News-Record.com

Why I'll bet you this will cause a run on a bank not seen since the days of the Great Depression.

I can't believe this person of high ethics will be so close to the safe.

Hear ye, hear ye. Limber up those arms girl's and boy's. Just in time for spring. It's "Dunking Booth" time at the fair again. Pony up, fire away. Get Terry wet. He gets up, wet, silly grin, sits back up on the pearch. Knock 'em down again. Stat doc keeps track of number of times he gets dunked and computes ratio of direct hits to balls thrown. You go home, he goes home. He collects. Nothing changes. You felt better for what, 60 seconds. Hurrah.

Hey Babe Buchanan,

Are you going to see the good doctor at Oak Ridge tomorrow? Maybe I'll see you there. Better get there early. The bank isn't that big.

Teddy

I'll be there, Teddy, although it's a little early in the morning for my liking. I'll also cover Monday's BOE work session, so I'll be earning my keep during my last few days at the N&R!

I'll take your advice about getting to the bank early, though.

Oh, and I should mention that I'm going to try to tape Dr. Grier's comments and post them here on the Web site. Now I'm no audio engineer, but we've got a recorder and I'm going to give it a shot. I figure y'all might like to hear what was said at this informal session.

Great idea about taping, Bruce. I guess with those after those secret High Point City meetings, we will all have to start wearing "wires".

Lady in Blue on north lawn.
Lady in Blue on north lawn.

Testing. Testing.

Take it out with a BANG, BRUCE! YOU GO GUY!!!!! You could even toss a few balls. three for a dollar!

Whew!

Made it to the Oak Ridge Bank just in the nick of time! I withdrew all my money before the Great Bamboozler gets there tomorrow.

It's safer under my mattress!

Questions:

Is transporation being provided for those of us in that don't have any?

Can we get the buses with the heaters since we have to head north?

So when will Dr. Grier be holding one of these question and answer sessions in High Point?

Has anyone considered that Terry Grier is appearing at 7:30 am on a Friday morning in the far NW reaches of the county in a small bank that he is making it difficult for many critics to attend? Seems well planned to me.

DAHHH

We all love to get up at 6:00. Pull out the old map. Fill up the gas tank at $2.20 a gallon and head "goin up to the country".

Now if it was dinner and drinks at the Chop House, count me in!

Dear Stormy,
the NW can hold it's own when it comes to Critics of Dr. Grier and the BOE. We love Darlene, but she is only one of 11!-- I went to the meeting for a short time. Bruce will fill you in. Very 'business like' atmosphere with many local politicians, PTSA pres. and people that I have never seen at a board meeting. At least if got some new people's attention.

debora,

No doubt NW can hold its own. I know because I live there. But, becaue NW has Darlene, much of the junk being perpetrated on other parts of the county just won't fly in the NW. Maybe some day District 2 will get a representative on the board (think Garth).

I was going to to the meeting this morning, but I remembered that I wouldn't walk across the street at 7:30 am to see and hear Terry Grier, and it's too early to drink enough Pepe Lopez to numb my senses to listen to his drivel.

Oh, I understand that the commissioners approved the BOE's request for budget funds from the 2003 bonds to be used in part for Smith High. As I understand it, this project was slipped in recently, and we are taking funds from the 2003 bond referendum that were intended for another purpose. If our elected members of the board continue to bait and switch on bond referendums, is it possible that the next bond referendum will be in trouble because the taxpayers won't vote to increase their taxes when they don't know what will be done with the funds? Can the board be trusted to use the funds as they say they will?

Voters in Mecklenburg County recently defeated a bond referendum and sent a message to the school board on this very matter. You would think that our board would take note, but I guess not. One could say it is a word to the wise, but then one has to be wise to get the word?

Were Fire Marshalls and FBI standing by?

How about the smug disposition, did Grier bring that?

I suspect he didnt' touch on the subject of screwing Jamestown did he? You know...taking AGAIN from Jamestown and giving to a greater need elsewhere...no I suppose that didn't come up

Soon there'll be nothing left to rob..no kids, no money. Then where will the Great Bamboozler turn?

