News-Record.com

The Washington Post reports that late last week the Maryland general assembly moved to block a plan to take over low-performing schools.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. told the Post the move was political because Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor this year.

Looks like the state wants several middle schools to be put under new management, possibly as public charter schools, and to get independent contractors to take over four high schools, according to the Post article.

Is this where Judge Manning is heading with his threat to low-performing high schools in North Carolina?

You often hear people talk about how it "Takes a village."

Well, a village some 40,000 strong - graduates of Dudley High School - are looking at what they can do to help the current students at their alma mater.

So far, a couple dozen Dudley alumni have already made their presence felt. But look for more to come in the future.

Will other troubled schools see the same support from their alumni?

The education team (that'd be me) is in Charlotte today and Thursday following the superintendent search there.

We (that'd be me) don't expect to file anything online during that time since we (yep, me again) will be following around GCS Superintendent Terry Grier from about 8 am. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and again Thursday morning as he makes his bid for the superintendent's post at Charlotte. We're planning a couple of stories to run Thursday and Friday, along with one that ran today giving a brief glimpse at Grier's chances to get the job.

So, please be patient and stand by ...

Joe Stafford is a big fan of naming a school after Edward R. Murrow, a legend in the media industry with ties to Guilford County.

He has repeatedly suggested the name, most recently for the new middle school to serve the northern area.

The school board recently voted to name the school Northern Middle. (Click on the March 23 link) The name has been put out for public comment.

Joe asked me to publish the link for making comments about the name. As requested, here's the e-mail: gcscomments@gcsnc.com

Is it time for the Murrow name to grace a Guilford County school? Is this the right school?

I thought this article (Registration may be required) might interest some of you, particularly Barbara Ann who has expressed concerns about mobiles - sometimes called classroom trailers or - one of my favorite education twists on terminology - the more lyrical "learning cottages."

Anyone hear of this happening here? A few years ago there were complaints about mold and health issues in actual school buildings.

Our neighbors to the south have picked their new superintendent, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Peter Gorman, superintendent of the Tustin Unified School District in Orange County, Calif., will lead Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. Well, once they negotiate the contract, that is.

Guilford superintendent Terry Grier, who made it to the top three in the national search, dropped out of the race last week.

Greetings Guilford County! I am Morgan Josey, the new education reporter. I formerly covered general assignment and East Gaston (development/transportation) in Gaston County and I look forward to covering this community in the area of K-12 schools. I encourage you to contact me with story ideas by calling (336) 373-7078 or e-mailing me at mjosey@news-record.com. I will attend the meeting tonight at Smith High School if anyone is interested in meeting me.

The Guilford County School Board met Thursday to discuss the audit completed in March on Dudley,Smith and High Point high schools (three of four low performing high schools). Interesting to note that altogether the three schools had in place 10 of 50 indicators Phi Delta Kappa International looked at.

More importantly GCS will move forward with plans to implement a mastery learning model at the schools next year. You can read more about this effort to improve test scores in today's paper or online. You can also check out the lengthy audits on Dudley, Smith and High Point Central at your pleasure.

Members of a new Community Education Organization plan to speak at Monday's public hearing on the GCS budget about student suspensions. The group wants to see that number go down, particularly among black students who make up 70 percent of suspensions.

You can read more about their plans Saturday. What suggestions do you have for educating misbehaving students?

The Guilford County Board of Education will hold a special 5:30 p.m. Monday to discuss the 2006-07 budget (another meeting will also be held 11:30 a.m. Wednesday). A Public Hearing will also be held for the purpose of receiving public comments about the budget. The meeting will take place in the Board Room of the Administrative Offices, 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro, N.C.

Persons wanting to publicly address the Board on April 24 regarding the 2006-07 budgetary matters of the school district may request to do so by registering with the Board clerk prior to the meeting. Please call 336-370-8100 before 5 p.m. on April 24. Persons may also register at the meeting site between 5:15 – 5:30 p.m. on April 24. A maximum of three minutes will be granted to each speaker.

The Guilford County Board of Education responded to criticisms of the Mission Possible plan made by teachers last week by reducing the amount of future raises that would be cut help fund the teacher incentives plan.

The North Carolina Justice Center recently released its 2006 report on the academic achievement gap between minority and non-minority students. You can access the report here. The center has been doing these reports since 2000.

Superintendent Terry Grier has again revised his Mission Possible plan, this time removing teacher supplements from the equation. School officials scaled down the size of the proposal by about $300,000 and would decrease some principal and teacher bonuses and remove three schools from the list.

You can read more in Thursday's paper.