Happy New Year 2008!

Happy 2008.

Let me be the first to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and are looking forward to a prosperous and successful new year.

Looking ahead and moving forward, now begins the first of many “crunch-times” in 2008. February 11 will kick off the filing period. February 11 is only 40 days away. So far, no one else has publicly come out and expressed interest in running…for any of the Board seats.

It’s good as it is bad. It is good in the sense that if no one files to go up against me, it will practically be winner-takes-all. but it is bad in the sense that there is apathy in Guilford County when it comes to our schools. The apathy must stop. Too much is at stake in this year’s elections. We’ve got to have real talent to go up against Kris Cooke and Walt Childs, if those two run again. We’re not hearing of anyone wanting to challenge Amos Quick or Darlene Garrett. Garrett is strong, and I don’t vision any challenge to her possible reelection.

See, if there’s strong talent on the Board, then we can create a voting bloc, and that’s what’s needed to start getting some things done.

In the next few weeks, I’m setting up meetings and coffees, and I’ll be submitting articles and columns. I’ll also be working on some major enhancements to the main website: www.hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org.

I will also be working on scripts for short spots I will begin filming around the county over the next couple of months. The spots will initially be for the website, but can easily be used for television, if it comes down to it.

You’re asking what you can do?

1. Please register to vote, if you’re not registered. And vote. Vote for real change and real progress in our schools.

2. Make a donation…click here to do so.

3. Host a coffee in your home with your friends and neighbors. I enjoy speaking with small groups about the potential progress we can make in our schools. E-mail me or call me at 336/686-6051 to do so.

4. Write letters to the editor on my behalf supporting this campaign…the News & Record, the High Point Enterprise, the Jamestown News, Rhino Times, YES! Weekly, Adams Farm News, Carolina Peacemaker, Northwest Observer.

5. Find 3…Tell 3. Find three people and tell those three people about this campaign. It could be a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker,  someone you go to church with, your bridge partner, your bar-hopping buddy or your golfing partner…find 3, tell 3. This campaign is grass-roots, but we’re picking up support little by little each day. This is how we’ll cruise to victory later this year.

I’ve truly enjoyed meeting new friends and making new connections over the past year and I’m looking forward to doing more of this in the new year. This campaign has turned a lot of heads over the past year, primarily because we’ve challenged the status quo, and trust me, downtown is starting to listen.

The response has been overwhelming and I sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you again, happy new year, and let’s get ready for February!

God bless you all, and God bless our children.

E.C. 🙂

The screw-ups at GCS hurt taxpayers, hurt our children

(source, Rhino Times)

It is no secret that Guilford County Schools is a broken system. And for this past year, this blog has helped to expose just how broken it is, along with my strong, intense desire to fix things. I won’t be able to fix the mess on Eugene Street alone, but with new blood downtown, we can at least attempt to right the wrongs.

This is no exception.

This week’s Rhino Times, Greensboro’s premier publication of record, has a follow-up and analysis on the recent School Board meeting, and it is precisely this “what else happened at the meeting” that has me on edge today.

The screw-ups have to stop.

Rhino excerpts:

[Board chairman Alan] Duncan then passed the buck, as the school board loves to do. He said that the tests were mandated by the state and federal government and the school board had to give the tests and had to do its best to prepare students to take the tests. He said many school board members would agree that the students are overtested, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Duncan then said that the state had cut Guilford County Schools’ funding by several million dollars, that Guilford County had not given the schools all the money that they had asked for and had cut $3 million from the capital budget.

  Screw-up number one: passing the buck and playing the blame game.

I discussed this a few days ago. Passing the buck and playing the classic blame game is dangerous for our children. No one wants to take any sort of responsibility and, in my opinion, this is classic irresponsible governing. We’re sick of it. A commenter here said it best a few days ago: “Alan Duncan stepped in it.” He sure did.

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Next:

Earlier in the meeting school board member Darlene Garrett had questions about construction projects and said that she had not been given the information she had requested from the school staff about Northern High School and Northern Elementary, so she was requesting it publicly. Garrett said that Northern High School didn’t have money to pay for its telephone and other monthly expenses.

The new Northern High School campus is slated to open in January, and the Northern students are currently at Northwest and Northeast high schools, but Northern according to Garrett, still needs money to pay its monthly bills. Garrett said the students were having fundraisers to pay the school’s phone bill and that wasn’t fair.

Guilford County Schools Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment said that in the past, new schools had not been given seed money to get started and Northern was handled the same way. Then Ozment said that Northern had been given money, which seemed contradictory, but since almost everything said at school board meetings is in code, it could mean that they weren’t given any money or that every school that wasn’t given seed money was given money.

May I present screw-up number two: Sharon Ozment. Now now, I’m not knocking Sharon, I’m knocking the situation. See, being the chief financial officer for GCS, “Oz” makes a pretty good buck ($145,866) according to the Rhino Times Salary Survey back over the summer. Oz is well-compensated.

But this is the second or third board meeting in a row where Oz was asked to provide documents and/or information and it was not provided.

In this case, Garrett asked for information on simply…where the money is going. It is criminally insane that a school has to create a fundraiser to pay its telephone bill. That information was not provided and Garrett got upset. She had every right to be upset. Taxpayer money seems to mysteriously disappear within GCS, and honestly, I probably would have gotten just as upset.

So let’s see, school department budgets are regularly cut, teachers have to buy soap for school bathrooms, copy paper is rationed, teachers have to buy ink cartridges for their classroom printers…and now, fundraisers are held to pay for a school telephone bill.

And they expect a bond to get passed?

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There’s more:

 Garrett also noted that Reedy Fork and Northern elementary schools were essentially the same school, but Reedy Fork cost $2 million more. Garrett said that Northern Elementary didn’t have covered walkways and “it’s just not right.”

A motion to accept the bid for $430,000 from Lomax Construction for heating and air-conditioning at Oak Ridge Elementary School passed by a 10-to-1 vote with board member Amos Quick voting no.

Garrett said that adding heating and airconditioning to Oak Ridge, which was recently renovated, is an “example of lack of planning.” She said that the schools could have saved $300,000 if it had been included instead of added after the fact.

Screw-up number three…Reedy Fork cost $2 million more to build because it has covered walkways? And you, Mr. and Mrs. Guilford County taxpayer, just spent $300,000 to add HVAC to Oak Ridge Elementary after-the-fact, instead of having that included in the renovation plans!

Yet, another reason why all construction-related matters should be outsourced from GCS. Part of that $300,000 could have been used to pay Northern’s phone bills!

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Last excerpt:

[Board member Garth] Hebert wanted to know why it took the child nutrition staff to figure out that the kitchen at Southeast High School needed a ventilation system. The explanation was that in between the time the specs were completed and the project put out to bid, the specs changed. Hebert didn’t like the explanation very much but the project has to be put out to be rebid because the old specs didn’t have an adequate ventilation system.

The school board expects the voters of Guilford County to give it another $457 million to spend on schools when it is obvious the last bond money has not been well spent. Engineers are designing kitchens without ventilation systems and the only ones to notice are the nutrition workers.

Screw-up number four…cafeteria workers are now construction advisors! And pointing out to professional staff that their workplace is not ventilated.

John Hammer closed this article in a pretty good way:

It certainly doesn’t appear to be an efficient operation.

Well-said, well-spoken.  It’s not efficient at all. It’s a broken system. It’s past time to fix this broken system.

E.C. 🙂

GCS Teacher Turnover Rate High (HPE)

It is no secret that we have a disproportionate number of unhappy teachers in Guilford County. As a result, some of them choose to leave GCS. Some go to other school systems, some retire, some are fired. Some leave the teaching profession altogether.

The High Point Enterprise discusses some of the reasons for teacher turnover and how GCS stacks up with some other Piedmont Triad area school systems:

HPE:

Teacher turn­over dipped slightly in Guilford County with a rate above the state average but below the percentage nationwide.
More than 700 teachers out of the 5,500 employed with Guilford County Schools left the school sys­tem during the 2006-07 school year, a state report reveals.
Nationally, the average was 16.8 percent and 12.3 percent statewide.
Guilford’s rate has increased since the 2002-03 school year when it was 9.95 percent. The rate remained steady at about 11 percent for two more years up until 2005-06 when it peaked at 13.6 percent.
During the 2006-07 period, Davidson County Schools reported that teachers left the district at a rate of 9.93 percent, down slightly from 10.48 during the 2005-06 school year. Rates for Lexington and Thomasville city school system rose slight­ly, according to the report, at 21.74 and 20.79, respectively. In Randolph County, teach­ers departing the system re­mained steady at about 11 percent and Asheboro City Schools decreased its turn­over from 16.29 to 12.98 per­cent during the 2006-07 school year.

Here’s another interesting tidbit from the article:

About 7 percent of teacher departures are the result of firings or dismissals that fall under the category “turnover initiated” by the school dis­trict. Guilford’s rate under this category was among the highest in the state at 12.74 percent compared to large districts such as Wake, 9.23 percent; Charlotte-Mecklen­burg, 7.16; and Forsyth, 2.76.

We bring them in with fancy career fairs, but we’re doing a lousy job of keeping them here…and keeping them happy. This should be a priority.