I'm disgusted...puking my guts out disgusted at the latest decisions to swindle segments of the county out of money...more broken promises.

I would put my kids on a bus to HELL before I put them on a Guilford County bus.

Well, I had hoped to put Dr. Grier's comments up for you guys to listen to.

But for some reason, it didn't work - don't know if the recorder is broken or if I did something wrong (which is certainly possible). But we just ended up with 70 minutes of static.

Sorry about that.

Bruce,

Can you get the itemized cost per teacher assistant?

salary, benefit etc - keyword - "itemized"

thanks

Bruce, that wasn't static. That's Grier's normal voice. All static, drivel, lies, backpeddling, coverups, etc...that's how it sounds. You did great. You don't have to cover for the Great Bamboozler any more.

After hearing static from Alan last night (note he never said a word about the fact that this diversion was for a project not on the Bond list) so they voted to allow the shenanigans again. I guess you could say he provided static to cover up the "real issue". Though some commissioners came close to corenering him, the static kept him safe.

Did you hear anything but static Bruce?

Bruce, can you at least paraphrse what was said?
Not that we think anybody is pulling a "Nixon" with the seventy "missing minutes" or anything.
Thanks

Since I see Dr. Grier go to bank to promote himself and help draw customers into bank to try to convince parents he helping their interest while most rike-ree just jacking them around, since this America and I deserve similar benefit, I most humbly invite Dr. Grier to come to my business establishment where we jack people around professionally.

Su Yong Hung
Proprietor. Helping Hands Message Parlor 1047 W. Lee St. Greensboro NC

I've got a story on this in tomorrow's paper, C.Boy, and I gave you some of what was said at the top. It wasn't anything controversial or new -- Dr. Grier mostly just talked about how the district needs more money for the 2006-07 fiscal year.

He also said he doubts that the N.C. lottery will be much of a benefit for the state's public schools. He said in other states, lottery money replaces what already was going to the schools, rather than supplementing it.

Debora and Terrina were there, so if they would like to add anything, feel free.

And I can assure you there was no Nixon action going on here! This was about as tame of a speech as you are going to hear. We just had some technical issues.

Yes everyone was pleasant and polite. I didn't hear anything new, but missed half of the talk. I wish that the men (and that was 3/4 of the attendees)would all volunteer a few hours in the schools. That is where we need them. Maybe they do, but I don't think so.

On a different point. On gcsnc. the agenda for the 21st is up with different maps. Not different lines, but easier to read maps. Run on over there!

What would he have to say about this? This kind of crap is satus quo for Grier and Duncan. If you can't get your $122,000 statistician to work the numbers..... change them! You won't believe this but it's ALL DOCUMENTED!

to all out there dealing with the school board, i think we have found
something else for them to do, besides look at redistricting maps. read
on... then, tell everyone you know in this county, that if they have a kid
at a school here, that they need to make the school board accountable for
the numbers that is is documenting. maybe that will keep them busy for a
while....

we originally started researching the information on the GCS website, when
the board proposed a merger here with sumner and southern elementaries. as
they would not disclose what their reasonings were prior to the public forum
held january 31st, we decided to do some digging on our on to see what we
could find. i think in essence, it appears we found more than the board is
happy with.

as the news-record reported, the southern parents did make a powerpoint
presentation the night of the public forum. we pulled data from the GCS
website and presented that sumner elementary had a total of 123 in/out of
school suspensions. this was listed on the online school improvement plan,
that is mandated by the general assembly (see reference below).

at the board meeting on feb. 9th, grier made a statement that he had been
concerned by that number and had met with terrance young and had sent
members of his staff to sumner to investigate, etc. grier said that they
discovered that they had been recording 'half day suspensions' and that they
should not be recorded (????). then anita sharpe spoke up and said that she
too, went to that school that same week and went on to describe it as being
this picture perfect school (now find out that they are all really close
friends). regardless, here is what we found out.

