News-Record.com

One of our Chalkboard regulars asked me to start up a conversation on recall elections. It's certainly worth us talking about, so here goes:

Rep. John Blust (R-Guilford) has sponsored a bill that would allow recall elections in North Carolina. The bill would apply to any elected office in the state, including school board members. Mr. Blust sponsored a similar bill in 2003, but it didn't win approval.

And if you're interested in voicing an opinion on this subject, you can contact your representatives here and your state senator here.

Forget the obvious question, "Should we recall members of the Guilford County Board of Education?" I think I know how most of you would respond.

The real question is, "Should North Carolina have recall elections?" I can see definite pros and cons to having recall elections. Obviously, they give the public more power. But they also create the potential for constant turmoil.

What's your take?

Remember the days when just about every teacher in elementary school had an assistant?

Well, those days apparently are long gone.

State cuts and local initiatives to reduce class size have been chipping away at the number of assistants in Guilford County Schools. Now comes the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which adds its restrictions: teacher assistants must have a two-year college degree or pass a general education test. Guilford County has about 80 assistants who have not met the requirements.

In his 2005-06 budget request, Superintendent Terry Grier is proposing to trade in about 190 teacher assistant positions to pay for more teachers. The move would allow the district to reduce class size in more schools hit hardest by poverty.

Here's a report by the Economic Policy Institute that looks at both sides of the class size debate.

Here's a report on Guilford's efforts.

Has the district cut too deeply? Are teacher assistants needed more than ever as state and federal mandates push schools for more academic accountability? Or is it worth losing more assistants to reduce class sizes in more schools?

Vote at our (unscientific)poll here.

And more importantly, talk amongst yourselves here at the Chalkboard about what teacher assistants mean to you.

UPDATE: Check out Bruce's story today on the effects of reduced class size at local elementary schools. The Guilford Education Alliance released its findings on reduced class size at Monday's school board meeting.

N&R editorial columnist Doug Clark poses the question of taping classrooms at his blog.

It's a short post but raises an intriguing question. Across the nation there are cameras surveilling students on buses. They are keeping an eye on the goings on outside of school buildings. And they've found their way into hallways at some schools. I don't know if they've made their way into the classroom yet. I haven't heard of any as a standard practice in local schools. (Does anyone know if there are cameras in local classrooms? I know a teacher at Kiser was taping his in-school suspension classroom, partly to keep an eye on what students were doing and partly to help him improve his teaching skills.)

The question is: should they? The path to George Orwell's 1984 seems to be getting more real every day. Advances in technology are making it easier and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seem to be fueling what we see nationally (Think Patriot Act).

Big Brother is already watching you.

Should society extend that eagle eye into the classroom?

(BTW: Good question, Doug. I hope you don't mind if I "borrow" it for a discussion here on the Chalkboard!)

This just in from editor John Robinson:

"We've had some good discussions about anonymity, pen names, civil discussion and defamation on this site and on Allen's. After reading, talking and thinking some more about it, we've decided to require you to enter a name and e-mail address to post a comment on our blogs. It doesn't address everything, but it's a start."

Check out responses to this and other posts at the Editor's Log. Or feel free to comment here at the Chalkboard.

Remember when the school year was ending and you brought your teacher an apple or box of candy to say thank you?

Well, local businesses like to thank teachers, too. Here are some recent awards handed out to educators in Guilford County Schools.

Retail giant Wal-Mart recently named its local Teacher of the Year winners.

The top teachers in Guilford are: Kiyoshi Carter at Southwest High School, Sharon Kelly at Guilford Middle School and Brian Thoma at Ragsdale High School.

Each receives a $1,000 educational grant for their school, a $50 gift card to buy classroom supplies, and an honorary Wal-Mart greeter's vest.

On Thursday, a coalition of corporations gave kudos to 17 educators in Guilford County Schools.

The 11-member Business Advisory Board for Science and Mathematics for Guilford County Schools handed out plaques and stipends from $350 to $500 to the winners. This group encourages teachers to pursue the latest information in science and math and sponsors the district's annual science fair.

