ADMIN: 5,000 And Counting…

We just hit a milestone here at hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org. We just logged our 5,000th visitor to this site’s weblog. Thank you.

It’s a testament to the public to know what’s happening in our schools and what we can do to promote change in our schools. Change is inevitable, but it only takes one person.

My campaign is not a one-man show, for it will take you (all of you) to make it happen. I don’t have a thick campaign staff, I don’t have a lot of money to spend on campaigning (and what I have spent is very little so far), I don’t have a campaign manager (yet), and that’s actually a testament to how grass-roots this campaign and my message is….which is this: we can have better schools. We can have accountability for our taxpayer dollar. We can have the best schools in North Carolina. We can stop the waste and the fraud and the mismanagement. We CAN do it.

And the message is clearly getting out. This is the only independent weblog dedicated solely to public education in Guilford County and beyond. And you all are visiting in droves (and participating). The best thing this campaign has done so far was to move this blog to its own server and the results have been nothing short of stellar. We’ve been averaging between 70-100 unique visitors daily. This is working, because of you.

Thank you.

Stick around. We’ve got less than a year to get ready for the primary, and we’ve already seen that this is going to be a dirty campaign. Our chances look very good, though, seeing as though my campaign is the only declared candidacy so far for the at-large position.

Thank you again,

E.C. 🙂

Public Schools? (cartoon)

Some would say this cartoon describes public schools…in name only. Take a look from our friends at “Weapons of Math Destruction.com“:

E.C. 🙂

AP Testing Problems at Central

UPDATE BELOW

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This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Massive problems with the administering of the College Board’s Advanced Placement exams at High Point Central H.S. in recent days have prompted an investigation by school officials.

Today’s High Point Enterprise is reporting that missed testing windows and a mysterious disappearance of testing materials have put AP testing on hold. See companion sidebar story here.

For a district that prides itself merely on the amount of students that take AP classes (not how many of them pass the AP exam, or how many pass the AP class itself), these series of developments are troubling, and are probably indicative of an audit and examination of the GCS Testing office.

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UPDATE, 6/3/07, 8:36AM: Would you believe they found the missing tests…undelivered, on a UPS truck?!?!? This, according to a News & Record update story. I’m sorry, but this whole thing stinks to high heaven.

E.C. 🙂

$3,000 Could Buy a Lot of Supplies

…it really can.

$3,000 could buy a lot of printer ink cartridges for our high-impact schools. It could buy a lot of soap of school bathrooms. It could buy a lot of paper. $3,000 can help to fund High Point’s Gradfest, which is in doubt right now because of a lack of funding.

But it is the amount of $3,000 worth of budgeted taxpayer money that School Board member Dot Kearns used ($3,643 actually) as “traveling expenses” for education-related junkets so far this fiscal year, according to a story in this week’s Rhino Times. Kris Cooke came in second, spending $3,225 in taxpayer money.

Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Kearns. Back in July, 2003, a previous Rhino Timesstory once said Kearns spent more than $5,000 in taxpayer money for traveling to junkets. She once said: “We are certainly not without the need for staff development ourselves. I have never supported cutting our travel budget.”

But teachers can’t always get the time off to travel to these junkets and in many cases, they can’t go because they can’t get the schools to pony up funds to send these teachers to these same conferences.

See this excerpt from this week’s story:

[It] doesn’t come as too much of a surprise because both Kearns and Cooke sit on the school board’s Legislative Committee and that committee is always trying to get someone to give the schools money. School board member Anita Sharpe and Duncan have not spent any taxpayers money for travel expenses so far in the current fiscal year.

I do not support using taxpayer money for this purpose and you can bet that I would rather send a teacher to a conference than myself. I would advocate examining the travel budget once elected and see where it could be further reduced.

The theme is responsible governing. This is clearly an example of irresponsible governing.

E.C. 🙂

Blue Ribbon Commission Meets Today to Review State Public School Testing

This is interesting….

