News-Record.com

5. Dot Kearns speechless after Nancy Rouths left hook to the chin via the motion to end the non choice plan.
6) Susan Mendenhall squirms in her seat ducking and diving Nancy's right hooks to kill the afore mentioned plan.
7)Darlenes knockout blow to Dot via her "I disagree that a poor child can only learn along side a rich child" comment.
8)Marti's face when it is suggested that her daughter be reassigned a non-neighborhood school.
9)Dots impersonation of a fish at the very same meeting.

NO ONE IS FOOLED

Did anyone else notice in Doug Clark's bio in today's N&R that his wife is a teacher in DAVIDSON COUNTY? For someone who was a rapid supporter of the choice plan/lottery and how it would benefit the children of High Point, I find it ironic that his wife chooses to work in another school system. Doug expresses concern for the condition of the schools in High Point and how improvment is needed, but his wife who is a teacher doesn't even work there? I suppose that she finds the opportunities better outside of the county or doesn't want to subject herself to the all of the problems in this system. But then can we really fault her, she is just making the same choice that many other school teachers are making and leaving this disastrous school system. Amazing.

10. Garth Hebert informs the N-R of his intention to seek election as District 2 Board of Education Representative in 2006. Incumbent Susan Mendenhall, as usual, could not be reached for comment.

C.Boy,

Your post left a vision in my head that I'm sure will loom around for the rest of this joyous New Year!

Hahahahahhahahhhaahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the lottery-free New Year. I too will be watching and waiting for the swapping, scooping, snatching and kidnapping to occur over in that Gate City. 2006 could be the best year ever.

Oh, and Stormy, you have a great New Year too. Thank you for all your research and insights this past year.

A quick note to Douglas Clark. Please follow the advice of the smart Candy Boy Dr. Put that "centerfold" down and your brain just might kick in. I hope that you do indeed grow that appendage that C.BoyDr. mentions. Or maybe you do have it and they are doing the thinking for you?

And one more note to make my New Year Greetings complete: BYE-BYE SUSIEEEEEE! Nah, na, na nah, na, na, nah, nah, Hey, hey, hey, GOOD RIDDENS!!!

The big problem we have in Guilford County is that we have several elected officials of the school board who have no integrity and wilfully non comply to their own policies to safe guard the wishes of the few. They fail to make accountable the real responsible parties for failure in certain schools and continue implement strategies where children have to solve the very problems that they have created and are responsible for.

While these corrupt vicious people are in power.

Dot Kearns.
Susan Mendenhall.

We live in danger!

Bruce, any news about the "oh by the way scoop map" that was presented last Board meet?

When are they going to post that map? Why havent they posted it yet?

TRUTH

IT IS NOT JUST THE NAMES YOU WROTE

SCOOPING

PROPABLY BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT MANY PEOPLE TO PUBLICLY KNOW ABOUT IT

When will the next bond issue be? Will it pass?

Joe,

Who cares and absolutely NOT.

There will be no screwing around by the voters. It will simply not pass!

This is the last year for Suzie. Be sure she is going to go out with a bang and really try and screw over NHP and Jamestown.
Its her one last chance to try and work it out for Central too.
Her drinking buddies of the Country club will be pressing her.

If North High Point and the Jamestown area are SCREWED in any redistricting, this school board and superintendent will long be gone before ANY bond will pass. Rest assured MANY will see to that.

Enough is ENOUGH. It is time to do right by the parents and their children. It is time for fair treatment. It is time for North High Point and Jamestown to be treated like the rest of the county.

Remember "Rambo" and "First Blood". GCS drew "first blood". The losses have been many for all sides. It is time to stop all this nonsense.

I have been out of town and didn't want to come back!!!! In NY they pay thru the nose in taxes but have excellent schools. I was telling a teacher friend of my about the schools down here and she could not believe it. Teachers top out at 100,000 a year and actually have a lunch hour.

No wonder there is a teacher shortage in GCS.