E.C. 🙂

Northern Elementary School opens next week (GCS)

From GCS:

Northern Elementary will open the doors of its new campus to students on January 3, 2008. Students and their families will be invited the day before to find their new classroom and see the facility.

Address: 3801 N.C. Highway 150, Greensboro, NC 27455

Phone Number: 336-656-4032

Fax Number: 336-656-4043

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E.C. 🙂

Deena Hayes: Then versus Now

Guilford College’s student newspaper The Guilfordian ran a focus piece in February, 2003 highlighting the then-campus shining star Deena Hayes. This ran right after she was elected in November, 2002 to her first term on the GCS Board of Education.

Here’s the short article…and see if you can pick out the many contradictions just dripping from the paragraphs:

 Hayes Brings Energy, Focus to Guilford Co. Board of Education

by Jacob Blom

Deena Hayes needed the School Board almost as much as the School Board needed her. Hayes, a 40 year-old CCE student, was elected to the Guilford County Board of Education in Nov., 2002. She unseated the incumbent board chairman, Calvin Boykin. And with her victory, she became the first black woman to serve on the board.

At one time, Hayes was active within the NAACP and worked in numerous civil rights organizations. Working in those organizations, where policies and ideologies are questioned all the time, has helped her to separate an argument from a person.

She has the incredible ability to make friends with people who deeply disagree with her,” said assistant professor of justice and policy studies Pat Callair.

That uncanny gift will help her in her role as an Education Board member. Young for an elected official, she feels that her youth will only assist her.
“I feel extremely energetic,” Hayes said. “I think we need to recruit more younger people. I do appreciate the older members, but sometimes it means we are set in our ways.”

Hayes refuses to let her ideas set into cement. She is prepared for any change that could help students learn better.

“She’ll be less inclined to go the usual route of test, test, job,” Callair said.
Hayes looks at those children who test poorly, or at thowe with behavioral problems, and wonders: “How do you help that child to be successful in school?”

Her curiosity will lead to creative new ways of helping students in need. It’s her desire to help those people that got her elected.
“She’s a community person,” Guilford County Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston said. “She’s grass roots; the people like her and she’s accessible.”

One thing that Hayes plans to address is the “huge disparity between black kids and white kids” in the classroom. Also, because of past issues with the Board of Education, Hayes feels that many parents “have checked out of the whole process.”

To those people, she gives this charge:

“To anyone who has thrown in the towel,” Hayes said, “give this board and me a chance to build a good relationship.”
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E.C. 🙂

GCS: The Year in Review (HPE)

Both today and yesterday, the High Point Enterprise has run a pretty good series reviewing this year’s top events out of Eugene Street. Some high points, but unfortunately a lot of low points.

Obviously, the focus is on High Point area schools, but the high and low points are notable in nature.

Click here for part one of the look back.

Click here for part two.

E.C. 🙂

The victimization of our children has to stop

I said back in October that everyone in Guilford County who is concerned about the sorry state of race relations here lately should buy this book.

This is Bill Cosby’s new book, titled “Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors” (click here to buy it now from Amazon.com)

Seems as though two of our GCS Board members need to pick up and read this book from cover to cover. Or maybe I should send it to them as a gift.

The constant victimization of our children has to stop. And these two individuals have the ability to take the lead and set a fine example for our children.

Unfortunately, they won’t.

First, more fallout from board member Doctor Walt Childs, in reference to his asinine comments following the big Grimsley fight a few weeks ago. Here’s a dynamite letter to the editor in today’s News & Record, which says it all:

Don’t blame poverty for student misbehavior

Does school board member Walter Childs have a few screws missing in his head? For him to say that poverty causes students to fight – “they fight because they don’t have the same kinds of things other kids have” – is ludicrous.

Poverty does not cause fighting. Lack of self-respect, lack of self-discipline and lack of manners are causes for fighting. Don’t tell me, Mr. Childs, that every poor family in Greensboro has children that fight. That is ridiculous.

My child is a former Grimsley student. I would pick her up at school and listen to the language that came out of some of the high schoolers’ mouths. I would watch the pushing and the shoving that went on beyond the eyes of administration. I would listen to these “children” talking to each other, talking back to their teachers and bus drivers.

Poverty does not cause fighting, Mr. Childs. When our children are not brought up to respect themselves, to respect others and their property … that’s when values break down. It starts in the home.

Good values, morals and respect are in “poor” homes too. Mr. Childs, you are painting the picture wrong.

Lisa-Ann Andrews
Greensboro

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I’ve heard from several Grimsley parents and students (past and present) who are concerned about their school, and they have choice words for our school board, many of which cannot be repeated here.

GCS Board, are you listening?

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Of course not, because this individual is a prime example of victimization at its worst and it is sickening.

We’re still reeling from the latest idiotic comments by Board member Deena Hayes last week when she openly asked during a recess in the last school board meeting if there was any support in the black community for arts and music in schools.

As you know, it is unfortunately only the latest in a string of controversial divisive diatribes dating back to 2002 when the former local NAACP activist was elected to her first term on the GCS Board. If you Google “Deena Hayes” in the search bar, her name lights up like a Christmas tree.

And, if you’ve been paying attention to her closing comments in the last two Board meetings, she’s been championing victimization by lecturing to us about not forgetting that we have poor people who reside in Guilford County and we should recognize that our children are stressed and come to school hungry.

But what about the children who come from poverty and low-income households and who come to school to learn and who follow the rules? You never talk about them, Deena. If you ever bothered to visit my classroom when I taught at Andrews a couple of years ago, Deena, you would have seen that to be the case in my classroom.

I said this before…I’m not raising my daughter to be a victim because she’s not. The only thing she may be a victim of, in modern day 2007-about to be-2008, is the stupidity by some who hold elective office in Guilford County who harbor discriminatory feelings.

E.C. 🙂

Twilight School almost ready (N&R)

The News & Record’s Amanda Lehmert had a short piece yesterday on the new GCS Twilight School, set to open in January on the Smith Academy campus.

Student recruiting is already underway, Lehmert reports.

See this excerpt:

Starting early in the new year, school officials will recruit students for the “twilight high school” — an afternoon program for teenagers who are just a few classes shy of graduation.

“We are beginning to look for those students who have a great chance of graduating in 2008,” said John Morris, chief student services officer for Guilford County Schools. “We want to get them back first.”

The Guilford County school board approved the program in September.

The school — which will be located at the Smith Academy and does not yet have a name — is designed for students who don’t fit the “cookie-cutter high school mold,” Morris said.

That might be a girl who became pregnant.

Or a boy who needs to work because his parents lost their jobs.

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E.C. 🙂

San Diego Watch: Retiring school chief puts on political hat

Still no word as to whether GCS superintendent Terry Grier will load up the truck and move to San Diego. But here’s an interesting tidbit to share.

From the Voice of San Diego comes a lengthy Q&A with retiring San Diego city schools chief Dr. Carl Cohn. And after he retires in the next few days, he’s not exactly hitting the links or heading up the I-5 to go to Disneyland.

He’s planning to stump for US Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

I can’t make this stuff up, people; this blog just writes itself.

Here’s a short excerpt, the complete article can be accessed here (thanks to my friend Pierce, from SAVE GCS ARTS for passing this link along):

You’ve been an outspoken critic of No Child Left Behind. If I get the gist of your argument, it’s that the law sets the bar too high, too quickly, and it’s unrealistic. Are there revisions to the law that would address your concerns, or do you feel the approach itself is fundamentally flawed?

I think it’s fundamentally flawed. … It ignores everything we know about modern management.

There’s a man named McGregor whose Theory X and Theory Y sort of defined large organizations. Theory X is that people are basically bad, can’t-be-trusted, ne’er-do-wells who won’t do the work. So punishment, and identifying people as failures, is the way you improve an organization. McGregor’s Theory Y suggests that most people want to do the right thing, are hardworking, and if you can come up with ways to positively motivate and inspire them, they will get the job done. … For me, No Child Left Behind takes Theory X and applies it to all schools in America. (The idea is that) identifying people as failures is a powerful motivator for improvement. I think that is fundamentally flawed as an approach.

Given that, why did you decide to leave (San Diego Unified), and why mid-year, instead of finishing out the year?

2008. I’m fascinated with this as a political year, and a year of significant change in America. I really want to be free to endorse Barack Obama, help him win the California primary. If I want to go to Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire or Nevada, I can do that. … The 2008 election is unfolding and I really want to get out there and do my thing. I hope that doesn’t sound too selfish. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t really have to work. … I really want to get out there and support those candidates and issues that I think are big-time, generational sea change in America.

Do you see Obama as part of that?

Sure. Definitely. … This really is a candidate who clearly is not part of the polarization of the last 15 to 20 years, and is also very comfortable in his own skin. … He’s at a point now where he sees clearly the big challenges facing Americans, sees them as problems to be solved, and he’s not bound by the extreme polarization in the country. He’s a transformational leader. So getting with that, in my judgment, is the best hope for children. Some people would say, well, being a superintendent in school [gives you] a much more direct impact on children. But you know, I have done this for a while, and the prospects for children in the larger country that we call America don’t seem to be getting better. Leaving the superintendency and getting involved more directly in the political process seems like something I have the luxury to do — and I hope people don’t feel like I’m abandoning children.