saturday, february 11th... we went back to the GSC website and opened the
sumner elementary school improvement plan. it had been changed since the
time we made out presentation, to now reflect that this school has NO, that
is ( 0 )... ZERO in school suspensions for the year of 04-05. this went from
showing 90, to nothing... just like that. so we decided to look a page or
two further down, and guess what else had been changed?? the other issue we
had presented as a concern to us... the volunteer hours. what HAD been
documented as just being 300 for that year... NOW shows a whopping 1200
hours! no one mentioned that little change, during the board meeting. that
one was just slipped in during the 'fix'.

i decided to see if i could download that pdf of sumner's SIP (school
improvement plan) and amazingly, it let me now download the actual pdf,
whereas the others did not. i guess whomever changed the record just forgot
to delete the accessability to that file itself. i downloaded the pdf,
highlighted it and got info on it. it was modified/uploaded at 8:32pm
february 9th... which just happened to be during the board meeting and right
about the exact time that grier announce that the problem had been
'corrected'. what else, system wide... had simply been erased? this is a
serious question. how can one school simply go in and have their information
changed to make the school look better in the eyes of the community? or even
better, if those two numbers had been entered 'wrong', how do we know that
the other numbers reported for test scores and such, are even correct? maybe
sumner really did make AYP's last year after all. someone has to be held
accountable, and we feel that the entire county should know this and demand
that someone verify their own school's recorded data as well.

next step... two of us dropped by sumner a few days ago to get some answers
from their principle, dee richardson. she would not tell us who changed the
data. we asked her who from grier's staff had actually visited the school as
he so said. she said no one from his staff ever visited that school as he
reported. she said that the only person who did visit was anita. note...
anita sharp is NOT a member of grier's staff. she is our elected board
member. was this just part of the cover up? dee also shifted a bit of the
blame towards doris brown, with the BOE office. and she even called her
at home while we were sitting there, and seemed to have that home number
readily available. i found it odd that with as many principals in the school
system, that these two were close enough to just have home numbers lying
around.

we then asked mrs. robinson to explain how they arrived at now showing 0 in
school suspensions, when they had reported 190 on one document. (90 on the
one i pulled from). she said that they do have an in school suspension
program... they simply call it something else. 'choices' i do believe was
her term for it. she said that these kids get to go to the computer lab for
an hour or so, when they get this 'discipline'. i am still a bit concerned
over how getting a free hour in front of a computer will be an effective
form of discipline at all. obviously it doesn't work well at all. she pulled
her report to show me that they had logged 190 HOURS of this in school
'choices' (i.e. suspension). yet now, their SIP shows that they had ZERO
in school suspensions. yet grier himself said on record that they had
recorded 'half day suspensions'...

we also asked her if we could have the current amounts of suspensions, both
the in and out... for this current school year. she would not give us that
information. she said she didn't know what that number was. i told her she
should know since she was the principal of that school, and that the records
had to be kept in that office. she again said she couldn't give them to us
as they were not 'totaled'. makes me wonder how many of those will suddenly
disappear as well.

see my point here? there is much cover up going on, and it continues to
grow. why are they attempting to hide any of it? it is going back to their
'balanced scorecard' reports? i saw that on the meeting 12/19, one of their
major topics of concern was the amount of suspensions in our schools, and
they were particulary concerned with finding ways to lower these numbers in
order to have a balance scorecard. is THIS what they have arrived at as a
solution? to just erase the numbers????

we asked mrs. robinson, would the reported numbers ever been changed in
their favor with both accounts, if we had not made our powerpoint
presentation. she said probably not, but that she would have looked like
she had not done a very good job.

so you would think, that if both of these changes to their numbers really
were... and i am still skeptical... honest mistakes, how come not once has
anyone bothered to THANK us, for pointing their numbers out? instead we are
basically made to look like we are idiots and offended people for pointing
out the exact information that THEY had reported and documented. does this
make any sense to you?

and lastly, we got a letter yesturday from the principal at southern
elementary, sara roberts. i will scan and attach for your own review.
as you can read, she says that we addressed the 123 in/out of school
suspensions... yet she only say that sumner had NO in school suspensions for
that year. she did not even mention that they DID have 35 OUT of school
suspensions (which helped make up that number of 123 we presented).
(couldn't erase those as they are recorded with the state already). so, why
did she not mention those? she also did not mention that sumner did have 190
hours of in school discipline (how does that shakesphere line go... a rose
by any other name...) 'choices'. that was not addressed at all. the letter
was basically sent out to make sumner look more appealing to the eyes of
the southern parents, not to tell the entire story as it was told to us by
dee richardson, principal of sumner.