So the people in northeast guilford county were happy about McLeansville Elementary opening? That is a joke, does anyone mention the fact that the children still cannot get hot lunches in the cafeteria. The children have been eating cold sandwiches since they transferred on November 27th. That means the money that the parents and the taxpayers put in, is padding someone else's pocket. And the kids are suffering.

hey bruce!
merry Christmas and haaaappppy new year!

if you don't mind, please clarify a coupla things for me if you can.
our guilford county school system has reaped over $500 million in bond money since 2000 and no new schools have been built yet - can that possibly be true? how many trailers ("quads" count as 4)can we now boast about - somewhere in the vicinity of 550?
thanks!

I think Hairston was new from the first bond. Anyone know for sure?Also Jefferson Elem. before that was Adams Farms, Jesse Wharton and Kernodle-- most of the construction has been 'remodels' and adding to existing schools-- new this bond will be Northern middle and high school, a new elemenatary in nothern and nw of the county, new Reedy Fork (NE of the county)-- relocation of Guilford Elementary (new)

got it.
so, after 2 bond referendums and over $500 million, 5 new schools have been completed: hairston, kernodle, pilot, jefferson and jesse wharton. are any of these in the southwest part of guilford county/north high point area?
thanks!

Gilda,

I am SO JEALOUS that you went to the big apple at Christmas. Green eyed jealous.

"Wake me up When Redistricting ends"

Cheryl, don't forget about Jamestown Middle and Ragsdale project getting the shaft because of budget overruns. two more project down the tubes

Diversity IN GSC :

Ragdale 27 color 23 FRL.
Representative Anita Sharp ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Grimsley 32 color 20 FRL.
Representative Marti Sykes ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Dudley 96 color 53 FRL.
Representative Amos Quick ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Smith 74 color 64 FRL.
Representative Deenha Hayes ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Northwest 6 color 5 FRL.
Representative Darlene Garret ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Southeast HS 16% color 13% FRL.
Representative Anita ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

Western 23 color 31 FRL.
Representative Darlene Garrett ok with numbers.
Dot Kearns "at Large" ok with numbers.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Guilford County School.

Policies and Procedures

SCHOOL ASSIGNMNET JBCC

III. Attendance Zone Considerations
A. The school attendance plan for Guilford County Schools is designed to foster the mission of public education, to include promotion of higher levels of academic achievement and good citizenship development, by:

-recognizing and valuing diversity ; (Only in Hight Point and Jamestown)
-using clearly defined boundaries, where practical(except in Hight Point and Jamestown)
-working toward common feeder patterns throughout the district;(except in Hight Point and Jamestown)
-organizing schools in a K-5, K-8, 6-8, and 9-12 pattern generally(except in Hight Point and Jamestown);
-seeking to avoid changing an attendance zone more often than every four (4) years;(except in Hight Point and Jamestown) and encouraging participation by all citizens in our schools(except in Hight Point and Jamestown) .

B. The plan should serve the economic interest of taxpayers(except in Hight Point and Jamestown) by:

-efficiently utilizing transportation dollars (Jamestown and High Point excluded);
-anticipating needs for additional schools or additions to existing facilities in areas of high growth and communicating to the public these needs in a timely way
(except in Hight Point and Jamestown) ;

-anticipating and communicating to the public the need to have all facilities meet approved health, safety, environmental, and educational standards applicable to public schools; and
-seeking to utilize school facilities fully and efficiently(except in Hight Point and Jamestown)

Wake me up when the corruption ends!

12 WHITE STUDENTS AT DUDLEY?!?!

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE START DIVERSITY FIRST WITH DUDLEY.

Since "diversity" is the magic bullet of TG and the school board, this must make top billing.

Neighborhood schools for all of Guilford County or none of Guilford County.

Time to start writing/calling those contacts out of Guilford County.

WAKE ME UP WHEN THE HYPOCRICY ENDS!

Those are good questions, Cheryl.

Voters have passed two bonds: a $200 million effort in 2000 and a $300 million package in 2003. Projects from the first bond are finished, while the second bond is underway.

Currently, there are more than 460 trailers in GCS. There were about 440 before the first bond in 2000. However, the district has grown by roughly 6,000 students in that time

So far, bond money has built Triangle Lake Montessori, Falkener Elementary, Hairston Middle, the new Dudley High School, Gillespie Park Elementary (reopened), Oak Ridge Elementary and Brightwood Elementary. It also has renovated and expanded a number of other schools. Jefferson Elementary and Pilot Elementary actually were built before the bonds.

