News-Record.com

Let them have it. It could be a win/win proposition. The BOE has more important issues to address.

It's disgusting how High Point civic and business leaders become "sometimes emotional" over a stadium, but can sit back and watch the children in High Point go thru turmoil with the High Point Illegal/Choice Busing plan.

They disgust me!

Liz,

You are right! It is disgusting how these so called leaders could get emotional about the stadium and buy into the HP choice plan. Their priorities are really straight, aren't they?

My impression is that the question was about the future of the stadium, right?

Simeon IS in bad shape, and needs some upgrading.

I'm with Stafford...If HP City has money and motivation to make the place back into a great venue, then the BOE should jump at the opportunity.

As long as Andrews and Central are contracturally assured of their game dates in the future, what would be the downside for the school system?

That's a good question, David. If there is a downside for the school system, no one has brought it up yet.

But the school board sure didn't seem eager to jump at the offer last night. All they promised was, "We'll consider it," which clearly wasn't the reaction the HP officials were looking for.

Bruce, thanks for this post and for your excellent report of last night's meeting.

I've posted a link to High Point Mayor Becky Smothers' PowerPoint presentation on my blog, Off The Record. It includes a bunch of photos showing the poor condition of Simeon Stadium. I hope people will take a look and decide if this is what we want for this facility.

This doesn't have anything to do with the High Point Choice Plan. It's about maintaining an asset that's important to the entire community.

School board member Nancy Routh brought one point to my attention: the schools do use the High Point Athletic Complex adjacent to Simeon Stadium. But they pay the city about $50,000 a year to use it.

Of course, that helps cover maintenance costs. But how much, if anything, schools continue to pay for use of the track, soccer and baseball facilities should be a point of negotiation in any lease deal.

Lets face it, GCS has a proven track record of not being able to maintain any of its properties.

At the rate Simeon stadium is decaying it will be condemned in a matter of years.

Par for the course for GCS.

Let the City of High Point have it back and maybe they can salvage whats left.

This is just another case of negligence by GCS toward the second rate city of High Point.

Thanks go to Dot and Susan for looking after the taxpayers of High Point.

Our BOE cannot shake the old Greensboro BOE style. It did not care about anybody but itself. The insistence of rebuilding Dudley while others were in trailers is par for the course.

Gen. Slak

I agree let the city have it back.
Why would we expect them to take care of a stadium when some of the schools are in terrible shape.

You go Liz! My sentiments exactly! Our mayor could give a rip about our kids!

Gen. Slak is very slack when he asserts, "Lets face it, GCS has a proven track record of not being able to maintain any of its properties."

No theyt don't. That is just a bunch of Slak hyperbole. My kids go to three different schools in Guilford and all three of the facilities are very well maintained. So this Simeon situation is hardly "par for the course". As a matter of fact it is quite rare that GCS would so neglect such a faility.

I wonder what is going on with that?

Dave,

how many of those three schools that your kids go to are in high Point? How many of the GCS facilities have you actually inspected? I believe that there are over 100 facilities that GCS maintains( or not) Are all the parents that complain about leaky roofs, mouldy carpets, etc just screaming about sour grapes? Instead of making a knee jerk response, why don't you do a little investigative journalism and find out what the facts are. Since you have your own blog, you have some journalistic responsibility to find out what the facts are, not base it soley on 3 schools.

By the way, I think the proposal is an excellent idea. The board will probably not accept it though, as it wasn't their idea.

Dave,

How lucky you are that the schools your children attend are so WELL maintained. Some of us aren't so lucky. My child goes to Central which is in serious need of a paint job, floors replaced, graffti all over the place. My husband went down there last fall and powered washed the graffti to only to find more the next month. Northwest schools are also in serious need of repair. In fact, the N&R reported in Feb. 2004 that the schools were something like a billion dollars behind in repairs.

Isn't it funny?

Some people see a neighborhood as old and run-down while others see the same neighborhood as "historical".

Some see old outdated baseball stadiums worthy of renovations while others would rather build a new state-of-the-art stadium.

Some see schools with leaky roofs, moldy carpet and rodent problems "in need of repairs" while others see them as being "well maintained".

Some see a school board member as a mumbling, incoherent hag who no longer has a clear sense of reality while others keep voting her back in -- year after year after year....

Don't you love Guilford County?

liz and maybe some others might have a misunderstanding. The city of High Point is not responsible for operating the schools in High Point. It has nothing to do with the student assignment plan. It simply wants to lease Simeon Stadium so it can make substantial renovations and expand its use for the entire community.

