Another Edition of Grier-isms

How could I forget the Jan. 9th Board meeting in which Dr. Grier said “I have to work with these people…”

He was referring to the School Board in response to a parent questioning him following the now-infamous “slavemaster” comments by Deena Hayes on Dec. 19, 2006. Go to my website media page for past coverage of this incident.

Grier-isms is a new feature in which we will feature and highlight the not-so-witty, half-cocked, and the just-plain-unreal and downright insensitive comments of our illustrious superintendent of schools, Terrence Grier.

E.C. 🙂

2,000 Visitors to hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org

We just logged our 2,000th visitor to hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org yesterday. Thank you.

It was actually unexpected at first. I projected only about 50 unique visits in the first month since my official campaign website went live on Dec. 1, 2006. On Dec. 15, 2006, the site logged 350 hits. The number climbed to 600 this past January 1, and increased to 1,000 in mid-January.

That says something.

It says this county is ready for a substantive and immediate change in how our county schools are run. It says many will support candidates who desire immediate changes, even though the primary is still 15 months away.

Even though we’ve run primarily an electronic campaign, we’ve had a few coffee and focus meetings so far, I shared several e-mails from teachers and parents all across this county. I’ve enjoyed meeting with you all and learning about the issues you care about. This new and improved blog, which is now syndicated locally in Guilford County to other blog sites (and soon will be syndicated statewide for an even wider audience), has allowed you to be interactive and comment in real-time. I will begin accepting donations by the end of the week; that platform is just about ready. And I will continue to work very hard for your vote and support. There are detractors, but there are very few of them, and not enough to derail this campaign. This is pure grass-roots in action.

I’m proud of the work that has been done these three months. And we have a long way to go. But with your support, we’ll get there.

Thank you, God bless you, and may God continue to bless the children of Guilford County.

E.C. 🙂

Assaults on Teachers Happens More Than You Think

Related to a previous blog entry last week in which I talked about instances of assaults on teachers occuring at Page, see this article from today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. And the Feds are taking notice.

The article describes an increase of student-to-teacher assaults in Allegheny County, Pa., which includes the City of Pittsburgh.

It states: “Some teachers are at greater risk than others of being attacked by a student, according to a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education. Male teachers are more than twice as likely to report an attack than female teachers and elementary school teachers were more likely than secondary school teachers to be attacked.

“Public school teachers are more likely than private school teachers to be threatened with injury or physically attacked by students in school. And teachers in central city schools were more likely than their peers in suburban or rural schools to report being threatened with injury or physically attacked, according to the study,” the article says.

Sounds like an epidemic, folks. And this will require a real solution.

Comments?

E.C. 🙂

Feds: Achievement Gap Closing

See this Washington Post article. And this ought to make some folks very happy.

Apparently, little-known statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education just released say that black high school students are beginning to narrow the achievement gap with their white counterparts.

“The study of the transcripts of 2005 high school graduates found that 52 percent of the black graduates had completed a four-year curriculum of at least “mid-level” difficulty. For their white counterparts that year, the rate was 51 percent — a one percentage point difference that experts said was statistically insignificant,” the article says.

Maybe it’s me, but I think that’s incredible news. I wonder if Dr. Zhang has similar statistics for GCS? It would be interesting to see.

E.C. 🙂