News-Record.com

Josey,

I think the word is magnet, not magnate . . . unless, of course, the schools are only available to the children of important, powerful people.

Morgan,

Thanks for getting this info.

Do you know or can you find out -

1> How many choices is the board required to give you and is there any requirement that the choices be within a reasonable driving distance?
(Penn-Griffin and Welborn to Kernodle?)

2> Can the board assign you to a school that hasn't made AYP? Ferndale is now being sent to Allen Jay Middle (instead of SW or Kernodle) and AJ Middle did not make AYP last year - doesn't this seem to defeat the purpose?

3> What will happen with the change in math scoring? I understand reading results w/b available right away and math results won't be available until October - what will that do to the opt out process?

Amy,
The opt-out can be a school that did not make ayp last year. I did hear the boe asked the attorney to look into some sort of legal stuff about the math question. Don't know the answer about distance. I do know that one quesiton asked often by the boe is what is capacity and how many students all ready go to that school.

I noticed that Rankin Elementary students from
Greensboro have the choice of going to Sedalia
Elementary which is several miles farther away
than Mcleansville or other choices.

I assume available space is the reasoning.
Does anyone no why?

Frank,

I've read the rules surrounding op-outs (see www.ed.gov for more information). The board has a lot of leeway in the schools designated to accept the opt-outs. I think this board is intentionally establishing schools that are so far away, the families are not likely to take advantage of the opt-out designated school.

quest,

That makes sense to me. Kernodle was an op out school for Ferndale along with SWM. Some students still chose Kernodle even though it was further.

Amy,

I heard the school board discussing the problem about op outs happening in the middle of the school year. From the discussion I heard, it seemed like this could be a possibility because of NCLB sanctions.

Welborn's number of FRL could change after the 2006-07 redistricting taking it off the Title I list (?)

Once again the News & Record has failed to report on violent incidents in our high schools. At Central on Monday a 15 year old brought a gun to school; it was interecepted after a tip to the school administration. It was unloaded, but it was a small caliber handgun. We received an email from the principal Monday informing us that this incident took place and that she was "sure you would hear about it"; I guess not. On Tuesday 5 kids were arrested at Central for assualting another student; the High Point police department last night on Fox8 identified them not as "community" or "neighborhood" groups, but called them what they clearly were-GANG MEMBERS. High Point Police said those involved are in the Crypts and Bloods; sounds just like East L.A. They also said they are investigating the probable connection between the assualt and the kid who brought the gun to school (appparantly he is tied to one of the gangs); not a word of this in the Record; not a word about GCS not commenting on the situation (last night Dr. Grier was at a Guilford Education Alliance meeting at Western High; he did not mention this incident), not a word about 75 arrest year to date at Central (which is this years Andrews unfortunately). While GCS continues to concentrate on racial healing, holding down suspension rates, minoritiy contracts, diversity training, etc. nothing is being done about this issue of violence. If the Record cannot be counted on to bring this information to the public, GCS can continue to keep their problem in the shadows. An in-depth investigation on gangs in our schools would be responsible journalism at this point; that may be too much to expect from a paper that is pleased with Dr. Grier and his efforts. As I have said in public comments at board meetings, it is going to take a child or teacher (the principal at Central has been sent to the hospital twice in two years due to being assaulted) getting seriously hurt or god forbid killed for this issue to get the attention it needs. A message needs to be sent to the board and Dr. Grier: Violent kids do not deserve multiple chances, they do not belong in school wih kids who are trying to learn, and they are a ticking time bomb.

We need to take a strong look at what is happening at Central and in our schools. Our children should not fear for their safety from professed gang members and repeat offenders.

A student at Eastern Guilford Middle school which had been in trouble several times and spent time in juvenile hall was allowed to come back to the school and assault another student in his class room.

The student professes to be a "blood" and the argument was over his "professed" affiliation.

The principal will deny this, but the students and the law enforement know the truth and so should the parents.

Schools that knowingly let students with a repeated history of physical violence in the school and the student assaults another student should be sued.
The school should be held liable for the students safety when they know the problem exists.

They may claim to not know the kid is violent, but if they know to call his probation officer to come pick him up he should not be in public school.

Another student at Eastern may loose his eysight due to being jumped by multiple students.

Multiple students jumping one student should be treated as a gang and charged as such and the students should not be returned to the same school
if returned at all.

We need another way to deal with these kids or
violent criminals and sending them back to the
classroom is not it.

The paper reflects a community afraid of saying or writing anything negative when blacks are involved. If a white kid did these things it would be all over the news. A black kid does it and the paper is afraid of beng called racist or disloyal to their "community". Double standards create chaos. That's one of the reasons this white boys family is leaving public schools.

We all know the real reason for the High Point Choice Plan was to spread out the GANGS. A gang is a gang is a gang. A gang community is a gang.

We all know the real reason for the well known swapping plans in High Point ONLY. Guess what Central Alumni. Becky, Dot, Susan, IT IS NOT WORKING!

The time has come to report these activities at the state level, the federal level and to post all the crime reports in the furniture industry journals. Let Dell, Toyota and Fed Ex know that Central is NOT SAFE! Downtown High Point Schools are not safe.

Amy and Debora,

NCLB rules do not allow a school district to exempt a school from being designated as an opt out school because it is over capacity. It does require the school district to provide transportation for students that opt out to the new school, so designating a faraway school only contributes to the transporation cost problems of the district, but then they don't really care about that, do they? They rightfully believe that they can just increase their budget and the commisisoners will give them more money each year, because it is for the children. It's really not, but that makes for a good talking point.

Jeff,

Good post about gangs and safety concerns in our schools, but this board and superintendent dont really care about silly things like education and safety of the students. They all have their own agendas, and they don't include education and safety.

The problems of violence are at all schools. Last year my daughter was molested at sw. The boy was Mexican and got three days suspension. Of course with the nature of the situation, I couldnt really exploit it. I did take it to court. The incident happened last may. He returned to SW until they could find another school that was not overcrowded. It took until
after Dec to remove him from SW which is what the Judge used as punishment. He wanted Ragsdale
and we all know it is overcrowded, but that was there excuse for taking so long. Well, now he is at Central. He is at every event at SW. My daughter is scared to death of him. I cant do anything because my daughter would be exploited. If not for that, I would sue Guilford County for everything it was worth which is not much. A lot of things go on in the schools that are not mentioned. The principle sugarcoated the whole incident. That is our school system.

you are correct about the NCLB not caring if a school is overcrowded- but for their many faults I know the BOE does ask this question. It is about money more than anything. If you chose an opt-out school that is overcrowded that just means buying/relocating one of our ever popular trailers.

Cheryl,

School safety depends on how your student responds to and interprets his environment. Every middle school in Guilford county has it's issues and your student could have or not have problem's in any of them. I know that David Hoggard which has a blog
called Hogg's Blog has students at Aycock. He may
be a good source of information.

Choose a school where you can be involved. If he is going to be bused to this school and you have no way to visit it and the teachers, seriously consider another option. You are your student's only advocate.