None of the new schools are in north HP. But Southwest is getting a major expansion and Florence received renovations in the first bond.

No definite timetable on the next bond, Joe. But I would anticipate it being in 2007. I doubt they would do it this fall, since it is a school board election. There definitely will be a third bond referendum.

And Happy New Year to you and everyone else in Chalkboard land!

Repetition,

Thanks for the numbers. It kinda makes you want to go into a coma and wake up in a different place.

And don't forget to add that Guilford County supposively has 2 1/2 times the national average of children in private schools. That little tibit speaks volumes!!!!

Gilda,

I would suspect too that the Guilford County stats for kids in private school would be even HIGHER but the private schools are FILLED!!!

WL,

You are right who knows what the number would actually be if there wasn't a waiting list.

Or maybe there wouldn't be a waiting list if the pubic schools did what they are suppose to do - educate the children without all the nonsense!!!

It was great to see so many people last night. UNBELIEVABLE. I certainly learned a lot too. Until next time......

Gilda,

Well put.

Educate and quit all the politics and b.s.

Dot Kearns,,,,,WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are an At-Large School Board Member.

How can you allow some of the schools in GCS to become so SEGREGATED??????????????

DUDLEY,,NORTHWEST,,,SMITH,,,Southeast all NEED your HELP NOW!!!!!!!!

If you could stop imitating Strom Thurmond long enough, you could see that we have a real Diversity PROBLEM in other parts of the County besides your beloved HIGH POINT...

thanks bruce!
i had mentioned the total bond figure as "over $500 million" because a coupla years ago, sharon ozment reported that gcs had earned an extra $25 million or so on the bond money - so i included that in my tally.
you are right, there are more than 460 trailers in gcs. last year there were 525, not including the 2 new quads (equalling 8 trailers) at swhs. so i imagine there may be about 530 trailers now.
but, dudley is not a new school. it still houses about the same number of students it did prior to the $30 million renovation. triangle lake montessori is a new magnet school - what is it's capacity and cost to build? what is the average capacity and cost of a traditional elementary school?
isn't brightwood a renovation of unused facility? i'm not sure that would be considered exactly new. Gillespie is another reopened school.
so, we end up with 4 new schools, one of which is a magnet (in gcs, magnet programs only draw about 4% of the student population, with most of those students being elementary students - i believe - cost per student is almost triple that of the the traditional student?)
these 4 brand new schools built with over $500 million in bond referendums since 2000 are: falkener, triangle lake montessori, hairston, and oakridge. are each of these truly complete, including having the capacity to serve hot lunches?
any idea the average cost of building a new school in gcs?
any idea how many of gcs' educational cottages are located at high schools?
i can't really recall how many new schools and renovation projects have been put on hold or cancelled.
you don't really have to answer these questions bruce - not your job!
thanks!

Cheryl,

Thank you for all you do. You are so great in keeping up with all those numbers. How do you keep up with all that data.

You just rattled my brain on something. Pilot Elementary was the first school build in this county in 17 YEARS. 17 YEARS! It opened, I believe in August 1997.

And within weeks, there were trailers at the school.

What kind of planning (or lack of planning) is that.

There are still many trailers there and I consider that a "fairly new" school. it's beautiful inside, but you walk outside for Spanish and other clases.

Brightwood is totally new; been open about 3 years-- Oak Ridge is a remodel, still doing the media and computer area...Triangle Lake started out as both neighborhood and magnet, and now I think it's all magnet-- some of the other money from the first bond went to Andrews (because we all know they needed more seats...)NWHS got an addition, Rankin got remodeled, Brown Summit was 'reopened' with left over money. Montecillo/brown Summit is new with that money, I think Page got an addition. These are the major things that I can remember from the 2000 bond. I am sure there are many others. BTW even with the addition to NWHS, they are 700+ over capacity with about 32 trailers, NWMS is 400 over capacity with 21 trailers. Both schools will get relief(will still be over capacity) when the new Northern opens, but I don't look for them to remove many trailers. Oak Ridge will need trailers next year, it is already at almost capapcity, even with addition. Stokesdale is getting renovated to house 520, they are at 508 right now.

