New leadership rebuilds charter school

By Josh Lanier
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Although last school year was marred by controversy because of an embezzlement charge and fundraising problems, Carolina International School is poised to thrive under new direction and a new model of leadership.

Carol Forbes, interim director of the Harrisburg charter school, said since her June appointment she has worked to rebuild morale, tighten school curriculums and rebuild a direction that lacked consistency due to last year’s turmoil.

“It’s a healing time right now, so we’re focusing on improvements through ‘mindful leadership’ and refocusing our attentions on the school’s core values,” Forbes said.

Teachers and faculty said the strategies seem to be working.

“Since (Forbes) has started, there’s been a big turnaround in morale at the school,” Principal DeAnna Duncan said. “It’s been a big improvement for teachers to see the changes coming to the school.”

Forbes, a 42-year education veteran from Massachusetts, had an uphill climb when she came to CIS. When she arrived, former financial officer Sandra Vielbaum was awaiting trial in connection with the embezzlement of nearly $150,000 from the school. Vielbaum’s December arrest pushed morale to an all-time low with some teachers and parents. The kindergarten through 10th-grade school, which prior to 2008 had added a grade level since 2004, was unable to add the 11th grade. Some teachers were threatened with layoffs as funding had to be cut to make up for the mismanaged money.

Through small incremental changes, like a new leadership model focused around creativity, accountability, awareness and mobilization, and returning to the directives from the school’s founding in 2004, Forbes believes CIS can meet its lofty goals of student advancement.

“It’s not all of the things I did,” Forbes said. “We have a great community, faculty and parents who really stuck with the school because they know we had something to offer.”

Of the 445 students who were at the school, faculty said, only a handful left the school during the controversy. Most stayed with the school and the waiting list remains full, Forbes said.

Vielbaum pleaded guilty to eight counts of embezzlement July 28 and is currently serving a minimum two-year prison term at the North Carolina Correctional Institute in Raleigh.

After hearing of Vielbaum’s conviction, former Director Richard Beall said he was glad she was punished but said he was more excited the situation could be put behind the school.

“Carolina International School was never defined by one person,” he said, “and this whole situation made it seem that’s all we were, just some school who had been ripped off, but we had a wealth of talented teachers and students who were left feeling they didn’t matter.”

Beall resigned in June and is currently visiting family across the country. He said he expected CIS to bounce back because students, teachers and the community “have shown a tenacity to make sure that place keeps going.”

Even through the last year’s troubles, CIS made its state-mandated yearly growth and was one of the best performing schools in the county.

The school will remain financial strapped while administrators attempt to recoup lost funds and refill coffers, but Forbes said changes to the way fundraising is handled and money is managed will keep most of the fears to a minimum.

“It’s going to be a good year for CIS,” Forbes said. “We’re all making sure of that.”

•  Contact reporter Josh Lanier: 704- 789-9144.