From DPI:

The State Board of Education has convened an independent Blue Ribbon
Commission on Testing and Accountability to provide a comprehensive review
of the state’s accountability system ­ including student testing. Dr. Sam
Houston, chief executive officer and president of the Science, Math and
Technology Center and a former local school superintendent, chairs the
Commission. The Commission will hold its first meeting this morning from 11 a.m.-3
p.m., in the 7th Floor Board Room, Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington
St., Raleigh. Work of the Commission is on a fast track, with a final report
and recommendations scheduled to be presented to the State Board of
Education by September.For more information, including a complete list of members and scheduled
meeting dates, please go to the NCDPI Web site at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org and click on the appropriate link under
“News.”

E.C. 🙂

Alston Constructively Criticizes…then Experiences an Epiphany

The eldest son of Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston responded last week to a blog entryI made regarding Deena Hayes’ latest comments at the last Guilford County School Board meeting. DeSean Alston initially called me and this campaign “pathetic” and “a puppet.”

Then the younger Alston proceeded to constructively criticize me on the Conservative Alternative’s blog site as to why I should not have a vendetta against Hayes. In the same breath, he said he would stop the name calling, and he did. He also said that he lays the responsibility as to why our schools are failing on the shoulders of all of our school board members.

He then had an epiphany after others laid out claims as to why our schools, especially our high-impact schools, have failed our children the most. The conversations have been entertaining, thought-provoking, rich and thorough. Alston is seeing the light. He even said: “Indeed I will be making the rounds to the School board meetings as time permits.”

That’s progress. He was right in some respects that I have spent a lot of time and space on Ms. Hayes. Despite what you may think, I really don’t have a vendetta against her. As I said, I think she is a very nice lady. But we really need for her (and most of the other Board members) to put their agendas aside and speak out for our children. Our children are our future.

 E.C. 🙂

Grier Defends Mission (im)Possible

Today’s High Point Enterprise reports Dr. Grier defended the embattled Mission (im)Possible program last night at a joint GCS Board/County Board work session, despite question from several county commissioners.

An excerpt:

Grier responded to questions from commissioners who had been talking with teacher and other constituents about the program.
“The other teachers at these same schools work with the same children and get frustrated,” said Dem­ocratic Commissioner Bruce Davis of High Point. Demo­cratic Commissioner Kay Cashion worried that teach­ers who don’t get the bonuses “don’t feel valued.”
Grier acknowledged that many teachers have com­plained that the program is unfair because it does not give bonuses to art and physi­cal education teachers, for example, at the same targeted schools.
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Of course, Grier sold this idea on the basis that EOC scores would rise. We see now that it obviously hasn’t happened.

Taxpayer money spent. Taxpayer money wasted.

E.C. 🙂

Parents Speak Out for Andrews

UPDATE BELOW

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During last night’s school board meeting, many parents spoke out in favor of more resources for Andrews and pleaded for the Board for more support for the school. Enrollment is projected to decline further because of the recent redistricting move, along with proposed budget cuts threatening the loss of an assistant principal and possible cuts to its prized band program. See HP Enterprise story here.

An excerpt:

Two parents spoke out against declining enrollment at the school, located in central High Point, and the subsequent loss of staff and other programs there. Some have attributed the drop in enrollment to redistrict­ing changes and various choice plans for the school. Parent San­dy Allen said school officials are sending a message to the pub­lic that the school is “not good enough” and a “sinking ship.”
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Let me go on record once again saying I’m not anti-Andrews H.S. I’ve said in the past that it is due to the constant neglect by Guilford Co. Schools that has created challenges for Andrews. This school used to be the crown jewel of High Point. Three rounds of redistricting later brought the challenges. Not pumping enough resources into the school and two years worth of state assistance teams didn’t help either.

I taught at Andrews. There are good students, teachers and administrators who care deeply and who are unfairly victimized because of the neglect by GCS. Yes, there are behavioral issues and academic issues, and GCS has made it worse.

