Sorry Scores in US History: JLF

Time to step our teaching of Social Studies, particularly US History. In an exclusive Carolina Journal report from the John Locke Foundation (click here), proficiency scores from two years worth of End-of-Course test data show students scored under 70% proficient in US History. In addition, achievement gaps are present, and that goals between these EOCs and the recently-released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are not the same.

An excerpt from the report:

Effective history standards, according to the Fordham Institute, are ones that “acknowledge the key issues and events that comprise the whole American story” while remaining free of presentism as well as overt and covert ideological agendas. The authors concluded that two of the most important reforms would be to teach history as a separate academic subject rather than as a component of social studies and to require teachers have a bachelor’s degree or higher in history, not in education.

North Carolina’s standards, like those of more than two-thirds of the states, promote the notion that the most important thing that students should learn from social studies is to “use their own life experiences” and an “individual and cultural identity” to solve America’s problems.

  The debate over standards and the disdain for which many educators hold history is reflected in comments by a senior administrator in Durham Public Schools who said that school systems are struggling over what to teach. She said that a curriculum consultant recently told DPS administrators and teachers that much of American history is irrelevant today, advocating that they integrate a more global perspective. To illustrate history’s irrelevancy, the consultant asked them to name a single fact from U.S. history that they use every day.

E.C. 🙂

The silliness has indeed started

Officials at Greensboro’s Grimsley High School have tightened security after some reported incidents this week. We’re also reading published reports of some gang trouble at Southwest Guilford High School that occurred this week.

1. Grimsley High School has tightened security by curtailing hall passes between classes and increasing police presence there following an assault in a school bathroom yesterday, according to a News & Record report (click here to read it). The incident also follows a melee earlier this week in which three students were arrested (click here to read about that incident).

2. A poster on the News & Record’s Chalkboard blog reports in to say that there was some reported trouble at Southwest Guilford High School a few days ago involving some gang activity and several cop cars on the scene.

Once again, folks, this is a system that has real problems and is dealing with real issues. Let’s all be alert, let’s not let our guard down, maybe (just maybe), our school board and our leadership will get serious and deal with this problem this year.

E.C. 🙂

Grier’s Raise: Garth Speaks

School Board member Garth Hebert speaks out in defense of his “yea” vote to give Dr. Grier an 8% raise this week, reluctantly saying the man “met all of his goals for the year.” He wrote in to the News & Record’s Chalkboard blog and said:

The goals were pretty lame. I had to honestly admit that he did meet them. ( I note that SAT scores went down slightly, but if I were to be truthful with myself, he accomplished more for our community at the cost of improving the score, by enticing many kids who would normally not consider college entrance even a remote possibility to take the exam. Had he not done so SAT scores also would have improved modestly) I cannot with-hold his contractual agreement’s stated benefits because standards were set in such a poor way. The percentage is based on the prior years increase of teachers pay, not the current years. It is not Terry’s fault he did what the Board wanted him to do. He should be applauded for this, I believe that we have the right to expect the same achievement if the Board were to give more pertinent goals. I will treat him the same way I would want to be treated in his position. He was given a contract with stated goals and incentives, though prior to my Board membership, he must be treated ethically.

I am not defending Terry, I am being honest. My frustration with our Schools’ performance is real and I guess I do expect more from a high paid executive than most. I really would have expected much more improvement and achievement from this position, but there were some rays of light with staff talent. Maybe when surrounded by better, motivated staff we can get more in the remaining 3 year contract. I also expect more from myself and the Board, our schools are not making ground. Our students are not better prepared. Instead of improving our best, we ignore them and try for mediocrity. Our goals are all oriented towards the lowest common denominator, not excellence as the letterhead might begrudge.

Maybe we should be discussing what goals the School Board should set for itself and for Terry and for our children.

Garth

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One response he’s had to this:

The goals remain the same as they have since 2/10/04:

1. Overturn the Board membership.
2. Get Grier Outta Here.

Until these goals are reached the students and taxpayers of Guilford County are the losers.

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…and that’s why I’m running. I’m a straight shooter, so I’m about to give this to you straight…to use someone else’s words on the Chalkboard: lame goals=lame results. They tell you in teacher school to teach “higher order thinking” and to have “high expectations” for your students. Well, how can we have high expectations for them when we don’t have high expectations for our school’s leadership?

I’m sorry, but I respectfully disagree. With me, the buck stops here. And it starts with the leadership of this school system. We spend entirely too much money for mediocre results. I’m tired of it, the taxpayers of this county are tired of it and it is time for a change. And change is inevitable.

And I know people say I’m harping too much on Grier’s alleged behavior with the state team at Andrews, but to me, that is an important thing and he was not held accountable for his bad behavior at all in that incident. I have a big problem with that.

And I’m sure Judge Manning would have a big problem with that also…of course, Judge Manning says state teams are a waste of money, so you are starting to see the tide turn with state teams, in general. And apparently, Judge Manning’s words are starting to have some weight in this state.

Garth is right in the sense that staff carried Grier’s weight. It’s a lot of weight and it is a lot of staff…overpaid staff, in my opinion. We apparently have a lot of money to burn in this county. We need to start thinking more conservatively…fiscal conservatism is my priority.

Garth also said that it is time the Board start thinking of what goals it can set for themselves. How about setting higher goals for our children? How about getting back to basics. Less race-baiting and more educating? Let’s set some real priorities. My mother-in-law, who watched the first hour of this week’s Board meeting on TV, said it has to be about priorities. Tennis courts aren’t a priority as much as supplies and books. How about more innovation…and I’m not talking more pet programs that don’t work. How about more public-private partnerships? Wake County is working on a 9th grade academy inside an ex-KMart store. It’s bold, it’s innovative. How about supporting the “Discipline Task Force” when its work is complete and use their final report to create some real policies that keep our schools and our school staff safe (and NOT getting rid of our SROs) and work to provide students who need an alternative setting, a real alternative setting.

Those are real goals. Will this Board step up to the task and create those goals? Probably not, but we can only hope.

Next year’s elections will be interesting…I can hardly wait.

E.C. 🙂

Headlines & Potpourri for 9/28/07

1. Here’s a link to today’s News & Record story on the mentor/youth summit that will take place this weekend at the Coliseum’s Special Events Center. Potential mentors can come tomorrow from 8:30-1pm. Youth can come Sunday from 4-6pm to share their experiences.

