News-Record.com

WOW !

DOUBLE WOW!

I can't take all this exciting news in one day.

The only bread that we care about is all the dough that is being wasted with our tax money.

That color of dough is green.

I also heard that by the end of the year there'd be no more nuts! (Seriously, in the cafeterias, no PB&J's etc) Now if we could just get all the nuts off the school board we'd really be shaping up around here.

GREAT-BUT IT WOULD BE NICE FOR MY KID TO BE ABLE TO HAVE 100% REAL MILK-EVERYONE ISN'T OVERWEIGHT YOU SHOULD HAVE A CHOICE-SCHOOLS OFFER 2% MILK OR NON-FAT- GREAT THEY CAN HAVE REAL BREAD

Bruce,

Were you able to attend the entire board meeting Tuesday?

Do you really think this bread topic is that important, in the grand scheme of things?

What about transcribing Alan Duncan's comments during the last few minutes of the meeting? He just announced a COUNTY-WIDE REDISTRICTING.

This is something that will affect each and every family in Guilford County.

Isn't that worthy of a mention?

Quest,

I didn't cover the board meeting, Jennifer did, so I can't add much about what Mr. Duncan did or didn't say.

But redistricting has been coming for a long time: the board has said so, we've reported it over the past couple of years. With 11 new schools being built and 17 more being renovated or expanded (at least, if the bond money holds out), that means major, county-wide changes in attendance lines.

I think people know it will happen - the unanswered question is, "How will this affect my school." That's something no one knows until the process starts. And it will be a long, arduous process, with lots of twists, turns and changes along the way.

Believe me, we'll cover redistricting heavily, just like we did in '99 the last time they did this.

Rox,

Did I read you correctly, you want a CHOICE??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!!!

Guilford County schools took choice away with the implementation of the Forced Assignment Plan in High Point. You have a say in NOTHING! NOT EVEN MILK!!!

They are like Nazis. "No soup for you!"

That's okay Bruce. No need to apologize for the lack of real reporting.

Like most, I go to the Rhino for my news anyway. God bless the Rhino Times--Real reporting that's not controlled by the Nazis on Eugene Street.

If you didn't know about the redistricting you haven't been paying attention-- there has been talk of it for months! They have been waiting to see where all the land for new schools would be before they started the process. I believe first mention was in Feb.

Real milk? What about real juice? Where's the beef?? What is in that rubber meat that bounces??

Jennifer,

I take it that you will not be responding to my request to look deeper into the Ciara Lilly slander article that was promoted in the N&R.

I, 7-Star Gen. Slak, Veteran of many battles, am announcing tonight that I am starting a FUND for the Teacher that was slandered in your newspaper.

This FUND will enable this Teacher to hire an attorney to look into the possibility of a lawsuit against the people involved in the Raping of this teachers Reputation.

I will toss in the first Ten thousand dollars to jumpstart this movement.

Anyone interested in donating to this cause , please contact the 7- Star Gen.

Jennifer, Remember the old saying," The truth will set you FREE ".

Jennifer or Bruce,

Why has the News-Record removed all copies of the Ciara Lilly "Racists at Southwest" article from its online? It appeared in several of the blogs and had a lot of discusison about it when it first appeared in the newspaper, but it seems to have disappeared, including the archives, yet you have many articles still prominent online that first appeared a week or more ago.

Is the News-Record concerned about libel lawsuits being brought against it as suggested by General Slak?

We didn't take it down on purpose. That link (and others) died out when we switched to the new Web site. Our tech folks are trying to restore them.

The full text of Ciara's editorial is still available on Allen Johnson's blog under the "Food for Thought" header.

Bruce,

Thank you for explaining this situation. As I re-read Ms. Lilly's article, there are several things that caught my attention and raised questions in my mind. Perhaps, you would be able to bring some clarity?

Ms. Lilly makes the statement that the budget of Southwest is much larger than Andrews, while Andrews has limited resources. I get the impression from the story that she sees this as evidence of racist bias of or for Southwest. I was of the understanding that schools were provided a per capita budget based upon the number of students enrolled at that school. If this is accurate, how is it that her perception is that Southwest unfairly has more funds than Andrews? Can you shed some light upon this statement and provide some clarity? If Southwest is unfairly getting more funds than Andrews, who is to blame for that? Since Andrews was a Title I school for the past few years, it would seem that it would have been receiving more funds per capita than Southwest.