Walt Childs and Dot Kearns have done zero to help that school…zero. I was expecting Childs to make a statement during his free comments last night to address the parents…he didn’t. Neither did Kearns.

It is the lack of leadership at GCS and some of our board members that has allowed Andrews to end up in this situation. And this is what my campaign is all about.

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UPDATE, 5/26/07, 1:20PM: Today’s High Point Enterprise has a second-day story on this, along with this Walt Childs comment:

Board member Walter Childs said dur­ing a Guilford County Board of Educa­tion meeting Thursday that personnel is needed at the school to keep the momen­tum going.
“I don’t want the school to go back­wards instead of forward without that manpower,” he said. The school is “mov­ing in the right direction,” Childs said, after a series of setbacks that still haunt the school, including violence from years past and low test scores.

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Andrews has had two state assistance teams and a county “go” team. They’ve made recommendations and issued reports (strangely, these “public” documents have not been made public). They’ve told you, school board and Dr. Grier, what needs to be done to help Andrews grow, thrive and succeed. What have you, GCS, done?

E.C. 🙂

Deena Has Some Serious [Hate] Issues

DEVELOPING STORY…UPDATES BELOW 

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GC School Board member Deena Hayes was in rare form this evening.

At least twice during this evening’s meeting, she brought up race, and once again, it had very little meaning on the discussion(s) at hand.

During a discussion of the Advanced Learner program this evening, Hayes said publicly that she will “reserve her vote” because she feels not enough students of color are nominated for the district’s AL program. Hayes cited an article to prove her point.

Okay, I “Google’d” her article, and here’s what I found: she quoted the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education’s Winter 2006 edition. The article is titled: A Descriptive Analysis of Referral Sources for Gifted Identification Screening by Race and Socioeconomic Status by Matthew T. McBee. Here’s the article in full text.

See this abstract of the article:

Despite vital role of the referral as the “gate-keeper process through which students become eligible for official evaluation for entry into gifted programs, it remains poorly understood. An examination of the gifted education literature reveals a paucity of research in this area. This is especially troubling and indeed surprising given the field’s well-documented struggle to identify and serve students from minority or low socioeconomic status (SES) families (e.g., Ford, 1998; Frasier, Garcia, & Passow, 1995). A relatively large amount of work has examined possible methods of fairly assessing students who are traditionally underrepresented in programs for the gifted, including assessment schemes based on dynamic assessment (Kirschenbaum, 2004), nonverbal ability tests (Naglieri & Ford, 2003), Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences (Sarouphim, 1999), compensatory policies such as lowering IQ cutoff requirements for students from underrepresented groups (Hunsaker, 1994), and performance-based assessments (VanTassel-Baska, Johnson, & Avery, 2002). These procedures may hold great promise for identifying and serving students from these groups. However, most school districts require that a student be referred or nominated before being formally assessed for gifted program placement. Students that do not receive a referral will be unable to enter the program no matter which formal assessment procedure is used. The referral process is an obvious potential source of unfairness in the entrance process. It is essential that reliable information be made available so that current practices can be evaluated and perhaps modified.

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Unfortunately, she was just getting started.

Next, during a discussion of the naming of the Reedy Fork area elementary school in honor of the late NASA Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair, she publicly said that she had a problem naming a school after persons who, she claims, were not going to be respected. She went all over the place, again, using the School Board as her personal agenda, from Northeast Guilford H.S. having some alleged entrenched racial issues to those living in ZIP Code 27406 versus 27410 to pointing out the conditions of several cities in which various Martin Luther King Drives cut through to allegedly shopping at local yard sales and buying “aunt jemima figurines” for her home simply where “they will be respected.”

The kicker was she quoted an article she claims “she carries around with her at all times” which discusses “if Emily and Greg are more likely to get a job than Lakisha and Jamal.”