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E.C. 🙂

Bruce Davis answers Alan Duncan

Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis (Dist. 1-High Point) has responded (via this website) to GCS Board Chairman Alan Duncan’s lecture last week about restoring $3 million in funding that the embattled school system requested earlier in the year.

Duncan chastised County Commissioners for failing to fully fund schools (specifically $3 million that the schools were looking to use to advance anti-violence initiatives) during the Chairman’s closing remarks at last week’s School Board meeting. Duncan is also challenging citizens to begin filling the County Board’s chambers on a regular basis to begin speaking out on issues as it relates to the County Board funding the schools.

Here is Davis’ response:

…as you can imagine comments (passing the buck) further divide us- Commissioners and Board of Education members- does little to help educate our children. Fortunately there are individuals who do not feel that more money is the answer to all the problems facing our schools.

However, if the chairman or other members of the school board deemed it necessary to address the rising violence in our schools- which I believe should be a priority-the funding given should be placed where it will make the greatest impact.

Commissioners must respond to the needs of the entire county, not only funding schools, however; providing a variety of social services to the elderly and the needy, EMS, Health and the environmental concerns, Sheriffs, Parks and recreation, and all else in between. 

In closing we do not fund or choose not to fund certain school programs. We provide the schools with a fraction (nonetheless over and beyond the required obligations mandated by the state) of the cost to function as a school district. The programs that they choose to fund or not to fund is all at the discretion of the school board.

While I disagree with Commissioner Davis politically on certain issues, I thought his response was candid and honest. I appreciate that.

Of course, Duncan is missing the entire point…if he’s going to start complaining about school funding, he needs to begin lobbying our state legislators, as they are the ones not funding our schools properly…which goes toward my biggest complaint that our state school funding formula needs sweeping changes.

If other Guilford County commissioners wish to respond to Duncan’s lecture, they too, will have an open floor here. This blog is your blog, and it is very interactive, if you haven’t figured out already.

E.C. 🙂

Christmas Week highlights coming up

Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope Santa brought you all the toys and Barbies you wanted and that new Lexus.

Here’s what’s coming up later in the week when the blog resumes:

1. Last week, GCS Board Chairman Alan Duncan lectured to us about pressuring the County Commissioners to restore $3 million in yanked funding to help restore order in our schools. County Commissioner Bruce Davis responds to Duncan’s charges, I’ll post them here in its entirety, with analysis.

2. Deena’s at it again. More analysis coming up as a result of the latest outrageous comments by GCS Board member Deena Hayes.

3. Former Greensboro City Councilwoman Sandy Carmany makes some curious comments about charter schools on her blog. I’ll attempt to get an explanation about her comments and give you my thoughts about school choice.

4. The High Point Enterprise runs a short series on middle schools and what Welborn Middle School is up to these days. I’ll give you the scoop and I’ll flash back to some comments I made and thoughts I shared about middle schools earlier in the year.

5. The proposed Twilight School is no longer a proposed school. It’s opening in a matter of weeks…days. I’ll have the latest information right here.

6. The February filing period is only weeks away. I’ll have the latest campaign information so that you’re caught up to date.

Enjoy your Christmas, and save some egg nog for me!

E.C. 🙂

Deena Hayes is obsessed with race

I thought GCS Board member Deena Hayes’ “slaves and slavemaster” comment put her over the top last year. I was wrong.

Her “aunt jemima” comment was pretty borderline back in the Spring. I was terribly wrong.

Even when she walked out of that meeting with Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes a couple of years ago, or her opposition to the then-proposed SchoolWatch program, or her opposition to school resource officers…

…nothing tops this.

Now comes word that Deena Hayes thinks that arts and music in schools is exclusionary.

Follow me now…during the Board meeting the other evening, she reportedly told some of the arts/music advocates-speakers gathered that most of the evening’s speakers were white and asked whether there was support for arts education in the African-American community.

Deena Hayes is truly obsessed with race.

Never mind the fact that I was the second speaker the other evening, where I fully support visual and cultural arts in our schools. Last time I checked, I’m black. Wait, let me check again:

Yep, I’m still black 🙂

You see, to Deena, I’m probably just a big fat zero…a peon…a nobody. And not that I’m trying to score any political points with this woman, because I’m not. And that’s okay. But this campaign now has a following…a big one. Because I’m speaking for you, and I’m speaking for those children. Those children are my only agenda…and my only priority.

But the issue of saving the arts-saving the music-restoring art/music elective time in our schools squarely transcends color and race. Deena’s backwards thinking that the arts somehow creates exclusivity is scary. Many of the elementary schools that were affected by these cuts have healthy minority enrollments.

This now proves that Deena Hayes has a divisive, race-based/race-baiting agenda and will do whatever it takes to execute that agenda. She’s a divider, not a uniter.

May we take a minute and remind Deena Hayes of three schools that focus on cultural arts that sit in large minority communities in Guilford County:

Parkview Elementary in High Point.

Peeler Open Elementary in Greensboro.

Penn-Griffin Middle in High Point.

Deena’s little flippant comment just offended every parent (black and white) whose child is enrolled in a GCS cultural arts magnet program…or for that matter, even participates in an arts program…period.

Thanks a lot.

It’s bad enough that GCS is the laughing stock of the nation with the recent melee at Oak Hill Elementary. But with Deena around, things just go from bad to worse.

It’s coming to a point where the public is becoming weary of her constantly playing the race card, especially when it involves our children.

E.C. 🙂

Christmas and Holiday Wishes

Many of you are preparing to hit the road for holiday travel or settle in for a week of celebration and sharing with family and friends. As for me, I’ll be right here, celebrating with family, and out and about around Greensboro, Jamestown, Adams Farm, and High Point.

And while I won’t be posting a lot of material over the next week, I do want to take a moment to wish all of you, my friends (old and new), my supporters, my regular and occasional readers, the happiest of Christmases, a blessed Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Festivus (or whatever celebration you observe this time of year) and lots of happiness and prosperity for the new year. 2008 will be an exciting year and it truly will be the year of change. With your help and support and upcoming vote, and God’s blessings, 2008 will be our year.

May God bless you and our children this holiday season.

E.C. 🙂

Post-Grimsley fight analysis: Community meeting scheduled

Kudos to the News & Record’s Amanda Lehmert, for posting the skinny on a just-called meeting tomorrow to discuss the recent Grimsley H.S. fight, its effects, and what the community can do over on the ChalkBoard.

The meeting is set for tomorrow, Dec. 22 at 10am, at the Warnersville Community Center on Doak Street in Greensboro, and is a continuation of dialogue from a previous meeting earlier this week among community leaders, school brass and parents.

E.C. 🙂

NCLB Crashing and Burning

I have the distinct feeling that No Child Left Behind will fade away into oblivion. Someone mark my words, please.

After all, and if you noticed, we were lectured to last night by GCS Board chairman Alan Duncan during his closing comments…he said while he understood the comments by several onlookers lately talking about how over-tested our children are, he said it all comes from Washington, and No Child Left Behind, and there’s nothing they can do about it.

So if Washington tells you to bend over and quack like a duck, you’ll say “how loud do you want me to quack?”

Let’s see if we can start exercising a little common sense, because, according to the North Carolina Education Alliance (the education arm of the John Locke Foundation), NCLB is not only leaving our children behind, there is distinct pressure to leave it all behind.

See this latest commentary from columnist Kristen Blair:

 For loyal supporters of the federal education law, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), 2007 has been a lonely year indeed. Public sentiment – as measured through newspaper editorials, blogs, and even television sitcom banter (according to Education Week’s David Hoff) – has unequivocally hardened against President Bush’s signature education law. Almost two-thirds of American adults now want Congress to modify or ditch NCLB, according to recent polling by Scripps Howard News Service.

This was not always the case. Initially viewed by many as a promising way to close entrenched achievement gaps, NCLB enjoyed widespread public support and bipartisan backing. But political alliances have since begun to erode. This fall, congressional negotiations failed to produce reauthorization; prospects for renewal in 2008 are increasingly dim, given intense union opposition and a looming presidential election.

Cautious legislators must also reconcile myriad criticisms of the law. Some opponents object to NCLB’s exclusive attention on reading and math, saying this leaves other valuable subjects out in the cold. An article in Monday’s Washington Post chronicles the dearth of music classes since NCLB’s passage. A 2007 study (.pdf) by the Center on Education Policy reveals a shift in curriculum allocations: 44 percent of districts nationwide have cut back on science, social studies, music, and art to make more time for reading and math.

Still others suggest the law’s perverse incentives have opened the floodgates for states to “game” the system with low standards. There is good evidence that this has happened. Eugene Hickok, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education writes that “researchers have already noted a pattern whereby states lower passing thresholds…to achieve increased ‘proficiency’ and avoid federal sanctions.”

Finally, numerous parents (including me) object to a testing culture – due in part to federal mandate – that is turning schools into high-pressure education boiler rooms. All too often, test preparation co-opts the school day, trumping real learning. Rigorous assessments are worthwhile and necessary, but they’re not intended to replace a balanced liberal arts education.

What’s the solution? That clearly depends on whom you ask: “fixes” to NCLB run the gamut. Discussion drafts have included merit pay proposals for teachers; some policymakers expect the performance of school principals will be the next follow-on to earlier teacher quality provisions. Others want NCLB revamped to incorporate graduation rates, science tests, even physical education. Finally, some policymakers are calling for uniform standards.