Doug,

I am a pretty intelligent person. I do NOT have a "misunderstanding."

Your words: "The city of High Point is not responsible for operating the schools in High Point."

MY WORDS: By offering to make "substantial renovations" to the stadium, High Point IS sticking their neck into school business. They are using THEIR money on SCHOOL property.

MY POINT: What a FREAKIN' shame that their money is available for a FREAKIN' cement hole, but NOT for the actual schools that are falling apart, overcrowded and most exist in trailers!!

THAT'S my point! The kids can go to hell but God Almighty lets resurrect the stadium for Old Freakin' High Point!

And to Mike G. I'm not convinced that this wasn't the Board's idea. In fact, I surmise that Grier went TO High Point, had one of his secret meetings and they all agreed it would look like High Point's idea.

In fact the whole stadium idea would be good IF the schools themselves weren't in such disrepair and kids weren't being hog-tied and dragged to schools where they don't want to be.

And to Dave Hoggard, I'm happy that you have well-maintained schools that are a choice to attend. Until you are bussed across town for the purpose of....well, there is no purpose, please don't tell High Pointers how they should react.

Until this illegal busing is over, there will never be peace in Low Point.

Liz, I think the city officials don't see Simeon Stadium as exclusively school property. Their idea is that if it can be fixed up and if the city runs it, Simeon can be used for non-school events like concerts, corporate gatherings, soccer tournaments, etc. High Point doesn't have a city-owned entertainment venue like the Greensboro Coliseum, but city officials believe Simeon can serve some of those same functions.

And I can tell you this isn't the school board's idea. They were lukewarm, at best, the city's offer and the High Point folks left Tuesday's meeting bewildered, disappointed and even upset that they didn't get any further.

As for David's question of why Simeon was allowed to deteriorate into such condition, that is a good question. I don't have an answer. However, Simeon is the only local football stadium exclusively maintained by the central office. The rest are maintained, at least in part, by staff members from the high schools.

Maybe that's part of the problem: no one "owns" Simeon, the way that other high schools own their stadium. It's kind of like how you often see litter on public roads, but rarely in someone's yard.

But Liz, your point is well-taken, though: There are a number of schools with even more serious facility needs. But no one is rallying to fix them.

Bruce,

Thank you for seeing my point. High Point City officials choose NOT to see a lot of things.

The story about Mr. Jeffries returning to High Point will be a story that we see less and less. Once the kids in High Point are finished being screwed over, they will NEVER return to High Point. City leaders better get some correction lenses so that they can see reality a little better.

They need to rally for choice in education or their precious city is going down the tubes along with all the Lazy Boys and end tables.

NO ONE ever rallies for the children in High Point. It's disgusting and sad.

Kris Cooke, Dot Kearns and Walter Childs are the saddest and MOST disgusting for NOT representing the children.

The Longest Yard?? I think the prisoners of High Point are up for a game against the guards.

I have to tell you I was channel surfing on vacation the other day and came accross of all things, a School Board with a backbone. It turns out there is a city in the Southeast where a School Board is at odds with the Superintendent. And it turns out it was being reported in a manner that was fair and balanced. Plus the local newspaper appears to not be the mouthpiece of the Superintendent. These towns do exist.

How is it that Terry Grier is an Associate Professor at UNCG in the Department of Education? Is there no end to the moon-lighting jobs that this man has? where does he find the time to actually perform the responsibilites of his his full-time job for which he is handsomely rewarded with the school district? This man has so many paying enterprises going on that I am in a quandry as to why the school board feels compelled to give him more and more money each year. With his moonlighting jobs, he has to be the highest paid government official in the state.

First of all, David, I read your blog, and I am agree with you on many points, but you live in Greensboro, and I live spitting distance from Greensboro, so we live in two different worlds. In my corner of Guilford County, my kids have been in trailers at school for the past two years (I've only lived here three years). My husband has been ready to bolt from his workplace over to Florence Elementary to pick them up because of hurricane watches and warnings. One thing every parent wants is for their child to be safe, and I don't have that feeling when they are sitting in poorly constructed trailers for 7 hours a day. I don't have a representative on the school board. End of story. Noone cares about North High Point. We're the new folks, not the Doug-Clark-old-High-Point-insiders. We just bring tax dollars to be pissed away on transportation and overpaid administrators. My daughter will not have a teacher assistant in her third grade class. More parent volunteers (God love them, but they're not trained professionals and I could write another lengthy discussion about privacy violations due to talkative volunteers) will be in the schools and unfortunately that brings more safety/security issues as well. Liz, keep posting. You are on target. Old High Point wants a pretty stadium. I'd like for my daughters to be in a safe school close to home with well paid teachers!!! I guess I'm just unreasonable ;)

