Jan. 20, 2015

Betty Howell Gray was back at the Forum Tuesday to promote a February conference aimed at improving academic achievement.

Education experts and inspirational speakers dominate the daytime activities on Feb. 12-13. A free community meeting is planned on the evening of Feb. 12.

Since Gray first announced this event at the Forum in November, one headliner speaker has been dropped from fliers and the $60 per day fee has been cut to $50, but Gray still faced questions at the Forum about the cost. Gray’s reply appeared to suggest that solicitations of corporate and other sponsors had not met expectations.

CMS students will not be at school on the second day of the conference, but it is a teacher work day.

Materials  online include at least three names for the conference, to be anchored at UNCC but also held at West Charlotte High and either J.C. Smith University or possibly Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

Online registration is here.

Speakers include Eric Cork, Dr. George Fraser, Dr. Lucian Yates and Glenn Singleton. Singleton is the expert who former CMS Supt. Heath Morrison had hoped to bring to town to lead a “courageous conversation” on race. Gray said Singleton worked for years with the Seattle school district where she was a principal before moving to Charlotte.

Written materials say the sessions for educators at UNCC’s Cone Center “will focus on cultural issues and best practices to improve academic achievement for all children, especially children of African descent.”

Conference materials are posted on the website of New Jersey-based Lumos Learning, a division of a publisher of paper and online classroom materials. That listing includes a partial schedule of how the two sessions will play out.

The video below captures most of Gray’s presentation at the Forum.