News-Record.com

Jennifer, It would maybe have been a good idea to inform your readers that the "diversity" issue in High Point paradoxically results in the de-construction of the most diverse school in the city. You could have pointed out the real problem; which is that it is the dessertion of the public schools by people with means, mainly in Dot Kearns and Walter Child's districts, that has destroyed the diversity in those schools. You could have indicated that the impending "kid grab" from an already diverse third party, bystander school is a foul, desperate, politically-engineered act by desperate people to replace the people who have left their schools, and will not reverse this public school attrition but will in fact accelerate it. People over in Greenboro don't know this. You need to tell them.

The people of High Point / Jamestown should be aware that there are not a lot of good paying jobs for young people in Guilford County. The FRL keeps going up everywhere. If you have a child that wants to get ahead and he is not in education or medical, he should locate elsewhere. I am a CPA, I see peoples incomes, it is not a pretty sight. Higher taxes for better schools? Will it be our salvation or will be nailing a nail in the coffin. The BOE has to understand that money is not the only answer.

Joe,

So are you saying that High Point / Jamestown is yet again different from the rest of Guilford County???

What am I missing here? Are we all wearing funny tattoos to distinguish us from everyone else???

No you are not different. We have problems in the school system thru-out the county. If you live in High Point/Jamestown you see them up close. I don't live there but I also problems in other areas of the county. We have enough problems for everyone. Let's start fixing them?

I have maintained, and continue to, that the school board's "interest" in diversity is largely a smokescreen for a number of other political agendas. I don't doubt that there are a couple of members whose primary concern is diversity in our schools, but that, too, is a disservice to our community. The school board exists not to propogate diversity, but education.

If, however, the school board is truly committed to diversity, then they have a monumentous task ahead of them. They will need to begin immediately redistricting Dudley, Smith, Northwest, Weaver, Andrews, and Southeast. These schools, by the School Board's measure, are embarassingly unbalanced and represent the real problem with diversity in our community.

On the other hand, as this redistricting process begins, the School Board should look to other model schools in the community based on their existing successfully diverse populations. These schools include Southern, Northeast, Page, Ragsdale, Eastern and Southwest.

Based on the school board's own data from 2005, from problematic to desired, here are our the high schools that need to be "fixed:"

Dudley needs a 49.2% reduction in minority enrollment,
Smith needs a 43.0% reduction in minority enrollment,
Northwest needs a 36.4% reduction in white enrollment,
Weaver Academy needs a 29.4% reduction in white enrollment
Andrews needs a 29.0% reduction in minority enrollment, and
Southeast needs a 25.9% reduction in white enrollment.

These 6 schools represent 79.4% of our "problem," while the remaining 9 schools collectively represent only 20.6% of our "problem." (Here's an interesting thought...is our "problem" really diversity, or is our School Board and Administration's inability and ineffectiveness in educating our children our problem?)

Based on the School Board's current lack of concern for how they use taxpayer money, I would suggest that they restrict their redistricting efforts to the above schools and continue their busing program. This would bring the diversity ratios in line with the rest of the county high schools.

To the degree that they don't address the lack of diversity in these schools, yet continue to talk about the merits of diversity in Guilford County Schools...well, to the same degree, they are either honest or dishonest. The result of which will probably support my assertion that there are political agendas being addressed here that have nothing at all to do with delivering a quality education to our children.

Least diverse to most diverse (white/minority):

#1 - Dudley High School - 0.8%/99.2%
#2 - Smith High School - 7.0%/93.0%
#3 - Northwest High School - 86.4%/13.6%
#4 - Weaver Academy - 79.4%/20.6%
#5 - Andrews High School - 21.0%/78.0%
#6 - Southeast High School - 75.9%/24.1%
#7 - High Point Central - 36.7%/63.3%
#8 - Western High School - 60.6%/39.4%
#9 - Grimsley High School - 58.0%/42.0%
#10 - Southwest High School - 56.2%/43.8%
#11 - Eastern High School - 44.4%/55.6%
#12 - Ragsdale High School - 54.7%/45.3%
#13 - Page High School - 45.3%/54.7%
#14 - Northeast High School - 51.7%/48.3%
#15 - Southern High School - 49.7%/50.3%

Perhaps one day we can elect a school board who will focus on educating our children. That's a pretty simple, pretty noble idea to me. Just educate the children. Stop the social gerrymandering and just educate the kids.

Absolute Amen, Michael!!!Bravo!

So true. The board knows it.

Taking a functioning diverse school apart for the politics of a few errant boardmembers is WRONG!