But these measures won’t address the core problem of NCLB – its high-stakes federal intrusion. Sagacious legislators voiced this concern early on but were unheeded. Fortunately, greater state flexibility may be in the offing: last spring, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra introduced legislation (Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act, A PLUS) to permit states to opt out of NCLB while retaining eligibility for federal funds. A PLUS has 64 cosponsors in the U.S. House, including North Carolina’s Reps. Patrick McHenry, Walter B. Jones, and Virginia Foxx. These congressional lawmakers (along with Rep. Sue Myrick) are also among 35 cosponsors of a similar opt-out bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett. Both bills are in committee.

Such legislation represents a promising step toward decentralizing public education. But the first and best way to localize education is to put some measure of control directly in the hands of consumers. School choice – giving parents the freedom to select the school best suited to their child’s needs – does just that.

Currently, North Carolina has a relatively restricted menu of choice options, but momentum for change is growing. Yesterday, the state’s Blue Ribbon Charter School Commission finalized its recommendations to the State Board of Education, advocating raising the cap on charter schools. The General Assembly still needs to concur; nevertheless, this is a welcome sign. Are other parent-empowering school choice options on the way? Given the considerable limitations of top-down federal education reform, let’s hope so.

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E.C. 🙂

Duncan plays blame game, slams county board on funding cuts

GCS Board chairman Alan Duncan last night got some digs in during his closing comments.

He openly criticized Guilford County Commissioners for slashing $3 million out of the school system’s last budget, which, he said, would have helped to pay for new anti-school violence prevention efforts.

Chairman Duncan also recognized the many public speakers who have crowded the GCS Board room over the past couple of months and said he wishes those same citizens could crowd the County Commissioners Board room and give that elected body the same amount of attention.

This is a prime example of what we’ve been talking a lot about lately.

This constant tension between the school board and the county board, and it is not healthy at all. We have school board members openly criticizing them, and vice-versa, county commissioners not trusting the school board…this has to stop. Maybe the mistrust is due to the county commissioners unhappy with where the money is going? I can understand that from a county commissioner standpoint if this is the case.

At the same time, I can understand the school board point of view that the county should be funding education as much as possible.

But from my vantage point, the entire state funding formula needs a complete overhaul, and I’ve discussed that here on many occasions.

Turns out Billy Yow is my county commissioner; I plan on e-mailing him today (along with the others), and I will pose a couple of questions to them…namely, is it good practice for a school board chairman to openly criticize county commissioners for failing to fund priority projects…and, would they consider restoring the funding? If not, why not?

I’ll let you know if I receive any responses.

E.C. 🙂

No action on saving the arts

Click here for my comments I made at last night’s Board meeting on arts elective time restoration.

Our illustrious school board took no action last night on whether to restore the lost art/music time cut from our elementary and middle schools in favor of No Child Left Behind test prep.

News & Record excerpt:

 District officials and consultants presented the board with a mix of options that would provide more planning time for core classroom teachers and limit the number of classes that specialty teachers have each day.

The most expensive options — which could cost as much as $5 million — would ensure once-weekly art, music and physical education, and twice-weekly foreign language for students across the district.

In the past few months, parents and arts advocates have expressed concern about cuts to art and music classes at middle and elementary schools.

At some elementary schools, art and music classes were reduced to pay for foreign language classes.

District officials said Thursday that the issue was not money, but time — how to schedule a school day that would help increase student success and meet teacher needs.

  “If we are trying to have it all, what are our priorities?” asked Mack McCary, chief academic officer for the district.

If we are trying to have it all, what are our priorities…I don’t believe he asked this question. And this guy is the chief academic officer…wow.
Our priorities, sir, are to educate our children…educate the whole child.

(this blog just writes itself…)

More: Consultant Lynn Canady said one option is to go to a six-day schedule rotation, instead of Monday through Friday, for elementary schools.

The option would ease schedules for teachers. It would also prevent students from missing their Monday and Friday special classes, which often get cut because of holiday schedules.
I’m sorry, how much are we paying these consultants?

Now, notice the contradiction:

The consultants said another solution would be to add minutes onto the school day — an option supported by Charles Burns, principal at Kernodle Middle School.

His students have a 420-minute day, 20 minutes longer than the baseline 400-minute day.

“If I could extend the day longer, I’d do it,” Burns said.

But school board members noted that adding time to the school day isn’t necessarily a key to success.

Isn’t that what Grier wants to do to other schools, namely Ferndale? Add time on the end and extend their school year? You board members just said it yourselves…time extension isn’t necessarily a key to success; that’s what myself and the John Locke Foundation have been trying to tell you all along.

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High Point Enterprise excerpt:

School officials took no action during Thursday’s meet­ing on restoring art and music classes, despite a huge turnout of art advocates and several months of discussion on the issue.
About 15 speakers attended Thurs­day’s school board meeting, fervently supporting classes such as band, cho­rus and drama. Since the beginning of the school year, teachers, parents and students alike have been angered by a districtwide reduction in non-academic classes. The reductions are due in part to a greater focus on math and reading classes at the middle school level, and at the elementary level, a need to allocate art and music specialists more equita­bly while at the same time offering class­room teachers more planning time.

We’re not going away.  If anything, the advocacy will continue until serious changes are made. Bank on it.

E.C. 🙂

Remarks made at the 12/20/07 GCS Board meeting

Good evening Mr. Chairman, Dr. Grier, members of the Board.

            As many of you know, I’m the proud father of a seven year old daughter, who’s a second grader at Pilot Elementary School. And she told my wife and I the other week that she wants to participate more in both visual and cultural arts.

            And while there are opportunities that present themselves at Pilot in the short term for her to take advantage of, I’m concerned about what may (or may not occur) in the long-term. Will those opportunities remain present?

            I’m here this evening simply because I care about visual and cultural arts and music. I participated in music while coming up in school. And as long as my daughter is enrolled in a Guilford County public school, I want her to have the same advantages as I had growing up.

But now we live in an unfortunate age where a test score and a dollar bill takes precedence over providing every opportunity imaginable for every child to have access to the visual and cultural arts in education. That has to change.

Before you this evening is an agenda item, to which you will consider restoring valuable lost elective art and music instructional time to elementary and middle schools. I urge you once again, as I’ve done over the past year on several occasions, to make the right decision tonight.

Many seated in the gallery behind me, are gathered here for the same reason. Restoring this time is vitally important for many of these children.

How can you possibly have boutique cultural arts magnet programs at some schools while simultaneously cutting this elective instructional time at other schools? It is grossly unfair, it is hideous, and in these unsettling times we call “the new normal,” where super-fights and hallway brawls continue to dominate our local headlines and blogs, it is extremely important to provide these elective opportunities so that all of our children can have the chance to express themselves through music or through the arts.

We ask you this evening to restore 100 percent of the lost art and music instructional time to all Guilford County elementary and middle schools. A partial restoration of time, or restoring only five or 10 minutes of time, is in my opinion, an insult to the hard working men and women who instruct these children as well as the children themselves, many of whom have aspirations to pursue educational paths in the cultural and visual arts.

Please restore this time this evening, please do it without lengthy debate or unrelated comment. Nothing short of the complete restoration of time will be acceptable to me, nor to the parents, citizens, taxpayers, arts advocates, educators and children you see behind me.

            Thank you. God bless you. Merry Christmas. And may God bless the children of Guilford County.

E.C. 🙂

Welcome and Kudos to our new visitors

The incident at Oak Hill Elementary School, coupled with full coverage of the Grimsley H.S. fight, coupled with wide-world coverage of Terry Grier’s possible departure to San Diego has literally burned up this blog over the last four days.

I want to welcome ALL of our new and recent visitors to this website/blog. I’m very glad you’re here.

I’ve set three new one-day site visitor records over the past three days and I can’t thank you enough. As we inch ever-so closer to the 20,000 and the milestone 25,000 visitor mark, allow me to just reiterate a few things:

1. Make sure you visit my entire website: www.hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org. Sign my guestbook if you’d like. Peruse all of the pages and view my positions and why I’m running.

2. My donation portal is open. Click here to go it. Your donations are welcome and appreciated.

3. This is still a candidate blog and I’m running for office. I file for a ballot spot in February, it is coming very quickly. If three or more candidates file for the same office, there will be a May primary. If just one other candidate challenges me, we will square off in the November general election. If there are no other challengers, I will run unopposed; winner takes all.

4. Volunteers. This is a grass-roots effort. Want to help out with signs/flyers/knocking on doors? Want to host a coffee with your neighbors and friends? Are you a Guilford County teacher wanting to host a small gathering of your colleagues? Please e-mail me: erik@hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org or call me on 336/686-6051.

Your work is paying off. You are telling your friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, church family, and your child’s teacher about this campaign, I appreciate it. Oddly enough,while going through my internal blog stats today, this website somehow has even penetrated the San Diego Unified School District.

What started off as an experiment more than a year ago, has blossomed and mushroomed into something very successful.

From the bottom of my heart…thank you.

