Special Meeting this Wednesday

From GCS:
The Guilford County Board of Education will hold a Special Called meeting on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. to discuss hiring a new superintendent. The meeting will be held in the Board Room of the Administrative Offices, 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro, N.C.
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E.C.

More on that math/science collaboration (N&R)

Today’s N&R has more on this proposed math/science collaboration effort between UNCG and GCS. And some striking quotes can be found here.
N&R:
Educator Ed Uprichard has a vision that Guilford County 20 years from now will be known for luring and keeping some of the most innovative and high-paying technical and engineering companies in the [...]

This one hits a little too close to home

(via N&R)
This is Brandon Thompson. Brandon is 18 years old and is from High Point.
Today’s N&R ran his photo as part of this story:
HIGH POINT — An 18-year-old man faces three felony charges in connection with the Monday night assault of a woman.
Brandon Rishad Thompson of 2673 Hidden Pond Cove, High [...]

NCAE Grapples Over Personal Leave Pay (N&R)

Today’s N&R covers the ongoing struggle over teachers having to pay to use personal leave. The NCAE is behind a move to ask legislators to reverse this decades-old requirement to pay a $50 fee to reimburse substitutes to use their own personal days.
I never thought this requirement was fair, and I think the NCAE [...]

Too many dropouts says Easley

 Outgoing Gov. Mike Easley told a group of business leaders yesterday that there are too many dropouts in the state.
Duh!
Not that he was in a position to do anything about it for his two terms, right?
Coverage from today’s High Point Enterprise:
  GUILFORD COUNTY – Dropout statistics show North Carolina high schools are not working and [...]

Groups seek new vision for schools (N&R)

More on Sunday’s town hall meeting at Gillespie Park, courtesy of today’s N&R:
Guilford County occasionally gets the chance with a turnover in leadership to craft a vision for the education of its youngest residents.
Teachers, school board members, parents and business leaders have been buzzing with ideas behind the scenes since Terry Grier, former Guilford [...]

Pay for Grades (CNN)

CNN’s Lou Dobbs interviewed Supt. John Deasy, head of the Prince Georges County Public Schools on his show last night. Also in the hot seat was Donald Briscoe, with the Prince Georges County Education Association. They both discussed a new “mission possible”-like program P.G. County was implementing, with the blessing of the school system’s [...]

The Dems are a’comin

(Daryl Cagle-MSNBC)
Sen. Obama is coming tomorrow to the War Memorial, Sen. Clinton on Thursday (likely to Winston-Salem, according to the N&R).
Don’t let the drive-by’s sway your opinions and don’t listen to the rhetoric. Make your own decisions. Do your own research.
Listen carefully to both candidates for their opinions on public education, the economy, No Child [...]

2008 Teacher Working Conditions Survey

From DPI:
March 24, 2008

Dear Teachers:

As State Superintendent, I encourage your colleagues and you to complete the 2008 Teacher Working Conditions Survey available now online through April 21. Your completion of this survey will help policy makers, your schools and districts make important changes to improve teacher working conditions and student learning conditions. Several new [...]

Speak into the mic

 I know this sounds weird, but to all of our school board members during meetings…could you guys start doing a better job of speaking into the microphones, please? During the most recent meeting, many of you could not be heard well. It would really help us all out a lot.
Thank you.

E.C.  

MOVE-ing forward (HPE)

SPECIAL | HPE
The Central High School group MOVE (Men of Valor Excelling) provides black, male students a “vehicle” to change negative stereo­types they face in the classroom, says organizer Richard McGoogan, a teacher at Central.
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Today’s HP Enterprise covers MOVE (Men of Valor Excelling), a program designed to address negative stereotypes black male students [...]

Burckley says don’t blog

Allen Johnson has a one-on-one with former GSO city councilman-turned political consultant Bill Burckley in yesterday’s N&R. And he has this take on blogging:
“I enjoy reading them but my advice to any potential candidate is don’t ever blog. … People get sloppy when they blog.”
I think the success of this campaign so far [...]

Peace & Blessings this Easter season

Here’s wishing you and yours a very peaceful and blessed Easter holiday, and wishing our children a great break.  Remember the reason for the season.

E.C.

Arts takes center stage in Roanoke (Roanoke Times)

Roanoke City Schools is the newest case study for how to buck the trend and restore arts/music education.
Roanoke Times:
 Virginia’s Roanoke Times (3/21, Harrison) reports, “After years of slowly drifting toward neglect, the Roanoke school system is working to improve its instruction in art and music.” While NCLB is [...]

Schools see more holiday absences (N&R)

  Lots of Good Friday absences were reported across the district, according to today’s N&R.
N&R excerpt:
More students than usual were no-shows in some Guilford County Schools on Good Friday, getting a head start on the spring break that starts Monday.
Some administrators said they expected the absences because this was the first time in [...]