I agree that the Montossari school was very expense, since they imported furniture that fit the 'plan'-- that ticked me off from the start. I don't see how the furniture could make that much difference in the teaching approach!

I would still love to see how much is spent per student at each school-- taking all funds into the formula.. local, state, federal, grants, title 1, equity plus, number of teachers etc. I think it would be very interesting!

Deb,

You are as amazing as Cheryl. How do you keep us with all this. Great information.

I am not familiar with all the details of Montessori process either - why you need the special furniture. The main beef people had with that and it was a major point written in the Rhino and mentioned by others on numerous occasions. Is why couldn't the furniture been bought in High Point "the furniture capital of the world" (or at least till Vegas came on board)? Why did they have to import it and pay more?

Someone out there in blog land might have more details on that one.

Your last paragraph makes for some interesting questions? Bruce? Jennifer? Are you up to a new "project" for 2006?

Also good to make mention that the trailers cost about $50,000+.

Bruce do you know what they cost in today's dollars.

Also I am sure some may still be quite old. Eric H used to have the inventory numbers on that at one time. It far defies Webster's definition of the word "temporary". Then again it depends if you are using LIFO or FIFO in your inventory accounting as to their true worth.

debora,

You asked about the need for imported furniture at Triangle Lake. Below is a story that appeared in an alternative local newspaper on September 11, 2003. It speaks volumes as to why this Board can't be trusted with out school funds.

School Chairs Speaka Italian

by James Moffat

Triangle Lake Montessori Elementary School in High Point, the furniture capital of the world, opened last month filled with expensive, Italian-made furniture. Inside that new school is handcrafted beech wood furniture by Gonzagarredi, a company in Northern Italy that specifically makes Montessori furniture. Looking at an online catalog of Gonzagarredi products, the price tag for outfitting the new school could well have been a small fortune.

According to the catalog, the typical 25-student classroom in a Montessori school would need four 21-inch tall round tables priced at $414 each and 25 stackable chairs priced at $101.20 apiece. Those items alone total nearly $4,200 for one classroom. At those prices, it would have cost $126,000 just to put tables and chairs in Triangle Lake’s 30 classrooms.

David Lerch, vice president of the Juliana Group, Gonzagarredi’s American distributor, said all Gonzagarredi furniture is made of lightweight beech wood so that children can move it themselves. He said similar Montessori furniture built by American companies is much more expensive because of the time it takes to build and the materials that need to be special ordered.

“No one can make it cheaper than we can sell it,” Lerch said.

However, Hello Wood Products in Rickman, Tennessee, builds and sells Montessori furniture for less than half the listed prices of Gonzagarredi furniture. The difference in price is eye-popping. The same classroom furniture – four tables and 25 chairs – that the Juliana Group listed for nearly $4,200 would cost just over $2,000 if bought from Hello Wood.

Based on both company’s listed prices, the school system would have saved $66,000 if it bought Triangle Lake’s furniture from Hello Wood.

So, why didn’t the school system buy American-made wood furniture for the county’s newest school if it would have been less than half the cost? According to school board member and High Point resident Dot Kearns, the Italian-made furniture is specifically needed for the Montessori environment. She said the furniture promotes organizational skills and individual thought.

“As I understand it, it is functional, specially made to carry out the Montessori philosophy,” Kearns said.

Triangle Lake Montessori Principal Maria Cummings said the Italian-made furniture is necessary because it creates “a natural environment so it is less distracting.” She didn’t explain how American wood is more distracting than Italian wood or, for that matter, how metal and plastic furniture is more distracting than wood furniture in general.

While both Kearns and Cummings are under the assumption that Italian-made furniture is necessary for the school to function properly, the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) in the United States, the regulatory organization for certified Montessori schools in the country, holds a different opinion. Executive Director Virginia McHugh-Goodwin said the type of furniture in a Montessori classroom makes no difference at all to the Montessori teaching philosophy. While a Montessori school must use AMI-certified materials in order to be certified, the furniture only has to be “a suitable size for the children” and is not regulated by the organization.