“The time is now for our community to end the debate, discussion and hand-wringing about the negative outcomes realized in the lives of too many of our youth, and to replace talking with action,” said School Board member Amos Quick, who’s also the director of the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs of Greensboro, in the N&R story.

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2. GCS got its federal magnet grant to begin putting together an aviation academy at Andrews High School.

In addition, GCS will create a science and technology magnet right next door at Welborn Middle School, along with creating IB programs at Northwood Elementary and Hairston and Ferndale Middle Schools. See today’s story in the High Point Enterprise.

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3. With Supt. Terry Grier’s raise this week for having some of the best schools on the planet, he now makes more than the Guilford County manager. Today’s High Point Enterprise says:

“At $235,000, Grier earns more than County Manager David Mc­Neill at $179,306 and High Point City Manager Strib Boynton at $157,500 following a recent 5 per­cent raise. The Guilford County Board of Education gave Grier an 8 percent raise. Greensboro City Manager Mitch­ell Johnson earns about $174,000.

Commissioners promoted Da­vid McNeill to county manager in January at a salary of $174,000 on a 7-2 vote. Earlier this month, the Guilford County Board of Commis­sioners voted 6-3 to give McNeill a 3 percent raise to boost his annual salary to $179,306.”

Hey, it’s only money, right?

E.C. 🙂

Two Views on the NAEP

When is spin…not spin?

First, the spin…from State Supt. of Public Instruction’s June Atkinson:

North Carolina fourth and eighth graders are above the nation in
mathematics and the same as the nation in reading, according to results from
the Nation’s Report Card released for all states and the nation on Tuesday.
Another bright spot – North Carolina is the state making the most gains in
math since this assessment began. The Nation’s Report Card, also called the
National Assessment of Educational Progress, is the only state-to-state,
apples-to-apples comparison available to us. It is given every other year to
a representative sample of students across the state, so only state and
national results are available. To read more about North Carolina’s
performance, please go to http://www.ncpublicschools.org and look under
“News.”

Regards,
June Atkinson

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Now, let’s deconstruct the spin…from this week’s NC Education Alliance newsletter:

Recent data place American students on an upward academic trajectory. Results from Tuesday’s release of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” reveal reading and math gains for both elementary and middle school students. Earlier this month, North Carolina announced 2006-07 ABCs test results, likely touching off mirthful back-slapping and high-fives among state officials: 71.8 percent of state public schools made high or expected growth (.pdf), a substantial 17.5 percent increase over the year before.

This sounds like good news all around. But is it really? Are students making genuine strides academically? The answer is yes … and no. As is so often the case with statistical data, the devil is in the details.

When it comes to NAEP, national achievement gains are real, albeit small. Math scores for fourth graders have risen two points since 2005 (NAEP is administered every two years to a representative sampling of students around the country). Eighth grade math scores went up three points. Both grade levels posted higher math gains than in any previous assessment – clearly, a meaningful increase. In reading, fourth grade scores were up two points from 2005, while eighth graders boosted performance by one point.
Here’s the cautionary note, though: despite a modest uptick at the national level, we’re still far from where we need to be. A majority of American students still lacks proficiency (defined as “solid academic performance for each grade assessed”) in both of NAEP’s main content areas. In 2007, just 33 percent of fourth graders (.pdf) and 31 percent of eighth graders (.pdf) scored at or above proficient levels in reading. Students fared slightly better in math, with 39 percent of fourth graders (.pdf) and 32 percent of eighth graders (.pdf) meeting or exceeding proficiency goals.

Significant, lasting gains in reading performance are proving particularly hard to come by. This is unwelcome news to the lawmakers who cheered sizeable spending increases on reading programs. Although it has “seen the greatest investment of federal and state education spending over the past several years,” (according to Education Week), reading literacy is one tough nut to crack. Clearly, more money alone isn’t the answer. Amanda Avallone, a member of NAEP’s governing board, summed up the disappointing trend: “The NAEP data for 2007 – and indeed over the past 15 years – suggest that substantial improvement in reading achievement is eluding us as a nation.”

Closer to home, North Carolina’s 2007 NAEP scores went up minimally; however, these increases were not statistically significant, meaning performance has essentially stayed flat since 2005.

What’s most disturbing about the recent raft of data is the unmistakable disconnect between NAEP state numbers and North Carolina test results. According to Terry Stoops, education analyst at the John Locke Foundation, discrepancies between the two measures can vary as much as 60 points. Currently, a whopping 88 percent of eighth graders are deemed to be proficient or better on state reading tests, while only 28 percent scored at or above proficient levels on the recent NAEP exam. Researchers have caught on to our ongoing grade inflation: a 2006 Education Next article by Paul Peterson and Frederick Hess gave North Carolina a grade of “F” for lax state standards. And a June 2007 report (.pdf) from the National Center for Education Statistics mapping state proficiency standards onto NAEP scales placed North Carolina consistently near the bottom of the heap.

What does all of this mean? Any way you slice it, NAEP data provide a valuable benchmark for student performance, showcasing legitimate academic gains and illuminating areas needing attention. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our state assessments.

It’s time to replace North Carolina’s exams with an independent, nationally normed achievement test. Doing so would interject genuine accountability into our state’s testing system and put an end to our self-made academic delusions. After all, high state test scores may make us proud, but they aren’t fooling anyone else.

E.C. 🙂

An SRO predicts gangs in schools will get worse: Jamestown News

A school resource officer (SRO) spoke candidly and recently to the Jamestown News about the situation of gangs in schools and why it is now a recognizable problem that should be taken very seriously and why it may get worse before it gets any better.

An excerpt:

Corp. [L.G.] Welch has been on the vanguard of the gang problem since 1994, shortly after the first evidence of gang activity revealed itself in Guilford County. He was one of five officers selected to start the school resource officers program in Guilford County. Currently he is the School Resource Officer at Southern Guilford High School and is a past president of the N.C. Association of School Resource Officers.

A subtext of Welch’s message of convincing the local populace that it has a serious gang problem is dispelling myths associated with youth gangs; namely, that it is an inner-city problem, that it is predominantly disadvantaged minority kids, that it is exclusively males, and that only a handful of gangs have infiltrated the area. All those assumptions are false.

“People want to think that it’s a big-city, strictly urban problem, and that’s simply not the case,” said Welch. “It’s going on at Southern Guilford, and we’re the smallest school in the county. We see evidence of it all over.”