Doug, some of us do NOT misunderstand what goes on in this town. I perfectly understand that the city is not ultimately responsible for the schools. I perfectly understand that the city continues to allow developers to build without charging impact fees. I perfectly understand that the city allows such growth with no regard where children will go to school. I pefectly understand that city points the finger at the school board and then allows them to implement forced busing. The point is noone wants to take responsibility for effectively managing the growth in North High Point. People are tried of the back door politics.

My son is in middle school so I am not sure, but don't most HS have football boosters? I know at our HS they do, and they do tons of volunteering to help with the upkeep of the stadium (not a stadium, but bleachers that were there when I was in school inthe 70's) They also do lots of fund raisers etc... I guess what I am saying is that the community has been the one keeping up the football area at our school. Does that not happen with Central/Andrews? Do they not have boosters? Each school should get money to help with athletics, but that doesn't go far.. for instance at our HS if you wanted to play soccer, you had to buy your own uniform!

You know the facts are that they isn't enough money to even educate the children(you HP people don't have to tell me about bussing, I'm on your side) so if the HP city wants to help with the stadium, that is money that could be spent somewhere else, IMO

Andrews and Central do have booster clubs and I'm sure they do work hard to keep things clean. But the problems at Simeon go beyond simple cleaning - they involve repairs that parent volunteers probably aren't equipped to do. Things like replacing light fixtures, mending cracked concrete, installing hand rails on the stairs, remodeling restrooms, etc.

Over on Doug Clark's Off the Record blog, he has posted a slide show prepared by the City of High Point that shows some of these problems.

Hog,

Have you ever crossed the border into the third world community of High Point?

That is what one would think if you took a tour of the three high schools in High Point.

Being a native of High Point, I have seen the decay and destruction of all three high schools in High Point.

The Reasons are many as to why our schools are in such bad shape. Here are just few.

When High Point City Schools were forced to Merge with GCS , The people of High Point Lost all control over how tax money was to be dispersed for Our schools.

Another reason for failure has been the lack of Intelligent representation from our school board members in High Point. Dot Kearns has been a part of the leadership in High Point since Merger and schools have steadily gone down hill since then. Susan Mendenhall is useless...Walter Childs is quickly proving himself as inadequate as the rest of them.

One more reason for the decay of our buildings might be the willingness of our school board to spend money on magnet programs that have no educational value, along with these programs we bus children for hours at a time , costing the taxpayers millions annually, while our school buildings cave in.

ANOTHER???? Oh Yes, They spent all the money on The DUDLEY HIGH Renovations. Hog, You did n't get any of that action did you????

Being an old Construction Man, I have learned over time that if you build it right to begin with, things ussually last quite along time.
I also learned that if something goes wrong you quickly fix it, or major damage will eventually occur. This is obviously something that has never caught on at the GCS Maintenance Dept.

I must go now, but one last note for you Hog,
The 6-Star Gen. is Slack in every way, But do not think for one minute that he still won't stand his ground and Bump heads with anyone that shoots off at the mouth about a topic they have no knowledge about...

Have a Blessed Day!

Well written, Mr. Hoggard. Thank you.

On another vein, I thought I read somewhere that folks could file to run for HP City Council. Norma Rae makes a terrific point when she says:
"I perfectly understand that the city continues to allow developers to build without charging impact fees...allows such growth with no regard where children will go to school...points the finger at the school board and then allows them to implement forced busing..."

She's absolutely right, people ARE tired of the back door politics. While venting on the Chalkboard feels good though, it doesn't solve the problem. If we had someone in the HP City Council that can provide STRONG representation for the folks in the rapidly-growing North High Point area, maybe the Council would be more apt to step up to the plate with school issues, development issues and the like.

Just a thought, folks.

Jennifer/Bruce,

Can you provide any insight into the School Board meeting last night? Anything beyond what was published on their agenda?

Thanks.

And still it continues, Liz.

Suppose I were to move to High Point and enter my kids in the lottery, would that satisfy you?

I can promise you that I am doing more advocacy for HP's cause than 99.99% of Greensboro residents, but still I'M the bad guy and need to prove myself? In light of your attitude toward me, is it any wonder why others in my city might choose to stay away from your fight?