The furniture doesn’t even have to be wood – although AMI prefers schools to follow the Montessori philosophy as much as possible, meaning wood furniture is preferred. But McHugh-Goodwin said the type of furniture used is far from being required.

“The main thing is the didactic materials,” McHugh-Goodwin said. “The furniture is really a moot point.”

So, why did the school system decide to buy Italian-made furniture over American-made furniture? Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Education Alan Duncan has a far more logical answer than Kearns or Cummings as to why furniture was shipped from Northern Italy to High Point.

“No American manufacturer could provide us the quantity for this new school in the timeframe we needed it,” Duncan said. “If we could have bought it from an American company, we would have.”

Duncan, who had his own questions about the furniture after learning of its origins, said American furniture companies were initially looked at to build the furniture, but none could produce the amount needed by the time school started on Aug. 11.

It would be interesting to know just when the furniture was ordered for Triangle Lake or which American furniture manufacturers were contacted by the school system, but no one in the central office seems to know much about the Italian-made furniture at Triangle Lake – or they are ashamed to tell. Repeated phone calls to Associate Superintendent John Wright, who Duncan said he got his information from, have gone unreturned. Also, the school system’s Communications Department has yet to respond to requests for the actual cost of furniture purchased for the school.

The school staff should also explain why it waited until the last minute to order the furniture. The school was not built overnight. Certainly in the time it takes to build a school, an American furniture manufacturer can make a couple of tables.

That is utter bullsheet!

Sorry but in the real world these people would and should lose their jobs just for this only!

STORMY,

Could the Italian Furniture Rep. possibly be one of Griers' Rancho Mirage Kickback Consultants????????????????

mr. grier,,,,,The TRUTH may set you FREE!!!!!!!!!

Play Money,

We don't know that for sure, but we do know that David Lerch owns Juliana Group along with his wife, and David Lerch has been on the Savannah-Chatham School Board since 2000. So, we know that Lerch was on another school board at the time that his company sold the furniture to GCS. He has left the schol board and he is starting a new charter montessori school in Savannah in competition with the public school's failing montessori school.

Also, there is a new superintendent at that school who was a member of GCS school administration several years ago.

hey debora
so we'll replace oakridge with brightwood, then add brown summit/monticello as new? that puts us at 5 new schools constructed with bond money since 2000 - right?
btw, i think swhs is up to about 29 trailers, still 150% of capacity, enrollment has topped 1250 with permanent capacity for 775 (but that was before renovations which removed regular permanent seating which was replaced with dance/art rooms, thus the 2 quads, i imagine permanent capacity dropped substantially.
thanks for the reminder about that expensive, imported furniture for triangle lake, i had forgotten!

STORMY

ARE YOU A DETECTIVE BY TRADE?

Truth:

John Wright is no longer with the schools.

conincidence?

scapecoat?

remember the toxic carpeting at Florence incident?he was on TV for that one

remember Sedexho and all their temps?

remember many schools didn't have supplies?

conincidence?

scapecoat?

Cheryl,

Thank you for bringing up the quad issue and the removal of permanent seating to put in a dance studio for the now dedunct HP Choice plan - at least the lottery part.

I had written Dr. Grier and the school board on many occasions to please wait and not tear out these classrooms for a dance studio. To give it some time; that the ball was in their court. Kids were dancing in the auditorium just fine. (Kids in Dance 101 elective by the way - some of which never had dance before). Why tear out permanent classrooms in a supposedly overcrowded school and bring in more quads at how many dollars a crack?

Now GCS is toying with the idea of removing the arts focus theme and putting it at P-G Middle. Regardless whether the Arts focus magnet stays or leaves, the dance floor should have been installed AFTER a decision was made if the dance program would remain at SW. Once again, it is in proper planning and the TIMING to see if things work out or not.

It seems like many things they do is just rush, rush, rush and a quick fix. It does not address the real issues of education and results. If schools are in the negative with scores, etc., it didn't happen overnight. A proposed real plan and hard work takes some time. It's not in shuffling the mix just to "look" better.