Here’s the scary part of this article:

“Middle schools are definitely the big recruiting area,” he noted. “ The majority of the youngest hardcore gangbangers in Guilford County are between the ages of 13 and 15. By the time they get to the 9th grade they’re full-fledged gang members. They might flirt with the idea in middle school, but there’s no such thing as a wannabe. If you’re hanging with them you’re just as much as in. They’re using you.

And one of our school board members still wants to get rid of our SROs? Do we have to name who it is?

And here’s another excerpt (watch out Jamestown):

In that gang rivalries are essentially battles over turf, Welch fears that Jamestown’s proximity to both High Point and Greensboro makes it a nexus of gang activity.

“The problem is that the Greensboro gangs and the High Point gangs are big rivals, anyway,” he said. “They’re both fighting for territory and they both want to claim their school as their territory. I know Ragsdale has that problem and I suspect Southwest is the same.”

Scary stuff, people. Let’s please be on our guard this year, and let’s cut this nonsense about getting rid of SROs.

E.C. 🙂

Can’t trust ’em

Pardon the usage of slang, but it is appropriate for this post.

The News & Record has a story today on just why the level of distrust between the Guilford County School Board and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is probably at its highest level since 2000.

Maybe it is because between both boards, the level of professionalism just isn’t there–you think a school board meeting is difficult to sit through sometimes, try watching a Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting; you’ll probably need to send your children away from the television.

An excerpt:

It wasn’t always like this, of course. It was once worse.

In 2000, the two boards deadlocked over a schools budget; the two were $7 million apart.

Unable to break the impasse, the school board sued the commissioners. Ultimately, the two settled for an extra $2.5 million for schools on the eve of a trial.

As part of that settlement, the two boards agreed to create a budget subcommittee made up of members from each side. The idea was to open up communication and talk about school needs ahead of time.

That worked for a little while. It helped voters — twice — say yes to $500 million in school construction bonds after 20 years of saying no.

But cooperation has waned in recent years. Talk about money has been particularly contentious this year. Commissioners have snubbed school board members three times this year at the bargaining table.

This is a sad state of affairs in Guilford County politics.

Another excerpt:

[School Board member Anita] Sharpe attributed the friction to the county’s constitutional authority to fund much of the district’s expenses instead of letting a school system tax residents on its own.

Sharpe said this naturally pits the nonpartisan school board against partisan commissioners.

Uh oh! Code words here… sounds like she’s in favor of granting special taxing authority to the school board, something I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE! I mean, can you imagine GCS having its own taxing authority?
More from the article:

Commissioners Billy Yow, a Republican, and Skip Alston, a Democrat, have their own theory: Guilford County Schools hides too much “fluff” in its budget requests and has botched construction projects, they said.

For example, Jamestown residents are still waiting for the construction of a new middle school that was promised to them during a 2003 bond but was postponed because of construction cost increases on other projects.

Yow, who frequently rails against what he perceived as district excesses, compared the school board to a “drug addict that can’t get enough.”

“How do you assure the public you will do the right thing when you haven’t done it before?” Yow said.

Yow has a point. Skip has a point. To me, this bond is in big trouble. But again, we’re left to wonder why Forsyth County’s two boards can get along? And it seems the two boards in Wake County also have a professional relationship.

More:

[County Commissioner Carolyn] Coleman said some in the black community are frustrated about the lack of construction work going to minority businesses. School board member Deena Hayes, upset over minority participation rates, has said publicly she won’t support another bond.

In my opinion, Deena singlehandedly sunk next year’s bond with her constant bad behavior.

Let’s try to make today, a Deena-free day.

With all this, my friends, it is time to continue to advocate for a complete overhaul to the school funding formula. It is not working and it is truly short-changing our children. It begins at the state level and it continues down to the county level. We need to start electing leaders who will put our children first and start devising a strategy to properly and adequately fund our schools. The job is not getting done. And the only thing this is doing is creating more bad-blood between two boards who should be working together instead of behaving badly.

E.C. 🙂

Judge Manning Continues Leandro Case, Focus on Failing Middle Schools

Judge Howard Manning, who has presided over the decade-long Leandro case, who has threatened to shut down failing high schools statewide (including several here in Guilford County), who has openly told principals to “improve or leave,” now wants to shift his focus to failing middle schools statewide.

News 14 Carolina (click here for story and video) reports the judge held a hearing yesterday in Raleigh to announce how exactly he wants to start fixing these middle schools…more tests. Oh joy. He visions something such as an End-of-Grade “pretest” so that teachers can diagnose what they need to work on at the beginning of the year instead of waiting until the end of the year when it is too late.

Some schools are doing that already.

An excerpt from the story:

“We want to know all along, from the beginning the teacher ought to give that diagnostic test at the beginning of school to find out where that seventh grader, that child is in math from the sixth grade,” Judge Manning said.

Principals say it’s not easy to add more testing and progress reports but it’s worth it. Some schools and districts are doing this on their own.

“It’s used for all students and it informs the teacher relative to progress and inform the teacher what they need to adjust in instructional tools,” Robert Logan from the NC Department of Public Instruction said.

We will continue to monitor Judge Manning’s efforts as this has strong ramifications for GCS. After all, our own illustrious superintendent just got an 8% raise tied to “performance gains” here in Guilford County. Today’s High Point Enterprise has a complete story on his raise.

My question to the Board (except for Darlene Garrett, who was the only one who had the guts not to give this man a raise) is this: did you question why he made alleged disparaging comments to the the state assistance team at Andrews a couple of years ago, and had enough disrespect to walk out of a meeting where he was being brief on a released progress report (all this, according to the Rhino Times)…probably the same progress report Judge Manning is using as evidence to THREATEN the closure of several high schools statewide? We still have low-performing schools. And teachers at many of these high-impact schools still have problems getting the supplies they need to do their job.

Things that make you go “hmmm.”

E.C. 🙂

Andrews: The latest

From across the local media desks, here are the latest stories surrounding last week’s incident:

1. News 14 Carolina. Includes coverage on yesterday’s presser by the High Point Human Relations Commission.

2. FOX-8. (see companion story with video here) Includes coverage of the Human Relations press conference, a forum at Andrews last night, and interviews with students and High Point city councilwoman Bernita Sims (remember, she said “non-minority” leaders need take a stand on this issue)

Of interest…see the video by student council leader Arlicia “Le-Le” Lindsay. She was a student of mine two years ago. I’m very proud of this young lady.

Another comment made by parent Dan Reynolds on the video: “As long as you are a minority in a majority-land, you’ll always have to deal with racial issues.” I respectfully disagree…I don’t look at myself as a minority in a majority-land. I’m sorry, but we really have to start getting beyond color in this county. I’m trying very desperately to help teach our daughter not to look at color, but in the county of Guilford, this is becoming extremely difficult to do.