also note that this letter has a different meaning of ISS (in school
suspension) that what the guilford county school system sent home with my
child at the beginning of the year... the one that each parent had to sign
and return. here is what the actual handbook says:

__________________________________________________________________

In-School Suspension
A student is excluded from attending regular classes but not from attending
school and is required to do assignments developed by his/her regular
teachers. Credit is give for this work. A student will not be allowed to
participate in any extra-curricular activities during the period of
in-school suspension. Principals shall notify parent when a student is
assigned to in-school suspension.
__________________________________________________________________

note it does NOT say 'ALL day' in the book that I am looking at. Instead, it
says they are not allowed to participate in any extra-curricular activities
'during the period of in school suspension'. the 'period of' wording tells
me that it is referring to a portion of, not ALL, of that day.

i think that the parents for the entire county NEED to be made aware of this
issue, as their kid's schools have not been allowed to correct their
reported data from that year. how do we know that any of the numbers at all
are actually correct? how do we know even if the numbers that the board keep
telling us for the enrollment is even correct? how do we know that the test
scores are correct? how do we know that the numbers reported for the
free/reduced lunches, are correct? that does affect how much federal grants
that are available, as that is what they base that money on. for all we
know, those numbers may not be entered correctly as well.

please contact me if you want even more details and documentation. please
run this story and let the public be made aware that this IS a HUGE issue,
that mrs. roberts letter even admits... is a county wide one. the board has
to be held accountable for the accuracy of the numbers it reports, and not
be able to just erase the ones that they do not want to address. maybe they
have been too busy focusing on the redistricting this past year, to actually
do their jobs accurately. the only time i have heard them even mention the
abc's ... was in reference to the high point maps. not in educating the
kids.

see attached, and go to this link as well for the statute regulating these
school improvement plans... before they go in an change that to better suit
them as well. at any time they amend this plan they are supposed to get
approval from the 'team'. i seriously doubt that anyone on that team knew
about this, except the few changing it.

also attached, is the actual sumner sip that i downloaded. note the time is
was modified. we were AT the board meeting, so there was no way that they
would even pretend to say that we did that. we didn't even discover it had
been replaced until 2/11.

please go to this link and find the following chapter:
this was a chapter that was showed the statutes pertaining to
the rules regarding the school improvement plans.

§ 115C-105.27. Development and approval of school improvement plans.

this came off of the state site, so i am fairly certain that this is
a state related plan and not just a disctrict one.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapt
er_115c.html

thank you,

a concerned parent

i was told by the suspension guru in raleigh, that the lady whom i would
call with my concerns... is actually IN greensboro today, that they are
meeting to discuss ACCOUNTABILITY. i think he mentioned that this was being
held at koury convention center. you may want to check this out as well, to
see if they are addressing any of this at all. i am pretty sure that he said
that he will be here tomorrow as well. interesting...

his name is:
ken gattis
919.807.4049

state level, school improvement officer:
elsie leek
919.807.3912

Betty, you have entered where one should NOT go. Outside Auschwitz there was a sign : "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here". You missed the sign on gcs website. I'd follow the advice of the lady above. Just relax. Maybe get a message.

Betty,

FIRST OF ALL - THANK YOU for bringing this to our attention.

You might want to see the "black book" sometime - it will make your toes curl.

Here's another one for you - NCLB has a provision called "Persistently dangerous schools" which allow students to opt out after the school receives that label. Guess what - there are NO persistently dangerous schools in NC.

"Of the 19,000 public schools in the United States, only 52 have been identified as “persistently dangerous” under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While NCLB requires states to report such schools, it does not impose a national standard for what constitutes “persistently dangerous.” Each state creates its own definition. This year, 44 states and the District of Columbia reported not a single unsafe school. Most states have set a high bar for finding a school “persistently dangerous” by basing it on such factors as the number of students found in possession of a gun or expelled for violent behavior. Their definitions typically include only serious crimes, such as murder, arson, robbery, and kidnapping. "

So, GCS is meeting the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. A student can beat another unconscious, cut him/her with a knife and the injury requires stitches, yet that is not a "dangerous act".

