News-Record.com

As David Hoggard noted earlier today, Aycock Middle has a new principal.

William Price, a finalist for the district's principal of the year award, abruptly resigned. Price had been at Aycock since 2003 and before that, was principal at Madison Elementary for one year. He came to GCS from Houston, where he had been an assistant principal.

Superintendent Terry Grier said Price recently earned his doctorate and was pursuing jobs in higher education, but said he couldn't comment further about his resignation.

He has been replaced by Marilyn Foley, who had been principal at Falkener Elementary. Foley, a veteran GCS principal, has had remarkable success at Falkener. The east Greensboro school made federal Adequate Yearly Progress targets and had 87 percent passing on state tests, despite a poverty rate of more than 80 percent.

Foley's replacement at Falkener will be Dr. Amy Holcombe. Holcombe had been in the central office as the district's director of curriculum and instruction.

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UPDATE: I just spoke with Mr. Price - make that Dr. Price now. He said the decision to leave was entirely his.

He just earned his doctorate and wants to pursue a career teaching at the university level. He also said he plans to do some educational consulting work and spend time raising his three children.

If you didn't get a chance to read Bruce's story today, check it out here.
He spoke to state education officials Wednesday about the annual Education Week report, which this year examined how states are doing on standards-based education. (In English, that means "testing student knowledge.")

North Carolina is one of the leaders in the nation, with an established program under its belt by the time the federal government required testing through No Child Left Behind. You might be more familiar with the terms EOG and EOC, which stand for end-of-grade and end-of-course, respectively.

How do you think the Tar Heel state's testing program is doing? Is Education Week's analysis correct: North Carolina students are improving under state assessments?

District 2 school board member Susan Mendenhall told us Thursday she won't run for another term. She had said prior to her last election that she likely wouldn't make another run.

Mendenhall was one of the last three original board members still on the board. The other two are Dot Kearns and Anita Sharpe, who were re-elected to four-year terms in 2004.

Five board members are up for re-election this November: Mendenhall, chairman Alan Duncan, Marti Sykes, Deena Hayes, and Nancy Routh.

So what's next for District 2? Read today's N&R to hear from some potential candidates.

What should District 2 candidates in particular focus on? While we're at it, what should anyone seeking a school board seat this year look to do if elected?

After a historic board meeting last month, Tuesday's school board meeting is relatively calm.

Probably the biggest items are continued discussion of possible new magnet school programs (the board rejected a single-sex plan for Washington Elementary last month) and a construction update.

The board's redistricting discussion is on hold until the board hears from the public. But the board likely will schedule two public redistricting forums at Tuesday night's meeting, so we should have a better idea on how this process will proceed.

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UPDATE: The infamous "back pocket" map is now on the GCS Web site (thanks to Truth for finding that!)

Okay, what that confusing acronym means is the New York Times recently wrote about Guilford County Schools' efforts to boost Advance Placement enrollment.

Advanced Placement classes are college-level courses. In recent years, district officials, namely Superintendent Terry Grier, have worked to increase both the number of AP courses offer and the number of students taking them.

For example, a new policy requires all high school juniors who achieve a certain on the PSAT must take AP U.S. history. The district also has an awards ceremony for students who earn a special AP diploma; one graduate even gets a car.

Research shows that just participating in a rigorous AP class helps a kid in college, whether or not they earn college credit on the AP exam. However, AP exam passing rates vary wildly across GCS, from 80 percent at some high schools to as low as 5 percent at others.

I know you guys already are talking about last night's school board meeting, which is great. Here is Jennifer's story from that meeting.

Also, 35 buses at Southeast Middle were vandalized early Tuesday morning. All but one are now back on the road, but the vandal or vandals did a lot of damage. It sounds like the GCS transportation folks did a good job of regrouping quickly to get kids to school as fast as possible.

The maps are up!

UPDATE:
I noticed some questions about exactly where the forums are being held. So, here are the addresses:

PAGE HIGH SCHOOL
201 Alma Pinnix Drive, Greensboro
7-9 p.m. Tuesday

PROVIDENCE PLACE
1727 Westchester Drive, High Point
7-9 p.m. Thursday

As you can tell by the volume of comments here on The Chalkboard, redistricting is the hot topic in Guilford County Schools these days.

Tonight, community members will have a chance to weigh in at the first of two forums. Tonight's forum is at Page High School and a second forum will be held Thursday night at Providence Place in High Point.

You can read a preview of the forums here.

Also, folks in northern Guilford County aren't entirely pleased at proposed redistricting maps for their schools.

Terrina Picarello, a Summerfield parent and a Chalkboard poster, has started a Yahoo message group to discuss the new schools that will be built in the northern part of the county. Go here to participate in the discussion.

UPDATE: This just in, the most up-to-date information on the maps. The link was sent out in a press release which notes "This information is up-to-date and reflects what will be discussed tonight." - Jen

People at last night's redistricting forum were clear: They want neighborhood schools.