A wind is going to come and blow the "smoke" away. People will be held accountable.

You are right. A diverse school can be helpful for learning, but we have schools that will never be diverse. We must quit leaning on the crutch that some of our schools cannot achieve because of a lack of diversity. If I were a minority, I would be sick and tired of people running around saying that my presence in the school will cause majority children to not learn.

"For High Point representative Walter Childs, diversity comes first."

I think that this says it all. For some of our representatives, diversity is the first and foremost consideration. Need we remind these individuals that they were elected to the Board of Education, and not the Board of Diversity Fulfillment?

Perhaps, when all of the board members commit to and get focused upon all students' educations, then some real progress will be made. Are you listening board members? No, I didn't think so.

.

If you want to know how High Point is different than Greensboro just look at the difference between Walter Childs (High Point rep) and Amos Quick (Greensboro rep).

Walter continually says "We don't need more money. WE NEED WHITE PEOPLE TO FIX THE SCHOOLS."

You would never hear Amos say that!! He says, "Give us equal resources and we will make it on our own."

How can two African American men sitting on the same board in the same county have such different views?

Is it because the black citizens in High Point are still relying on the Emerywood folks to make their decisions for them? Since the days when the Emerywood people were becoming millionaires while the poor people did all the work in the furniture factories, nothing has changed.

At some point Dot was able to convince Walter the choice plan was good for Andrews when the rest of the county knew it was only about improving Central. Hey Walter! Want to know why no kids were assigned to Andrews in the lottery? The lottery was rigged!! Ask Grier and Mr. Duncan. They know the truth.

Did anybody else think Walter's "statement" sounded a lot like Dot wrote it?

Hey Walter, if you keep giving her your power and your voice she will keep taking it, guaranteed!

Joe, once again you are wrong. You are falling into the labeling trap ways of the SB. We in NHP and JT are just like many other districts of our county.

What do we see up close?

The only thing we see up close is the discrimination against us.

Quote

"the only LEGITIMATE critcism of the choice plan that were children were assigned away from the neighborhood schools".
Now he turns around and is considering in both maps A and C do do the very same thing.

No one has stated the obvious, but if I were on
the High Point City Board I would
start talking about why we gave up our school
district in the first place.

Did the new system inherit the problems that High Point had already failed to address or were things much better prior to the merger?

If the situation was better prior to the merger,
why not un-merge??

Can a smaller school system handle it's problems at home better?

The High Point City Schools were BETTER schools before GCS got their hands on them.

Okay, we're here for the first half of your redistricting double-header.

So far, there's been a lot of confusion about some demographics numbers at several south Greensboro schools. The information distributed by the district apparently is incorrect in several places, which has caused the meeting to grind to a standstill. But to their credit, it seems the board is trying to get this right before moving on.

Wow; the board has a tough call on deciding where students near Rankin Elementary attend high school.

The closest school (by far) is Page. But these students currently are shipped out to Eastern, which many parents say is much too far away.

However, they can't go to Page unless someone else is moved out, since Page already is over capacity. One plan would move these kids to Northeast, which would be closer than Eastern but still a pretty far way off. It's a tough spot to be in.

Bruce,

How do you make good decisions based upon bad information? Perhaps they should back off of redistricting until they have accurate data. But, we are talking about the fearless here.

Bruce,

No problem. Tell the board just to move in some more cottages for those students. They have plenty of students using them in other schools, why not Page?

The use of trailers actually came up, Stormy. But there isn't much real estate left at Page to put them - unless you put them on the football field. Plus, the school already is among the biggest in the state.

So adding kids to Page doesn't appear to be an option.

Currently, the board is discussing Penn-Griffin. They voted a few weeks ago to expand the middle school, which has an arts magnet focus, to a 6-12 grade arts school.

One possibility brought up tonight would be to phase in the high school component one grade level at a time - add ninth grade in the fall, 10th grade in 2007, and so forth.

Board member Amos Quick isn't happy with the idea of making Penn-Griffin a dedicated magnet. He believes the school should remain open to neighborhood kids, given its long history in downtown High Point. As a dedicated magnet, neighborhood kids would have to apply to attend, just like students from anywhere else.

Next up for discussion is High Point. Business is about to pick up, as the saying goes.

Bruce,

Map"E"? Did you get a copy of map E? Where is the public input on this one????

Biotekboy

Thanks for keeping us posted tonight! Whoever takes your place has to sign an agreement saying they will provide play by play of these meetings. Your coverage is appreciated!