E.C. 🙂

San Diego Watch: Interim chief named while search continues

Major update on the San Diego-Terry Grier watch, via the Voice of San Diego.org blog:

San Diego Unified will be temporarily led by William Kowba, the district’s current chief administrative officer and chief financial officer.

The district originally planned to announce its new superintendent Tuesday. Instead, the school board has named Kowba as acting interim superintendent, to lead the district until a permanent superintendent is found. The announcement likely means that no superintendent will be chosen this week — a delay from the original superintendent search plan.

The delay follows the leaking of a North Carolina superintendent’s name as a potential replacement for Superintendent Carl Cohn, who announced he would leave the district in September. Terry Grier, superintendent of Guilford County Schools, told reporters in North Carolina that he was considering the job.

Kowba will start his stint as interim superintendent in January. He first joined the district in August 2006 as chief financial officer. A year later, after the school board forced Chief Administrative Officer Jose Betancourt to step down, he replaced Betancourt as acting chief administrative officer, overseeing business, finance, transportation, facilities and food services in San Diego public schools.

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E.C. 🙂

The e-mail that’s about to land Grier in hot water with English teachers

As if Terry Grier didn’t have enough problems on his plate right now…every English teacher in Guilford County is likely about to raise cain with Grier…over an e-mail.

This is the e-mail Grier sent out this morning noting the incident at Oak Hill Elem. School last night:

I spoke to the principal of Oak Hill Elementary School this morning. Sara Roberts informed me that three female parent, with a history of disliking each other, attended a school Holiday program last night. During the program they began shouting obscenities at each other. The incident escalated into a chair throwing, hair pulling, fight. Two other female parent (sic) tried to break up the fight and also became involved. At the same time, a small group of male parents began shouting vulgarities and obscenities. The police was called, but many of those involved left before they arrived.

Since it was a school activity, many parents had video cameras present and taped much of the fight. Someone sent a copy of their tape to Fox 8. The police is coming to the school this morning to interview staff present. No charges have been filed to date.

This e-mail was loaded with grammatical errors. Can you spot the errors?
With all due respect, it is likely that he has paid staff to type out his e-mails, but you would think if he’s typing out a message, that he would hit the “grammar check” button before sending it out. This just looks bad.

1. Sara Roberts informed me that three female parent

…should read three female parents…

2.  attended a school Holiday program last night.

…”holiday” should be in small letters, as the context here is not a proper name. If he used the word “Christmas,” then it would be capitalized.

3.  Two other female parent…

…should read “Two other female parents…”

4.  The police was called…

…should read “The police were called…”

5.  The police is coming to the school this morning…

…should read “The police are coming to the school this morning…”

*****************

I’m not nitpicking here, but I honestly would expect better from someone who runs the third largest school system in the state and makes over $200,000 a year, and is likely to take a job out west making nearly a quarter-of-a-million. This sets a poor example for our children who are learning middle and high school grammar.

I know I’ve let some typos and grammar errors slip through the blog from time to time, but this is blatant…and very unprofessional.

Since I’m not really working right now (I’m substitute teaching in another county, but it really doesn’t pay the bills and I’ve been on the job hunt since September with little success), I could offer Mr. Grier my communications consulting services…at a reasonable cost.

If you’re interested, Terry, call me.

E.C. 🙂

The answer to increased school safety? More money, more programs

Okay, everyone, pull out your scorecards:

1.

Page High School’s cafeteria brawl in October.

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2.

Last month’s fight at Southern Guilford H.S.

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3.

Last Friday’s brawl at Grimsley.

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4. And not to mention the rash of fires that occurred on at least four campuses this fall also, along with the Noose incident at Andrews back in September.

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5.

And there’s possible trouble brewing over at Western Guilford H.S.

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…and it’s only December.

So…the reactive Guilford County Schools had an “urgent meeting” with community leaders, clergy, parents and other concerned citizens last night…somewhere (today’s News & Record story didn’t identify where this meeting took place nor what time).

Playing defense, as usual, Terry the turkey talked programs (which require more of your money). Mind you, we apparently haven’t had a problem with school violence up until now, so we haven’t had to deal with this situation until now, so we haven’t had to discuss this until now.

All sarcasm aside…here’s a N&R excerpt:

Superintendent Terry Grier said the district is looking at a range of ways to address the issue. Some won’t cost anything; others can’t be done without more money.

Grier said one step will be talking with students to learn more about problems before they erupt. That will involve talking with “nontraditional” student leaders, not just student body presidents, he said.

Other efforts, such as mentoring programs, would take money that the schools don’t have right now, he said. In recent years, the district has asked for money that it hasn’t received from the county, he said.

“We can do a lot of things. We just don’t have the resources,” Grier said.

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Did you happen to catch that little dig toward the County Board…here it is again:

In recent years, the district has asked for money that it hasn’t received from the county, he said.

Another excerpt:

Elder Raymond King of Securing Hope Ministry said that many students are dealing with personal or family issues. Some might have to work to help pay bills. Some baby-sit.

He touted a program at New Light Missionary Baptist Church, where students who are suspended get help with keeping up with their studies.

There is a lot of room for the faith community to help out, he said, whether it’s helping students read or providing mentoring.

King said part of the problem is that many people aren’t aware of the problem. He cited the large number of homeless students as an example.

“There is no excuse,” he said.

Gee…wasn’t it also back in late October where a group of concerned men representing several prominent black churches in Greensboro, forcefully asked the GCS Board to address this and other similar issues as a board meeting agenda item? And wasn’t it the Board that promised to put this on the agenda for a future meeting? Has that occurred yet?

The turnover on the school board next year will be incredible. I can’t wait.

E.C. 🙂

Ferndale decision may come tomorrow

Today’s High Point Enterprise reports tomorrow is doomsday for Ferndale Middle School in High Point. Our school board can either make the right decision by leaving Ferndale alone and not using that school as a Grier-guinea-pig-experiment by extending their school day/year…or they could go ahead and do it and risk political suicide.

Considering we’re going into a major election year where major turnover is expected on the board, I would hope they will make the smart decision and not do anything half-cocked tomorrow night.

HPE excerpt:

 Several parents pointed out that more changes would stall progress at Ferndale – named among the district’s 15 most im­proved schools in September. The school has struggled with low test scores, adjusted to administrative and staffing changes and undergone recent redistricting.
School officials believe extending the school year will help give students more instructional time as the district studies academic improvement. Ferndale faces restructuring under No Child Left Behind guidelines, which requires low-performing schools to develop school improvement ef­forts, such as extending the school year or day.
Parent Angela Johnson chastised school leaders for using students as “guinea pigs” while another said the district “band-aids” student achievement with constant chang­es.

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E.C. 🙂

Parents fight at Oak Hill’s Christmas Program (FOX-8)

DEVELOPING STORY/UPDATES BELOW…

It’s bad enough when the kids duke it out on the schoolyard. It’s worse when the parents do it…in front of kids…at a Christmas program!

That’s apparently what happened last night at Oak Hill Elementary School in High Point. According to a story that led on FOX-8 last night, at least three adults tossed and tangled during the school’s Christmas program while children were on stage performing. And yes, there was video.

It’s pretty disturbing.

An excerpt from the FOX-8 story:

Children in the first through third grades had just completed about three-quarters of the program when a fight broke out among three parents in the audience, according to Guilford County Schools’ spokesman Chad Campbell.

Witnesses said the argument lasted about ten minutes.

“My daughter was on stage singing at the time when my sister-in-law realized they were arguing,” said Marseddez Lopez, who captured the argument on her camcorder. “We were gathered there to see our children perform, it’s not fair to them.”

Lopez said from what she saw, the fight involved two parents and another person she described as a school volunteer.

Unreal.

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UPDATE: 12/19/07, 9:13AM: Supt. Terry Grier sent out an e-mail this morning to media on last night’s incident. Here it is, courtesy of News & Record’s Allen Johnson’s blog:

I spoke to the principal of Oak Hill Elementary School this morning. Sara Roberts informed me that three female parent, with a history of disliking each other, attended a school Holiday program last night. During the program they began shouting obscenities at each other. The incident escalated into a chair throwing, hair pulling, fight. Two other female parent (sic) tried to break up the fight and also became involved. At the same time, a small group of male parents began shouting vulgarities and obscenities. The police was called, but many of those involved left before they arrived.

Since it was a school activity, many parents had video cameras present and taped much of the fight. Someone sent a copy of their tape to Fox 8. The police is coming to the school this morning to interview staff present. No charges have been filed to date.

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News & Record has a mid-morning story on its website…and they’re calling the incident stemming from a “neighborhood issue.”

N&R Excerpt:

Police were told that between 100 and 200 people were in the gym and that multiple parents were involved in a fight, Steele said.

Chad Campbell, a spokesman for Guilford County Schools, said Oak Hill’s PTA was holding a holiday program when three parents began fighting.

No one was injured, he said.

Campbell said the fight was the result of a “neighborhood issue.”

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UPDATE, 12/19/07, 1:56PM: Here’s an update from Principal Sara Roberts from Oak Hill Elementary School, via GCS and Allen Johnson’s N&R blog:

On the evening of December 18, 2007, Oak Hill Elementary had a Holiday Program at 6:30 pm. At approximately 7:30, an argument between parents escalated to physical violence in the middle of the gym. Chairs were thrown. Obscenities were loudly exclaimed. Three mothers did physical punch each other and two other mothers attempted to break up the fight. The fighting continued for approximately 10 minutes in total including the yelling and the physical hitting.