I know that doesn't surprise many of you on The Chalkboard, but I figured you might want to talk about it.

Also, don't forget Thursday's forum: 7-9 p.m. at Providence Place, 1727 Westchester Drive in High Point.

Last night's redistricting forum is history and the school board certainly got an earful from more than 70 speakers and a High Point crowd of roughly 300.

The majority of folks once again spoke in support of neighborhood schools. The school board wants to have a decision made by the end of February.

On Friday, the Oak Ridge Town Council passed a resolution opposing proposed redistricting in their town.

The Guilford County Board of Education is considering moving students in the Golden Acres and Peeples Road area from Oak Ridge Elementary to Colfax Elementary. The shift would affect about 15 students.

At Tuesday's redistricting forum, parents asked to stay at Oak Ridge and on Friday, the Town Council drafted a resolution supporting their request.

There was a request to post the redistricting editorial here. So, here you go.

Think your kid should be an artist or scientist? Are you looking for a challenging high school program?

Guilford County Schools will begin its magnet and high school options enrollment next month. If you didn't get today's paper, here's a link to our new Monday feature "The Clipper" which featured the school system's magnet/options programs.

Let us know if you have any other ideas for "The Clipper." They can be non-school related, too. Are these helpful to you as readers? We're trying to find ways to put information in your hands that is helpful and easy to read. Past clippers have been on topics such as "Do you need a flu shot?" and guides to the primary election and fall events.

The redistricting forum scheduled for tomorrow night at Southern High School has been rescheduled.

The forum will take place next Monday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. The forum will be on a proposal to combine the attendance zones at Southern Elementary and Sumner Elementary.

Southern would serve grades K-1, while Sumner would serve grades 2-5, similar to the arrangement between Laughlin Primary and Summerfield Elementary in the Summerfield area.

Guilford County Schools is expanding efforts to communicate with Latino parents.

The district now employs 15 translators, compared to just one two years ago. Also, school officials are using Spanish-language TV and radio programs.

Latino families make up a large - and rapidly growing - percentage of Guilford County's school population.

On an unrelated note, the News & Record's e-mail system was down all day yesterday. It appears to be working again today.

There are two, potentially three board meetings over the next four days. Phew. I'm tired just writing that!

Anyway, here's a brief look at each meeting:

Tonight, 5:30 p.m.: The board will discuss magnet/high school options. Check out the full agenda here. (Just click on the link to the corresponding meeting date.)

Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.: The first of a potentially two-day annual winter retreat. The list is long and varied. Check out the agenda here. Some highlights include a board evaluation and the beginning of budget talks.

Sunday, 1-4 p.m.: This meeting was set tentatively with redistricting as the one and only topic of discussion. The board was to decide Thursday night if it would indeed meet on Sunday.

If you missed last night's school board meeting, the board made decisions on several magnet school programs for the 2006-07 school year.

- Hampton Elementary won't have single-sex classrooms after all;

- Penn-Griffin Middle will become a 6-12 arts magnet school, meaning Southwest will lost its arts program;

- Brown Summit Middle will adopt minimum admission standards for its advanced academics program.

Several speakers also talked about the ongoing redistricting process.

This weekend's mega, two-day retreat ended with some action on Sunday as the board voted to approve some of the redistricting plans that have been floating around for awhile.

But there's still plenty of work to be done. The board wants to finish by the end of February. Don't be surprised if another work session is called for them to look at the maps some more before making final decisions on some of these areas.

Don't forget that from 7-8 p.m. today is the public forum on Southern/Sumner at Southern High. The proposal under review would split those two schools into a primary and elementary school, similar to the set up at Laughlin/Summerfield.

Didn't make it to the retreat, which wasn't televised? (I don't blame you. I would have loved to stay home, too!) No worries. Bruce covered Saturday's meeting and I had Sunday's.

Here is a link to redistricting information on the district's Web site.

It looks like High Point isn't the only redistricting hot spot for the Guilford County Board of Education.

Monday night, a crowd of about 200 people told the board, "Don't change Southern Elementary." That's particularly impressive, since Southern only has about 273 students.

The board is considering a plan to combine the attendance lines at Southern and neighboring Sumner elementary schools. Southern then would serve grades K-1, while Sumner would serve students in 2-5. It's the same arrangement as Laughlin Primary and Summerfield Elementary in the northern part of the county.

The primary issue is space, superintendent Terry Grier said. The Randleman Road area is growing and Southern, with a capacity of just over 300, is one of the district's smallest elementary schools. Sumner, on the other hand, was built as a community 1-12 school and has room to grow.

However, Southern parents are concerned about safety at Sumner. Sumner had 123 student suspensions last year, compared to just four at Southern.

The Southern parents said the board should fix the problem at Sumner and not shift students around to try and hide it. Sound familiar?