From the Newsroom: The Times News

Under state law, we're all required to report child abuse to the authorities.

Reporter Isaac Groves explains why officials think an increase in reported cases is a good sign for the health of our children and families.

Some students and even some teachers are chronically absent from school. Reporter Jessica Williams looks at how large that problem is and how Alamance-Burlington School System is addressing it.

Sometimes the solution is as simple as letting a student's family or teacher know that their absences are noticed.

Reporter Kate Croxton spent months learning about the process of collecting rape kits and what goes into prosecuting sexual assaults. Why are so many kits in N.C. untested? What's been done to change that? And why is so much of the responsibility of prosecution placed on victims?

Burlington Economic Development Director Peter Bishop sheds light on Burlington's long-range plans for downtown Burlington and attracting business to other areas from the city council's recent Goal-Setting Workshop.

3:50 - An overview of city priorities outlined at the meeting

6:20 - Economic development priorities

7:00 - What goes into site development for business growth

9:30 - Shovel-ready matters. "Sites not dirt."

12:00 - UNC School of Government's Development Finance Institute and how it can help downtowns and other areas

16:00 - The future of parking in downtown Burlington

18:00 - Burlington Downtown Corp.'s vision plan: Reuniting Main Street, creating a plaza downtown if the police department headquarters is relocated

20:00 - "A bold plan."

24:30 - A vision, a path, but not set in stone

28:00 - National OnDemand headquarters coming to downtown Burlington

29:40 - N.C. Commerce Department's Building Reuse Grants

32:50 - May Hosiery Mill's transformation into loft apartments is happening

34:00 - Rep. Steve Ross' proposed extension, expansion of N.C.'s Historic Tax Credits, which enabled May Hosiery project

39:00 - Belong in Burlington session is 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Municipal Building

It was a busy weekend for law enforcement.

Here's brief information about:

- a road rage incident and arrest;
- an undercover prostitution sting;
- a couple arrested on drug and child abuse charges at a Burlington hotel;
- a business owner accused of taking money but never performing construction;
- and a woman crashing into the Burlington Dunkin' Donuts restaurant.

It was a packed agenda at Tuesday's Alamance-Burlington Board of Education work session. Jessica Williams has been writing about it all week.

Here's what she's covered and what we tackle in this clip:

• Proposed redistricting at crowded Hillcrest Elementary to undercapacity E.M. Holt Elementary;
• Rising school construction costs and the bond; 
• Changes to the academic coaching program - after a walkback of the wholesale elimination of the program, which supplies teachers with instructional support; and
• Incentives and plans for attracting teachers to Title I middle schools with high staff turnover

The National Agents Alliance does big business out of Burlington, and its event centers in central Burlington get heavy use. Some neighbors say the noise is too loud and have lodged complaints with the City and police.

Reporter Kate Croxton talks about the ongoing issue, what the City's options are, and what NAA's response has been so far. The company will meet with Police Chief Jeffrey Smythe sometime soon to talk solutions.

Reporter Isaac Groves was in the courtroom for 47-year-old Gwendolyn Rae Cloutier's sentencing. She was originally charged with statutory rape and sex offenses against a child in 2016 for acts with a 15-year-old boy.

In a plea agreement, she will serve unsupervised probation and won't have to register as a sex offender. This is unusual in cases with such serious charges, Isaac says. Online editor Michael Abernethy agrees.

Many online are angered over the leniency. Is there a double-standard?

The short answer: Teacher turnover.

The school board and ABSS central office are concerned about a lack of stability at particular schools and the cycle that perpetuates on a campus.

Teachers with provisional -- temporary -- licenses are either in classrooms on an emergency basis or as lateral entry -- teachers with degrees in subjects outside of education working toward their education certificate. Those positions have higher turnover rates (15.8%) than teachers as a whole (around 8.5 percent).

In ABSS, these teachers are concentrated at certain campuses -- which happen to be lower-performing academically. 

The point isn't that these aren't good or qualified teachers. They may be excellent and enthusiastic, but they lack classroom experience and are more likely to leave teaching for a different job within several years.

Reporter Isaac Groves examines a Graham ordinance that requires groups of two or more people to apply for a permit at least 24 hours before they demonstrate within the city limits.

Experts, including the Times-News' First Amendment attorney, say that doesn't square with the Bill of Rights.

But Graham is relying on the ordinance to keep the peace around the Confederate monument downtown.