3. CBS-2. Includes general updates.

E.C. 🙂

Some Potpourri for 9/26/07

UPDATE BELOW…

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This whole thing involving Andrews has me too worked up to focus on other things that MUST be mentioned today…most notably:

1. Our school board, as usual, in the dead of night, voted to extend an 8% raise to Supt. Dr. Grier. The lone dissenter: Darlene Garrett, who said that Grier failed to meet district goals to improve SAT scores. God bless you, Darlene. See today’s News & Record for more. I probably would have been the other dissenter if I was on the board.

2. They also are making plans for a twilight school aimed at students at risk of dropping out. In addition, they also approved action plans for Dudley, Smith and High Point Central High Schools. Ironically, at this hour, Judge Howard Manning is holding a hearing to add more schools to his hit-list. This may be a developing story before this day is out, we’ll attempt to monitor events from Raleigh.

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UPDATE, 9/26/07, 2:29PM: Link to News-14 Carolina story here (with video) on Judge Manning’s hearing.

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3. Not a word from Board members on yesterday’s melee at Grimsley High School. From a staff report in today’s News & Record:

GREENSBORO — Three Grimsley High School students assaulted another student Monday on an outdoor walkway between classes, according to police.

The victim, whose name was not released because he is younger than 18, was treated at Moses Cone Hospital and released, said Marc Ridgell, Grimsley’s school resource officer.

Ridgell said the assault did not involve weapons and did not appear to be gang-related. One juvenile suspect was disciplined by the school, and two 16-year-old suspects assailants also face criminal charges.

4. The “Nation’s Report Card” was released yesterday. Check this out from DPI:

The 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the
Nation’s Report Card, showed North Carolina fourth and eighth graders’
performance on par with or better than the nation’s performance in
reading and mathematics, according to information released this morning
by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To read more,
please go to the NCDPI Web site at http://www.ncpublicschools.org and
look under “News.”

Link to an Associated Press story from Raleigh yesterday…click here.

5. Kudos to Board member Amos Quick for growing weary of hearing the same anti-gang presentations. Quick is about solutions. So his solution is to partner with Greensboro’s business community and create a teen/mentor summit this weekend at the Greensboro Colisuem. Mentors are needed, and are being asked to come on Saturday, teens can come on Sunday. Quick said he wanted to focus on the “other 95 percent of teens who are not involved with gangs in Greensboro.”

Amen.

6. My friend Doug Clark inks a column in today’s News & Record about better regionalism in light of recent events and focuses on the whole Simeon Stadium controversy. It shouldn’t even be a controversy. See related editorial. He’s blogging about it also. We must do better at having a regional focus. To that end, High Point’s schools MUST NOT continue to be the stepchildren of GCS.

E.C. 🙂

PRESS RELEASE: E.C. HUEY CALLS ON ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO ENHANCE RACE RELATIONS IN LIGHT OF ANDREWS INCIDENT

P R E S S R E L E A S E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

E.C. HUEY CALLS ON ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO ENHANCE RACE RELATIONS IN LIGHT OF ANDREWS INCIDENT

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE CRITICAL OF RECENT PUBLIC STATEMENTS BY ELECTED OFFICIALS

JAMESTOWN/ADAMS FARM (26 September 2007) – 2008 Guilford County Board of Education at-large candidate E.C. Huey today issued the following statement regarding the ongoing investigation into last week’s incident at Andrews High School:

“Last week, it was discovered that four nooses were hanging auspiciously on the Andrews High School campus in High Point. School continued there as usual and an investigation is ongoing.

“I want to commend the Andrews family for continuing to weather this storm with professionalism and dignity. I also want to commend the authorities who are working diligently to find those responsible for this heinous act. This was nothing short of sickening and despicable.

“However, I’m troubled by published statements in recent days by several elected officials in our community that unfortunately may set race relations backward instead of forward in Guilford County. Last night during the Guilford County Board of Education’s regular meeting, Board member Deena Hayes called out and challenged the “white community” to take a stand on this issue and to take a stand on racism, using the words “white community.” In recent days, High Point city councilwoman Bernita Sims spoke similarly, but she used the words “non-minority leaders” to request that they, too, take a stand on the Andrews incident.

“Politicizing an event such as this using racially-divisive and polarizing language only seeks to further divide our county and community instead of uniting us. In addition, the ongoing rhetoric can only be seen as damaging and dangerous to the Andrews family. Their own students have said publicly that there are no racial tensions inside that school. As a former Andrews staff member, I couldn’t agree more.

“I would urge that the rhetoric be toned down, and let the investigators continue their work uninterrupted before any additional and abrupt conclusions are drawn.”

Huey, 35, is an unofficial candidate for the 2008 at-large position on the Guilford County Board of Education and will officially file for the position when the filing period begins in early 2008. More information about his candidacy, positions, published statements and blog can be found on his official campaign website: www.hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org.

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Deena’s Disappointed in the “White Community”

Personally, I’m glad I have a nationwide audience here…so they can see the real true “colors” of Guilford County.

Okay, just when you thought the coverage surrounding last week’s Andrews H.S. incident couldn’t get more strange; now comes last night’s Board meeting…and particularly Deena Hayes’ closing comments, which came close to 11:30pm. To paraphrase, Hayes said that she was disappointed that the “white community” hasn’t stepped up to condemn the nooses that were found on the Andrews H.S. campus. She’s disappointed that the “white community” hasn’t been more outraged. She said she’s disappointed that the “white community” hasn’t spoken out against this and racism in general.

It’s close to midnight, so I’m going to make this short and sweet…what is the “white community?” Why does it have to be the “white community” or this community or that community…when will we get to the point where we can drop the labels and just say “community?”

Deena, I would say you are seeing “whites” step up and condemn what has happened: GCS Board chair Alan Duncan spoke eloquently last night against what has happened; I saw “whites” at the High Point Human Relations press conference, the coverage that was televised at least. The News & Record’s Doug Clark was also quick to condemn the incident.

But you see, Deena, I think people are also inclined to let the authorities do their job and complete their investigation before jumping the gun, which clearly is happening here. Statements like this from you and from Bernita Sims only seek to further racially divide this county instead of uniting this county.

I’m sorry, I thought I was in 2007.