I “Google’d” this article…here’s what I found: one site that contained a bunch of liberal hocus-pocus, mentioning Cynthia McKinney and OJ Simpson in the same breath. But I saw the footnote at the bottom of the site (scroll down to footnote “5”).

Another site came up with the same article (by a gentleman named Tim Wise), but minus the hocus-pocus liberal editorial comments.

I “google’d” the article title, and here’s what I got: it takes you to a pdf article of a 2004 study by a group of researchers from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business in which they conducted a labor market study of discrimination in the workplace. By the way, this article is 42 pages long.

What is left to say about Deena Hayes? Seriously, how is a sane individual able to comment her on ongoing diatribes? She clearly doesn’t represent nor supports all children who attend Guilford County Schools. If she thinks there are serious, yet ongoing injustices to black children in GCS, what is she doing about it besides talking about it? Where are the examples? Show me the gifted black child who wasn’t promoted over the semi-gifted white child. And what is she doing to biracial children? Asian children? Latino children? Native-American children? I’m getting really sick and tired of this whole race discussion. Instead of helping to put out fires, she’s keeping them going and it is disgusting.

Your opinions, please.

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UPDATE, 5/25/07, 7:52AM:

Link to News & Record Story here.

Link to FOX-8 story with video here.

Link to previous Deena Hayes coverage here and here and here.

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UPDATE, 5/25/07, 9:35AM: Who is this Tim Wise, the author of one of the articles Hayes mentioned? Click here.

E.C. 🙂

NCLB Exams: Testing Irregularities in Florida

Tis the season to be jolly…seems to be some major testing and scoring anomalies reported in Florida, where according to the Miami Herald, the errors on third grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCATs) are raising major questions. And lawmakers, school officials, unions and parents are all crying foul…gotta love that No Child Left Behind act!

See this excerpt:

Human error inflated last year’s third-grade FCAT reading scores, state education officials said Wednesday — an admission that again called into question the state’s controversial high-stakes testing system.

”Last year’s scores were probably higher than what we should have had,” state testing director Cornelia Orr said — just weeks after calling the students’ performance in 2006 “stellar.”

The state’s accountability program uses FCAT scores to determine everything from school grades to teacher bonuses. But for years, teachers, parents and lawmakers have said too much is tied to a single test.

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Gee, THAT sounds awfully familiar! And for the life of me, there is no excuse why a third grader has to have stress over one of these exams. It is both frightening and sickening what we’re doing to our children. And it didn’t used to be this way. Or am I the only one that’s alarmed at what is happening?

E.C. 🙂

Andrews May Lose its Band: HP Enterprise

The Marching Red Raiders is T. Wingate Andrews H.S.

But can you imagine that school without its prized band program? That’s the issue school administrators are struggling with as they ponder over projected enrollment figures for next year. They tell the High Point Enterprise that unless enrollment begins to trickle up next year, the marching band program is in jeopardy. See this excerpt:

Because of budgetary con­straints, [Principal Monique] Wallace said it’s typi­cal for schools to lose programs  and staff when student enroll­ment drops. According to the district, Andrews’ projected enroll­ment for 2007-08 is 902. This year, enrollment was at 954; down from 1,011 in 2005-06 and 1,085 in 2004-05.
Kirkley said the newly revamped choice plan has driven enrollment down even further. She and other parents plan to address the Guilford County Board of Education tonight with their concerns.

E.C. 🙂

Sample EOG/EOC Questions from DPI

Here’s something to break up the day…go to the state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) website and take some of these sample elementary/middle school end-of-grade and high school end-of-course exam questions. See how you do and report in…

E.C. 🙂

Davidson Co. Systems WANT to Merge: W-S Journal

System officials in both Thomasville and Lexington are backing the proposed merger of Lexington City Schools and Thomasville City Schools with Davidson County Schools. They say test scores and student achievement are the primary reasons, according to a recent Winston-Salem Journal article. With test scores tanking all over the area, I think you will see a lot of shakeups among smaller systems all over the area very shortly. See this excerpt:

Lexington City Manager John Gray tied Lexington’s future last week to the merger of the city’s school system with Davidson County Schools, stepping into a debate that has simmered in Davidson County for years.