Here's the list of this year's winners:

Distinguished Service Award
Science: Rebecca Stump, Brooks Global Elementary
Math: Mary Kimberly Coppage Mann, Brooks Global

Excellence in Teaching
Science: Lori Penry, Nathanael Greene Elementary; Fran Lusk, Kiser Middle School; Lisa Rose, Northwest High School. Math: Krista Ann Hannah, Murphey Traditional Academy; Karen Cantwell Thorpe, Kiser Middle; and Jo A. Adams, Western High School. Technology: John Phillips, Brooks Global.

Rookie of the Year
Science: Megan Renart, Jesse Wharton Elementary; Denise Mackert, Kiser Middle; Demetrice Smith, Page High School. Math: Melissa Wellman, Jefferson Elementary School; Page Mason Kelly, Northwest Middle School; and Philia Mozie, Dudley High School.

Principal of the Year
Science: Sandra Culmer, General Greene Elementary.
Math: Margie Thompson, Hairston Middle School.

In case you missed the *couple* of warnings we've given that the school board is going to meet Tuesday night, here is another one:

The school board meets at 5 p.m. (NOTE THE EARLIER START TIME) Tuesday at its main offices on Eugene Street.

And yes, you guessed it. Next year's budget is the biggest topic on the agenda, which you can read here.

Buried about halfway in the agenda, but maybe not halfway through the actual meeting, is a chance for the public to once again speak on the 2005-06 budget that the board is considering.

Speakers actually get two options to speak at this meeting. The first should come around 6:45 p.m. and is limited to about 45 minutes and NON budget concerns. Speakers get the usual three minutes to speak.

The second comment period has no time limit, although individual speakers are still bound by the 3-minute rule. This comment period is just for the budget, which the board will take up for discussion immediately after hearing from the public.

As we found out last month with the Day of Silence, sexuality issues and the public schools are a volatile mix.

Here's a story from the Washington Post about how former Guilford County Schools superintendent Jerry Weast is in the middle of Maryland controversy about sex education in the schools.

In 1996, sex ed was a hot topic here in the Guilford County Schools. More than 400 people attended one public meeting. Opinions were widely split, with some saying this topic was best left to parents while others said students needed this in school.

Well, I just got back from the national Education Writers Assocation conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., an annual gathering for those of us who write about education. It was a great learning experience and I'd like to share some of what I learned with you.

ETS, a national testing and research organization, gave a preview of its fifth annual Americans Speak on Public Education poll. Here are some of the highlights:

- Only 26 percent of U.S. adults gave public schools a grade of an A or B. Nearly half of Americans, when asked, gave the schools a C and 19 percent said they deserve a D or F.

- However, when asked about their own child's school, parents have a completely different opinion: 62 percent said their school deserves an A or B. In other words, people think their own school is great, but other schools aren't. That held true across racial and economic lines.

- No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal school reform law, divides teachers and the public. In general, the poll found Americans favor NCLB, which holds schools accountable for student performance. NCLB was most favored by folks who identified themselves as Republicans, mothers of K-12 students and/or rural and small-town parents. But 75 percent of high school teachers said they opposed the law's new standards.

- One catchphrase you hear from educators is, "Every child can learn." What they mean is that all students and schools should be held to the same standard, no matter if they are poor.

Nearly 60 percent of K-12 parents said expectations should be the same for all schools. But only 26 percent of high school teachers said they felt this way.

The Guilford County Board of Education may not be the most popular bunch here at The Chalkboard, particularly after Tuesday's decision to give themselves a pay raise.

But be thankful we don't have school board members like these:

- One elected school board member in Fresno, Calif., says he can't show up for meetings if television cameras will be there. He's a prison guard and said it would be a danger to his family if he was on TV. Of course, the cameras are at almost every meeting. I'm not sure how a school board member can do his or her job if he can't go to meetings, but it gets stranger....

- In 1997, Rockford, Ill. school board president Bill "Headlock" Nedlock grabbed a fellow board member by the throat during an argument about school spending.

- I've heard plenty of folks say the Guilford County school board stinks, but the Kenosha (Wisc.) Unified School Board may smell - literally.

In 1993, board member Sally Yule Mengo complained publicly that two fellow board members, er, didn't smell so great. The supposedly stinky board members denied the charge of B.O.

