News-Record.com

Great new blog and you're already in the fray! Good job! I'll be adding you to my list of local web-logs.

Did I misunderstand Bruce's report today that Kris Cooke stated at the candidate's forum on Wednesday that she wants to redistrict the children of wealthy, white Irving Park parents out of Aycock Middle to Mendenhall Middle because the parents are taking their children out of school because of discipline problems at Aycock? I believe that I also read that she said that she wants to make Aycock a magnet school and have limited neighborhood enrollment from the area surrounding the school? Tell me that she didn't really say that, because if she did then everything that she has said about doing the right thing in voting for and supporting the High Point Reassignment Plan becomes a sheer mockery. So, Kris really is only concerned about pleasing the wealthy white Irving Park people of her district, and not really committed to solving the real problems that exist in the majority of the county schools. No wonder District 7 loves her and would vote for her, but she is supposed to be representing the entire county, not just wealthy Greensboro. Say it ain't so, Kris.

Nice try Billy the blogging poet - from the Jamestown crowd for sure!!! Kris did not say what you are trying to make people believe. Once again you are playing dirty politics and not telling the truth.

Sorry Billy I misread that you wrote the comment re: K. Cooke. It came from grierouttahere and everyone knows for sure that that is from the ABC/SOS crowd - need I say more?
Again, sorry.

AWESOME candidate forum at UNCG last night!

Obviously the author of today's editorial didn't attend. Today's statement that Dot Kearns "is the better choice" for the At-Large school board seat could have never been uttered by anyone in attendance last night.

Kearns responded like an administrative puppet to questions. Her smug, tiresome, rote answers that only sometimes corresponded to the questions asked, were painful to listen to. Kirkpatrick on the other hand, clearly articulated answers with sound, proven methods and examples of why his particular ideas will work.

If a gold medal could have been handed out last night at the forum, it would have gone to Jim Kirkpatrick. He already looks and sounds like a concerned and enthusiastic board member.

If there where a silver medal to be handed out, it would have to go to ABC of Guilford County for putting on ANOTHER first-rate forum. This time in conjuction with UNCG.

I'm sure all medals will be awarded on Nov. 2nd.

Well hello there big John, I saw you glistening in the glow of your candidate at the forum last night. I am sorry that you mistook me for an ABCer or SOSer. Apparently independent thinking throws you off track.

As 1 "non-ABCer" to another I think you should know that several Gate City people are coming to the same conclusion about our illustrious School Board and have achieved this decision through their own independent thought. Allow me to share an e-mail with you that is circulating throughout all of Guilford County today. When I received it there were well over 50 people on the distribution list. Just imagine what will happen if these 50 people pass it on to 50 people in their address book and so on and so.

Here goes:

"Please join me in supporting and voting for Jim Kirkpatrick for school board at large, Bill Davidson (if you live in district 7), and Anita Sharpe (if you live in district 5). This is one of the most important elections ever for the school board. The group as a whole now in office continue to screw up the school system and Dot Kearns and Kris Cooke must be booted out of office. We must elect people who are willing to kick Grier out of here. I thought Jerry Weast (better known as Dr. Waste to many of us) was bad, but Terry (test scores are improving) Grier is running a close second in incompetence. Teachers are not the problem - it's the clueless administration and board of education.

If you have followed the High Point busing and magnet school debacle, increased school violence, and wasteful spending on unproven programs, you know what is waiting to happen in the rest of the county. If the wrong people are re-elected, get ready for magnet schools to spread county-wide. The Northwest and Northeast areas will be a target for magnet programs when the new Northern High School is finished around 2006-2007. Don't think it can't happen in the Northwest - it can! If you are as tired as I am of the state of education in Guilford County, please help elect new leadership that will right the ship before it is too late. Let's put children first for a change rather than just give it lip service. New and expanding industries want and expect a good school system for their employee's children. We have little to offer them now, but we can sent a message that this is all about to change by electing new leaders."

John, let me help you here, think of the above message as the XYZ factor which may lead to certain Board Members being SOL.

