News-Record.com

What's going on/not going on IN the schools concerns me a great deal more than how their website looks.

The greatest website in the world won't teach our kids.

WHEN will they focus on TEACHING??? Cosmetics won't fix the Guilford Mess.

If they seriously want to "boost the image" of Guilford Co. Schools, they need to get rid of that very scary looking man that heads the train wreck.

No, a little lipstick isn't gonna do it.

"GCS also asked Action Greensboro to add 'Striving. Achieving. Excelling.' at the top"

Is that right?

The site looks good and the "latest headlines" front and center seems like a good idea. Maybe it's intentional, but I couldn't find a teacher's directory.

I can't find Dr. Grier's blog either.

Spending $500,000 is much cheaper to look good than to actually educate students. Think how many tutors, TA's and counselors $500,000 would help pay for.

The way NC calculates their drop out rate is different from other states. This point was mentioned in the newspapers several months ago when the stats came out. NC is supposed to change the way these stats are recorded to match the rest of the country. One would imagine that the $500,000 campaign will start soon before some of the statistical rules change.

There are negatives and positives in our schools. $500,000 can put a great PR spin on Guilford County.

Outsiders moving in do their homework. They read newspapers, study school ratings, AYP scores, etc.
They ask neighbors. They see yellow and black signs.

Two of the factors working against the $500K campaign are: 1) future school board candidates who may advertise their own statistics of some disappointing nature 2) Fantasia's story of growing up in High Point is coming on Lifetime this Saturday may also put a negative focus on the schools in this county.

It will be a tough balancing act that only the best money can buy.

Did the campaign begin early with the coincidental GAMSEC letter to the editor today about the Math & Science summer program?

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WELCOME TO GUILFORD COUNTY

If you want to relocate here please call Action Greensboro (888) lie-tome, for information about our schools. They will tell you how great they are and where your employees should buy their homes so that they can have great schools. Please excuse the pot-hole called High Point. For your executives that don't buy the propaganda, we can arrange for some of the best private schools money can buy.
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--paid for by the committee to keep Grier here--

Forgive the above satire, but please, if they spent a half mill to get the residents of Guilford County to realize the benefit of good schools, we might actually start to have good schools instead of lyricks from the 60's...
“Weave, weave, weave me the sunshine out of the falling rain, weave me the hope of a new tomorrow and fill my cup again, come on now everybody sing it…weave, weave, weave me the sunshine…” (Peter Yarrow from Peter Paul and Mary)

Action Greensboro must be mostly marketing majors, they really believe people will buy anything...I wish they were right, that our schools are great, that the paid consultants were wrong about how serious the problem really is, that High Point wasted their money on a worthless study. That our kids were really close to national average on SAT scores instead of hundreds of points below. That we are graduating 97% of all our students from High School. I am sure there are no gangs in our schools. That uniforms weren’t being forced upon our inner city kids and not the wealthy North West kids. Yes, we really have caring teachers, a few good principals, but they are hog tied by an unimaginative clod being supervised by a crowd of blind mice.

Now where was I?

Weave, weave, weave me the sunshine out of the falling rain, weave me the hope of a new tomorrow and fill my cup again…

Hey, Roch,

I hope you're doing well.

I haven't spent as much time checking out blogs, but I did notice your posts here, and I think I have an answer to one of your implied questions.

As far as I know, there is not a single directory of teachers at the Guilford County Schools System's website, but all, or at least most, of the schools have a listing of their staff members on their own individual websites.

To access these, click on "School Directory" on the left-hand side of the system's website.

Then click on the name of an individual school.

Next, click on the link that reads "[School's Name]'s Web site."

Once you're at an individual school's website, you have to find a link that will take you to a list of staff members.

Different schools use different titles for this link. ("Faculty and Staff," "Classrooms," "Administration and Staff," "Teachers and Staff," etc.)

In some cases, you then have to click on the grade level, subject, or department to find teachers listed under these categories.

Some schools have links to teachers' own websites or allow you to access their e-mail addresses.

Some of the schools' websites have already been updated for the 2006-2007 school year.

At Southwest Guilford Middle School, where I teach, some of our new staff members have been added to our website, but there are several more changes to be made.

We lost more teachers than usual and have a lot of new staff members coming on board.

Six teachers retired this past school year.

Two very good eighth-grade math teachers took advantage of Mission Possible and will be teaching at High Point Central High School. (They've already been added to Central's website; they haven't yet been deleted and replaced on our website.)

For a variety of other reasons, we lost some additional staff members also.

Our principal has had to work harder than ever to fill positions because of the number of vacancies and the new requirement that all teachers be "highly qualified" in all areas that they teach.

At the middle school level, that may be more challenging than at other levels since some core teachers teach multiple subjects on two- and three-teacher teams.

In some cases, cross-teaming is being used to fulfill the requirement of having "highly qualified" teachers teaching all subjects.

(Some teachers who didn't meet the technical requirements of "highly qualified" are among our best teachers and have had to go through the process of offically meeting those standards.)

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Hardy

Does this blog's author typically not respond to comment?

Roch,

This blog doesn't respond till they get the "all clear" from Terry.

Seymour, It's so nice to hear from you. It's so sad to hear of all the vacancies at SWM. It will directly affect one of my kids. Again--I've been Grier-ended. It happens so much that I'm beginning to get used to it.

I'm happy though that they have not driven you away. They are lucky to have truly caring teachers like yourself.

Have a great year.

We have the best slogans in North America.
GCS=College/Work Ready
GTCC has 230 remedial classes this semester(Reading,
English, Math).

So much for college ready.

Imagine those that have to go to work.

How many of you realize that Dr. Becoats ( Chief of Staff) has never been a teacher.
He runs the school system "day to day" he said so.
Advises Principals , Terry etc on educational philosophy.

Dr. Zhang does not have an educators license.
He advises teachers and Princpals on curriculum.

Thanks, Greir-ended. It certainly is rude.