According to witnesses, the argument started by a father who approached another student about pushing his daughter while on stage. The one parent (not of the student who pushed) told the father to not talk to a child about that but to take it up with the principal. At that point, two other parents (twin sisters) began yelling and shouting. I had to stop the program and remind everyone to be respectful to the children on stage. However, the yelling escalated further and thus the fight began.

The police were called to help by multiple members of the audience as well as a staff member who was directed to call by me. Once the police arrived, only a few people who were actually involved were questioned. However the twin sisters had left the school property by then. The police are investigating the incident and charges are pending. We received word that a parent did tape the incident however; she did not share that with me.You may have already seen the tape attached to Fox 8 website.

I am proceeding with a ban for each of the parents who were actually participating in the fight. I have also received word this morning that one of the parents may actually live in Davidson County. My social worker is investigating that at this time.

We have also received a call this morning from one non-English speaking parent who informed us that their youngest child (not of school age) was hit with a chair in the head. She did not take the child to the doctor and the child is fine. But the accident report is being filed any way.

This is the latest update on the situation. Thanks for your help.

Sara Roberts

Principal

Oak Hill Elementary

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This one comment from “Hank” who wrote into Johnson speaks volumes of the “new normal” we suddenly find ourselves in:

Hank said:

I left the Triad 10 years ago for this very reason. You have a culture in the area that worships this type of behavior. People have to act stupid because they feel like someone disrespects them. Fighting in front of children and people appearing to encourage that behavior is a result of that mindset. Instead of trying to break up the fight, they are running to fan the flames and perhaps get a cheap-shot to impress their friends. These are parents!!This isn’t a problem resulting from too little government money. It’s a problem resulting from living in a society that encourages violence and rioting. All too often, ignorant people are all too quick to emulate the wanton behavior they hear in music and see on television. Dr Grier won’t do anything about it. It would require admitting someone was wrong and that might cause some political problems. Add this episode to the Grimsley fight and you have yet another embarassing stain on the Triad.

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UPDATE, 12/19/07, 2:41PM: It went national.

The story just hit the FOX News Channel! Click here to read their version on the FOX News Wire. News anchor Harris Faulkner just reported it and afternoon “America’s Pulse” anchor E.D. Hill just commented on it, shaking their heads at the video.

Is it me or does anyone else feel as though we’re rapidly becoming the laughing stock of the state…and now, the nation?

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UPDATE, 12/19/07, 3:27PM: News & Record reports late this afternoon that the parents involved have been banned from Oak Hill’s school campus.N&R excerpt:Oak Hill Elementary School is banning parents involved in a fight during a children’s holiday program Tuesday night from school property.According to a statement by Principal Sara Roberts, the fight began when a father approached a student about pushing his daughter while on stage. Three other parents got involved in the argument and it erupted into violence.Roberts said vulgarities and obscenities were shouted and three mothers physically punched one another during the 10-minute fight. Two other mothers attempted to break them up.

Links to blogs discussing this sad incident today:

N&R editorial board

Allen Johnson

Local blogger Dr. Sue Polinsky

Neill McNeill’s FOX-8 blog

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UPDATE: 12/20/07, 8:54AM: Link to today’s News & Record story. Tag-line: “Season’s Beatings”

Another take on the whole event, from High Point city councilman Mike Pugh, who grew up in the Oak Hill neighborhood, via today’s article:

City Councilman Mike Pugh, who grew up in the Oak Hill neighborhood and attended Oak Hill Elementary, said he was sad when he heard about the fight.

Pugh said he couldn’t imagine anything like that happening when he was a student there in the 1950s. The neighborhood was once a stable blue collar area, he said, but has suffered with the decline of manufacturing jobs and has been trying to revitalize in recent years.

“The city has great hopes for that area,” Pugh said. “Something like this certainly isn’t what that neighborhood is about or the people at the school. They’re good people.”

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Today’s N&R lead editorial:

“Kids Deserve Better”

It doesn’t get much worse than a fight breaking out among parents during an elementary school holiday program.

A “chair-throwing, hair-pulling fight,” Superintendent Terry Grier called it.

Viewers could see for themselves. A spectator with a video camera sent the tape to WGHP Fox 8 News, which broadcast it and posted it on its Web site. Good. The participants should be publicly humiliated.

The melee happened Tuesday evening at Oak Hill Elementary in High Point’s West End, a community where police, churches and other groups have worked hard to reduce crime, address social needs and create healthier neighborhoods.

“It’s just a shame,” said the Rev. Jim Summey, pastor of English Road Baptist Church and a leader in West End Ministries. “No wonder our children are having trouble handling their anger properly.”

“It’s not fair to the community and not fair to the children,” City Councilman Mike Pugh, who represents the area, said Wednesday. “It shouldn’t have happened. Hopefully, it’s not a setback for Oak Hill School.”

The school, located in a largely industrial area, faces challenges, including below-average test scores and a high proportion of students classified as economically disadvantaged. But discipline isn’t typically a big problem. When Pugh sees the children at locations such as the Boys and Girls Club and Kids Cafe at Ward Street United Methodist Church, they’re “very well behaved.”

The same couldn’t be said for several adults Tuesday. A loud argument among parents prompted Principal Sara Roberts to interrupt the program to ask the audience to be respectful of the children, but the dispute escalated into a fight and police had to be called. The event was ruined.

Roberts properly banned from school property the parents who instigated the violence. Otherwise, the school system, still dealing with the aftermath of last week’s student brawls at Grimsley High School, simply can’t correct parents’ behavior. At the same time, it should assign counselors to investigate whether the children of these adults also demonstrate inappropriate conduct. They may need extra attention, given the examples they have at home.

Criminal charges are appropriate but won’t likely result in severe punishment. Still, it’s important to drive home lessons about civility and proper behavior for the sake of the children, Summey said.

“The people who really were involved need to be confronted” and made to understand that their actions were “absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

“Especially in the Christmas season,” Pugh said.

“I take it to heart,” he added. “I attended that school. I go back 50 years there. … Nothing like this ever happened then.”

There’s no excuse for it now. The community, the school and especially the kids deserve much better.

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UPDATE, 12/20/07, 2:17PM:

The link to the FOX-8 video just hit the Drudge Report. Good going!

Also, FOX News Channel just had the story on America’s Pulse once again.

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UPDATE, 12/21/07, 10:53AM: It was only a matter of time before the video hit YouTube. Here it is below:

E.C. 🙂

San Diego Watch: No word yet

No news yet out of San Diego as to who the next superintendent of schools being named for the San Diego Unified School District will be (whether it’s Grier or someone else); this from the Voice of San Diego.

See this short blurb from blogger/reporter Emily Alpert at 3:54ET:

San Diego Unified isn’t likely to announce its new superintendent today, according to a district spokesman.

Though the school board had tentatively chosen Dec. 18 as the day when its selection would be announced, district spokesman Jack Brandais said he wasn’t aware of any announcement planned for today.

The school board will next convene in closed session Thursday.

Stay tuned, folks…stay tuned.

E.C. 🙂

Tonight at 11: Your teacher on YouTube

I ran into this article from Education Week (registration may be required) by accident, but it is very pertinent in today’s instant hi-tech world.

Students are using cellphones on a regular basis to film their classroom teachers and are posting them in record numbers on the popular YouTube website. And it is becoming a cause for concern among education circles.

At first, it was everything from fire drills…

to fights in the school yard…

…now, students are using them (in many cases…illegally) to film their teachers while instruction is taking place.

Here’s one such example where a student drives a teacher to the brink (pardon the minor language in this one):

It does not appear any of these schools are Guilford County Schools, but they are typical of what goes on in our Guilford County Schools.

Remember the recent incident involving Smith High School’s Dr. Evelyn Fair?

This Education Week story lays out the case and explains how the proliferation of cellphone video is having a chilling effect in the overall school environment:

Now, concern is growing among teacher advocates that the proliferation of such videos is causing stress for teachers and some students, and could have a chilling effect on classroom discussions.

“It is disturbing to the educational process,” said David Strom, the general counsel for the American Federation of Teachers, because the fear of being taped could change how teachers interact with students.

What’s more, the trend could deter class participation by students “who wouldn’t want to speak up for fear of being mocked, if they felt their answers would be put up on the Internet,” Mr. Strom said. “The whole environment would be affected in a very significant way.”

The threat of exposure by cellphone cameras has potential professional, as well as emotional, consequences for teachers.

Again, it is probably no better time than the present to examine GCS policy, make a uniform rule, attempt to enforce it, and make it have teeth.

E.C. 🙂

Ferndale parents tell GCS to “back off”

Angry Ferndale Middle School parents filled the school’s cafeteria last night, rightly telling GCS “leaders” to back off and to leave their school alone.

This, via today’s High Point Enterprise. Parents unhappy with a loosely-and-poorly-designed proposal to extend the school day/year at Ferndale told gathered GCS Board members not to use their school as a guinea pig.

