Gee…what to watch tonight?

While your school board will begin their initial discussions this evening (at 6pm) on searching for a new superintendent, your county commissioners will be discussing (beginning at 5:30pm) how to go forth with the half-a-billion dollar bond to be found on the May ballot, along with a few other bonds.

Have the remote ready.

School Board agenda.

County Commissioner meeting agenda.

E.C. 🙂

MRSA case at Southeast H.S. and the troubling chain of stories

UPDATE BELOW…

A recent confirmed case of the MRSA “staph” infection was reported at Southeast Guilford H.S.

But it was the actual chain of events, in terms of how the case was handled, how the story was disseminated in the media, and how things may have been “swept under the rug” (in true GCS fashion) that is more troubling to me.

I’m going to defer to the News & Record’s John Robinson, who has a very comprehensive play-by-play on his blog today on how this story unfolded and who potentially may be at fault:

Evolution of a story

On Saturday, we published a story about a case of MRSA at Southeast High School. In that story, the parents of two wrestlers, one who has MRSA and another who has a staph infection, spoke on the record that they thought their sons contracted the staph through wrestling.

The parents said the wrestling coach [Jim Cox, pictured] knew about it but encouraged the boys to wrestle anyway. School officials were unavailable for comment, although they knew we were working on the story.

On Tuesday, we published a story in which the wrestling coach said the two parents were disgruntled, but he declined to elaborate. He said school officials told him not to comment.

The school principal [Ralph Kitley, pictured] and the school system’s athletic director were unavailable for comment.

On Wednesday, we published a story in which the school principal said the complaints of the parents were investigated beginning in December and found no wrongdoing on the part of the school or coach.

We have heard from people who said we should not have published the original story with the claims of the parents. That we should have waited, gathered more information — information that would have shown the parents as having a vendetta against the coach — and, presumably, killed the story. I appreciate that position, I really do. But stories that have different “sides” rarely come out fully baked. People don’t always tell everything they know. Government institutions rarely do, in my experience. Information comes out in dribs and drabs.

Here’s what we knew Friday: A case of MRSA is reported at Southeast. It involved a wrestler, who said he thought he contracted a staph infection at a wrestling match. His parents said he was encouraged to keep wrestling anyway. We’re not going to report that? It is a public health issue. Did we try to get response from the appropriate school officials. Oh yeah. They knew we were working on the story.

Finally, Tuesday, the principal responds with the school’s version. This couldn’t be told on Friday?

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. When a reporter calls with questions, tell what you know even if you don’t want to. If you stonewall, you put yourself at the mercy of those who WILL talk to the reporter. This could have been a one-day story, but it spun into, at least, a five-day story.

The school system is pretty bad at volunteering information on sensitive issues in a timely way. The city is becoming that way. Unfortunate, for many reasons.

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Robinson is right…this is a public health issue. And it could have easily turned into a public health nightmare if this story wasn’t reported.

GCS has gotten real lousy lately at practicing damage control. This mess really has to stop.

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UPDATE: Joel Gillespie has a pretty interesting take on this on his blog today. Gillespie says the N&R and CBS-2 blew it, suggesting that federal HIPAA regulations may have been violated with the reporting of this story.

E.C. 🙂

State 06-07 Dropout Rate Increases, GCS Shows Decrease

Definitely not good news for the two democrats running for governor, who both happen to sit on the State Board of Education…DPI just released the annual dropout report and it is dismal.

In a statement released this morning, DPI says a total of 23,550 students – or 5.24 percent of the students in grades nine through 12 – dropped out of school in the 2006-07 school year, according to the “Annual Dropout Event Report for School Year 2006-07” today presented to the State Board of Education. The dropout rate in 2005-06 was 5.04 percent or 22,180 students.

Forty-three percent of North Carolina’s 115 school districts reported a decrease in dropout events with Washington, Clay and Camden counties showing the largest rate decreases – approximately 50 percent decreases in each case. Large increases in a handful of school districts pushed up the state average, this morning’s statement said.

DPI excerpt:

State Board of Education Chairman Howard Lee said he was deeply concerned about the number of students dropping out of school. “Students drop out of school for many reasons, including excessive absences, family concerns, academic problems or the belief that they can finish a high school credential more quickly through a GED program, but North Carolinians need to make sure these young people realize how tough it can be for them once they bypass their high school diploma. High school graduation today is a bare minimum for economic survival, and we need to support all students so that they graduate from high school.”

