Progress on University High School, the early college partnership between Elon University and Alamance-Burlington School System, is falling behind schedule. The school, which would allow high school students to complete two years of college credit by graduation, is scheduled to open in fall 2012, but ongoing discussions between the two parties are putting it at risk for not being ready on time.
"If we don't get this settled soon, we won't open for fall 2012," said Gerald Francis, executive vice president of the university. "If it's not decided before we go home for Christmas, we're most likely going to be looking at a delay."
Currently, a memorandum of understanding, a document describing the agreement between the two parties, is being revised based on the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education's concerns about the original plan.
"We still haven't gotten all the details," Francis said. "Most of it is coming down to insurance liability about having these young folks on campus. You can't sue the state of North Carolina, but you can sue us. If we're linked with the school, we want to make sure we have proper coverage."
Among the school board's concerns are where the early college will be located, how exactly the admissions process will work and whether all Elon faculty, staff and outside workers on campus, such as ARAMARK employees and construction workers, will undergo regular background checks.
"Some school board members are questioning about the location of the school," said Peter Felten, associate provost. "In the past, they haven't approved schools without knowing specifically where they will be. That's still up to the university."
Though the location hasn't been determined, Francis said it would be on or contiguous with Elon's property.
Logistics on the admissions process for the early college haven't been finalized, either, Felten said, also causing the board to ask questions.
"The proposal document was 10 pages, with one page on admissions," Felten said. "It laid out the philosophy of how the admissions process would work and the timeline, but not the nitty gritty details. So school board members and others have been asking appropriate questions."
The school board raised a concern about background checks not being regularly conducted on "employees whose job responsibilities involve regular or unsupervised contact" with students, Francis said. Lawyers representing the school system have been continually revising the memorandum of understanding with the university's lawyers.
Elon University conducts initial background checks on faculty and staff, but what other employees the description refers to is vague, he said.
"We're not sure what the document means by 'unsupervised contact.'" Francis said. "Does that mean, if a student goes into the grill and gets a drink, they've had unsupervised contact with someone? We don't know."
Francis said the language in the document would currently require the university to conduct these background checks every year.
"We don't have any problem with the background checks — all of our employees get those checks," Francis said. "But the document says we're supposed to be doing annual checks, and we don't want to be doing annual checks on everyone who works here."
Students who attend the university would take advanced high school courses their ninth and 10th grade years, and be enrolled in college courses during 11th and 12th grades, meaning they would be in class with Elon students and faculty.
ABSS will provide funding for ninth and 10th graders — including a principal, teachers and a school counselor, and the university will be responsible for funding the program for 11th and 12th graders.
"There's not a direct cost for the university, but kind of an indirect cost," Francis said. "If you had a class of 26 students in Sociology 111, there might now be 29 students. You never can nail down that cost."
In addition to the possibility of having to add more class sections to accommodate extra students, Francis said Elon would fund the position of an adviser or coordinator to assist upperclassmen at the early college.
Besides furthering Elon's commitment to partner with the community, specifically through education, faculty and staff also reap the benefits of Elon's investment into local public education.
"We have our own interests in this, too," he said. "We're finding that, when we hire, more and more of our faculty and staff are coming here but live in Guilford or Orange counties, because they want their kids to have the opportunity to attend he best public schools."
So the university's involvement in University High School and other ABSS initiatives, Francis said, springs from several motivators.
"We have a choice — to turn our back on the community and live within our little walls here, or be a part of it," he said. "And we've chosen to be a part of it"