N.C. University Faculty Bail Out High School in Math, Science Class

A North Carolina university has stepped into a major breach at a high school on the state’s list of low performers, lending some dozen faculty members from its ranks to head up science and mathematics classes that lacked qualified teachers.

Southern High School in Durham, N.C., began the school year short seven teachers for math and science classes. Three math teachers hired from the Philippines were hung up in paperwork, and several other teachers had resigned shortly before the school year began, said Fred Williams, who directs recruitment and retention for the district.

Then a chance encounter at a community meeting between the provost of North Carolina Central University in Durham and the district’s math coordinator sparked the collaboration. “Sending those teachers was the right thing to do, no doubt about it,” said Beverly Washington Jones, the provost at the historically black institution. “The faculty...