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Guilford County Schools trailed the state in five teacher working conditions categories this year, including time, facilities and resources, empowerment, leadership and professional development. Read more about this in Friday's paper.

Mark Jewell, president of the Guilford County Association of Educators, said today the results were "telling," given that the district had a 70 percent response rate. You can access the results here.

UPDATE: Read the story here.

On a separate note, the state also released statistics about enrollment at private schools. Total conventional non-public school enrollment for this period set a new record, with 92,867 students statewide in grades kindergarten through 12, according to the N.C. Division of Non-Public Education.

Counties with the highest numbers of students in this category include Mecklenburg, with 18,349; Wake, with 13,325, and Guilford, with 6,707. You can access the report here.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a piece we did this Sunday on graduation.

It's not your typical graduation story. This year we asked each school to send us information about a student they would consider an "unsung hero" for overcoming difficult circumstances to make it to graduation.

What do you think of their stories?

Thought there might be interest in this case on charging fees to developers to help pay for schools.

There's been talk here about a desire for developers to help pay for the burden of new students that come with the new homes being built.

Well, the court says 'No can do.' There is a caveat; the legislature can pass a law allowing counties to charge such fees.

What do you think?

A Guilford County middle college has been featured in a Newsweek article this week about North Carolina's steps to make high school graduates more competitive in the marketplace. Are you a believer in the early college model?

The Education Trust in Washington, D.C., released today its recommendations for addressing teacher inequality in schools with mostly poor and minority students.

Guilford County Schools superintendent Terry Grier made it clear at a May board meeting that he wants the Dudley High School renovation project closed out and Chief Operations Officer Kevin Lear to stop meeting with the school's project team (rationale: Lear has enough on his plate).

Lear met with the group for the last time Wednesday to update them on completed work and show them a list of other work they wanted done. Here are the lists (funded and unfunded) that he passed out. Keep in mind these are drafts and likely to change.

Update: Sharon Ozment left me a message letting me know where the $450,000 would come from to transfer to Dudley: cost-savings on a driveway and not needing to relocate a softball field at Northwest Elementary School. Keep in mind that this transfer, if approved, would be spent on construction work that has already been completed, not extras.

A June report by Educational Testing Service (ETS) tries to answer the question: "What are employers looking for in high school graduates?" This is geared more toward employers that will hire people without a college education.

The report says, "Some believe that high school graduates proceeding directly to the workforce need the same level of academic preparation as those going on to college. Yet analyses are not available to support this conclusion, nor to specify the kind of skills that work-bound students need and that employers look for in new hires."

A 2001 survey by the National Association of Manufacturers found the top three reasons companies rejected applicants were inadequate basic employability skills (attendance, timeliness, etc.), insufficient work experience and inadequate reading/writing skills.

Do you think a distinction should be made in determining course work between students who plan to go to college versus those who don't? Is Guilford County Schools doing a fair job at preparing students for both?

Guilford County Schools released preliminary scores for writing and most end-of-grade and end-of-course tests Tuesday at the Board of Education meeting. Instead of wasting type by summarizing, I invite you to check out the report here. You can read more in Wednesday's paper.

Did you expect Guilford County Schools to improve writing and some other subjects this year or were you surprised?

Now it's Gov. Mike Easley's turn to threaten failing high schools. (See press release here.)

Back in March, Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. said he wouldn't allow repeatedly failing high schools - including Dudley and Smith in Greensboro - to open in 2006-07 if they don't do well on state tests this year.

Preliminary test results for Guilford are in, but we've yet to see school-by-school data. Will any schools make the grade? Should the failing ones be broken into smaller schools or should principals and teachers be replaced? (Those are basically the main options Easley proposes: redesign or restructure.)

The cat's out of the bag: High Point Central could get two early-college academies in culinary arts and public safety. The Guilford County Board of Education briefly discussed this Tuesday after Darlene Garrett said she heard faculty members were threatened from complaining about it at the meeting. They also sent a letter to board members about more than a week ago, Garrett said.

The academies will be discussed officially at the June 26 meeting and you can read a full story on this tomorrow. What do you think of the academies? Do you believe this will improve performance at the school?

By the way, to address rumors that Principal Revonda Johnson could be bumped from High Point Central, I asked her today and she said she is hearing the same rumors but has not heard as much from Dr. Grier. For what it's worth.

Last week, Guilford County Commissioners approved a budget for next year.

Schools officials are already talking about deep cuts because they didn't get all that they said was needed.

Last year, budget cuts resulted in fewer teacher assistants and larger class sizes. Looks like those are on the table again this year, along with a raise for teachers.

A Tennessee paper reports more details, including a $139,000 salary, about new Clarksville-Montgomery County Superintendent Mike Harris. He makes about $130,000 as chief human resources officer in Guilford, where he has worked the past four years.

We reported last week that Harris accepted the job, which is in the middle Tennessee area where he still has family ties.

He starts Aug. 1 as director of schools (superintendent) in the Tennessee district, the local paper reports.

... would just totally betray Guilford County Schools' modus operandi when it comes to naming new schools. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lear will update the Board of Education Monday about the naming of the new Southern Area Middle School.

Lear received 24 recommendations for names including: Southern Guilford, Southern, Edward R. Murrow (perennial), Benjamin Higgins, Jefferson Pilot, Henry Frye, MacLamroc, Rosa Parks, Dot Kearns, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, New Vision Academy, Siler, Robert Rayle, Allen Jay-Robert Rayle and Robert E. Lee.

The project team suggests the board pick Southern Guilford and that "Edward R. Murrow be seriously considered by the Board of Education for any future high school to be constructed in the Southeastern part of the county," according to the agenda.

Does anything other than Southern Guilford have a chance?

Guilford County Schools employees gave Guilford County Schools a fair grade during a climate survey administered in February and March. On a scale of 1 to 4 (4 being strongest), the district received in the 2.5 to 3.5 range in the caterogies of workplace environment, facilities, goals and leadership, employment, professional growth and development and value and appreciation.

Eric Becoats of Guilford County Schools will update the board on climate and student safety surveys taken this year. You can read the report on the agenda and more in Tuesday's paper.

I saw a graduation article in the Charlotte paper that intrigued me, so I checked on Guilford's information.

Women took the top graduation honors (valedictorian) more often then men in both Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Guilford County Schools in 2005-06.

Looks like it's a national trend. Why do you think girls outperform boys in school?

Remember Sodexho?

Guilford County Schools tried outsourcing its custodial and cafeteria work to save money. But the contracts eventually fell apart and the district had to take over those services again.

Why do I bring this up? Check out this e-mail I received. I thought it was interesting that more folks seem to be turning toward outsourcing.

I wonder how many end up going back to taking care of services themselves like Guilford?

Out-of-school suspensions are up this year, despite district efforts to reduce them (i.e. in-school suspensions, alternative discipline programs and principal/teacher training). The proportion of black students who are suspended (seven in 10) remains the same from previous years.
While some individual schools saw declines in suspensions it appears the district has not had much success with its strategies. I will be following up on this in the coming months. Take a look at the report (not yet verified by the state) and feel free to share any leads or concerns.

*Update: Here is the 2004-2005 suspension report for your viewing pleasure.