Linda Bellamy oral history interview, 2005 October 25

Linda Bellamy talks about her career at Irwin Elementary and her work in developing the English as a second language (ESL) program in the school. Ms. Bellamy reflects on the challenges she faced in developing this program and in teaching ESL students without any special training in the field. Ms. Bellamy praises Irwin Elementary for its approach to education and details the many components of open education employed within the school. She speaks about the benefits of open education, and shares her opinion that the environment created by open education is more conducive to learning than the stressful environment created by high stakes testing in traditional schools. Ms. Bellamy concludes by discussing her views on various problems present in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, and suggests options for finding solutions to these problems.