School System Consolidation

See this Winston-Salem Journal article…lawmakers in Raleigh think counties with two or more school systems need to have them merged to save money. Of course, Charlotte-Mecklenburg is taking steps to un-consolidate by creating new mini-districts within its system. Consolidation is not always a good thing…take Guilford County, for example, where three merged systems ended up leaving the issue of future growth not being discussed and schools not being built? The results are what we’re dealing with now, especially in High Point.

E.C. 🙂

Montlieu Principal on the Move

Tamilyn Washington, Montlieu Math & Science Academy principal is out. It’s uncertain if she retired, quit, transferred or was forced out. Here’s the blurb, according to GCS’ Friday Notes:

Montlieu Elementary

Rochelle Bailey will be the new principal at Montlieu Elementary effective immediately.  Ms. Bailey is the current assistant principal at Western High and has been the Curriculum Facilitator at Fairview Elementary.

Montlieu is a high-impact elementary school, and unfortunately is not getting the supplies and resources they need from Central Office to properly educate our children.

E.C. 🙂

The “Opt-out” Schools Controversy

The controversy-du-jour with Guilford County Schools involves creating and finalizing the list of so-called “opt-out schools,” as it relates to schools that fail to make AYP (federal benchmarks as a result of NCLB). See today’s News & Record for more on this.

Readers of this blog and followers/supporters of this school board campaign will recall that Kiser Middle School is an opt-out school, and we’re seeing the results of that with fights, violence and major discipline problems. Now comes word that the GCS Board is “concerned about shuffling students farther from home” (oh God, here we go again) and putting pressure on other crowded schools, prompting Board members to come out and say they won’t promise a final list of opt-out schools by the end of the month.

“We’re changing them [opt-out schools] around every year,” board Chairman Alan Duncan told the N&R Thursday. “That’s not satisfactory.”

Reporter Morgan Josey writes: “The district plans to request school board approval of the list of opt-outs for failing traditional schools and magnet programs March 29.”

Josey’s article also mentions Kiser’s challenges: “Kiser has faced its own challenges accepting more students without additional federal funds, said board member Kris Cooke. “Kiser is struggling,” Cooke said of the school’s growing enrollment and previous discipline issues. “That cannot continue.”

Duh, Ms. Cooke…so what are you doing about it? Isn’t it uncanny and a bit ironic, Kris Cooke, that I’ve talked to probably more Kiser staffers about their concerns and issues in the last few weeks and I’ve pledged to be an advocate for those folks.

Complaining and recognizing that there’s a problem is one thing, doing something about it is an entirely different talk-show.

E.C. 🙂

Grier-isms–Part 3

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

In discussing the recent state dropout rates and questioning the accuracy of the system’s overall graduation rate versus the state’s, he told the Rhino Times: “We have one of the lowest dropout rates…the two just don’t add up.”

Unfortunately, he continued.

“We want to have accurate numbers.”

Then the babbling raged on.

“We discovered errors in the reporting…we are not trying to point blame.”

Uh, yes you are. As usual, the leadership of Guilford County Schools is weaseling out of their responsibility of graduating our children and passing the buck And passing the buck has to stop in Guilford County.

E.C. 🙂

New Study Suggests NCLB is Failing our Children

No surprise here, a new study by a nationally renowned education reform expert just published in the District of Columbia Law Review says No Child Left Behind is leaving many of our children behind.

“Merely tweaking the accountability scheme and increasing funding would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” said Ratner [in the article], “We need to fix the underlying problems if we are to reach the important goals of No Child Left Behind.”

“Without changes from Congress, if school improvements continue at the current rates, it will take 280 more years for the Act to meet its goals of bringing every student in the nation to proficiency in reading (as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.)”

That would make it in the year 2287?

Face it folks, the original 2014 target is a fantasy. And I don’t mean to be negative, but the writing is all over the walls. The bureaucratic-NCLB needs to be scrapped…now!

E.C. 🙂

State Dropout Rate: Damage Control or Spin?

North Carolina State School Supt. June Atkinson on the state’s dismal graduation rate:

 TO:        NC Public School Teachers
FROM:  State Superintendent June Atkinson
DATE:   March 8, 2007    

Last week, the NC Department of Public Instruction presented the
state’s first four-year cohort high school graduation rate showing that 68
percent of the ninth graders of 2002-03 had graduated by their senior year.
While this rate does not reflect students who may need a fifth year to
graduate or those exceptional children who complete the 12th grade and earn
a certificate rather than a diploma, we know that too many young people drop
out of high school without graduating. We have a number of activities
underway to help improve high school:  the New Schools Project, Learn and
Earn high schools, high school turnaround teams adolescent literacy coaches,
and others. I have encouraged your superintendents to work with you,
principals and others in your district to examine any local policies that
could be contributing to the high percentage of high school dropouts and to
seek ways to better support students and keep them on track for graduation.
A performance audit of all high schools is underway also. Results of this
audit are due at the end of the 2006-07 school year, and we hope they will
provide additional ideas for improving high schools.
                               Regards,
                              June Atkinson

Spin…or damage control? You be the judge.

 E.C. 🙂