To anyone listening. Let me clarify my last post. I am thrilled the lottery aspect of the IT Plan is gone. I am glad the focus themes will remain for the students who want them.

I feel now is the time for these programs to be enhanced, promoted and funded like they should have been in the first place. That kids should have a real choice; a real draw should be created; they should be opened as magnet programs to the entire county like other true magnets (or at least the western half). The money, dance floors, labs, etc. have now been put in. Make the programs work. Commit to them and provide qualified teachers to teach in all three of the HP high schools.

Use the space at Andrews for smaller classroom ratios and for remedial reading programs as necessary to bring kids up to snuff. Enlarge the IB Program at Central and bring in magnets the kids want.

Now that it is time for grant apps put the funds into these programs as true magnets. Any extra seats would be filled in that way plus with new 9th and 10th grades moving in.

Another option is to move the Arts Magnet to Andrews too. Basically there are many options to consider. But swapping plans aren't one of them.

Repetition,

I liked seeing your statistics , but wondered if there was a reason you left off Page, Southern Guilford, Northeast, and Eastern high schools.
You see the reason Southeast and Grimsley are not diversified is because they fought it off like Southwest is doing years ago. These students were instead bused to Eastern Guilford and Northeast Guilford. These schools are highly diversified through busing and as far as the statistics tell it has been a gross failure in improving students performance. The experiment has brought both schools down and no one up.

However, I have heard that the maintenance workders are able to replace a broken window or bookcase in minutes to hide any evidence of violence in the buildings.

Let's learn from the past 10 years.
Busing is not the answer in increasing a students ability to learn.

Frank,

We hope you will join in the fight to address the real educational needs of our children.

To help stop the violence and restore order in all of our schools.

Whether by a forced lottery or a forced swap plan, this does not address the real issues. It only hides the failures in the system or make them worse.

Cheryl,

Dudley actually has about 300 more students this year than last year to fill the expanded space there.

Most of that growth was students redistricted (one of the phases of '99 redistricting, I guess) from areas such as Grimsley and Southeast, Principal Phyllis Martin told me back in October.

The school enrolls nearly 1,700 students, up from about 1,400 the year before.

If I can find a way to merge the Excel files I have on enrollment data, I'll post that here somewhere. At one point I had information on trailers. I think that was from the 2004-05 school year. I'll try to get updated information and post either that or the older data here, too.

Jennifer, the latest data would be good. The info I get is from 04-05.
I do not however expect many differences for many schools.
Frank, here is what you wanted.

Eastern-37% color, 45% FRL
Page- 42% color, 31% FRL
Southern-30% color, 36% FRL
Norteast-34% color, 28% FRL

My next episode of facts will be teacher to student ratios.

Here are some of note.

Southern 1:13
Andrews 1:18
Smith 1:23
Southwest 1:15
Central 1:18.

Sorry,

Central is 1:19!

This is information staight out of the Eastern
School Improvement Plan. Eastern is over 50% minority and 45% free and reduced lunch.:

"The challenges of EGHS are multi-faceted. Presently, EGHS has a diverse population of students---culturally, socioeconomically,
and geographically. EGHS is unique in that its students come from both rural and urban settings covering a vast amount of geographic distance. It is important to note that a large percentage of students attending EGHS do not
actually live in eastern Guilford County. These students live in inner city Greensboro and are bused to EGHS in order to
attend EGHS. The student population is approximately 975 with over 50 percent receiving free or reduced lunch. Over
one-half (55%) of the population is minority – 7% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 1% American Indian, 40% African American, and
2% Multi-Racial. Specific challenges include the great distance from home to school that creates a severe problem for
many students with transportation for after school functions---both with students and parents.
The total enrollment of EGHS is 975 which is a 16% increase over the past five years. In addition to this increase in
enrollment over the past five years, there have been significant shifts in the percentage of racial/ethnic groups
represented in the student population. In particular, it should be noted that the percentage of Asian and Hispanic
students has increased from 4% to 12% of the total population. Furthermore, the percentage of students with limited
English proficiency has increased from no data or no program present prior to 2002 to currently 3% of the population.
Moreover, the percentage of free-reduced lunch students (students eligible for the free and reduced lunch program) has
increased 16.4% over the past five years from 28.8% to 45.2%. The percentage of students living with a single parent