For I, too, was quick to condemn this incident, not as a black man, not as a black American, not as a member of the black community, but as a member of a community…of concerned citizens and taxpayers. But I was also one of many who asked all of us to let those in charge do their job in the investigation because it continues to be unfair and dangerous to the Andrews family to speculate on what has happened without anyone being detained nor any arrests being made.

By the way, Deena openly denied she was playing the race card. But there has got to be a point in time when we can look beyond race in this county or we’re never going to get very far beyond where we are now.

E.C. 🙂

We’ve Hit 10,000!

In the midst of the issue surrounding Andrews over the last few days, we quietly hit a milestone here at the online campaign HQ of hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org. Sometime overnight, we surpassed 10,000 visitors to this site.

10,000.

A monumental feat? You betcha. But we’re not letting our guard down, we’re just getting started.

We will file for a ballot spot in early February for the early May, 2008 primary, as scheduled. So far, no other names have surfaced to enter the race. Kearns continues to say that she is uncertain whether she will defend her seat.

We will schedule some upcoming campaign appearances and coffees in the weeks/months to come.

But 10,000 visitors equals 10,000 potential votes. And not to hound anyone for donations, but if those 10,000 people donated just a dollar, we’d be well on our way to being in a good position to win the primary. However, as I’ve said in the past, this campaign is not about money. It’s about the issues of reform, of change, of educating all of our children and putting politics aside and putting our children first.

I will continue to thank you all for your advanced support and well-wishes. It is much appreciated. This grass-roots movement is growing, you all are telling your friends and neighbors and the name is getting around. I thank you for that.

Stay tuned!

E.C. 🙂

Leftovers from the Retreat

Board members discussed a possible plan to increase SAT scores at this past weekend’s Board retreat. Scores dropped statewide this year, including Guilford County.

Today’s News & Record reports the district will undertake the following:

*Paying selected teachers a $500 stipend to organize SAT preparation in their schools and a $1,000 bonus if schools meet targeted average scores and participation rates.

*Developing a marketing plan to increase parents’ awareness of the importance of the SAT for college-bound students.

*Requiring schools to develop an SAT improvement plan by Oct. 15.

*Providing online tutorials from the College Board to students for free.

And they will spend $144,800 of your money to do it.

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Board members are also second-guessing arts and music education cuts, which occurred this year to make room for new spanish language classes at several elementary schools, and added time to core classes at the middle schools.

They’ve received a flurry of opposition and complaints at the loss of the electives, and rightfully so.

This, from today’s High Point Enterprise:

Some schools had to reduce the number of school personnel hired to teach classes such as art, chorus and band in exchange for paying for the Spanish programs. Under the expan­sion, Spanish teachers were hired to teach in elementary schools that feed into middle and high schools with In­ternational Baccalaureate programs, which focus on foreign language.
Members of the Guilford County Board of Education say limiting time in elective courses such as art and music is unfair to students.
“We used to thrive on our chorus and bands … I don’t think to cut art and music is good for us or the com­munity,” board member Dot Kearns said at the weekend retreat.

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Quotes of the day go to Nancy Routh…who’s uncomfortable with GCS’ focus on always competing with Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg:

News & Record:

School board member Nancy Routh said she is uncomfortable with the district’s focus on competing with other school systems.

“I have a little bit of a problem that our biggest goal is to close the gap between Guilford County Schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Wake,” Routh said . “That’s not my goal. My goal is to educate the child.”

But Routh and other board members, concerned about inconsistent practices among district high schools, showed overall support during a Saturday retreat for Grier’s plan.

High Point Enterprise:

School officials say the changes are needed to improve student per­formance in the district’s 20 middle schools, and at the elementary level, the district sought a better way to al­locate art and music specialists more equitably while at the same time of­fering classroom teachers more plan­ning time.
It won’t be changed this year be­cause of funding constraints, Grier said. Board member Nancy Routh questioned the effectiveness of the additional planning time. “I’m not sure what that means for teachers. We need to look at what it is you want to accomplish during that planning time,” she said.

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We need to look at what it is you want to accomplish during that planning time. Has it been that long since you’ve been in the classroom, Nancy?

E.C. 🙂

Andrews: HP Human Relations Commission to issue public statement Tuesday

From the city of High Point:

WHO: High Point Human Relations Commission members and staff

Paul Siceloff, Chair, 870-4441; Al Heggins, Director, 883-3124

WHAT: News conference, during which the Commission will issue a statement about the nooses hung at Andrews High School

WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m.

WHERE: front steps, High Point Municipal Bldg., 211 S. Hamilton St. (Parking is available in front of City Hall and in visitor spaces in the E.Green Dr. and E. Commerce Ave. lots.)

WHY: To impress upon the High Point community the importance of all citizens moving forward in a unified effort to thwart all public displays of hate. The four nooses hung at T. Wingate Andrews High School will not serve its purpose of creating a racial divide in High Point.

Alice Smith Moore
Public Information Director
City of High Point
North Carolina’s International City
211 S. Hamilton St., P. O. Box 230
High Point, NC 27261
336.883.3298
http://www.high-point.net

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E.C. 🙂

Board agenda for 9/25/07 meeting

Click here for the GCS BOE meeting agenda for 9/25/07.

E.C. 🙂

Deena Hayes: Racism is reality at GCS–HPE

Continuing coverage of Friday’s incident at Andrews H.S….

INCLUDES UPDATES BELOW…

Today’s High Point Enterprise reports that Deena Hayes, during this past weekend’s GCS Board retreat, said that racial tensions within Guilford Co. Schools are alive and well. She demanded that school brass not look at this as an isolated incident or a simple prank.

An excerpt from the article:

During a weekend retreat, Hayes said racial tension in Guilford schools is a reality and that such incidents as those at Andrews are often swept under the rug and not dealt with ac­cordingly.
[Supt.] Grier said the district is aware that tensions are there. “You are not going to ever hear me say we don’t have problems,” he said during the retreat.

So does Ms. Hayes have a solution or will she fan the flames like she usually does in the name of politics? We’re listening.

Continuing:

Grier said over the weekend he doesn’t think students are responsible for the act, pointing out the sophistication of how the nooses were tied and where they were located. “I don’t want to speculate,” he said.

Terry is contradicting himself here…he doesn’t want to speculate, but he doesn’t think Andrews students are responsible.

Personally, I don’t think anyone connected with Andrews is responsible either in my opinion, and I hope GCS and HP-PD officials are looking at the film from Andrews’ surveillance cameras to find out who is.