I just got a copy of Map E tonight, Biotek Boy. I'd heard rumblings of such a map, but this is the first time I've seen it. I'm honestly surprised they would introduce a new map this late in the game.

Map E, for those of you not watching on TV, would add Ragsdale High to the High Point redistricting mix. Adams Farm would move from Ragsdale to Southwest and in return, a number of kids would go from Andrews and Southwest to Ragsdale. The Oak View area would move from Andrews to Southwest.

Methinks the Ragsdale people won't be happy with this one.

Okay, false alarm. The board just voted to do away with Map E.

So Ragsdale won't be a part of the High Point redistricting. Step down from DEFCOM 5, Tiger fans!

Bruce,

That was a quick kill of Map"E". Is this just more posturing by the BOE? By the way, great work tonight!

Biotekboy

Thanks, Biotekboy. Don't know what you mean about posturing, but I got the sense that one board member (Kris Cooke) wanted to see this map, but the rest of the board wasn't interested.

I take this as a good sign: the board is hashing this out in public. That means that sometimes, they'll float an idea out that doesn't go anywhere.

And, Kay, I'll encourage the N&R to keep up the live blogging at the meetings. I think it's a worthwhile thing to do.

It's only recently been possible - the GCS office just got a wireless Internet connection a couple of months ago, which means I can blog without missing anything in the meeting.

In the old days, in order to get on the Internet, I had to leave the meeting room and go hook up on a phone line in the lobby. So kudos to the GCS technology staff for hooking us up.

Well, we have yet another new map: Map C*.

This map incorporates elements of previous maps, but it doesn't move quite as many kids.

Basically, Map C* would do three things:

- Move the Parkview area from Andrews to Southwest;
- Move the White's Mill Road area from Southwest to Andrews;
- Move the Blairwood area from Andrews to Central.

Bruce,

With them pulling so new maps out of their a...er, hat, how can they know if there will be any unintedned consequences of adopting a map if they don't have all of the facts? Have these maps existed previous to this meeting with the knowledge of the board? Are we just going through motions for the public here to a predetermined decision?

Amos was awesome tonight. "We will take who you send us at Dudley. They are welcome. Just give us more resources....." way to go....a common sense, REAL solution approach!

Marti, we are shaking in our boots about that year round school "Don't vote for bonds and we will send your child to a year round school. Okay, we warned you...blah, blah, blah...we really mean it...." I felt like I was watching the movie "Home Alone" with McCauley C baiting the bandits. (Aren't you quitting the board Marti? Your opinion will just be one like many of the other thousands of parents in Guilford County. So sad.)

Let's see....mmmmmmm???

Door Number 1: cost of a few mobile units if you don't get bond money

OR

Door Number 2: cost of

. Teachers leaving by the THOUSANDS to other districts that have summers off
. Cost of fuel in busing, HVAC in the hot Triad summers, cost of heat in the winter
. Cost to put more heaters in buses
. Cost of more buses
. Cost of year round cafeteria workers
. Cost of year round bus drivers
. Cost of year round janitors
. Cost of year round office staff at schools
. Cost of FUTA, FICA, Workmen's Comp Insurance, Retirement, Vacation packages for same
. Additional liability insurance for buses on the road year round, children in school year round
. Cost of more liability insurance in general for year round schools
. Cost of more ACES workers year round

Question: where will you find year-round bus drivers, ACES workers, substitute teachers, regular teachers, cafeteria workers? You have a hard time finding these people now.

We are really afraid of these year rounds schools. Those who might care have left for private schools. Try getting kids to school all year round when you can't get some of them there for 9 months. Think what this would do to drop out rates.

I guess we will just have to worry about those year round schools if the bond money doesn't come in. And I thought I would sleep tonight.

Stormy,

If you watched the last board meeting, one board member makes a suggestion. The next one gives a counter suggestion. One end of town is affected by one map. Then another board member brings up a map that would affect their end of town. It's just a game to them in some respects. That is "politics".

Just focus on the maps that are left. It would be nice to have correct numbers though as Anita asked for AGAIN.

Duh....Let's see...duh...if you have no intention of selecting Map C and it's like 24 hrs. before the vote, why do you magically come up with a Map C*. Duh....I wonder you's going to get screwed, Duh...

I now have the proof that Dot has been a member of the "party" for several years. My colleagues from behind the curtain have documents with her name all over it. Will fax them to the general shortly for him to present at this days board meeting.
The commie witch will be unmasked!