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What were Guilford’s official numbers?

In the full text report (which can be found here), and listed on “Table 1” of the report, GCS lists a year-over-year decrease between 05-06 and 06-07 with a dropout rate of 2.99 percent.

That’s good, but more remains to be done. And recent events within GCS suggest that we cannot let our guard down and lose sight of what’s going on. Our schools are in dire need of attention from all levels and the time to get involved is now.

E.C. 🙂

Magnet Spotlight

On the eve of this Saturday’s Magnet Fair at the Koury Convention Center, ongoing audits of the district’s magnet programs continue, even this evening with a presentation by Dr. Eric Becoats.

Becoats, who has the possibility of being named interim superintendent, will present an update on the district’s new magnet programs.

Coverage from today’s HPE and N&R.

E.C. 🙂

HB 1740: the Taxing Authority bill

From the stuff-you-need-to-watch file…keep an eye out on HB 1740…from your NC State House in Raleigh, that’s House Bill 1740, a.k.a., the Taxing Authority bill.

The Bill’s main page can be found here.

The main text of the bill (as it was filed) is here. There are two versions of it…both here and here.

It’s troubling in a couple of respects…one, in reviewing the GCS Board minutes from their January retreat, Dot Kearns, who sits on the Board’s legislative committee, mentioned it very late in the meeting. And she mentioned it in context with asking the Board to support both this and other items, as she seems to be advocating on behalf of the state school boards association. Taxing authority is one of their bread and butter items. The minutes also had an incorrect HB number (HB 170 is another bill that has nothing to do with taxing authority–not sure if it was a typo or something intentional. HB 1740 is the School Board Fiscal Accountability Act, dealing with taxing authority).

Dot supports taxing authority. You already know my thoughts on this system having taxing authority.

Thankfully, it appears the bill is stuck in a House Finance Committee. We will monitor it as best we can.

E.C. 🙂

“Super” Search: more N&R letters

(SD U-T)

An interesting Letter to the Editor in today’s News & Record begins our coverage today, along with a Counterpoint, who’s writer agrees with Jeri Rowe and disagrees with me (that’s okay):

 CEO superintendency needs to end in Guilford

Enough of the CEO superintendency, please. Enough of only data-driven performance outcomes!

Let principals and teachers be leaders and educators, not only managers and test prep bureaucrats. Of course, that means giving them responsibility.

Enough of the love-in with business. Enough with patronizing community and parents.

More of building connection with community and parents. More of a school board acting democratically on behalf of the governed. More of a school system recognizing democracy ain’t the problem but the solution. More of local media that keep the district’s feet to the fire.

More of a world where schools are a public service on behalf of the children and not data-driven enterprises in search of corporate support.

Steve Flynn
Greensboro

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 Begin superintendent search right now

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Randy Yardley

I agree with Jeri Rowe (“Wanted: Guilford’s next superintendent,” Jan. 29), and I disagree with Erik Huey (“New board should choose superintendent,” Jan. 29). Rowe says to hire a new superintendent for Guilford County Schools who is creative, is involved with the community, and knows that kids are not corporations. Rowe knows what he is talking about.

Huey wants the board to wait until he can step in and help make the decision as a new board member. Why wait?

The current board needs to show the leadership that it was elected to provide to the citizens of Guilford County. An interim superintendent may be needed until the next superintendent is hired, but nothing should stop the board from beginning the hiring process.

Certainly not an election for a new school board.

Terry Grier will be out of here by July 1 at the latest, and while he may devote his full efforts to the Guilford County Schools before that time, the current board members should not simply await his departure or their replacements.

The current board can start the process in whatever way it seems fit, but it should include citizen input in its attempts to identify the best candidates for this demanding job. The board should also recognize that it has interested and innovative leaders within the school system from a range of disciplines who should be consulted for input on the type of leader who can best do the job.

The process to find a new superintendent should begin today. Our students, our teachers and our staff don’t need to wait.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

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While I see the point Mr. Yardley is trying to take, my thinking was this…if we have a lame duck Board of say…3-4 Board members (possibly Cooke, Childs, Kearns–possibly Sharpe), who may or likely may not be running again, I’m just not so sure if they’re of the right frame of mind in terms of helping to conduct this search. Statements in recent weeks from some of these individuals confirm that (Kearns–“Guilford County was an ethos of slavery.”)

Now I may be wrong. But I can’t wait to listen to tonight’s discussion on the subject.

E.C. 🙂