News-Record.com

Guilford County Schools Superintendent Terry Grier is the next dinner guest at SynerG's "Making Connections Around the Table" event on Oct. 12.

This series of events gives folks a chance to listen to and meet local newsmakers over dinner. Other speakers in the monthly series have included ACC commissioner John Swofford, A&T chancellor Jim Renick and HPU president Nido Qubein.

The event starts at 6 p.m. and will be held at the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro.

The cost is $40 per person. For reservations, click here or call 379-0821.

Many of you long-timers may remember Jerry Weast, Guilford County Schools superintendent from 1993 to 2002 and currently the superintendent in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Well, Dr. Weast is headed to the Supreme Court. No, he's not President Bush's new nominee. But the highest court in the land will hear Schaeffer vs. Weast on Wednesday.

The case involves former Montgomery County special education student Brian Schaeffer, who is suing the school district on the grounds that the education plan teachers drew up for him wasn't appropriate.

This case could be a real test for the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, called IDEA in school jargon.

IDEA is proof that the road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions.

The news on teacher turnover was pretty good for Guilford County Schools.

The district's turnover rate was slightly better than the state average, according to a report released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The district had 586 teachers leave for various reasons for a 11.81 percent turnover rate. By comparison, the turnover rate across the state was 12.95 percent. Guilford also did pretty well compared to the state's other urban districts.

The Guilford County Board of Education is seeking your input on what the new middle school in northern Guilford County should be named.

Now, it seems unlikely to me that this school will be named anything other than Northern Guilford Middle School. But if you like that name or have a different suggestion, pass it along via the public comment tab at the school district's Web site. Or you can mail your suggested name to:

Sonya Conway
Executive Director of District Relations
Guilford County Schools
712 N. Eugene St.
Greensboro, NC 27401

We've all heard it - black students who do well in school face peer criticism that they are "acting white." This stigma makes it tough to get black kids to strive for excellence.

We've heard it - but a new study by UNC and Duke professors says that it doesn't hold much water. UNC sociology professor Karolyn Tyson says, in fact, there is little evidence black students face peer pressure not to do well in school. At least, they don't face this any more than white kids who are labeled "geeks" and "nerds" by their classmates.

Anyway, just thought I would pass it along.

Washington Elementary will host a homecoming for all alumni Thursday night at 6 p.m.

Washington opened in 1914 and alumni from the 1920s and '30s are expected.

In addition, the school will introduce the prototype for its "memory book." This keepsake will collect photos and stories from Washington's long, rich history. And proceeds from memory book sales will purchase school supplies and pay for student field trips.

So for more information on the reunion or the memory book, call school social worker Ingrid Weathers at 370-8290.

I got this e-mail the other day about the value of single-sex schools over co-ed schools.

Granted, the group sending the information is an alliance for all-girls schools. However, I thought the information was interesting since Guilford has two single-sex schools: Middle College at Bennett and Middle College at N.C. A&T.

Bennett's school, the first single-sex public school in the state, serves teen mothers and girls who have chronically struggled in school. A&T's school serves male students who have dropped out or are at-risk of dropping out.

The e-mail also included a link to a U.S. Department of Education study on single-sex schools vs. co-ed schools.

I've also heard of some schools (none locally that I know of) who separate students by sex for certain classes, such as science.

What do you think? Is it worth it to separate students in this way?

You may have missed it in today's paper, but North Carolina students took a step backward on an important academic indicator.

Scores on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, fell in three of four tested categories. The NAEP tests reading and math in fourth- and eighth-grades. While no sanctions or rewards are riding on the NAEP results, it is considered the best means of comparing one state's academic progress to another.

North Carolina had been the fastest-improving state during the past decade. The last time the NAEP was given two years ago, North Carolina fourth-graders had the second-highest math score in the country.

The state remains in pretty good shape - the state remains above the national average in three of four categories. But scores are heading in the wrong direction.

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Seattle school system can use race as a determining factor in school assignment/admission, according to an Associated Press article at CNN.

I thought folks here would be interested in the outcome of this case. I believe this was one of the cases some parents affected by the High Point reassignment plan were watching.

(This is the case, right? If not, I guess it's bonus reading material!)

