Kiser Middle to host multicultural night tonight

From the N&R:

GREENSBORO – The Kiser Middle School PTA will host a multicultural fair for students, teachers and the community on Thursday (tonight) from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The event will serve as a social studies lesson for students and will feature teams of teachers and their students competing to represent a different country, incorporating food, dancing, art and decorations. Students and their families will receive a passport upon arrival that will be stamped as they travel around the school.

The parent-teacher association will pay for the event through a $1,000 parent involvement grant from the North Carolina PTA. Kiser was one of 10 schools statewide to receive a grant.

For more information, contact Assistant Principal Jessica Bohn at 370-8240.

E.C.

Dot’s little party was a flop

So GCS Board member Dot Kearns…well, not Dot herself, but the GCS Board’s Legislative Committee (of which Dot plays a major part)…the Committee hosted a luncheon yesterday for Raleigh’s Guilford delegation…mainly to gather steam and traction in an effort to pass HB1740–the Taxing Authority bill. (more previous coverage found here)

But the party poopers were the guests themselves…apparently, most of our delegation is not fully on board in support of this bill. Not to mention many on our County Board are not in support of the Bill either.

Two sets of votes were cast Tuesday night, one to get the GCS Board to support 1740; that vote actually failed. Then a second vote was cast to support the “concept” of taxing authority. That vote passed with two dissensions (Amos and Deena).

Both Dot (I don’t know if I’m going to run for re-election or not) Kearns and Kris Cooke had choice words for both the Board and the County Commissioners. See, they think having taxing authority takes the Co-Co’s out of the equation entirely, but it doesn’t. They’re bad mouthing the ones who continue to hold the purse strings for the time being.

The saga continues.

E.C.

Public hearing on the Bonds…tonight

This ought to be an interesting hearing.

From an Action Greensboro e-mail a couple of days ago in my inbox:

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to receive feedback from the community on the upcoming bonds on Thursday, February 21 at 5:30pm at Old Guilford County Courthouse, Second Floor (301 West Market Street).

 Guilford County citizens will have an opportunity on May 6, 2008 to vote on $457 million in school construction bonds.  The Guilford County School system expects to continue to add between 1,200 and 1,500 students on average each year, and currently has 622 mobile classrooms.  Many school facilities are more than 30 years old. The bond package, which contains a prioritized list of 27 renovation and new construction projects, will have a significant impact on Guilford County Schools’ ability to provide students with adequate space and to provide necessary renovations/repairs to aging facilities.

Your opinions about our schools are important!  Please make them known at this public hearing on February 21.

E.C.

The lowdown on this week’s Board meeting

Click here for a quick rundown on Tuesday’s GCS Board meeting, courtesy of Wednesday’s N&R…of interest, the Board will interview firms to gather information and rates on assisting the Gang of 11 with conducting a new superintendent search. They may hire a firm, they may not. In addition, about 8 or 9 community meetings are also planned.

E.C.

School Crime: Someone’s not telling the truth

CBS-2 works for you…unless you’re a GCS Central Office staffer. Because some of our downtown elite want to crush the CBS eye, such as in this graphic.

Apparently, Monday’s CBS-2 (WFMY) report on school crime ruffled a lot of feathers downtown, to the point where both school safety officer Tony Scales and San Diego Schools Supt. Terry Grier are criticizing CBS-2 of “sensationalising” the issue for “Sweeps” time.

But tonight, CBS-2 ran a follow-up, in which GCS Board member Garth Hebert was interviewed:

Board member Garth Hébert says he did speak to six principals. He says two told him they felt intimidated not to report incidents. The other four said they didn’t really think there was intimidation.

“I’ve actively sought out to see if it is happening. Yes, it is happening,” he told WFMY News 2’s Erich Spivey. “But, it is not a plague. It is there, it needs to be dealt with, ’cause I don’t believe it is intentionally happening. I think it is just something that has been bred into the system by accident. It can be purged easily, if we’re willing to be honest and say we won’t tolerate this sort of thing.”

I smell a rat, folks. This story is not over.

BTW, more Tony Scales reaction in Wednesday’s N&R.

E.C.