As part of his annual budget presentation, he said that the school system is failing its students, with poor test scores and a low graduation rate.

For Gray, the only logical step is for the city school system to merge with the county’s school system.

“It’s way past due,” he said.

Mayor Richard Thomas and other city-council members agreed, pointing to the school systems’ poor academic performance.

“Putting money into the schools has not paid off in the way of results in test scores,” Thomas said.

Seventy-seven percent of students in Lex­ington scored at or above grade level in reading on ABC end-of-grade tests in the 2005-06 school year, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Less than 50 percent scored at or above grade level in math.

Both were below state averages. Lexington City Schools also has the lowest graduation rate in the state, at 43.7 percent. The state’s graduation rate is 68.1 percent.

E.C. 🙂

The Fake Newsweek Rankings

It’s that time of year again folks…it’s time for the annual “fake” Newsweek rankings of top schools in America (solely by the numbers of students taking AP or IB classes). Today’s News & Record has a disclaimer this time around: “The rating is not meant to measure overall quality of a school.” Keep in mind about the other interesting thing about this annual list…it does not really take into account how many students pass the AP exam itself or how many of them go on to college. Also keep in mind that many of these schools did not fare well in the fall EOCs.

The list…School and rank

Andrews 483
Central 243
Dudley 1,189
Eastern 527
Grimsley 84
Northeast 978
Northwest 317
Page 265
Ragsdale 780
Southeast 805
Southern 582
Southwest 342
Western 80

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UPDATE, 5/23/07, 9:47PM: Yep, as expected, the spin doctors down on Eugene Street wasted little time in churning out a release touting Western Guilford and Grimsley claiming the “top spots” in the Newsweek list.

E.C. 🙂

Elem. Teachers Threatened Statewide: HP Enterprise

Guess that lootery money isn’t coming in as expected, many school systems have be losing elementary teaching positions, this as EOGs are beginning today, according to today’s High Point Enterprise. GCS finance chief Sharon Ozment says 20 positions could be cut next school year. other systems may lose out on positions also.

See this excerpt:

Elementary class­rooms across the state could become more crowd­ed unless lawmakers find a way to cover a shortfall in lottery proceeds.
The 2005 education lot­tery law requires 50 per­cent of profits to go toward class-size reduction in ear­ly grades. The reduction means paying for more K­3 teaching positions in or­der to create smaller class sizes.
But with a deficit in lot­tery revenue, more than 400 elementary teaching positions in North Caro­lina will be cut this coming school year.
School finance officers recently were notifi ed by the state’s Department of Public Instruction that in­stead of allotting teachers on a 1-to-18 ratio in grades kindergarten through third grade, the allotment will change to 1-to-18.3 students for the upcoming school year.

E.C. 🙂

Andrews High School Goes SMOD: HP Enterprise

Andrews H.S. will adopt a standard mode of dress (SMOD) beginning next year, according to today’s High Point Enterprise. I think it is a good idea and a step in the right direction if it is complemented with a strict enforcement of rules and regulations (which is currently and obviously a big problem in many GC schools).

See this excerpt:

School administrators say safety was a major reason for the change spearheaded by the Andrews’ leadership team. For in­stance, school personnel will be better able to identify who does and doesn’t belong on campus, Principal Monique Wallace said Monday.
“We just feel like it will help the overall climate of the school,” she said.
The policy falls in line with the school system’s dress code and student appear­ance guidelines. The district gives princi­pals the authority to determine what is ap­propriate dress for the school setting.

E.C. 🙂

We Wish Dr. Cooke Well

Dr. Lisa Cooke helped to save the lives of Eastern Guilford H.S. staff and students when their building burned to the ground. She’s a hero. After taking a medical leave over the winter, Dr. Cook has submitted her resignation to Guilford Co. Schools. This campaign wishes her the best as she continues getting some well-deserved rest.