Brief summation of the case, according to the AP article:

Parents sued the district in 2000 over its practice of using race as a way to break ties when too many students applied for a high school. The district allows students to list which high schools they'd like to attend. When the number of applicants exceeds the number of seats, students are assigned based on "tiebreakers." Race was the second-most important factor after whether a student had a sibling at the school.

Two years after the suit was filed, the district dropped race as a consideration while the case went through the courts.

The president of the parent group opposed to the practice said the group plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I hope you all had a chance to read Bruce's story this weekend on dropouts.

We all know that a lot of kids drop out. But once you see those numbers in print, the statistics are staggering.

* 1 in 4 students doesn't graduate in four years
* 10,000 or more have dropped out in the past 10 years

(And that's just Guilford. The state rate is more severe, about one in three students.)

Dropouts often wind up in low-paying jobs, on welfare or in jail.

Consider this, from Bruce's research:

*$19,000 - The average yearly income of a dropout compared with $28,000 for a high school grad and $51,000 for a college grad.

*4 - Looks like a small number, but let's put it in context - The unemployment rate of dropouts is 4 times higher than college grads.

*61 - No, not the old Roger Maris homerun record. It's the percent of N.C. prison inmates who don't have a diploma or GED.

Check out the complete story, which also includes what the district and state are doing to try to stem the dropout tide.

Talking to your children about sex isn't easy, but it's important.

Parents who want to get some ideas about addressing this somewhat uncomfortable topic might want to attend a session with Dr. Sol Gordon Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at GTCC's Jamestown Campus. The session will be held in the Percy Sears Auditorium.

Dr. Gordon is a nationally-known psychologist who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Sixty Minutes and Today. The event is co-sponsored by the Guilford Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, the Family Life Council, the Guilford County Council of PTAs and Youth First.

Here's the best part: dinner and child care are free, but you have to call 641-4699 to RSVP.

I really thought yesterday's Board of Education meeting on gangs in schools was interesting.

Police say that while the number of gang members in schools is small, almost every middle and high school has a gang problem, not just the inner-city ones. These gangs can cause plenty of trouble, too.

The one thing that came across to me is that solving this problem is more than just a law enforcement issue. It'll take cooperation from schools, parents and community members.

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UPDATE 10/27, 1:35 p.m.

Gov. Mike Easley announced Tuesday a plan to raise teacher salaries in North Carolina. His three-year initiative, if fully funded by the legislature, would catapult the state above the national average.

However, the John Locke Foundation, a Raleigh-based conservative public policy group, disputes the need for the raises. The state's average salary already tops the national average when cost of living is taken into account, according to the group's research.

Meanwhile, school districts have to figure out how to pay teachers whose salaries are supported through local funds. The state allots a certain number of teaching positions to each school district based on student enrollment. Districts have to find a way to pay for additional teachers, and often use local funds to do so.

Guilford County Schools would have to come up with between $350,000 to $500,000 more from its budget this year to ensure all teachers receive the raise, district officials said Wednesday.

I know a lot of you would like to see the proposed county-wide redistricting maps. Here is the first map, which is for the high schools.

School board member Anita Sharpe asked for these maps. They attempt to place students at the closest school. Elementary and middle school maps will be presented in a couple of weeks.

From today's Inside Scoop:

Two Guilford County Board of Education members are getting more tricks than treats this Halloween from critics of a controversial student assignment plan.

Effigies of Dot Kearns and Susan Mendenhall have been placed on telephone poles on north High Point’s Southwest School Road. The “board members” are dressed as witches, while another spooky figure holds a familiar yellow-and-black “Get Terry Grier Outta’ Here” sign. Kearns and Mendenhall support the High Point high school reassignment plan, which is bitterly opposed by many Southwest parents.

A couple of merry pranksters sent me copies of this photo:

For weeks, we've heard rumors that some Guilford County Schools have had supply shortages, particularly shortages of paper. Central office adminstrators and principals always denied this, though.

But now, Superintendent Terry Grier is reversing course. In his most recent Friday notes, he says there was, in fact, a shortage at some elementary schools after all.

I spoke with Dr. Grier this morning and he said the shortages were due to a central office mix-up in getting schools their supply money. That problem has been taken care of, he said, and there shouldn't be any more problems with supply shortages.

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UPDATE: Here is the story that ran in today's paper.