News-Record.com

Here's a list of the schools that are sanctioned - or potentially sanctioned pending math results. (For the purposes of this list, "select students" is shorthand for "those poor enough to qualify for federally subsidized meals"):

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Bessemer: Must offer transfers to all; tutoring becomes an option for select students if the school fails AYP math
Cone: Tutoring for select students if fails AYP math
Gillespie Park: Must offer transfers to all; tutoring becomes an option for select students if the school fails AYP math
Hampton: Must offer tutoring for select students
Kirkman Park: Must offer transfers to all or tutoring for select students
Lindley: Must offer tutoring to select students if the school fails math
Montlieu: Must off transfers to all or tutoring to select students
Northwood: Must offer transfers to all; tutoring becomes an option for select students if the school fails AYP math
Oak Hill: Must offer tutoring to select students
Rankin: Must offer tutoring to select students
Sumner: Must offer tutoring to select students if fails AYP math
Union Hill: Must offer tutoring to select students
Vandalia: No sanctions if passes AYP math; must offer transfers to all or tutoring for select students if fails AYP math
Washington: Must offer transfers to all or tutoring to select students
Wiley: Must offer transfers to all or tutoring to select students

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Aycock: Must offer tutoring to select students if the school fails AYP math
Ferndale: Must offer transfers to all or tutoring to select students
Hairston: Must offer transfers to all; tutoring becomes an option for select students if the school fails AYP math
Jackson: Must offer tutoring to select students
Penn-Griffin: Must offer transfers to all; t Tutoring becomes an option for select students if the school fails AYP math
Welborn: Must offer tutoring to select students

There's been some confusion over who is getting sanctioned for not meeting the 2005-06 federal Adequate Yearly Progress test goals. So, read on for a clarification:

The number of home-schooled children in North Carolina and Guilford County have made a steady rise over the past 20 years. More than 64,000 North Carolina children were taught at home last year (enough to make the fourth-largest school district after Guilford). Our county had 2,318 children, according to the N.C. Division of Non-Public Education.

This is modest when you consider that Guilford County Schools teaches about 30 times that number of children. I would also be curious to see what the number of home schools will be after a couple generations age out (The state has only been tracking these numbers since 1988).

At the same time, the percentage of students in public schools (including charters) has decreased from almost 95.6 percent in 1995 to 88.5 percent in 2004, according to the state.

Parents have traditionally chosen to home school their children for two reasons: to give their children a higher level of academics and to provide more religious or moral instruction, according to Ernie Hodges, president of North Carolinians for Home Education. His group represents more than 5,000 families.

Parents have started citing a third reason more over the past five years: concerns about student discipline in public schools, Hodges said.

Home-schooling may not be the biggest kid on the block, but it is the oldest, predating public schools. It's also good to keep tabs on what public education is competing against. What do you think?

The state board voted Thursday to permanently revoke the charter of Imani Institute, the first charter school in Guilford County.

The board's first vote in July was appealed by Imani officials. Parents sent letters supporting the school and more than 100 of the 130 students committed to starting the 2006-07 year at Imani, said Ronald Smith, the school's board chairman.

Despite those efforts, school officials found themselves sending out letters Thursday afternoon informing parents that Imani would not be opening its doors again. Students now must find a place at other schools. Imani will help families with the transition, Smith said.

Charters are privately operated public schools. They're meant to give families more options in schooling and provide more flexibility than traditional public schools. Charters, for example, don't have to follow the state curriculum. However, they still must give their students the state tests, which are based on the curriculum.

Imani's troubles with the state were financial, not academic. They had not filed audits for the past four years, which school and state officials attributed to Imani's former accountant who admitted he had embezzled money from the school.

How much leeway should the state give charter schools?

One of Superintendent Terry Grier's priorities has been expanding foreign language programs in Guilford County's elementary schools. The Board of Education chose in July to nix $1.4 million for 31 teachers in order to balance its budget. The board also voted last week to remove one of Grier's academic goals -- having all incoming kindergartners proficient in a second language by their senior year because of the shortfall.

I was curious to find out what schools offered foreign language classes last year. You can find lists for elementary schools and middle and high schools here.