According to today’s N&R, GCS announced her replacement will be Travis Reeves, a principal of East Montgomery H.S. in Biscoe.

E.C. 🙂

Later Start Time = Better Grades?

This is an interesting article from the Associated Press. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania suggest that a later school start time for high school students will yield better grades and more attentiveness from American teenagers (let me not talk too loud–Grier might take this idea and run with it)…let me digress, for I report, you decide.

See this excerpt:

Researchers surveyed 280 students at a suburban high school outside of Philadelphia. The students start their school day at 7:30 a.m. and finish at 2:25 p.m. The survey found that:

• 78 percent of the students said they found it difficult to get up in the morning.
• Only 16 percent said they felt they got enough sleep.
• 70 percent said they believed their grades would improve if they had more sleep.
• 90 percent felt their academic performance would improve if school started later in the morning.
• Many students said they did not feel alert taking tests during early morning classes and don’t think they’re at the peak of their academic ability at that time.
• Most of the teens said the best time to take tests would be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

E.C. 🙂

Grier vs. Yow: Rhino Times

Last Week’s Rhino Times included this fairly intense exchange between County Commissioner Billy Yow and Supt. Terry Grier in a story on the funding feud with Eastern Guilford H.S. as it related to certificates of participation (COPs):

Commissioner Billy Yow tried to explain everything to the school officials.“Everybody’s not far apart,” Yow said. “We’ve got $121 million laying there doing nothing – we’re saying, do your project.”

Yow said the county could use COPs at any time, and added that, under the commissioners’ plan, there would be no delay of either rebuilding the school or of the bond projects.

“You can start digging tomorrow,” he said.

Yow added that he was not opposed to COPs but he said that other options should be exhausted first, and he said, in order to use COPs, the board first had to pass a resolution that stated it had exhausted other options of financing a project and, Yow said, the board clearly could not do that with all that money sitting in the bank.

Yow also told the school officials they should have come to the commissioners six months ago, right after the school burned down, and the commissioners and school officials could have had this conversation then. If they had done so, Yow said, the matter would have already been decided by now.

At one point, Yow was fairly intense and Grier said something to him about his tone.

Yow responded, “I ain’t hollering at you.”

“Well, you’re getting kind of loud,” Grier said.
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You’d think we would have a little more professionalism about ourselves, but this is Guilford County, North Carolina. Professionalism is out the window.

E.C. 🙂

Discipline Task Force: Rhino Times

From a “Beep” in last week’s Rhino Times:

Yes, this is for Amos Quick and Deena Hayes regarding the committee they just formed to study why students of minorities get suspended more. Why don’t you guys get away from the committees? Go spend some time in the school. Not an hour a day, but a whole day at a time in different schools and just sit and watch. Go to lunch. Go to gym class. Go to any class and just watch what our teachers have to go through each and every day, and then you’ll understand why kids get suspended. They have no respect for teachers. They’re taught that. They have no respect at home. They have no respect for themselves. So, get off your duffs and go see what’s really going on. Thank you.% % %

Yeah, the follow up for this call we just made. I really don’t think you want to know the whole truth about what’s going on in schools, that’s why you’d rather sit back and throw out the race card and blame everybody but the actual people involved themself. Take a look at the poor teacher from Southeast who got his – both eyes blackened yesterday and who may never teach again because of students with no respect, and find out what color the student was if you’re not afraid to.

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E.C. 🙂

Grier & the CoCo’s: cartoon

In case you missed this from last week’s Rhino Times, and I thought this was funny:

 

E.C. 🙂

EOGs This Week/Test Factories in High Gear

Elementary and middle school students across the state are feeling the stress this week as No Child Left Behind-required end-of-grade testing begins for elementary and middle schools. We wish every one of them much success this week. News 14 Carolina has a story (with video) on how Kiser Middle School, a school that has had challenges this year, along with a “go-team,” is gearing up for exams.