HPE excerpt:

Just say “no,” a spirited group of Ferndale students rallied school leaders Monday night, joining frustrated parents unhappy with a proposal to extend the school year.
School officials are tar­geting Ferndale as they look at ways to boost stu­dent performance. Under federal No Child Left Be­hind guidelines, Guilford County Schools is be­ing sanctioned to make changes to Ferndale’s structure. Schools that have not performed well for five consecutive years have to be restructured.
“That is basically what has gotten us to the point we are today,” Eric Be­coats, chief of staff, ex­plained to parents at a meeting Monday.

Now, whose fault is that? Once again, a school that has weathered challenges in the past, begins to make a turnaround. But if GCS and its board weren’t asleep at the wheel to begin with, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

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(courtesy HPE)

More: A large group filled Ferndale’s cafeteria Monday night to voice their concerns against an extended-year concept similar to Johnson Street Global Studies.
Most parents were frus­trated with the thought of more changes taking place at the school, several cit­ing redistricting, changes in staff and a new prin­cipal. One parent called the proposal like “build­ing a plane in flight.” A number of parents – some emotionally charged and others in tears – said they simply didn’t understand how 20 additional days of school could impact achievement.

As usual, I’m building a case with quotes…here’s another quote, and then I’ll share some required reading with you all:

Parent Kim Douglas echoed a similar warning, adding that taking her kids out of the school was “not a threat, it’s a promise.”

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I’ve shared several posts here with you recently contradicting Dr. Grier’s efforts to extend the school day/year. I’ve listed links to reports and evidence, which suggests that a longer school day/year doesn’t necessarily translate into student success.

But Grier will do whatever he wants to do. GCS is looking at dollars…federal dollars from Washington, courtesy of No Child Left Behind-Leaves Many Children Behind. And it is a shame that the promise of more money and more bureaucracy is driving this.

Some required reading for today…here’s a link to an article in Education Week (registration may be required), describing an extended day initiative in Massachusetts. The article says NCLB-LMCB is the driving force and it has now gotten political, with US Presidential candidates putting this on their education agendas.

Here’s a short excerpt:

If 8th grader Leo Parnell were not in school until 4:15 each day, he says, he’d be spending his afternoons sprawled on the couch, watching TV and sipping Mountain Dew. Or he might be skateboarding or getting into trouble.

The lazy afternoons ended for Leo last year, when his school joined in a closely watched experiment going on across the Bay State to find out whether students can learn more by spending more time in school. So now, Leo spends the hours between 1:30 and 4:15 p.m. at Clarence R. Edwards Middle School, where he practices math, plays football, and writes songs.

“I feel a bit more prepared for high school since I’ve had more time to soak up extra learning,” he said.

While it may sound like a given that added learning time can translate to better test scores, research suggests that whether it does remains an open question. Some studies show that students do better when they spend more time reading or engaging in other kinds of enrichment activities. Others find only weak or no correlations between time and learning.

Experts hope Massachusetts’ experiment, known as the Expanded Learning Time Initiative, will shed light on the issue. Under the program, schools can get $1,300 a year more per student if they extend instructional time by at least 30 percent, or about 300 hours, over the course of a school year.

I’m unconvinced. Apparently, there are a number of Ferndale parents who share the same degree of skepticism.

GCS, are you listening?

E.C. 🙂

Big problems brewing at Western H.S.

The next school we may be reading about in the news is Western Guilford H.S. The home of the Hornets may become the hornets nest if we don’t address some serious issues there…and fast.

A poster with intimate knowledge of the school writes in with some frightening details:

I visit the school often and have a deep cover agent on the inside.  So far this semester the agent has reported seeing drugs openly being sold in the hallway, weed being smoked in the bathroom.  You want drugs?  Just have to put the order in and they’ll be delivered to you at school the next day.

Former students are coming to school and spending the entire time in the 3 lunch back to back periods selling dope, off campus people coming on campus and beating up  targeted students on at least two occasions.

The week before last a girl got kicked in the low stomach by a student in the hallway and ended up in the emergency room later that night with reproductive complications.  She transferred to another school the next week.  The student had to be kept in isolation by the School admins as he was threatened with a beating  by numerous students (not that I can fault them).  He wasn’t disciplined by the school for injuring the girl.

There was one minute long gang fight in a stairwell week before last also, about 10 kids involved.

The gang situation isn’t as volatile as other schools as there’s no huge public housing projects represented at Western, but there is a definite gang presence as described by the agent.  I’ve personally seen kids greeting each other with gang handshakes.

There’s one school resource officer and these kids can sell dope behind his back.  He’s over worked, underpaid and is given the assignment that would take 10 people to perform with any manner of thoroughness.

Earlier this year kids were skipping school and climbing up to the roof of the old Friendly Road Inn nearby and having a weed fest inside, or they go behind the dumpster at the back far end of the Guilford College Harris Teeter, completely invisible to the world.

Oh, all the city has to do is run a drug dog through the classrooms and they’d  knock out a lot of the problem.  But that would cause bad press for Guilford County Schools so we know that will never happen.

This is your Guilford County Schools, ladies and gentlemen…the best your tax money can buy.

This is troubling, this is frightening, and this needs to get fixed…and fast!

E.C. 🙂

More Grimsley fight spin

 

Today, GCS Board members speak out on last Friday’s massive brawl at Grimsley, via today’s News & Record.

uh boy…

Sometimes, I wish some of them wouldn’t open their mouths at all; it would be less painful.

Better buckle up, here we go.

N&R:   Four days after a fight disrupted activities at Grimsley, school officials say they are still investigating the facts.

Haley Miller, a spokeswoman for Guilford County Schools, said in an e-mailed statement that those findings will determine the actions school administrators take with students who were involved.

So far, two students have been arrested and charged and 14 have been suspended from school.

Translated: we don’t know what we’re going to do other than give them the standard 2-week vacation and then they’ll be right back in school. The so-called “GCS Discipline Policy” means jack.

I’m just getting started. It’s going to be a busy day here in blog-land.

More: Several school board members say that some of the issues that led to incidents such as last week’s fight are broad and defy simple resolution.

  Board member Walter Childs said that many of the students involved come out of poverty. “They fight because they don’t have the same kinds of things other kids have,” he said.

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He said WHAT??? “They fight because they don’t have the same kinds of things other kids have…”

So…because many of our children come from poverty, this gives them a ticket or an excuse to settle differences violently and just duke it out on the school yard?

With all due respect, Doctor Childs, that’s a cop-out…that’s an excuse. Fighting doesn’t justify anything, and how DARE you try to justify this incident in this manner.

What little respect I had left for ole’ Walt is gone.

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I don’t know if I can stomach anymore of this article, but it gets better…or worse.

More: Schools can’t handle the problems alone, he [Childs] said.

To combat those issues, Childs said, a number of things need to happen: Better jobs are needed to fight poverty; More role models are needed; More recreation facilities and programs are needed.

I’m going to hold my comment until this next excerpt:

Board member Kris Cooke also cited a need for more programs that give children alternatives to getting into trouble. “You’ve just got to be innovative,” she said.

Fights have always taken place at schools, she said. But kids used to know they would get in trouble when they got home.

The fights aren’t just a problem for those involved, Cooke said. They also disrupt the learning process for others.

“I think it’s a terrible distraction,” she said. “Kids get upset, parents get upset … It’s a distraction for the teachers.”

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STOP THE TAPE…I’m shaking in my seat here.

First off, she’s been on the board how long…Kris has had plenty of opportunities to introduce things that are “innovative.” And what are those “innovative strategies” you speak of, Kris?

Hello? Hello? Anybody there?

Talk about a waste of a school board seat…I’ll remind you, she’s up for reelection next year. Any takers for her seat yet?

Secondly, let me pause to bring you her comment back on November 2, in reference to the late-October fight at Page H.S.:

“That type of activity cannot occur in a school,” Cooke said. “It is a learning environment, for students who want to learn. There has to be consequences. It has to be a safe learning environment.”

Yes, Kris, it’s terrible. It’s a distraction. It cannot occur. So what are you going to do about it?

Ahh…yes, my third point; rewind her comments in today’s N&R article: Board member Kris Cooke also cited a need for more programs that give children alternatives to getting into trouble. 

More programs!  Just what Walt said earlier…more programs.

You know what? No more…no more programs. How about rule enforcement?

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Today’s News & Record also inks an editorial on the incident…here it is in its entirety:

 ‘Like a Boxing Match’

Bad blood spilled over, once again, onto a local school campus last week.

Barely before the school day had a chance to begin Friday morning, a chaotic string of fistfights broke out at Grimsley High School, unnerving bystanders, disrupting classes, causing several minor injuries and prompting two arrests. “There was a lot of yelling and screaming,” one student told the News & Record. “… There was a lot of blood on the floor.”

“It was like a boxing match,” said another, who admitted to being involved in the fighting.

Sad to say, it wasn’t the first such incident on a local school campus. In November, 12 students clashed in a nasty fracas at Southern Guilford High School. In October, six Page High School students were arrested after a fight erupted in the school’s cafeteria and spun out of control, ultimately involving an estimated 25 students.

More than 30 police officers were summoned to restore order.

First and foremost, such behavior cannot be tolerated. Those who took part in the fighting deserved stern disciplinary action, and Grimsley delivered it on Monday, suspending 14 students in connection with the brawl.

