Teacher Working Conditions Forum

This is from the Guilford Education Alliance…

A teacher-led forum to discuss teacher working conditions will be held this coming Sunday from 3-5pm at GTCC’s main campus in Jamestown. Sponsors include Guilford Education Alliance, Guilford Co. Council of PTAs, and GCAE/NCAE. Download forum flyer.

E.C. 🙂

I Need a Volunteer Campaign Manager…Anyone Interested?

It’s been a bad week for me, campaign-wise, too many things and conflicts on my plate prevented me from getting to the Board meeting or the bloggers-bash this evening (if you were looking for me, accept my regrets and I will be at the next one for sure).

I need a campaign manager…someone who wouldn’t mind helping to gather volunteers and helping me with campaign appearances and putting things together and could ultimately fill in with passing out flyers and literature if I’m held at another conflicting event, which occurred this evening (I actually met with some supporters of this campaign this evening and I will ultimately take the time necessary to meet with them, because it is them, and you, that will support this campaign over the next year).

If you’re interested, and you have the children’s interest at heart, drop me a line. Sorry, it’s an unpaid position, but you would be helping to reform our school system if this campaign is successful. And that’s all the payment in the world, in my opinion.

E.C. 🙂

Culinary Academy at Central Isn’t Working…

Why does this not surprise me…sources tell me the all-hyped culinary arts “academy” at High Point Central H.S. isn’t working to its full potential and a main problem is not enough support from Downtown (Central Office)…and this was hyped up so much last summer. Again, the only ones hurt are the kids. It’s a shame.

E.C. 🙂

Homeless Students

This is a tragic story. It’s sad that we have students in our system who are homeless. Nonetheless, this is the reality many of our children face today.

CBS-2 WFMY profiled a couple of weeks ago the story of Antonio King, a student at Andrews H.S., who aged out of the foster care system and as a result, became homeless (click here for the story and video). As a result, he hid inside the school and slept there after hours for a few weeks…until he re-entered the school one evening and tripped an alarm. He had a chance to explain his story to Andrews principal Monique Brooks-Wallace, who then took him home, fed him (his only meal during the day was the school lunch) and got him some clean clothes.

King soon found a permanent situation at Joseph’s House, a place for homeless young adults. He tells Channel 2 that he has a clean bed to sleep in and a safe place to stay.

It would be interesting to find out just how many homeless students GCS serves and what (if any) steps the system is taking to ensure their continuous education.

E.C. 🙂

More Say NCLB Leaves Many Behind

See today’s Washington Post for an article on many more think tanks believing that the 2014 NCLB achivement target is fantasy rather than reality.

“There is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target,” said Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA. “But because the title of the law is so rhetorically brilliant, politicians are afraid to change this completely unrealistic standard. They don’t want to be accused of leaving some children behind.”

Ironically, the politicians themselves say the law is unrealistic.

“The idea of 100 percent is, in any legislation, not achievable,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate education committee. “There isn’t a member of Congress or a parent or a student that doesn’t understand that.”

Kennedy says in the article that the law’s universal proficiency standard served to inspire students and teachers. But “it’s too early in the process to predict whether we’ll consider changes” to the 2014 deadline, he said.

Wow.

E.C. 🙂

Guilford County SROs Safe

I was not able to make it to the meeting last night and I’m sorry I didn’t; lots of things are happening these days. But I’m so happy to hear our SROs are saved. See the N&R article here. It’s all about safety in our schools, not politics. I applaud the Board for their efforts last night.

E.C. 🙂

State Focuses on Vocational Education

 DATE:     March 13, 2007
TO:         Subscribers, NC Partners
FROM:   June Atkinson, State Superintendent

     As the State Board of Education and NCDPI staff members have traveled
across the state for the eight regional meetings on the Future-Ready Core
for high school, some citizens have expressed doubt about the level of
education that students will need after high school. I know that many of us
have learned important career skills on the job, but in today¹s economy
nearly all of the careers, trades and jobs that will support a family
require some post-high school education. That may take place at the local
community college or at a four-year college or university, but further
education is important. That is why the Future-Ready Core is designed to
allow students to explore their interests through Career Technical Education
or any of the other endorsement areas, plus graduate with the courses they
need to enter any post-high school education setting or skilled jobs that
they decide to pursue.
                                    Regards,
                                    June Atkinson

Comments?

E.C. 🙂