- Last year, voters in Orange County, Calif., elected political newcomer Steve Rocco to a local school board, despite Rocco's claims that a vast network of business and civic leaders is trying to ruin him. Supposedly, this campaign began in 1980, when Rocco was arrested at an Albertson's grocery store for shoplifting film and sausage. Rocco vowed to fight "The Partnership" during his swearing-in ceremony.

Late Tuesday night, or was that Wednesday morning?, the Guilford County Board of Education voted to give itself a raise.

They've been talking about it for a couple of months. Under the proposal, which must be approved by county commissioners, the school board would increase its monthly salary from $500 to $1,225 starting next year. The raise would put the school board on par with what county commissioners make.

Should school board members get a raise? You can vote in our weekly poll here.

The board also voted to give Dr. Grier a raise, which also would take effect in 2005-06. Basically, they plan to tie the superintendent's future raises into what the state legislature gives to teachers. So, if teachers get a 2 percent raise, Grier would be eligible for a similar raise if he meets performance goals set by the board. They also gave him a four-year contract, which is what principals get, and will allow him to use money from within his budget to buy time in the N.C. retirement system. The last piece means he can convert his experience in out-of-state school districts to experience in North Carolina.

In his five years in the district, Grier has twice refused raises - once because of budget concerns and again this school year because of serious problems that marred the start of the year.

He received a $15,000 raise in 2001 and a $3,300 raise last year.

Superintendents in the state's two largest districts make slightly more than $200,000 annually for their base salary. That doesn't include perks such as performance bonuses, benefits, car allowances, etc.

Superintendent Don Martin in neighboring Winston-Salem is making $190,104, which includes a $7,500 travel allowance. Grier's current salary is about $182,000 (his $9,000 car allowance is included in that base).

With this raise, Grier's compensation for 2005-06 will be $211,000. (See update for new figure)

UPDATE: OK, after talking to board members and school officials, I think I can better explain what the board's vote on the superintendent issues means.

Grier's base salary would increase from about $182,000 to maybe $186,300, based on if teachers get a 2 percent raise from the legislature which would equal $4,300 more for Grier, according to Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment. (I actually get a different amount, closer to $4,200, but I'm not known for my math skills so I'll defer to the experts.) If teachers get more, Grier also would be eligible for more. Same goes for if teachers get less, Grier would get less. I'm not sure where the state is on this point yet. Teacher raises have ranged from just under 2 percent to around 7 percent, although it has been awhile since they've reached that high end.

The $25,000 figure to buy into the retirement system is a one-time deal at this point, although the board could vote in the future to allow Grier to do that again, a district spokeswoman said. So that money does not go on his base, but is added to his total wages and benefits, which this year add up to about $210,500. (That total includes salary plus health, retirement and any other insurance costs or benefits.)

So, Grier's total compensation (salary and benefits) for 2005-06 would be $235,000 plus a raise tied to whatever the state gives to teachers.

Well, it finally happened. The school board voted Thursday for its 2005-06 budget. (Not at 1 a.m., thankfully. That's about when Tuesday's meeting ended, in case you didn't stick around 'til the bitter end like the rest of us.)

How's it all shake out, you ask.

Good question.

Let's start at the beginning. The district gets about a $131 million local budget, which means that's the part of the tab the county picks up. The entire budget, including state and federal funding, stacks up to about $500 million.

The board's vote on Thursday seeks a $14.6 million increase, give or take a few thousand, from the county. That would increase that $131 million to about $145.3 million. (Yes, I know that doesn't add up. Remember, I said give or take a few thousand. Thus, the disparity.)

But this budget ain't cooked yet. County commissioners may not get to pick the ingredients, but they decide how much grocery money the schools will get.

(Sorry. It's late. I'm tired, and my creative writing gene suddenly kicked in here. Once again in plain English please: Commissioners can't pick and choose what the school district can spend its money on. But commissioners can tell them how much money they'll get.)

The school board hasn't gotten its invitation to the county budget dance yet. But when they do, they'll get a chance to talk about why they need the extra money. And once we find out when that is, we'll tell you here at the Chalkboard.

County commissioners will have a budget meeting June 2 and must pass their budget by July 1.