Duncansays,

I think Alan said the legitimate complaint of the choice plan all along was that it put children in a lottery. He could see some of "the board" had a problem with that. Paridoxically that is also why the choice plan is gone. FRL numbers to put children in a fixed lottery could not be used to achieve the desired "balance".

Stormy

YES parts of MapC* existed in 2003. Parts were brought up in August. SB has the numbers.

It's kind of ironic, but there will be a certain symmetry, albeit a perverse symmetry, to the C Map (or should I say C*) that likely will get voted in tonight. Map C selection would assure that both neighborhoods that sent the very first children through the doors of SW High school the very day it opened around twenty five years ago, Blairwood and White's Mill/Oak Hollow Estates, will now have been removed from the school. Blairwood back in '99 and OHE '06. All these people dis-enfranchised for somebody else's politics. And this from people who would say "we need to get more involoved in our schools". Here is the most salient example of the absurdity and mockery of that statement. Unbelievable, pathetic, and a sad testament to a new low in Guilford co. politics. Just try to imagine someone doing this to Page or Grimsley... or even Emerywood...You're right, kind of silly

To quote one of the twentieth century's greatest wits- Dandy Don Meredith, "turn out the lights, the parties....over.

Could be time for everyone to do a "Buchanan" up to Winston. Move 'em out, Bruce! Westward ho!!!!

C. Boy,

I don't think this is a matter of Guilford County politics, but rather City of High Point politics. You are right, none of this would happen to Page, Grimsley, or Dudley. The parents and residents of those areas would march on Eugene St. whould it ever be considered. No, those board representatives are just standing by and letting the High Point factions self-destruct by its own hands, just like they did with the lottery. It was interesting to see how long Map E lasted. The Ragsdale constituency had that one killed in short order. There is no logical reason why Ragsdale shouldn't be in the mix here, but you saw how quickly that was trashed and sent on its way. C. Boy, High Point is getting new representation too late. Certain elements of the board are pushing their agenda through now before the new representatives get online. Does one have to wonder why? Changes in districts put in place now will take years to change, if ever.

Chalkboard kind of quiet this morning, huh? Kind of like that Arby's commerical: "Where'd everybody go"? Everybody off gobbling some roast beef, huh? Or could it be...Satan????

What ever happened to one for all, all for one!!!! Butt Boy hit the nail on the head.

Stormy, the Greensboro political machine has been complicit in this all, starting with the CP. High Point's perfect for them. They get to espouse liberal ideas to help them get elected in their various districts, show they are P.C., but they risk nothing. There are no Greensboro schools getting ripped up, plus they get to cluster f--- with quid pro quo's with the High Point pols who consider the north suburban folks nothing more than fodder to prop up their agendi. It's obvious Dot and Mendenhall along with other HP insiders, consider anyone who's not from Emerywood as a non-person, Exploitable and expendable.

There will be a karmic price to be paid.
When you treat people like this, it's gonna come back.

It's a hard rain's gonna fall.

C-boy, I'll tell you what else is ironic. That the N&R would run an article today about Grimsley apologizing to its first black student from back in the late 1950's.

Right in the middle of the article is the statement that one of the reasons this student moved from Dudley to Grimsley was TO BE CLOSER TO HOME.

Closer to Home? Imaigine that, Buck..

You're not getting rid of me that easily, C.Boy. I'll just be working in Winston-Salem - I'll still live here in Guilford County. So I'll still have a strong interest in the schools here.

Bruce,

Please do stay in touch - we will miss the way you always were able to cut through the bs - and how you were willing to listen to concerns and try to get answers.

Referring to the student that moved to
Grimsley to be closer to home we now have
the Rankin/Cone Elementary kids being forced
bused to Eastern or Northeast in lieu of
attending closer schools such as
Aycock, Hairston, Lincoln, Mendanhall.

They say they have no room close to their home , yet have taken seats away from these schools with special programs at Aycock, Lincoln, and Grimsley.

If today she tried to attend her closest school she would probably have to qualify for the elitest IB program to attend Grimsley.

C Boy,

Subbed all day yesterday. Watched the meeting last night. Just got in from teaching today. It's great to be around the kids, because you don't think of all the "politics" for awhile. Life at it's simplest.

As you quoted so well "turn out the lights, the party's over....."

This about sums it up.

I must agree 100% with Stormy. It is High Point politics at it's finest. We know who promoted the Choice Plan; we know who supported the Choice Plan. By hook or by crooked "some map" would be voted on. No one is meant to be a winner in this redistricting plan. High Point Schools are definitely different from Greensboro. (At least for now.)