Town Hall meeting to talk education

From the N&R Chalkboard:
The Community Dialogue on Education and the Guilford County Council of PTAs will co-sponsor a Town Meeting on a Community Agenda on Sunday, March 30, from 3-5 p.m. at Gillespie Park Elementary School, 1900 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Greensboro. All Guilford County groups and individuals, who are concerned with local [...]

Public Schools Come In Plain Or Fancy (Rhino Times)

This week’s Rhino Times story of the week talks school construction…and the fact that a fully-functional school can cost $4.5 million…yes, it can. It may be utilitarian in nature and not offer the frills, but $4.5 million can be stomached a lot better than $88 million.
This has already generated a number of comments on other [...]

Lost in the Middle (NCEA)

Kristen Blair, columnist for the NC Education Alliance (an arm of the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation) inks yet again another stellar column on the benefits of reforming middle school curriculum (something I strongly support) and looking at K-8 schools.

Lost in the Middle
By Kristen Blair
March 20, 2008
Much has been said in recent years about reforming [...]

Upside down antics at last night’s meeting

I don’t get these people sometimes.
The top story from last night’s GCS Board meeting was not the two-hour discussion about Triangle Lake Montessori nor the discussion about the Super-search…it was the fact that Board members Deena Hayes and Walt Childs no longer favor busing your children. That’s the top story.
Deena and Walt saw [...]

Taxing authority gone wild

Caught this on Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume last night…for those of you that are concerned about taxing authority to fund local education, this report will make you cringe.
Click here to watch the video (look for the one marked “funding fight”)

E.C.

New blog to debut this weekend

I’m excited to announce the debut of a brand new sister blog this weekend:
Triad Job Watch
(http://triadjobwatch.wordpress.com/)
This will be a place to vent and rant and opine about the stagnant employment situation in our area and for citizens to lean on each other and help each other.
This will be separate from my school board/education blog and [...]

Meeting preview-3/20/08

N&R has this preview story for tonight’s GCS Board meeting.
Excerpt:
School board members remain divided on how to best fill empty seats at Triangle Lake Montessori next school year.
The decision to create a “school within a school” for opt-out students or send them 17 miles away to Colfax Elementary may come down to how well parents [...]

Math/Science collaboration effort underway

From last week’s Business Journal:
Guilford County Schools and each of the colleges and universities in the county are working together to create a new joint educational research center, to be dubbed the “Institute for the Advancement of Learning in Mathematics and Science.”
Planning is taking place under a $75,000 grant from the Bryan, Cemala and [...]

States to get leeway on school sanctions (AP)

(AP)
More NCLB news today, courtesy of the AP.
An excerpt:
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Flanked by state Republican leaders, the nation’s top education official said increased flexibility for a select group of [...]

Spellings’ recent NCLB Road-Show in NC (N&O)

US Education Secy. Margaret Spellings was in North Carolina recently touting the benefits of No Child Left Behind.
According to the News & Observer of Raleigh, she had choice words for her NCLB critics.
N&O excerpt:
Spellings touted North Carolina as among the pioneers in state testing programs that preceded No Child Left Behind’s requirements. No Child [...]

Promethean boards debut in 8 MP schools

In its continuing partnership with GCS, Action Greensboro helped staff eight “Mission Possible” schools with new smartboard technology known as Promethean Boards.
Featured on AG’s new SpringBoard blog, these boards are huge, interactive computer screens that you can write on with an electronic stylus which interface with laptops that store teacher lesson plans and Powerpoints. [...]

DPI Briefs for 3/18/08

From DPI:
*  Superintendent’s Task Force on Ethics and Licensure Schedules First Meeting
The first meeting of the Superintendent’s Task Force on Ethics and Licensure will be held this Thursday, March 20, beginning at 9:30 a.m., in Room 224, Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh. Comprised of local school administrators, deans of education schools, teachers, [...]

Training Principals to Be Instructional Leaders (edWeek)

Another live chat from our friends at Education Week magazine:
Training Principals to Be Instructional Leaders
When: Wednesday, March 19, 3 p.m., Eastern time
Submit questions in advance.
Please join us for this online chat to discuss how principals can learn to team up with their teachers in a collegial quest to build top-notch instructional skills.
Nationwide, policymakers increasingly argue [...]

Melvin thanks Grier

Former GSO Mayor Jim Melvin “thanks” San Diego Supt. Terry Grier for his years of service to the Peoples Republic of Guilford County in a LTTE in today’s N&R.
And “The Liberal Conservative” has some choice words for a commenter.
Has anyone found out yet if “TLC” is allegedly former GCS Board member Marti Sykes (according [...]

CBS-2 plugs new Andrews Av Academy

I’m sure GCS appreciates the nice plug from CBS-2 on the new aviation magnet program Andrews H.S. is about to roll out. Check this recent report out:
High Point, NC — Some select students in Guilford County will receive a unique opportunity this coming fall. The district will open “The Andrews Aviation Academy” to [...]