truth,
enjoyed your student/teacher ratios. gcs must have provided those figures. i can't remember the formula gcs created to calculate these ratios (i believe they include "special" classes like AL, etc.). but in most cases, it is just another example where truth simply does not match up to gcs reporting. these figures truly do NOT represent the number of students per teacher in any CORE classroom setting that i have assisted in during the last several years - elementary, middle or high. i have assisted in many classrooms and have NEVER seen less than 22-23 kids per teacher in any core class regardless of grade level. you can visit core classes in any of the southwest schools and have many more than 13 kids per teacher. many have 25-31 students - in some cases with not enough desks & supplies to go around.

My guess is the pupil/teacher ratio quoted included every teacher onsite, speech, EC, AL, every elective etc... True class room numbers are much greater!! The EC teachers might help one-4 students for the inclusion class. Take 4 for the number, then the 25 other students, divide by 2, since they have two teachers in the room that makes 15 per teacher. Not a realistic picture.

RE: Teacher rations

Cheryl, once again right on the money about the REAL numbers. And Deb my head is spinning after reading your last post. This must be why they hire all those extra people at Central Office to figure out all these formulas. Truth, who gave you that data?

I can tell you that after years of subbing in elementary school I have never been in a classroom under 20+. One way to remember this is when the 25th kid moves I say, "great why are we glad he moved class? because now I only have to buy 2 dozen donuts for you or make 2 dozen cupcakes and don't need to start a new pan." At Jamestown Elementary (I believe a Title I school) I had 30 kids the beginning of the school year. I went back and it had been reduced to about 25. This was 4th grade. You had no assistant and couldn't even go to the bathroom. You had no assistant in the cafeteria to help with lunch. You gulped your food and watched the class the entire time. There were many "special" kids in the class. It was real crazy. I remember this so vividly as it was around the time the Governor visited and there was an article in the newspaper about 15 kids per class at Fairview Elementary. I thought, how nice. This would be great at all our schools, but it's not.

At SWH,while trying to get my daughter's schedule straight for her A/L classes, many were filled with over 30 and they were trying to figure that one out. I believe her history class has over 30, other A/L classe - Chemistry 13. So maybe they are taking one big average somehow. But many classes are overcrowded.

I find it very hard to believe the ratios posted. It must be some tricky formula. Like some kids in special classes with a 3:1 ratio.

Frank, one point I forgot to mention is that SW is currently a diverse school both in socioeconomic and in color.

Hang on!

Of course these numbers are not individual classes and as Debora said it is probably an average of the total numbers of teachers in the school vs. total number of children. It may be the most practical way to measure though.

But lets look at the data. Dont lose the point!

Smith 1:23. A school with a real need for help and this is what they get. You can imagine that the real classroom sizes must be enormous. When Amos states that African Americans have been deprived of opportunities well it is happening right under his nose.

It is also what most people are asking for here isn’t it? Aren't we asking for neighborhood schools and for schools like Andrews, Central and Smith get more resources. Why should they have worse teacher student ratios than other schools?

This is the kind of data the SB must focus on instead of spending four years scheming to get rich kids sitting next to poor kids.

Truth,

That was a great observation.

This is exactly what we have been talking about, use the extra space at Andrews (and there aren't really that many extra seats) for smaller classroom ratios. The extra spaces could be used for small remedial reading classes which are so desperately needed in many of our schools if you look at the scores.

What good is it if these kids graduate and can't read above 5th grade level?

Look at all the money spend on the IT plan and busing, PR promotion, etc. It could have been spent on practical educational pursuits - more and better teachers. Smaller, specialized classes. Vo-tech classes to teach trades.

You must admit though the formulas are sure confusing. It looks to me like we could use more teachers and less facilitators and consultants teaching people how to "teach".

Frank,

I tried to email you, but you, too, are using a bogus email address.

There are people in other parts of the county who would like to join forces for the betterment of education in Guilford County.