To sum it up: 51 elementary schools (including Gateway and McIver) offered nothing. Bluford offered French; Murphey offered Latin; Brooks Global and Johnson Street offered Japanese; Colfax, Cone, Erwin Montessori, Falkener, Rankin, Pilot, Oak Ridge, Jones, Joyner, Kirkman Park, Sumner and Triangle Lake Montessori offered Spanish, according to Guilford County Schools.

Note that 29 percent of Title 1 schools (elementary and middle) offered a foreign language course compared to 41 percent of all elementary and middle schools in the county.

According to 1997 figures by the Center for Applied Linguistics, 24 percent of public elementary schools taught a foreign language with most programs focused on giving introductory exposure rather than achieving proficiency.

Should Grier try again next year to increase the number of elementary schools that offer foreign language courses? Or could that money be better spent elsewhere? What else would you like to know?

You can find the schedules for Guilford County Schools open houses here.

In case you missed it, here is today's story on five more high schools possibly making AYP. I also wanted to post what Dr. Gongshu Zhang presented to the Board of Education Tuesday that has more detail on the scores.

Note that the "RV" and "UR" stands for review and under review.

Check out tomorrow's paper on board reaction about remediation work being done at the schools and the district's push to start classes on time.

I've encountered a mix in the reaction. Anita Sharpe wouldn't answer any of my questions, citing an attorney's directive. Others were more free-flowing with information.

Like Amos Quick, for instance, who said: "There are tremendous questions that need to be asked. I'm just overwhelmed at the magnitude of the problems at these three schools and I'm under-impressed at the handling of it. I'm not the only person."

Alan Duncan, whose district includes Hairston, said he believes the school sytem has done a good job given the "size of the staff" and number of school projects.

What do you think? Is it fair to pin the structural flaws on the school system when designers get paid millions to sign off on this work? We're still piecing together exactly what happened.

In case you missed it, here are our stories from Wednesday and Thursday.

Action Greensboro began Tuesday a campaign to boost the image of Guilford County Schools and the district debuts a new Web site a day later with the tag line "Striving. Achieving. Excelling." Coincidence?

Guilford County Schools released a timeline on its correspondence with Sutton-Kennerly engineers and the structural supports added at Eastern, Kernodle and Hairston middle schools. You can read this in Thursday's paper.

In case you're wondering, Sutton-Kennerly also went on the record today saying they never told GCS that areas outside the gyms were unsafe for students during the school year.

The U.S. Department of Education released today the reviews of state teacher equity plans, which were due July 7. The plans were supposed to show either states have 100 percent highly qualified teachers in the classroom or have plans to do so.

Nine states submitted plans that were approved by a U.S. Department of Education peer review panel. North Carolina was not one of them.

Instead, North Carolina was one of 39 states with partially-accepted teacher equity plans. The panel criticized North Carolina for being too vague on how it plans to make sure all students have highly-qualified teachers, regardless of socioeconomic or racial status. The state has until Sept. 29 to either submit a revised plan or provide data showing that all core academic subject classes are being taught by highly qualified teachers and that the numbers are equally distributed among poor, minority and other children.

Check out the update by the USDE as well as North Carolina's report. You can find out what steps the Department of Public Instruction would take on page 16 of its report.

Suspicion persists that Eastern, Kernodle and Hairston middle schools were unsafe for students during the school year.

Superintendent Terry Grier reiterated on Thursday that he believes the school system did an adequate job of notifying the public about work that needed to be done at the schools (and that the non-gym areas were safe). Those communications were in the form of announcements about the gyms being closed, summer schools being relocated and school start dates potentially being affected, he said.

"We keep saying it. We've not tried to hide anything from the public or you or anyone else," Grier told me over the phone.

Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. grilled state education officials for about three hours Friday on the status of plans to turn around low-performing high schools.

Two of them are in Greensboro: Smith and Dudley. Read their action plans submitted to the judge Friday. (Note: Scroll down to Aug. 18 subhead to read the plans. Also, Dudley's has been updated, but that version was not available.)