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GCS’ Friday notes has a brief mention of the incident (click here). Ironically, inside this week’s Friday Spin, there’s also mention of professional development opportunities for Mission (im)Possible teachers…one of the workshops being offered (still) is the “Undoing Racism“, of which Deena Hayes has ties to.

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I have some other thoughts. Hayes is continuing to mark GCS as a racial pot preparing to explode. I’m not saying or hinting that racism doesn’t exist, but if the problems are as seriously explosive as Hayes purports them to be, parents and students and community leaders would be swarming Eugene Street demanding answers and the Board Room would be burgeoning at the seams at every Board meeting.

As for Andrews, I’ll be the first one to go to bat for them, I worked there for two years. There are good people (students, staff, parents) at Andrews. I’ve said it before that the challenges at Andrews didn’t come overnight and I blame many of the Board members (not all) for putting Andrews in the position that it is. I’ve never seen Hayes walk the halls there or come into my classroom. Nor Kearns. Childs, I’ve seen him a couple of times, but it would only be a quick visit, in-and-out. So it is because of that that I don’t think anyone connected with Andrews had anything to do with this.

But Hayes is very quick to paint this with a broad brush. I’ve even asked you, my readers, to e-mail me your stories of racism and discrimination involving GCS…so far, not an e-mail nor a murmur from anyone. Again, I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I see a vastly different picture. If racism is a reality within GCS, as Hayes describes, how much of a reality is it? Let’s talk about it.

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UPDATE, 9/24/07, 10:50AM: Doug Clark at the N&R is blogging the story this morning (click here).

High Point city councilwoman Bernita Sims wrote the High Point Enterprise today demanding “non-minority leaders in this community speak up and let the African-American community in High Point know where you stand.”

I agree with Doug that we should await the results of the investigation but before we draw any conclusions (a la Deena Hayes/Bernita Sims), Andrews’ own students say there are no racial tensions at that school…that I will agree with.

More updates as we get them.

E.C. 🙂

Media Briefing Scheduled to Discuss 2007 NAEP Reading/Math Results: DPI

From DPI:

*  Media Briefing Scheduled to Discuss 2007 NAEP Reading/Math Results

State Superintendent June Atkinson and State Board of Education Chairman
Howard Lee will hold a media briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 25, to discuss the
state’s 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and
Mathematics results at the fourth and eighth grade levels. The briefing will
be held at 10 a.m. in the 7th Floor Board Room of the Education Building,
301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh.

NAEP, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, is the only assessment that
allows comparison between states regarding student performance at specific
grade levels. Because NAEP is administered to a sample of students
statewide, local school system and school results are not available. The
last time NAEP reading and mathematics results were released was in 2005.

The media briefing is being audio streamed for those who can’t attend. To
listen to the briefing, please go online to
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbe_meetings and scroll to the Live Audio
Stream links. For more information, please contact the NCDPI’s
Communications division at 919/807-3450.

E.C. 🙂

BREAKING NEWS: Incident at Andrews this morning

More stupidity…the News & Record is reporting that nooses were found on the Andrews H.S. campus this morning. A total of four of them were found about 8:30 this morning, right around the time school was starting. Two were found on a flagpole, one was hung from a tree and another found in an old bus parking lot, district officials say. The incident is under investigation, according to police and GCS.

I’ve got plenty of readers from Andrews. If someone there would write in (you can be anonymous) and tell us what happened and what you saw, it would be helpful.

Why do I feel like this is going to be another long school year, folks?

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UPDATE, 9/21/07, 3:53PM: FOX-8 has the story up on its website, click here. This is outrageous. If this is a prank, it’s not funny. If this is trying to send a sick, sadistic message, who did it, and what’s the message? And of all places, Andrews.

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UPDATE, 9/21/07, 5:14PM: Here’s the letter Andrews principal Monique Brooks-Wallace sent home with students today. News & Record is blogging the story.

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UPDATE, 9/21/07, 6:09PM: NBC-12 has the story on their website, click here. CBS-2 has their version of the events, click here.

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UPDATE, 9/22/07, 10:02AM: Link to today’s News & Record story here. Link to High Point Enterprise story here.

An excerpt from the N&R version:

Dot Kearns, an at-large school board member, said she agreed that Andrews has had to overcome racial and social stereotypes.

“Andrews has had its problems, but I’ve always thought that it was a prototype of what an urban school should be,” Kearns said. “Finding nooses there, that kind of thing is so sad, so disappointing.”

Maybe Andrews’ challenges would have been averted if that school wouldn’t have been redistricted so much by you Board members. Maybe its challenges would have been averted if you all would have given Andrews the adequate supplies it needed to succeed to educate these children. Quit making excuses and start finding solutions.

Typical Monday morning quarterbacking…

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UPDATE, 9/22/07, 9:27PM: Thanks to my wife for reminding me that Andrews has surveillance cameras…a lot of them. Pretty sophisticated too. So hopefully, HP PD and GCS are reviewing the tapes to see if they can ID any of those responsible. I remember the time I spent there as a teacher and I think that one of the cameras is pointed in the direction of that flagpole where one of the nooses was found. Let’s hope.

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UPDATE, 9/23/07, 11:26AM: Link to News-14 Carolina story with video here.

More updates as we get them.

E.C. 🙂

New school year…New round of stupidity

Apparently, it didn’t take long for the stupidity in some of our schools to begin.

My friend Doug Clark at the News & Record blogs today about an incident in Charlotte where a student at Char-Meck’s Olympic High School was arrested for carrying a loaded, concealed handgun, along with verbally assaulting a teacher.  See this Charlotte Observer story for more.

Add insult to injury, on the same day, being this past Wednesday, a student was arrested for assaulting a principal of Char-Meck’s Garinger High School.  All this, on top of the incident at Wiley Middle School in Winston-Salem where an 11-year old student brought a gun to school.

And one of our board members wants school resource officers (SROs) out of our schools…mind you, this is not an agenda item for tomorrow’s GCS Board retreat.

Stupidity or disgust?

E.C. 🙂

Eastern Guilford Money Starts to trickle in

Both today’s News & Record and High Point Enterprise report that money to rebuild Eastern Guilford H.S. are trickling in very slowly.

County commissioners approved yesterday moving $6 million in insurance proceeds to help cover construction costs for the new school. The CoCos hinted at possibly moving more money around between other projects to continue financing the project. Both the CoCos and the school meet again jointly next month.

E.C. 🙂

Board retreat focuses on conflict of interest, abstentions and other items

Click here for the GCS Board’s Retreat agenda, they meet all day this Saturday.