Ms. Lilly makes some allegations against the class teacher, suggesting that the teacher practiced racism, along with the students; however, the teacher is not named. What is the name of the teacher cited, or is that secret information? Is the teacher going to be given an opportunity to publicly respond to these allegations in the News-Record? I would expect that everyone at Southwest last year knows who the teacher and students were, as Ms. Lilly identified the class as an AP History class.

Are the students cited in the article going to be given the opportunity to respond in the News-Record giving their perception of what happened in this class? Because, the reality is that everything Ms. Lilly discussed in her article is her perception of what was happening was the result of racism. Perhaps it was and perhaps it was't.

Why was the story entitled "An encounter with racism at Southwest"? Did Ms. Lilly select this inflamatory headline or did the editorial staff at News-Record? In any case, News-Record gave credibility to the story merely by the story headline.

I would think that you and Jennifer would be all over this one, trying to get to the bottom of this one. Have you considered interviewing the other students and the teacher to get their perceptions of this story? Why have you and Jennifer been so silent on this story? Are you allowed by the News-Record to provide commentary?

Dean Wormer, you raise very good questions, unfortunately those at the N&R are not very forthcoming with relevant answers.

This actually reminds of a scene from another movie where a teacher is taking attendance and cannot find Ferris Buehler. In your case it goes like this:

"B-U-C-H-A-N-A-N, B-R-U-C-E; Someone, anyone, anyone at all".

"F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R; Someone, anyone, anyone at all".

Thank You Dean Wormer.

You have brought to the attention of everyone at the N&R that this Ciara Lilly fiasco must be investigated.

You are a good soldier, Dean Wormer, a promotion will be forthcoming, Although don't get any ideas of any school board type pay increase.

Thanks again for your persistence in fighting the war on Socialism brought against us by our school board, county commissioners and local media.

Jennifer/Bruce,

Why haven't you posted the front page story regarding Andrews High School on the Chalkboard?

Here's the link for anyone who may not have seen it:
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050715/NEWSREC0101/507150313/1001/NEWSREC0201

In fact, there should be an entire strand started for this topic. I think many of us are looking forward to commenting, but I'll wait until you post the story here.

Thanks.

If anyone wants to respond to Ciara's opinion piece, you're more than welcome to offer your opinions and perceptions in a letter to the editor or counterpoint column.

I believe the limits for those are 250 words and 400 words, respectively. They can be sent to edpage@news-record.com or to:
Letters to the Editor
The News & Record
P.O. Box 20848
Greensboro, NC 27420

(NOTE: You will have to put your name and contact number on anything intended for publication. The number won't be published, but your name will be.)

Ciara's piece was originally part of the Minority Journalism Workshop tab, but was reprinted as part of a sort of "young voices" column. I don't know if the word limits on that are different. There was no word limit when it ran in the workshop tab.

I believe there has already been interest expressed by a fellow classmate to write a rebuttal. However, I don't know the status of that since editorial is not my department.

Jennifer,

I guess the post above is the News-Record's way of dodging any responsibility for what you print. I am disappointed that you and Bruce have ducked on this one. I really did expect that one or both of you would do some investigation and reporting on this story, but I see that expectation is not going to be met.

Jennifer and Bruce are not on the BOE payroll. However, having following their work for a long time, they have almost no interest in the "story behind the story". For instance, the High Point stadium issue is hanging out there. No coverage by N&R. Some of the people in High Point want the stadium back. BOE should give them an answer and should tell everyone when the answer is forthcoming. If you want more education coverage, then contact the editor of paper. He could add more people to the beat or do something to increase the coverage.

ROX,

Having studied nutrition for many years drinking 2% milk is like drinking whole milk. It has lots of fat in it. Any pediatrician will tell you as kids get older they don't need the extra fat.

Wheat bread is the "real" bread. It has not been bleached. Wheat bread with fiber is a much slower carb burn than white bread. The extra carbs make many people very sleepy including children.

I thought I read they will have a choice of white or wheat.

The main focus is on healthy nutrition and eating what is healthy. Whatever the schools feed our kids is just a tip of the iceberg. What really matters is what great nutrition parents teach their kids and try to adhere to.

It is also important to keep the kids moving to exercise their heart. This would be good for fat and thin kids.

Joe,

Great question about the stadium. I read they had an illegal meeting as it was not announced to the public. It sure would be nice to know what is going on with that subject.

Bruce? Jennifer?