Read more details on the school's budget in Friday's News & Record.

We received this message from the folks over at Page High School. They are raising money to help out the school's athletic department:

On Saturday, May 14, Page High School will hold a live auction and reverse raffle where someone will win $10,000 (you do not need to be present to win). The purchase of a ticket entitles you to dinner and entertainment for two people, a 1 in 500 chance to win $10,000, plus many other items. All proceeds will benefit all Page Athletic Teams and additional contributions help the "Pirate Legacy Campaign" a capital fund for athletic renovations for the Page campus.

Also, you can bid on items, such as:

Nags Head Beach House valued at $800
Bartlett Tree Service deep root, time released tree fertilization treatment valued at $360
Full Orthodontic Package valued at $7,500
Sealy-Posturepedic Mattress valued at $1,000
Autographed Football signed by Ricky Proehl
Autographed Jersey signed by Peyton Manning
Autographed Baseball signed by Cy Young
Autographed Basketball signed by Roy Williams
10 x 10 Deck valued at $750

To order tickets or for more information contact Karen Berg 370-8200 or Nancy Franks 282-0455.

The Guilford County Board of Education finalized its 2005-06 budget request Thursday night. Now, it's your turn to ask questions.

The Guilford Education Alliance, a local non-profit that promotes education, will host two community forums on the budget request. The school board is asking county commissioners for a $14.6 million increase. School board chairman Alan Duncan and other board members will be on hand to answer questions from the public.

Here is the forum schedule:

7 p.m. Tuesday
Carl Chavis YMCA
2757 Granville St. in High Point

7 p.m. Wednesday
Glenwood Public Library
1901 W. Florida St. in Greensboro

What do the Guilford County Board of Education and gansta rappers have in common?

Neither likes the police very much, it seems.

Late Tuesday night, the school board voted to cut school resource officers - uniformed police officers stationed in schools - from the district's middle schools as board members worked on the 2005-06 budget.

Those officers were restored in the final budget approved Thursday night, much to the relief of middle school principals. The principals had protested cutting the officers, leading to an about-face from the school board.

But some folks have questioned why they were even on the chopping block in the first place. It's true that putting a budget together is a tough job, particularly with fixed costs rising by the millions. Cutting on-campus police does raise questions, though, particularly since it comes just a year after parents from three middle schools appeared before the board to complain about rampant on-campus violence and discipline problems.

The school board also voted to put $500,000 into anti-racism and classroom management training designed to improve the school climate, which in theory, will lead to fewer discipline problems.

This wasn't the first time in recent months that board members have given a cold shoulder to Guilford County's Finest, though.

Back in February, board members rebuffed a Greensboro Police Department proposal to create a School Watch program. Board member Deena Hayes, in particular, expressed opposition to the plan.

And in December, Superintendent Terry Grier hinted that High Point police overreacted by sending six police cars to deal with an incident at Andrews High School. That drew a sharp rebuke from High Point City Manager Strib Boynton, who said police would send as many officers as it takes.

So what do you think about all this?

Seems like a simple question, doesn't it? But it wasn't so simple last week, when the Guilford County Board of Education cut school resource officers from all middle schools one day and reinstated them two days later.

Are officers necessesary? Where should they be placed? Are there alternatives to having an officer patrolling school hallways?

Check out our Web poll here. And continue the discussion here at the Chalkboard. (I know Bruce already started a conversation on this in the post right before this one. But I thought I'd continue it with this poll question, which also is posted on the paper's main site.)

Speaking of last week's board meetings, board member Darlene Garrett tried to put an end to the controversial High Point reassignment plan. Buried amid the myriad motions to up the board's pay, Darlene moved to add $250 to the board's monthly salary and end the High Point plan. Her motion failed 8-2, with vice chairwoman Anita Sharpe as the only other yes vote.

For those who don't know what the plan is (is there really anyone out there who hasn't heard about it yet?), the board changed the way High Point's students attend high school starting with this year's freshmen.

Instead of being assigned to school via geographic zones, the board lumped Andrews, Central and Southwest high schools into one zone and assigned students to them through a computerized lottery. Students had to rank the schools in the order they preferred to attend them. Each school was given an academic theme, what is often referred to as a magnet when talking about elementary or middle schools. Andrews took on a technology focus with the arts at Southwest and languages and international studies at Central.