And, by the way, the reason the board wants to merge Southern and Sumner is to circumvent NCLB. One of those schools is Title I and has the NCLB sanctions imposed upon it. The other is not. By merging the 2 schools, neither is now Title I and Grier has successfully skirted the law once again.

Brilliant, isn't it?

How in the heck can one TA cost 1.6 million per school? I don't think they make more than Grier, Dr. Z, etc. Where is this Higher Math coming from????

to add a teachers assistant to every school would cost 1.6 million (one TA times 112 schools) of course we don't put them in middle schools/HS so that would mean about 70 or so or $850,000. That is my guess, not a number from Dr. Grier

And how much did they WASTE on the failed Choice Plan?

Racial healing: 1/2 million by some so called ministry

"Green" schools.

Higly paid Central office staff.

It is about PRIORITIES!

just some miscellaneous ramblings/grumblings:

1) is it just me, or did the "tweaking" on the redistricting maps not really begin until after the last 2 secret meetings between GCS and HP city leaders?

2) i know that HP community leaders are tight with GCS administration (Grier) because i have seen corrrespondences between them right after the choice plan was introduced a coupla years ago - secret meetings are not new - not in the guilford county political arena anyway.

3) is it just me, or did anyone else think that the word "shrewd" might be a great way to describe the fact that alan duncan the lawyer explained the accounting principles of gcs instead of sharon ozment during the commissioners meeting 2/16. if ms. ozment was not available, the commissioners should have tabled discussion until she was available.

4) how many new projects/latest fads/special programs are begun before others are completed and paid for in GCS? why would anyone put funds into new projects before old ones are paid for? i reckon GCS can because they know that the taxpayers will just keep pulling more and more money off their backyard money trees to fork over to GCS to fund their every little whim. ever increasing taxes, bond referendums - so very little to show for all that money - EXCEPT the continuing whining & poor decision making from GCS and its board.

5) how many commissisoners are up for reelection this year? 4?

6) trust? gcs wants trust from parents? its laughable. never unlawful, but maybe unethical - that's how i describe many gcs dealings. actions truly speak louder, and with more honesty, than words. gcs administration and some members of the board of education continue to erode the public's trust. wonder why? refer to above. not convinced? i will be happy to provide more examples if needed.

i truly, honestly hope that some measure of trust will be restored with the upcoming redistricting decision.

Reading these last posts takes away any optimism that I ever had about the future of this school system. It appears that the superintendent and members of the board are working together, along with other elected county officials, and doing whatever they please with impunity to our schools. Who can stop them? There is no accountability. We've seen slight of hand and tongue going on this week by Grier and some board members. Yes, we may be getting some new board members after the election, but a lot of damage can be done in the next year.

Cheryl, I am not optimistic about the results of redistricting. I see nothing to stop them from doing whatever they choose to do to us and our children. Nothing.

lack of trust for gcs?
how could i have neglected to include dr. grier's statement in the n-r that less than 6 PEOPLE have complained about the unreadable, illegible redistricting maps.
at the time he made that statement, superintendent grier actually had knowledge that many, many parents & board members had complained about those maps since august - to no avail. all those complaints went ignored by gcs until just about 2 weeks ago when they all of a sudden presented better maps. of course, this was after the public forums were held & less than a month before the board has chosen to vote. was his intent in making that statement to mislead the majority of the n-r's readership who has no knowledge of what GCS is trying to do? he certainly chose NOT to print a retraction or correction - even though he knew his statement was misleading (at best). apparently our board supports this type of behavior.

trust, truth, honesty - are those character ed word in gcs schools? do as i say and not as i do?

Betty L,

Besides Raleigh, why don't you send this information to the Secretary of Education in Washington. Your questions on numbers raises many questions. I have oftened wondered how in the world can two schools in High Point not have enough students show up on TESTING day to take the exams for the ABCs? You know how much TESTING is stressed. Do you think the numbers of kids who are registered in school are overstated? Have the students actually dropped out, missed so many days and just not come back, but GCS list them to get some federal dollars?

