was charged with trafficking cocaine(2cts) and maintaining a vehicle for keeping a controlled substance.  (He) was placed in the Vance County Jail after failing to post a 300,000.00 secured bond.  A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for September 14, 2015.

Lance L. Bradley, 46, 263 West 152 Street- 2C, New York, New York 125 Bearpond Road Lot 8, Henderson, was charged with trafficking cocaine(2cts) and maintaining a vehicle for keeping a controlled substance.  (He) was placed in the Vance County Jail after failing to post a 300,000.00 secured bond.  A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for September 14, 2015.

Authority: Chief Marcus Barrow

Data released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction for the 2014-2015 school year is encouraging for the Vance County School System.

Eight Vance County Schools increased performance by one letter grade as determined by the state required School Performance grading system. The four-year cohort graduation rate increased by more than four percentage points from the previous school year.

These results also indicate that Vance County Schools’ third-grade students improved their reading proficiency by nine percentage points in 2014-2015 based on the N.C. Read to Achieve standards.

Schools increasing their School Performance Grade from the previous year were Aycock Elementary School, Dabney Elementary School, New Hope Elementary School, Pinkston Street Elementary School, E.M. Rollins Elementary School, E.O. Young Jr. Elementary School, Zeb Vance Elementary School and the Vance County Early College High School. Aycock and Early College were designated as “B” schools. There were five schools designated as “C” schools and they included Clarke, Dabney, Pinkston Street, Zeb Vance and STEM Early High School. Seven schools were “D” schools and included Carver Elementary, New Hope Elementary, E.M. Rollins Elementary, E.O. Young Jr. Elementary, Northern Vance High and Southern Vance High. Eaton-Johnson Middle and Henderson Middle were designated as “F” schools. Western Vance High School, as an alternative school setting, is evaluated on the state’s Alternative Accountability Model.

The district’s graduation rate improved to 77.5 percent from 73.2 percent for the 2013-2014 school year. Vance County Schools’ four-year cohort graduation rate has now increased by 13.4 percent over the last three school years. The 2014-2015 graduation rate at Southern Vance High increased from 78 to 81 percent. The graduation rate at Northern Vance High improved from 72 to 77 percent and the graduation rate at Early College High rose from 84 to 89 percent. Western Vance High School had a 100-percent graduation rate for the second consecutive year.

The N.C. Read to Achieve grade-level proficiency increased in 2014-2015 from the previous year for third-grade students in seven of the district’s 10 elementary schools. The district’s overall proficiency level went from 71 percent to 80 percent for 2014-2015. New Hope Elementary led the way with 96 percent of their third graders reaching proficiency reading levels for 2014-2015, compared to only 47 percent from the previous school year. Other school results included third-grade reading proficiency increasing for: Zeb Vance to 92 percent from 71 percent; Pinkston Street to 84 percent from 68 percent; Clarke to 80 percent from 68 percent; E.M. Rollins to 79 percent from 68 percent; E.O. Young to 71 percent from 67 percent; and L.B. Yancey to 51 percent from 49 percent. Aycock still had 91 percent of their third graders reading at grade level, but this was a decline from 96 percent the previous year. Carver third graders’ reading proficiency also declined from 83 percent in 2013-2014 to 77 percent in 2014-2015. Dabney’s third-grade reading proficiency remained the same at 74 percent.

Vance County Schools’ officials are encouraged by the academic growth demonstrated by students at all grade levels on state end-of-grade tests in reading and math and end-of-course tests in certain subject areas for the 2014-2015 school year. Students at Clarke Elementary exceeded growth expectations for the second consecutive year and nine schools met growth expectations. The nine schools where students met growth expectations were Aycock, Dabney, New Hope, Pinkston Street, L.B. Yancey, Zeb Vance, Eaton-Johnson, Western Vance and Vance County Early College. This is an improvement over the district’s performance where in 2013-2014 there were 11 schools that did not meet growth, compared to seven in 2014-2015. During the 2013-2014 school year, only four local schools met growth. Local schools showing the most growth in each grade span from one year to the next were New Hope, Eaton-Johnson and Early College.

“We continue to move in the right direction in many areas of performance,” said Dr. Trixie Brooks, assistant superintendent. “Our four-year cohort graduation rate continues to increase each year and we celebrate that fact. We desire every child who enrolls in our school system to graduate and we will give students opportunities to catch up if they are behind and opportunities to keep up to master content in current courses.

“As teachers learn and own the curriculum standards and as students meet the challenges of its rigor, we expect to continue to see increases in student performance,” she continued. “We want our students to persevere through challenging text in all subjects, to work out multi-step complex math problems until they understand the process, to track their own progress until they master standards and to set personal goals.

“We have some areas we will address through our Instructional Framework and strategic planning, but we are proud of our progress,” Brooks said.

While not a direct quote attributable to anyone in particular, it seems that too much is still up in the air on the issue of Drivers Education, especially as it pertains to concrete decisions from State Legislators, and it appears, based on comments anyway, that Vance County officials would like to wait for more solid information before speaking publicly on the matter.

Drivers Education in the North Carolina School System is not dead but has not been fully brought back to life either. North Carolina Legislators are having some second thoughts about dropping the program. The alternative, having parents pay between $500 and $600 or convincing the North Carolina Community College System to take over the program has not gotten much traction.

However, the State Legislators have started talking about taking another look at the program to find a solution, rather than no Drivers Education at all.  Much like the way local education budgets are based on state allocations, Vance County along with other counties, will apparently have no choice but to take the lead of the station on this issue.