The plan has not been popular with many parents, the most vocal from the Southwest area. They started a grassroots group, ABC of Guilford County, that expanded to include members throughout the county. You've seen their "Get Terry Grier Outta Here" and "Save our Schools" signs throughout the county.

The High Point plan has certainly been discussed as it heads into Year 2.

Lottery results released last month had parents up in arms, mostly from Southwest which took the hardest hit. There were 107 rising freshmen there who did not get their first choice school: Southwest. Another 49 students from Andrews and Central did not get their first choice school, which was also Southwest.

But has the continued discontent changed the board's view on the plan?

When the board voted last Tuesday against Darlene's motion, were they voting not to end the plan, or against her suggested raise? A couple other suggested raises, with no other deals attached, also failed that night.

Does the vote mean anything? Does it mean the board won't vote to change the plan anytime soon, if ever? Honestly, I don't know. I don't recall anyone saying why they voted no on that particular motion Tuesday night.

So where does that leave this issue? Steamrolling ahead to Year 2.

We've heard plenty of opinions on the plan from parents and officials. Read what students think about it this Sunday in a special report by the News & Record.

Okay, I hope you have had a chance to read today's story on the first year of the High Point High School reassignment plan.

The reassignment plan always is a hot topic here on The Chalkboard, so I thought I would open it up to discussion. What do you, the readers, make of the issues raised in today's story? Or, you can add anything you like related to the reassignment plan.

Most of us dreaded taking the SAT in high school. But four local seventh-graders did pretty well on the college admissions exam.

Taylor Gerkin, Alex Jost and Neil Shah - all from Aycock Middle and Brandon Mayfield from Kernodle Middle earned Grand Recognition in Duke University's Talent Identification Program talent search. This meant they scored among the top two percent of seventh-graders in a 16-state region.

Students either had a math or verbal score of 650 or a combined score of 1260.

The TIP program has been around since the early 1980s and recognizes academically gifted middle and high school students. It includes a summer residential program that gives kids a chance to take college-level classes.

Here's at least one positive note to end the 2004-05 school year.

Guilford County Schools middle school students did great on last year's North Carolina Tests of Computer Skills. Not only did local eighth-graders beat the state average, they outscored their counterparts in Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Durham and Fayetteville.

This two-part test (multiple-choice and hands-on) is important because students must pass it in order to graduate from high school.

Connie Murphy submitted a Counterpoint column to the News & Record questioning the Newsweek list of top high schools, which ranked a Guilford County high school in the top 100. Read her viewpoint here. (Scroll down to the headline "AP exam results may be misleading.")

To sum it up, Murphy doesn't think the rankings are a true account of what constitutes a top school because Newsweek looks at only how many tests are taken, not how well students do on the tests. That's a good point, but that's not the intention of the rankings.

Jay Mathews, the Washington Post reporter who devised the rankings back in, I believe, 1998, explains why he didn't use scores but focused rather on number of tests taken.

I think the best way to describe what he's trying to do is that it's all about access and opportunity, not how well students do on the tests. Top schools are top not because they have all A students getting the top scores. They're the best schools because they give more students access to rigorous courses, such as AP or IB. Why is access so important, you ask?

Well, research from the U.S. Department of Education shows that students who are exposed to AP or IB (International Baccalaureate)do better in college - whether they pass the college-level exam in high school or not. Making it through college is becoming increasingly more important. The days of graduating high school and getting a decent job in textiles, for example, are long gone. Today, good-paying jobs require college degrees, at a minimum.

Here is the link to the Newsweek FAQ on the rankings:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7760504/site/newsweek (Registration may be required)

If that doesn't work, here's what Jay says in the Newsweek FAQ about counting tests taken vs. how well students do on the tests.

Q: Why do you count only the number of tests given, and not how well the students do on the tests?

A: In the past, schools have usually reported their passing rates on AP or IB as a sign of how well their programs were doing. When I say passing rate, I mean the percentage of students who scored 3, 4 or 5 on the 5-point AP test or 4, 5, 6 or 7 on the 7-point IB test. Those scores, the rough equivalent of a C or better on a college course, make the student eligible for credit at many colleges.