See excerpt:

GREENSBORO — A Guilford County school is trying something new when it comes to meeting state test score standards. Friday, Kiser Middle School held a pep rally, but it wasn’t for a game.

It was an effort to get students revved up for End-of-Grade testing that starts next week.

Friday’s pep rally wrapped up spirit week for Kiser. Students took part in Tacky Day, Twin Day “and [Friday] is “EOG No Fear Bring it on Day”,” said Kiser Principal Sharon McCants.

“You start getting ready for EOGs, the pressure’s on so we wanted to alleviate some of the pressure,” she said.

Grimsley High School’s pep band joined its younger counterpart Friday afternoon and even the teachers cheered.

E.C. 🙂

Public Schools Ill-Prepared to Handle Emergencies Within School Buildings: GAO

Considering many of the lockdowns Guilford County Schools had recently, many of the nation’s public schools still need to address emergency preparedness and countermeasures, according to a new GAO report released last week.

Click here for the report’s abstract.

Click here for the actual report

Click here for a USA Today story on the report.

View this excerpt from the abstract:

Federal and state governments have a role in supporting emergency management in school districts. While no federal laws require school districts to have emergency management plans, 32 states reported having laws or policies requiring school districts to have such plans. The Departments of Education and Homeland Security (DHS) provide funding for emergency management planning in schools. However, some DHS program guidance, for specific grants, does not clearly identify school districts as entities to which state and local governments may disburse grant funds. Thus, states receiving this funding may be uncertain as to whether such funding can be allocated to school districts or schools and therefore may not have the opportunity to benefit from this funding. States also provide funding and other resources to school districts to assist them in planning for emergencies. School districts have taken steps to plan for a range of emergencies, as most have developed multi-hazard emergency management plans; however some plans and activities do not address federally recommended practices. For example, based on GAO’s survey of a sample of public school districts, an estimated 56 percent of all school districts have not employed any procedures in their plans for continuing student education in the event of an extended school closure, such as might occur during a pandemic, and many do not include procedures for special needs students. Fewer than half of districts with emergency plans involve community partners when developing and updating these plans. Finally, school districts are generally not training with first responders or community partners on how to implement their school district emergency plans. Many school district officials said that they experience challenges in planning for emergencies and some school districts face difficulties in communicating and coordinating with first responders and parents, but most said that they do not experience challenges in communicating with students. For example, in an estimated 62 percent of districts, officials identified challenges stemming from a lack of equipment, training for staff, and personnel with expertise in the area of emergency planning as obstacles to implementing recommended practices.

E.C. 🙂

Eastern Guilford: The Battle to Save the Building: N&R

Sunday’s News & Record ran a pretty good rollup on how efforts to save Eastern Guilford H.S. were futile. Published reports say a bad roof design, which may have been appropriate by 1970s standards, failed the firefighters immensely. See this excerpt:

The fire burned in the back of an empty chemistry lab during the final lunch period of a warm autumn day, the deserted science wing an ideal place for mischief.Did one prankster or a group of students ignite the first flame? Maybe a bitter teacher is to blame. Or a school visitor who slipped unseen into Room 221, next to a stairwell off the upstairs hall.

That matters little to how things would end. Even now, more than six months later, firefighters wonder whether there was something else they could have done to save Eastern Guilford High School.

Within minutes, flames destroyed the contents of a storage closet and office. Pressure swelled in the confined spaces, pulling back like a fist until the heat punched through ceiling tiles, gasping for air to feed itself.

E.C. 🙂

PTA debates how much to give to new school: N&R

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

This is an interesting debate. The PTA at Colfax Elementary is embroiled in a battle whether to donate $10,000 to the new PTA at the new Pearce Elementary, since many students from Colfax will be heading there in the fall, or to keep the money at Colfax. See today’s News & Record. View this excerpt:

Parents will vote June 5 whether to give $10,000 to the PTA of Pearce, which will open in the fall with nearly 700 students. Most will come from Colfax. At a recent PTA meeting, parents raised their voices and sometimes cut each other off as they debated the donation.