The judge seems very hyped on breaking down large schools into smaller units. It is what he has advocated for a solution as he has taken low-performing high schools to task.

How do you feel about the judge's hands-on approach, to the point where he's picking what type of reform he thinks high schools should follow?

Manning's 2004 voter's guide information lists several affiliations that show his interest in the well-being of children. He's also presided over the long-running Leandro school funding case.

Guilford is giving the small schools approach a try as part of high school reform efforts.

There's lots of research out there advocating small schools. But there's also folks out there saying the movement is being pushed too fast.

Michelle Fine, a professor of urban education at the City University of New York, cautions against the wholesale approach to small schools that is sweeping the nation. Much of the supporting research is based on small-scale reforms at schools where communities initiated the changes, according to Fine.

"I think the headlong rush is the enemy," said David Bloomfield, former general counsel to the New York City Board of Education. He belongs to a parent-advisory board that has asked the school system to slow down.

"I think it takes a year or years from concept to implementation and these things are being put on an assembly line and expected to come out perfect in months," he said. "I think kids are really put at risk at that point. I just think that they need to slow down."

What do you think?

Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup Poll have released their annual poll on public opinion of America's public schools.

Read the National School Boards Association statement here.

There's a lot in here. I recommend going through their findings first. They cover charter schools, vouchers, and overall opinions on education.

Some of what you'll read in the report:

*Public ratings of the local schools are near the top of their 38-year range.

*There has been no decline in public support for public schools. Approval ratings remain high and remarkably stable.

*In 1974, 48% of the public gave schools in the community a grade of A or B. In 2006, the percentage awarding local schools an A or a B is 49%.

*In 1994, 66% of parents gave the school their oldest child attends a grade of A or B. This year's figure is 64%.

*The percentage favoring vouchers dropped from 38% a year ago to 36% this year, while opposition grew from 57% to 60%. Support for vouchers started at 24% in 1993, fluctuated up and down for years, and peaked at 46% in 2002.

*Public approval of charter schools has climbed from 42% in 2000 to 53% in 2006. However, responses show there is much confusion over just what charter schools are. For example, 50 percent of respondents said these public schools could teach religion and 60 percent said they could charge tuition. Charter schools can do neither.

*In 1990, 73% faulted the source of K-12 problems on the effect of societal problems and 16% the performance of schools. The corresponding figures this year are 70% and 22%. When asked in 2002 about the achievement gap, 66% attributed it to other factors, and 29% to the quality of schooling received. The corresponding figures this year are 77% and 19%.

In case you missed it, staff writer Taft Wireback discovered Hermon Fox's costly structural mistakes in another school district.

The Guilford County Board of Education began discussing a possible construction bond referendum Thursday. Facilities consultant Joe Hill presented a list of potential projects. Which of the following do you support? What would you take off or add?

1. Completion of projects in 2003 bond: Jamestown Middle (replacement school), Ragsdale High (phases 1 and 2), Guilford Middle (renovation of elementary wing)

2. New/renovated schools:
* New elementary, middle and high schools in the airport area
* New elementary, middle and high schools in the southeast area
* New middle school near Simeon Stadium
* New/renovated facilities to provide 250-300 student academies for Dudley, Page and Andrews high schools
* Renovate Craven school for Greensboro SCALE site
* Renovate English Road facility for High Point SCALE site
* Renovate Pisgah Church Road facility for small elementary school or other program
* Media ceter and more classrooms at Southeast High
* Media center addition at Southwest High
* Media center, cafeteria and more classrooms at Eastern High
* Renovate Allen Jay Middle
* Renovate McIver for performing arts facility
* Phase 2 funding for Special Education Center-West

3. Athletic facility upgrades
* New main gymnasiums at Southeast, Southwest and Eastern high schools
* New auxiliary gymnasiums at Allen and Northwest middle schools
* Gym/locker room renovations at Grimsley, Page and High Point Central high schools
* Football stadium, track, field house and girls softball facilities for Dudley
* Resurfacing tracks at several high schools
* Relocate bus parking lot and provide additional practice fields at Page High
* Provide new and renovated tennis courts for a minimum of six courts at each high school

Misc. deferred maintenance: Paving; roofing; boiler, chiller and other HVAC equipment replacement; code upgrades, sprinkler systems, fire alarms, etc.