I do not count passing rates because I found that most American high schools keep their passing rates artificially high by allowing only A students to take the courses. In some cases, they open the courses to all but wrongly encourage only the best students to take the tests.

AP and IB are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and difficult college examinations. Clifford Adelman's 1999 study for the U.S. Education Department, "Answers in the Tool Box," showed that the best predictor of college graduation, based on the records of a cohort of 8,700 students, was not good high school grades or test scores, but whether or not a student has an intense academic experience in high school by taking challenging courses. I feel that when schools deny their average students a chance to have that experience, they should not be rewarded with higher ratings because their passing rates are high.

The Adelman report, other studies and interviews with hundreds of teachers and students over the last 20 years have convinced me that a student who works hard but struggles in an AP or IB course, and does poorly on the AP or IB test, is still better prepared for college than he would be if he were forced to take an easier course and test. By taking AP or IB, he has gone one-on-one against the academic equivalent of Michael Jordan, and Jordan has beaten him, but he now has a visceral appreciation of what he has to do to play at that level. To send a student off to college without having had an AP or IB course is like insisting that your child learn to ride a bike without ever taking off the training wheels. It is dumb, and in my view a form of educational malpractice. But most American high schools still do it.

The College Board says the AP grade reports that high schools will receive in 2005 will contain a new statistic that will show how well their students are doing on the test without rewarding schools that restrict access to AP. I call it the mastery rate. It will be the percentage of ALL graduating seniors, including those who never got near an AP course, who had at least one score of 3 or above on at least one AP test sometime in their high school careers. A College Board study of 2004 results showed the average mastery rate for schools that had AP was about 13 percent. It will be interesting to see how many schools do better than that modest standard.

For more than 200 years, the federal government has resisted telling schools what they should teach.

That's about to change, at least on one day a year. According to a story by Associated Press national education reporter (and former News & Record staffer) Ben Feller, Congress will require all schools and colleges that receive federal money to teach about the Constitution every Sept. 17.

The new requirement was tucked into a large spending bill by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia).

He and other supporters say they are frustrated by the lack of knowledge many Americans have about the Constitution and our civil liberties. Surveys of high school students have shown they don't know much about basic civics, even though it is a required course in virtually every state, including North Carolina.

But others say the federal government has no business telling local schools what to teach. One critic even said, "Congress has been acting more like a school board."

I think we can all agree that students need to know about the Constitution and the building blocks of our democracy. But did Congress do the right thing here or have they overstepped their bounds?

Advanced Placement, the college-level courses that offer high school students rigorous academics and a look at their future schooling, are losing favor with a small number of private schools, the Washington Post reports.

Jay Mathews writes in today's online edition that a small but influential number of private schools are pulling out of AP. They prefer offering their own courses and the freedom of not being bound by AP exams in May. (Note: Mathews is the Post reporter who came up with the Newsweek ranking of high schools based on the number of AP and International Baccaulareate classes taken at a school.)

Here's an excerpt from today's article:

"The 11 schools, which might be joined soon by the Westtown School outside Philadelphia, represent only three-hundredths of 1 percent of all high schools in the country. They appear not to have affected, so far, the growth of AP, which gave tests to 1,173,000 students this month, twice as many as 10 years ago.

"Trevor Packer, executive director of the AP program, said that occasionally a private school will drop AP but that the trend is in the other direction, with 15 percent more private schools using the program this year than last. "Such schools embrace the standards required by the AP examinations as a powerful support for providing increased rigor and intellectual excitement for their students," he said."

The article includes Carolina Friends School, a private school near Durham, where senior Elizabeth Clark will be taking a seminar on good and evil instead of AP courses.

"Clark took just one AP test this year, in European history. Despite her unorthodox program, she is unlikely to have much trouble being accepted at a good college. Her first try at the new SAT yielded a score of 2210 out of a possible 2400," Mathews writes.

Read the rest of the story here (registration required.)

Advanced Placement has elicited a *few* comments here at the Chalkboard :) So when I saw this I thought you all might be interested.