They WILL (hopefully) tackle conflicts of interest and abstentions (see my recent thoughts on this here). Pick up this week’s Rhino Times, front page and jump to page 10; Jana Benscoter solicited my thoughts in advance on the issue (click here to read online).

They WILL (hopefully) tackle improving SAT scores. They WILL hopefully tackle Springboard–I hope they’re open for some new ideas because in my opinion, Springboard doesn’t work. And as a result, too many of our high school freshman are unable to make the transition from middle to high school.

They will discuss this year’s improvement strategies (and hopefully in the context of not letting Judge Manning take these schools away).

And hopefully, they will address building schools cheaply and not for $88 million. Look at the Wake County model. Look at the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County model. This board can benefit from public-private partnerships, such as Wake County.

We’ll watch. We’ll report.

E.C. 🙂

New additions to the blogroll and links

Too many to mention here, but take a few minutes and grouse some of the new links I’ve added.

For instance, check out the News & Observer’s WakeEd blog, similar to the News & Record’s Chalkboard blog, features issues facing Wake County Schools.

The Center for Education Reform, a Washington think-tank, and its companion blog Edspresso, focuses on the issues of the day.

EDUAdvocates focuses on building grass roots support for better funding of public education.

…and many others.

Enjoy.

E.C. 🙂

Schools recognized for better test scores

Select GCS schools were recognized yesterday for improved test scores this past academic year. Note, many of the schools received grants…grants for getting more kids to pass a standardized state exam, not learning the curriculum, but filling in the right “bubble” on an answer sheet in a 3 or a 4 hour window on a school day.

See where I’m going with this, folks? No Child Left Behind, in the flesh.

See today’s News & Record story here; see today’s High Point Enterprise story here.

E.C. 🙂

Grier vs. You

Thank the News & Record for giving you, the general public, the opportunity to ask “newsmakers” questions in its upcoming Sunday editions (see editor John Robinson’s blog from today for more information).

Its first newsmaker…Dr. Grier. So I submitted my questions:

I have some questions for Dr. Grier (feel free to pick any one of them):

1. Do you feel it would be more cost-efficient for GCS to outsource all of its construction/real estate affairs so that the system can concentrate on educating its children? Explain your answer.

2. With the Board’s “Discipline Task Force” already in place, don’t you think it would be effective and prudent to develop a uniform discipline policy that keeps disruptive students out of the classroom and places them in a viable alternative setting that works? If so, what policy would you like to create with the Board and will it have teeth? If not, why not?

3. No Child Left Behind is leaving many of our children behind, and yet curriculum facilitators have been cut from the budgets. Teachers are being forced to teach to the test, and to me, that is morally and ethically wrong. Would you support a change in policy that dictates more teaching to the curriculum instead of a standardized test? In addition, do you support NCLB as written?

4. Judge Howard Manning this week told a state educational testing committee this week that state assistance teams (to turn around failing schools) are “a waste of taxpayer money.” If fact, Dr. Grier, you yourself, according to articles from the Rhino Times from about a year ago, have been critical of state assistance teams. Based on this, what are your thoughts on assistance teams and Judge Manning and how will you react to any order Judge Manning gives regarding any possible takeover of any GCS facility?

We’ll see what happens.

E.C. 🙂

Building schools cheaply in Wake County

Again, a dose of required reading for the Guilford County School Board, in preparation for their weekend retreat.

Our friend Terry Stoops, education policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation, just inked a new report focusing on the inefficient construction spending by Wake County Schools (apparently, this is a report that Wake County officials did not want you to see).

An excerpt from the news release:

Stoops’ minority report highlights a key finding overlooked in the full committee’s assessment of Wake’s future school construction plans, he said. “The Wake County Public School System spends considerably more, on average, to build new schools than its peers,” he said. “That finding is clear if you study construction cost data provided by DeJong and Summit Consulting, the same data the committee had pledged to use as the factual basis for its work.”

The DeJong/Summit analysis found that the typical Wake County elementary school costs 21 percent more than the average cost per square foot of schools in comparable districts, Stoops said. New Wake high schools cost 15 percent more than the average high school in the survey.

“If you look at the numbers in another way — cost per student — the picture is even worse for Wake County,” he said. “Cost per student figures reveal as much as a 55 percent difference between the cost of a Wake County elementary school and schools in peer districts. Even a Wake County Public School System analysis of the data agreed that school construction costs in Wake County are higher than construction costs in benchmark districts.”

Since Amos Quick justifiably lost his cool at the last GCS Board meeting over the exact same argument because the Joe (Hill) and Leo (Bobadilla) Show failed to quickly provide the data Amos was looking for to justify building an $88 million PTI airport-area high school, this report is timely.

Click here for the news release.

Click here for the report.

E.C. 🙂

Some Say SBE chair Howard Lee Stepped in it…or did he?

Some would say that Howard Lee unknowingly stepped into a pile of muckety-muck.I’ll report, you decide.

The Wilmington Journal, the black-owned publication in Wilmington, reported recently that the State Board of Education chairman Howard Lee “blasted black parents for not having the educational support necessary so their children can become teachers.”

The Journal also inked a follow-up article looking at his recent comments in more detail.

Look at what he says:

“I don’t know that the [public school] experience itself is turning [Black students] off. I do know that when you’re in a home, and many of our African-American do not have the strong educational support that we need, and you don’t have the reinforcement – all of us live on reinforcement, somebody tells you you’re doing good, you need to do this, and keep beating it in – we don’t have that in many of these homes, that’s why the faith-based institutions must step up to help these kids see another side they’re not going to get at home, and the school itself does not have enough time to really reinforce.”

This, from your state board of education chairman.

Lee made these comments during a recent airing of NBC-17’s “At Issue” (NBC-17 is the NBC affiliate out of Raleigh).
This prompted a variety of opinions, many of them negative.

“My good friend, Senator Howard Lee, is the consummate ‘Black’ bureaucrat,” N. Carnell Robinson, a former educator, and president of the NC Black Leadership Caucus, said in a terse statement. “He is strategically positioned to make a difference and a contribution to the education of children who look like him and consistently are being failed by our schools.”

“Unfortunately, Lee suffers from cognitive dissonance.”

Robinson continued, “He well knows that Black and minority children are underserved and too often relegated to a second class status within our schools. The achievement gap, the drop out rate, high suspensions and expulsions are all indicative of the hostility and contempt our children meet in public schools on a daily basis.”