Technology and security: Installation of security cameras and monitoring equipment; upgrades to existing technology infrastructure

Other issues: Bus transportation maintenance facilities; maintenance department facilities; support services/administrative facilities

I didn't have a chance to write about the enrollment at the Academy at Central last week, given everything that was going on with Eastern, Hairston and Kernodle and Smith Academy. Following is what board members learned:

The Academy at Central had enrolled 93 students as of Friday, with 40 in culinary arts, 10 in medical careers (which the district added after some students expressed an interest) and 41 in public safety. The number of students taking Culinary 1 and 2 classes had dropped slightly from 53 the previous year to 47.

Board of Education member Anita Sharpe was concerned about the number of floating teachers at High Point Central. The school has 20 floating teachers, according to the school district. How does that compare to other traditional high schools?

Southeast also has 20 floating teachers. Eastern, Northwest, Grimsley, Page, Ragsdale, Southwest and Weaver have less than 5; Dudley, Northeast, Smith, Southern and Western have 5 to 9 floating teachers.

Guilford County Schools released its SAT scores today. The district's math and verbal subtotal averages remained the same, while the national and state subtotals declined. The district average on the new writing section was a 482, below the state and national averages of 485 and 497.

You can read more about this (with a school breakdown) in Tuesday's paper, but here are some extra statistics by GCS and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction:

District, Percentage tested, 2005-06 scores (math and reading)
USA: 48, 1021
N.C.: 71, 1008
Alamance: 57.1, 996
Cumberland: 54, 959
Durham: 70.5, 987
Forsyth: 66.2, 1016
Guilford: 70.3, 994
Mecklenburg: 68.7, 995
Randolph: 48.2, 978
Rockingham: 60.3, 989
Wake: 78.7, 1066

UPDATE:
*Here's the GCS press release.
*Here's the press release by Fair Test, a group concerned about how tests for both students and teachers are used.

Another school has been added to the list needing structural repair work. Read our story tomorrow.

In the meantime ...

District officials said late this afternoon that Jones Elementary will need support work in six classrooms and two corridors. The flaws are attributed to work done in 1999. The structural engineer was Hermon Fox.

Letters were sent home with students, advising parents that classroom work was starting Tuesday night and expected to be completed by Friday. The work on the corridors still needs to be bid, but is expected to be finished within the next two months.

The only costs we've been given so far is an estimated $27,000 to put the braces in the classroom wings. The corridor work cost remains unknown at this time. The original architect absorbed the costs to review the design, district officials said.

In an e-mail to school board members, Grier wrote how the work differs from what was done at Eastern, Hairston and Kernodle middle schools:

"The lateral load work is not as extensive as the work recently completed at the three middle schools – there is no interference with HVAC or electrical and no welding will be required, which will streamline costs tremendously. We anticipate the lateral load work to cost less than $30,000 and will provide you with anticipated costs for the two corridors as soon as the design and bidding process are determined."

The National School Boards Association's Council of Urban Boards of Education has released a school climate survey called "Where We Learn."

The group surveyed about 32,000 students in 15 districts across 13 states during the spring of the 2004-05 school year.

None* of the districts was in N.C., but their average enrollment was about 69,000. That's about the size of Guilford County Schools. The individual district's ranged in size from about 8,900 students to close to 427,000. Poverty ranged from 26 percent to 95 percent of total student enrollment at the district's surveyed. Combined, it was 61 percent. Guilford is in the 46 percent range.

Just thought you'd be interested in what kids from urban districts nationwide say about safety. It's kind of a mixed bag.

On one hand, 63 percent of urban students reported feeling safe at school.

On the other, 60 percent of students in grades 7-8 said there is a lot of fighting at their school. (About half of respondents in grades 4-6 and 9-12 said there is a lot of fighting in their school.)

*NOTE: This is a *national* survey; Guilford students were not surveyed. In fact, North Carolina was not represented at all. I just wanted to make that clear.

Read the press release from the NSBA here.