Just so's you know, some of the most effective advocacy occurs on a one-to-one non-public basis - between people who know and RESPECT and LIKE one another.

Is it not obvious to you that your very public woe-is-me, Grie-is-an-ass tactics aren't working very well?

Is it not obvious that your attitude toward our school board is a minority position as evidenced by the last election?

Your brand of advocacy is not working very well, it seems. YOU might want to change your idea of advocacy if change is really what you desire. But if you just want to vent and piss people off, keep up the good work... your tactics are quite effective at that.

How's about trying to get to know, I mean really get to know, some of the people you continuously rail against and try to understand their position. Maybe then, and only then, you might be able to affect some of the changes you are seeking.

The only thing anyone accomplishes through continued personal attacks on Dr. Grier, the Board, their policies, and their staff, is further intractable alienation. Everytime people spew the venom that is so prevalent from many of the comments here, you get further and further from your goal. But hey, at least you get to publicly vent... ad nauseum.

I'll advocate my way, Liz... you do yours... let's see who gets the best results the fastest.

Now I know someone is going to parce this response and pull the conversation back to the ills of the High Point lottery and/or school trailers and/or rats behind the vending machines and/or my perceived arrogance in presenting my position on advocacy but pause before you do so.

Perhaps some don't know an ally when they encounter one, but even I have a threshold for abuse and criticism.

Hoggard is throwing in the "good things going on in our schools" statement just to hedge his bets on offending any potential supporters in his next political run. He knows good and well the school system is a mess. The only ones keeping it going are the teachers and parents, not the admin or school board. Go back to blogging Hog.

This isn't the first time the issue of who-owns Simeon has come up. I covered it back in 1997, and the issue was pretty much the same.

At least this time the city of High Point has proposed a lease deal. Last time, the city said it would take the stadium off the school district's hands in exchange for priority scheduling and several years of free use by GCS schools.

I suspect someone in Raleigh would have something to say (little of it kind) if the school system simply gave away a $5 million facility.

Commenting on blogs IS blogging, Tired.

I have already announced that I am not running.

You guys are a real trip.

> I have already announced that I am not running.

Ever? If so, OK, but if not, you'll cash in some of those chips you're gathering now one day.

As for trying to get to know "some of the people you continuously rail against", most of us have real jobs and little time for smoozing with local politicans and the powers that be. Besides, their actions speak for themselves. If you have time to kiss up, knock yourself out.

"How's about trying to get to know, I mean really get to know, some of the people you continuously rail against and try to understand their position."

By this Hogghead, do you mean stick my head up their asses too?

Nah, there's no more room.

I agree, with Norma, you'd make a perfect CC. And the money's better too.

Liz, are you married? I think I'm in love.

Tired,

HA! Thanks for the laugh, I needed that!

You all really enjoy this, don't you?

Wow, Liz, who knew venting on the chalk board would have a person fall in love with you!

Good posts! Keep up the good work! The school board doesn't play nice so why should we!!!

Wondering,

You wanted some info about last night's school board meeting. There wasn't any business conducted in open session; it was entirely done in private.

The meeting simply was to hold hearings about student assignment for the 2005-06 school year. They do this every year. Students, for what ever reason, don't think they should attend the school they are assigned to. Often, it has to do with child care arrangements or there's some hardship that would make it tough for the child to attend his or her neighborhood school.

Okay, I walked right into that one. Let's see how long it takes....

BTW, there is another closed session meeting on Tuesday! I haven't heard how many people's request in the HP area were granted/turned down! It also shouldn't be long before all EOG's are released. Stay tuned to July-- should be fireworks all month long !

David don't be so hard on Liz. You have to understand that a lot of people have tried to reason with the GSC board about the Chance Plan and have had any success. We have tried to reason with the GCS board but they are not changing their minds. People are removing their children from the school system. That is what I am trying to do as we speak, the problem is their is no room in the inn. You see I have spent 7 years in the school system and if I wanted to go private I would have done it 7 years ago. But you can not expect people to send their children across town to help bring Central back to its '70's roots it just want happen. So back to Liz, she is frustrated and we do not seem to have a voice or any power to make any changes. Liz get your children in private school and forget about the schools and one day High Point leaders will be scratching their heads about the schools in High Point the same way they are doing now about the stadium.

P.S. David keep up your efforts to get the High Point Choice Plan rescinded.