School officials owed as much to the vast majority of students at Grimsley, who don’t fight and are there to do what they are supposed to do: learn. The same goes for teachers and staff at Grimsley, who presumably signed on to teach lessons and provide guidance, not to referee impromptu hallway boxing matches.

Critics rightly cite racially disparate suspension statistics as a cause for concern. For instance, Guilford Schools Superintendent Terry Grier said Monday that “a black male student is 44 times more likely to be suspended at Grimsley.”

Grier said those numbers indicate a broader problem, but he added, “You don’t come to school and brawl.”

The ugliness that occurred Friday called for a tough response, regardless of race, and got it. That said, school officials shouldn’t be willing to throw away the key, either. Punishment alone isn’t the answer. The whole community needs to attack the root issues underlying these conflicts. “If you don’t deal with it, it will not go away,” Grier said.

There is a natural impulse to label such incidents as school problems. But they are clearly community problems that will require community solutions.

Toward that end school officials have planned a meeting today with Grimsley staff, school system administrators, Greensboro Housing Authority officials, clergy and police officials to address the root causes of the disputes and the violence that followed. Most importantly parents also have been invited. “It’s a good starting place,” Grier said.

Grier also mentioned a number of other planned measures, including increased campus security officers for the remainder of the school year and the installation of security cameras. But what happens beyond school grounds will be just as crucial.

The dispute between students from two rival public housing communities, Cumberland Courts Apartments and Hampton Homes, did not begin on the Grimsley campus. Nor did the Page incident. In both cases students chose to bring long-standing grievances onto school grounds.

One of the students involved in the various fights described the brawling as a means of defending the honor of his neighborhood. Ironically, his actions, and those of too many of his classmates, did precisely the opposite.

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I have two issues to analyze with this editorial. Browse back to this section: School officials owed as much to the vast majority of students at Grimsley, who don’t fight and are there to do what they are supposed to do: learn. The same goes for teachers and staff at Grimsley, who presumably signed on to teach lessons and provide guidance, not to referee impromptu hallway boxing matches.

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When I was an English teacher at Andrews H.S., I regularly broke up hallway and classroom fights. When I subbed, I regularly broke up classroom fights. Breaking up fights is not in a teachers contract. In fact, administrators and school resource officers at Andrews regularly told teachers not to get involved and to wait for the SRO or someone in authority to break it up and to “let them kill themselves.”

I can’t even comment on that last remark.

Next: Critics rightly cite racially disparate suspension statistics as a cause for concern. For instance, Guilford Schools Superintendent Terry Grier said Monday that “a black male student is 44 times more likely to be suspended at Grimsley.”

Let’s set the record straight. We may be finding out as early as today if Dr. Grief is going to San Diego.  If so, let’s wish him well, because he can’t leave soon enough. If not, then we need to grill this man on just why this is so.

And if it is the case, what have you done, sir, to address this?

Hello? Hello? Anybody there?

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I’ll close with this…I’m receiving letters from Grimsley students, past and present. Under condition of anonymity, one student shared some cold, hard, yet intimate facts and advice on what needs to be done both at Grimsley, and practically all of our schools:

Kids are not getting educated, they are
getting standardized, and it is scary. The teachers
are not in control of their classrooms, they are not
trusted with the power……I could rant all night,
but I assure you I have spent the past 4 years of
school looking at the problems, bridging the racial
gap, building a community, and now I look to support
it. I have theoretical solutions to the real problems
we face.

It is time some of the grown-ups stop, and listen to the children. Because it is clear that many of them are acting with a little more sense and sensibility.

E.C. 🙂

Analyzing the Grimsley situation

(courtesy N&R)

This is now the third time in as many months that I’ve tried to analyze (with little luck) a massive brawl/melee/fight/disturbance (call it whatever you desire to call it) at a Guilford County high school.

This is getting tiring.

Again, if you’re keeping score at home…we had the big fight at Page H.S. in October, then last month’s hallway brawl at Southern H.S., now this. A commenter last week mentioned things may be getting hot & heavy at Western Guilford H.S.

Late word today via the News & Record that 14 students have been suspended out of last week’s Grimsley H.S. incident (note to self…they’ve been given a 2-week vacation).

This one is tricky because many are not calling this a “gang” incident, but some in the media are. FM Talk 101.1 radio (which I listen to religiously) has called it a gang incident, as was CBS-2 WFMY. Whereas the N&R describes it as a neighborhood dispute which spilled over into school last Friday.

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Over on David Hoggard’s blog, assessing blame has been tricky. A poster self-described as a recent Grimsley alumni says part of the problem may be attributed to racism in our schools; something I’ve been trying to pick at off and on for a while here on the blog:

The problem does not lie in the fact that schools are integrated. As a graduate of 2007, I must say it is quite evident thatat there is segregation within this ‘integrated’. There is stll a lot of racism, and there definitley is a big advantage towards white students in this school system today. Parents, teachers and administrators won’t acknowledge the problem…..ask a student and they’ll be quick to tell you of the racial tension. The problem does not lie in re-segregating, it lies in the communication gap between whites and blacks. It is evidnt to me that one cannot understand the other , and to place the blame solely on these kids whose ‘fault’ it is, is wrong, we should place the blame on those who do not wish to bridge this gap. Go to the classes at Grimsley , and see for your self that the blacks are with blacks and the whites are with whites. ( In most cases)Integration has not fully occurred and when it does, this world will be a better place. Until then, quit placing blame on any one side.

But when we as a community try to inquire about exactly what the tensions are and what we as a community can do, there is silence. When I’ve tried to open up dialogue about it here on the blog, my mailbag remains empty. If there is so much racism in our schools that it is boiling over like a tea kettle,why isn’t there an outcry?

…well, someone besides her. Interestingly enough, some have blamed GCS board member Deena Hayes for constantly crying “racism” and contributing to the problems we’re having in our schools…Again, back to Hoggard’s blog:

Again, the thing that pisses me off the most is when folks like Deena Hayes try to blame the crap on the folks with the most not sharing the resources. You have to work for what you get in the real world Deena!

My friend Billy “the blogging poet” Jones has plenty of blame to issue:

The real blame lies at the feet of the Greensboro City Council, Guilford County Commissioners, a few corrupt police officers and the Guilford County School Board.

And I heard in passing that because former Grimsley principal Rob Gasparello ran such a “tight ship,” you didn’t hear of these incidents happening under his tenure.

Gasparello is now running a private school in Durham.

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My friend Doug Clark chimed in this morning on his News & Record blog:

Grimsley is one of the best high schools in Guilford County, but it’s not having a good year in terms of student behavior. Don’t kids have any pride in their school? Some of them seem determined to drag it down — or get themselves kicked out, throwing away the opportunities it provides them. That’s no way to earn respect.

Clark makes a valid point. I think many students have pride in their schools and it is unfortunate that a select few want to tarnish the individual image.

It was also the topic-du-jour at today’s News & Record midday Editorial Roundtable. See this excerpt:

These were not gang-related clashes, per se, though they did involve at least some loosely allied groups of students, male and female, from rival neighborhoods Hampton Homes and Cumberland Courts.

As we see it, the problem was community friction that unfortunately spilled into the halls of a public high school:

There are three obvious realities here:

1. That such dangerous, disruptive behavior can not be tolerated on a school campus. The students involved deserve stern disciplinary action, as school policy prescribes in the case of physical violence. This is no time to fret over suspension statistics.The schools have an obligation to be firm but compassionate in how they handle the students involved in the fighting. But they also have an obligation to the majority of students at Grimsley who don’t fight and are there to do what they are supposed to do at school: learn. They have a similar obligation to the teachers and staff at Grimsley who presumably signed up to teach lessons and provide guidance, not to referee impromptu hallway boxing matches.

2. That this is a problem that students brought with them onto campus. As one who grew up here, I’m aware of an ugly tradition of turf wars between members of various neighborhoods. It recalled Jim Schlosser’s story last week on gangs that drew their identity and common bonds from neighborhoods such as Smith Homes, Hampton Homes and Morningside Homes. Decades ago Hampton Homes was referred to ominously by some as “Southside.”

3. That the community definitely needs to be involved in the root solutions underlying these conflicts. Parents, youth and other concerned community members should feel compelled to be part of the answer — in fact, the major part. There are many decent, law-abiding in those neighborhoods. There are presumably also many young people from both neghborhoods who get along fine and see each other for who they are, not where they live. They need to be involved in lasting answers to these ugly, destructive rivalries.

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So what do I think? I’m not confident that the multi-faceted school climate task force’s upcoming final report and recommendations will have any teeth. I think it will take a necessary investigation (and possible rewrite) of the GCS discipline policy for things to make a difference. We also need to start expelling students. Remember, GCS hasn’t expelled a student since 2000. Obviously, our alternative settings aren’t working to their full potential. In-School Suspension is a joke at many of our schools. It will take a complete overhaul for things to start turning around, and gee, what a novel idea…howabout a no-tolerance policy. Make it uniform across all schools and make it stick. And maybe…just maybe, things will begin to turn around.

This is the Grimsley High School we should be talking about…of kids being kids. And kids enjoying themselves. I hope we can get back to that. This is random video I found on YouTube. I didn’t film this, this is public domain.

E.C. 🙂