Dot Kearns is a dedicated board member who actually works to make our schools better. Her opponent would be another Dewey Tedder--part time player with big boy ego. What happened to the $1,000 contribution to ABC-SOS? Surely he expects a return on his investment...that's the business he is in!

Frank, I am very glad that you raise the issue of return on investment. The taxpayers have been getting a negative return on their tax dollar investment for 3 terms now with Dot. No one with this track record deserves a fourth term.

DOT'S STOCK RATING IS SELL, DUMP ALL SHARES NOW!!

John, I don't understand your comment about not telling the truth. I was merely quoting Bruce Buchanan's story in the News-Record, and we all know that the News-Record is fair and balanced in its reporting on Kris Cooke and Terry Grier. If she didn't say what was reported, what did she say? Why is it that all of Kris Cooke's suporters say that she didn't say what she said? Not everyone that doesn't approve of Kris Cooke and Terry Grier are SOS/ABC'ers. There are many other people out here that have independent thought about what is happening in our school system, and it isn't pretty. Actually, our school system is becoming a very unsafe place for children.

I'm not trying to take sides, but grierouttahere did accurately quote what we had in last Thursday's News & Record (well, other than characterizing Irving Park's students as "wealthy and white"). And we were quoting what Kris Cooke said at Wednesday night's candidate forum at Irving Park Elementary.

Again, you can debate the merits of Mrs. Cooke's ideas for Aycock Middle -- in fact, this is a great place to do that. I just wanted to make it clear that grierouttahere isn't fabricating a story.

Having said that, I'll turn this blog back over to its true owners -- you, our readers!

grierouttahere
Kris Cooke didn't say that she wanted to move the IP kids to Mendenhall because of the "violence" at Aycock. She said that she wanted to keep all the IP neighborhood kids in the same school and since @ half were at Mendenhall the others should go there too and make Aycock a Magnet school.

John,

She also said many of the Irving Park kids who are supposed to go to Aycock aren't going and instead are opting for private schools. And at least some of that is because of safety concerns at Aycock -- real or imagined.

If the Irving Park kids were going to Aycock as scheduled, I don't think Kris would have suggested that they be moved to Mendenhall. In fact, she proposed this move as a way to bring dissatisfied Irving Park parents back to the public schools.

Bruce, I have found your comments on this matter to be most interesting on a topic that I have not followed closely. Why are Irving Park parents dissatisfied? How many potential students are we talking about that have moved out of the public school system? With all of the overcrowding that is discussed in our schools, how would these schools handle a sudden influx of students should they return?

Those are some good questions and I'm not sure I have all of the answers. But here's what I can tell you:

Back in June, Aycock parents and teachers came to a school board meeting and said discipline problems had gotten out of control.

School officials have instituted a stricter discipline policy, including school uniforms, and I get the sense things are much calmer this year. I know Aycock has some devoted supporters who are working hard to make things better.

But at the same time, it's easy to see why parents who have the means to attend a private school might choose that option, particularly with some top-notch private schools near Irving Park.

I could be dead wrong about this, but I don't think there would be a large influx of students returning to public schools, even if the old Irving Park kids were redistricted to Mendenhall Middle. Greensboro Day and Canterbury School (the two most popular private school options in the neighborhood) both do a good job of keeping parents happy and holding on to students.

And by the way, tatersnmaters is the best user name we've seen in the short history of The Chalkboard.

Frank,

I find this so funny and entertaining that you and several letters in the paper keep mentioning %$1,000 from Jim. In fact, the letters in the newspapers HPE and N & R are almost identicle. Talk about orchestrated efforts! Talk about no new material! Good luck in helping Dot's campaign if this is all you have to say and have to say the same thing in every letter.

If indeed this is true and he was one of the first contributors, some of ABC folks voted for Jim in the primaries; others for Garth; some for Gwen and Debbie probably. So I guess you might say Jim spent his money on Garth. I am sure Garth appreciated it. He is a great guy too.

From what I have heard there were many contributors to ABC/PAC and they expected nothing in return except for a new and improved School Board that delivers what they say and listens to what the parents want; not what they think is better for parent's kids.

Happy Election Day everyone!