Helping former students at the new school is the right thing to do, some said. The money was raised for Colfax and should remain at Colfax, others argued.

One school employee choked back tears as she described parents speaking ill about each other, sometimes within hearing of students.

“The children, whether they go to Pearce, they are still Colfax children,” curriculum facilitator Sandy Hunt said. “And we’ve loved them for a million years.”

More Guilford County PTAs could be faced with the questions of whether and how much to give as new schools open. Pearce is one of four new schools that will welcome students this fall. Two other new schools, Southern Middle and Guilford Elementary, will replace existing schools.

And voters might be asked to approve another bond in November that would create six more new schools over the next several years. Children will be siphoned from existing schools to fill the new ones.

According to state PTA guidelines, when a school splits the existing PTA can give the new PTA startup funds. The PTA treasurer’s handbook does not recommend an amount.

E.C. 🙂

GCS Friday Spin, 5/18/07

Click here for the weekly Friday Spin from GCS. As expected, no mention at all of the sorry EOC scores just released.

E.C. 🙂

GCS Board Meeting Agenda, 5/24/07

Click here for the GCS Board Meeting agenda for next Thursday, 5/24/07, 6pm.

E.C. 🙂

Jackson Middle Needs Proctors for EOGs Next Week

From GCS:

Jackson Middle School Needs Proctors for EOG testing. The volunteers basically just have to be in the room and observe the students to make sure that cheating, talking, etc. does not occur.The days are next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (May 22, 23 and 24).  Hours are   8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. 

Just a few hours of your time will ensure that these kids can take their tests and move forward in their education. This is a short commitment to young people but very crucial. Testing cannot take place without a proctor in the room.

These hours can count as community service as well.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact: Lynne Brandon, brandol@gcsnc.com, 336-370-8353.

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E.C. 🙂

S.C. superintendent calls for less testing: CLT Observer

The state public schools superintendent in South Carolina is calling for…LESS TESTING!

Stop the presses.

See this short Charlotte Observer piece from today, this guy is progressive:

S.C. students should spend less time taking tests and more time learning, Education Superintendent Jim Rex said Thursday in unveiling a sweeping proposal to reform the state’s standardized testing system. Rex hopes to reduce the time students spend on end-of-year accountability tests by about 40 percent, eliminating social studies tests and limiting science exams to three grades. The move doesn’t lessen their importance, he cautioned.

“But if we’re testing everything every year for every student, all we’re going to do is test,” he said.

Rex also wants to replace the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, taken yearly by third- through eighth-graders since 1999, with other tests that give teachers more useful and timely information. He hopes tests in English, math and science will begin under the new system by spring 2009.

District superintendents across the state, briefed shortly before the public announcement, applauded the proposal.

“It’s about time,” said Berkeley County schools Superintendent Chester Floyd, a frequent critic of the PACT test.

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E.C. 🙂

Meeting to discuss Guilford schools’ budget: N&R

This from the News & Record:

The Guilford Education Alliance will host a community forum breakfast May 25 to discuss the Guilford County Schools’ proposed budget for next year. Superintendent Terry Grier and chief financial officer Sharon Ozment will present the budget and answer questions.

The Board of Education has approved a request for a 10 percent increase of county funding for next year.

That will cover the costs for salary increases for paid teachers, student enrollment growth, and proposals to address student behavior issues that lead to school suspensions.

The breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Valleybrook Technical Center at 5009 High Point Road.

Those interested can call the alliance at 841-4332 or by request information by e-mail at info@guilfordeducationalliance.org.

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What about student achievement, Terry? At this point in time, it should ONLY be about student achievement.

E.C. 🙂