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Trustees may mandate personal finance class
The Halifax County School Board may be barely recognizable when it
opens the year tonight with five new faces among the eight-man board.
New members Walter Potts, Devin Snead, Joe Gasperini, Roger Long and
Stuart Comer take their first votes tonight. (Although Potts served in
the 1990s.)
Tops on the agenda: Electing board officers.
Often a pre-discussed forgone conclusion, the chairmanship may be up
for grabs this year.
Often, the board rotates the chairmanship. The job entails extra
responsibility but also a higher profile.
Also on the agenda: Discussion of the old class pictures. The composite
photos of graduating classes from Halifax County High School were taken
down when the building, now the middle school, was remodeled. Alumni
were upset, and asked the board to restore and re-hang the pictures.
Added to the agenda will be a proposal by new board member Joe
Gasperini to add a personal finance class as a high school graduation
requirement.
“Some of these things are touched on in courses that are taught at the
high school, but we do not have one comprehensive class that assures
that they are all covered for all students,” said Gasperini, a
financial consultant, in an e-mail.
The class would teach the skills of banking, savings, budgeting, car-
and home-buying, credit, taxes and insurance.
Gasperini cited surveys that show students lack financial literacy and
wish they had more help in preparing for their financial future.
Salem City Schools have a course that Halifax could implement, he said.
He said he believes his proposal has sufficient support from fellow
board members.
“All the Board members I have discussed it with as well as teachers,
parents, and business people in the community believe it will be an
invaluable addition for our students,” he wrote.
If approved, the class would be offered in the fall and made a
requirement before incoming freshmen could graduate. The requirement
would not apply to current students.
The open meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Mary Bethune Complex in
Halifax.