“Mr. Lee also proves that you do not have to be a racist to practice racism,” Robinson added. “When he blames the victim (students) saying what all educators say, “Parents have got to do more,” it is an abdication of both leadership and responsibility.

Is this what Deena Hayes is referring to?

But here’s my $.02 worth. Could chairman Lee be right? Because to me, it sounds like Mr. Robinson is making excuses instead of finding a solution.
You see, in my opinion, parents DO have the responsibility to step it up a notch. In fact, we as citizens, have the responsibility to ensure our children are being educated and that our public schools do their job, a job they obviously aren’t doing.

Our schools cannot be the babysitters, 24/7. They are there to make the attempt to educate our children and the caregivers should offer the supporting role. It is a partnership. And that partnership should be exploited. I don’t think it is much a color-thing as much as it is a societal issue.

Parents taking responsibility for their child’s education transcends color or race. There’s no racism going on here.

I’m about finding solutions, not making excuses. And before Judge Manning takes away our schools, we ought to be finding solutions very very quickly instead of making excuses.

E.C. 🙂

Judge Manning has Spoken (and we need to listen)

Judge Howard (Leandro case) Manning ought to be running DPI.

This is the same judge who has threatened to shut down many low performing schools statewide, including Smith and Dudley H.S. This is also the same judge who once told principals to “improve or leave.”

Yesterday, he told a state education testing committee that middle schools across the state need to improve and he also said that state assistance teams are “a waste of money.”

He’s also criticizing teachers statewide.

No one was spared his anger yesterday as he said that schools are not improving as they should.

See this News 14 Carolina story (watch the video too).

An excerpt:

In the past, he has spent a lot of time criticizing principals and leadership in education all across the state, but this time he included teachers. “It’s not the teachers right to whine about it and make an excuse,” Judge Manning said. “You’re not delivering the job. It’s not getting done and it’s getting worse every year.”

Ouch! This story is developing…stay tuned.

========================================================

UPDATE, 9/18/07, 3:32PM: I feel compelled to add to this because no one in the drive-by media is talking about this today…no one except for the station of record, News 14 Carolina (the only local news channel I watch) and Raleigh’s WRAL TV-5.

Does no one understand that Manning may order these schools in question shut down? And if Judge Manning orders those schools in Guilford County already on his “black list” be shut down, will it be at that time that someone gives a d**n?

Manning plans to convene a hearing next Wednesday to decide where to go from here, according to published reports.

Message to Bob Orr (GOP candidate for governor)…when you get elected next year, change the state superintendent’s position from elected to appointed, then appoint Judge Manning to head DPI, since it is him that’s calling the shots, not state supt. Atkinson, not state board chair Howard Lee.

 

 

E.C. 🙂

More on the GCS GANG Problem

…yes, I said GANG problem; that was for Dot Kearns. See, Dot doesn’t want to…she doesn’t want to alarm our parents. She wants to put a rosy picture on a problem that’s about to burst at the seams.

We have a gang problem in our schools. Has Dot walked the halls of any of our schools lately.

So Sheriff BJ Barnes made a presentation to the GCS Board yesterday minus any county board members (guess they don’t realize we have a gang problem in our schools either) and conducted a slide show; we will try to get a copy of that and post it here for you.

How did it go over? See this excerpt from the News & Record:

Although invited by the sheriff, none of the county commissioners attended the session, which proved a sore point when funding was brought up.

“I’m pretty disappointed with that,” Barnes said of the absences. “This is a serious problem.”

I’m becoming very disillusioned with this county board.

Another excerpt:

Barnes said teachers have called his office asking for information on gangs because there aren’t any classes or resources for them. “This isn’t a school problem. It’s a community problem,” Barnes said.

School board members said they liked the presentation — but they aren’t ready to make it mandatory for teachers.

“In order for the school board to buy in, I think it needs to be a collaborative effort between Greensboro and High Point police and the sheriff,” board member Dot Kearns said.

Kearns said any presentation should be informative without being alarmist.

“I also don’t want our presentation to frighten parents about public schools any more than they’re already frightened,” Kearns said. “We need to take this problem seriously, but I don’t want us to just alarm people.”

It is a community problem. We need to do something about it now. Stop the talking, stop the bickering, and before something serious happens this year, ladies and gentlemen of these Boards, lets be proactive and get prepared.

E.C. 🙂

What else happened at the 9/13/07 meeting

Three blog entries for the price of one…here we go…

1. Where’s the missing 860?

GCS brass are looking for about 860 high schoolers who haven’t yet shown up for classes. The district’s annual Day-10 Census shows total district enrollment is below projections.

An excerpt from today’s N&R story:

The school system counted 71,176 students on the 10th day of school, 1,127 students below 2006-07 projections. Grier attributed much of the enrollment shortage to high school students who haven’t returned to classes from the spring. He suspects other students have transferred to schools outside the county without notifying the district.

Could it be some disgruntled parents who put their children in private school or went to home schooling also? Possibly.

2. Policy Changes are Minimal.

The board made little change to its stance on usage of school facilities by nonprofit organizations and distribution of literature to students, and I actually agree with a comment Grier made, see this excerpt:

Discussion of both policies released a hornets’ nest of public contention without significantly changing the previous versions. Some board members questioned whether it is fair to prohibit for-profit groups from sending fliers home to parents.

Grier stood his ground, saying the district should not open more than 71,000 students’ homes to free advertising by businesses.

“If you aren’t careful with this …” he said. “that door swings wide for everyone.”

Nonprofit distribution should continue uninterrupted. For-profit distribution, I’m not so sure. I think you’re opening up a can of worms that this board is probably unprepared for.

3.  Racial incident at a GCS school?

Darlene Garrett rightfully got very emotional last night during the Board member comment period during the meeting wrapup when she cryptically mentioned an unidentified racially-charged incident took place at an unnamed GCS school. She mentioned it in context with the Jena 6 situation in Louisiana. She challenged Grier to investigate the incident and handle it immediately. Dot Kearns, Amos Quick and Anita Sharpe agreed. Deena Hayes took it one step further, saying Guilford County is not too far off, almost suggesting that racial tensions at schools in Guilford County are a step shy of Jena, Louisiana.

I would like to know the details of perhaps where this took place and what happened.

I asked before that if there were obvious cases of racism running rampant in our schools and if so, for you to please write in. I haven’t heard from anyone. And I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I would like to hear from you, whether you’re a student or GCS staff member. You can remain anonymous. So I’m putting out the call again. E-mail me here on erik@hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org and let me hear from you.

E.C. 🙂