Very Interesting,

I am shocked to see that you are even raising the possibiity that Terry Grier is manipulating data to obtain federal funds. Wouldn't that be a federal crime?

http://www.petitiononline.com

I stumbled on this site today and thought that those of you who had a stake in the redistricting maps would be interested.

Hi Betty,

You bring up some very serious concerns. Could you please give me a call? I did not see you listed in the phone directory.

You can contact me at 282-2182.

Terrina Picarello

Can someone please tell me why the NAACP of High Point is so worried about diversity while the NAACP of Greensboro is not? What about Dudley and Smith? See Grier's Friday Notes. Leave High Point alone.

don't you know "we're different"

that's what certain people keep saying anyway

you heard it at the Penn-G forum from black community leaders addressing Amos

I would imagine Dudley and Smith also have "socioeconomic" issues

Smith has the Hispanic vs Black gangs issue

ref: read the last "Yes Weekly" publication.
hear what Ed W, a black Greensboro community leader involved in Dialogue in Education group, has to say. Greensboro black community is not hung-up on diversity. they want equity, as it SHOULD BE. in fact he is explicit on how FORCED diversity can be DETRIMENTAL to the black students. how busing does not correct problems if you don't educate the students.

the NAACP in Greensboro and the NAACP in High Point are two very different animals. different leaders

look at the NAACP in High Point. see who is listed as 3rd Vice President is listed on their stationery. it is not a black person. read the opinion view section in HPE today. study books on facism and communism. connect the "dots" (no pun intended. you will find the answer there

Below is Alan Duncan's response to an email regarding redistricting. I know of at least 3 other people that got the same response. He simply cut and pasted the same reply to many emails. Is this any better than the board members that don't respond at all? Anybody know if he has filed to run again?

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the pending issues regarding the drawing of attendance lines in our County. As you are undoubtedly aware, this is a very complex and difficult issue. When considering all the criteria set out in the Board's guidelines for drawing attendance zones, it becomes clear just how difficult this process is in light of the differing emphasis of some of the criteria guidelines and the rapidly changing demographics in our County. I appreciate your input and will keep it in mind as we continue to discuss and consider the issues. This is a process that is unfortunately necessary, but one that is not likely to make people happy because it involves the possibility of change for their children in their education. I understand that can be an emotional issue for many people. At the end of the process, however, we all need to refocus our commitment and direct our energies to providing the best possible education for all of our children in all of our schools. I hope that you will continue to support that critical process for our children and for our County.

I actually got a letter with this exact wording.

"not likely to make people happy"

that works both ways

not likely to make school board members happy when volunteers leave for private schools, scores continue to go down, legal issues come to fore

especially not likely to make school board members happy when the "unhappy people" stop any school bonds once their children go private

plenty of future ads where HPEs came from

the "unhappy people" won't have anything left to lose

Alan and the other board members have created what I call a "fend for yourself" system. They know that they are now losing support one family at a time. They know exactly how to stop it..but they must not want to. It is so sad that they will just sit back and watch families leave the system, and not care.

When the Guilford County School system is nothing but a Welfare System, families will have Alan and Company to thank.

Yes, a big erection indeed.

Already Gone Private and JTTPPAB

Don't forget about Mayor Becky and the secret meetings.

She won't be happy about the Vegas Market either.

The school board won't care how many families leave the public school system because Greensboro will be fine. It's the High Point trinity of high schools that will be the welfare schools, and who cares about that? They've shown how committed they are to improving education!! They never face the tough issues, and they refuse do anything other than bus to skirt NCLB sanctions. This board is nothing but a bunch of losers. Guilford County should be ashamed.

Betty, why don't you send your information along to the state attorney general?

MEMO TO THE ERECTION COMMITTEE:

START PLANNING FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS!!

Make a list of possible targets!

Scout out new erection sites.

Collect donations for private schools so they can provide tuition assistance to families who want out out of GCS!!!

Spread the word - No bonds!!!!!! never ever!!!!

This message will self destruct!!!!!!