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Guilford County Schools has managed to bring its Mission Possible teacher incentive plan in front of a larger audience, namely the local business community and the UNC college system. Erskine Bowles announced today that the three entities have partnered to increase the pay of eligible high school math teachers by $9,000 to $10,000 at eight high schools.

You can read more about this in Thursday's paper, but I was curious: What do you think of business and other education leaders stepping into to help Guilford County Schools attract better math teachers? Do you think this will work?

Enrollments are down at these three low-income elementary schools and Superintendent Terry Grier wants the Board of Education to talk about it. Of the three, Washington has the lowest student population -- 152 students this year in a building that can hold more than twice that.

On Grier's mind are the possibilities of closing the schools, revamping them, adding magnet programs or starting marketing campaigns to boost the schools' images. He attributed the declines to parents taking advantage of federal legislation that allows them to pull students out of Title 1 schools that don't make AYP two years in a row. Magnet programs at other schools have also been a draw.

You can read more about this story in Friday's paper. What solutions would you offer for turning around low enrollments at the schools?

No surprises here. More students are attending Guilford County Schools than last year.

Interested in class sizes? Here is a report on average homeroom class sizes (based on Day 8 enrollment) in elementary schools only. Scroll down to page 4. This is on the board's agenda for tonight's meeting.

The Board of Education voted last night to seek and use state school building funds to pay for renovations at Smith and High Point Central academies. At one point, it looked like the school board would stall work on the schools until they know the final tab on work being done at Eastern, Kernodle and Hairston middle schools.

Chief operating officer Kevin Lear estimates at this point work at Smith Academy could finish by March 30, with students moving into the former Oakwood buildings over spring break. Work at High Point Central Academy could start in January and finish by the start of the 07-08 school year.

Following is a breakdown of the costs and possible funding sources, according to Guilford County Schools. You can also get more details on the budgets for the projects on the school board's Tuesday agenda.

The costs?
$5.7 million to renovate Smith Academy, including an additional $1.9 million to cover needed work on the roofs, sprinklers, wiring and heating and cooling system
$2.3 million to renovate the High Point Central Academy, with about $300,000 paying for a second culinary arts lab
$8.5 million to pay for structural work in the gyms, classrooms and cafeterias at Eastern, Kernodle and Hairston middle schools

The funding sources?
$7.8 million to come from state public school building funds
$2.1 million to possibly come from mobile classrooms budget, refunded sales tax dollars and local capital outlay
$1.1 million from potential lottery proceeds

State education officials are considering making it harder to pass math tests.

Critics have said the state sets the bar too low. So low in fact, that "You could almost fall over it," Sam Miller, a UNCG education professor and chairman of the university's department of curriculum and instruction told the N&R in 2004. At that time, students could pass by answering just one-third of the questions.

This year's math scores have been delayed while officials go over results from a new test and decide what the passing rate should be.

At least one education watchdog group thinks the curriculum should be revamped and notes that other countries have students study algebra and geometry at younger ages.

Some have argued here that pushing Algebra earlier was a mistake; most Guilford students take it in eighth-grade now.

What do you think? Should the state look at making passing the tests harder than it is now? What about revamping the curriculum to move higher-level math concepts into earlier grades?

ADD: More math talk from another education blog, the School Zone. Scroll down to the first Sept. 13 post on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's blog. The story looks at a report that leans back toward children learning basic math facts instead of how to "think like a mathematician."

Dozens of teachers in Guilford County Schools are seeking help with special projects through a program called Donors Choose. The group is challenging North Carolina to raise $50,000 statewide for these projects by Sept. 30.

Projects range in cost from under $200 to more than $1,800. In Guilford, one teacher wants a new carpet for students to sit on during reading. Another would like a projector to spice up history lessons. Many are seeking help to simply buy books or other supplies to enhance their classrooms.

Most have a zero next to their requests, meaning no one has donated.

Some of the project descriptions include the name of the school, but many don't. You can search the list to find out if any are in your area or at your school.

You might find something you're willing to support. There's even a handy link next to each project to make donating easier.

At a banquet tonight, Guilford County Schools and SunTrust Banks announced that Shawn Watlington, a political science/history teacher at Greensboro Middle College is No. 1 in the district.

Elementary-level winner is Rhonda Blue, a fifth-grade teacher at Kirkman Park Elementary in High Point. The middle school-level winner is Jake Henry, a French teacher at Southeast Middle. The runners up are math teacher Teresa Potter at Page High and chorus/piano teacher Jason Thompson at The Academy at Lincoln.

Watlington wins an assortment of prizes, including a brand-spankin' new vehicle courtesy of Harris Teeter. We'll spend part of Tuesday with her and find out a little bit more about her for a story on Wednesday. In the meantime, here's what she had to say in a district questionnaire given to the five finalists:

Gov. Mike Easley announced today that state officials will financially review North Carolina high schools, focusing particularly on low-performing schools to see how they use their resources. Mark Binker is writing a story for tomorrow's paper. (Guilford County Schools did an audit on Smith, Dudley and Central earlier this year.)

I checked with Chief financial officer Sharon Ozment today to see how much money historically low-performing schools, such as Smith and Dudley, are getting compared to schools with lower percentages of low-income students. This year, the district started allocating some state and local funds on a weighted basis, giving more to low-income, special needs and English language learner students.

I'm sure you've heard or read about the teacher in Forsyth County who was charged this week with 18 sex-related crimes.

This could just as easily have happened at any school. How do we as a community prevent it from happening here? Districts already conduct background checks on teachers. Should e-mails be randomly checked? Or phone calls be monitored? Do two adults need to be in a room with children at all times?

I'm not proposing that these are avenues that districts should take, just thinking out loud here. My own personal brainstorm session, if you will.

What do you think? Is there anything more that school systems can do to weed out potential sexual predators?

Guilford County Board of Education mulled over a revised list of possible projects for a 2007 school bond this weekend. Please check out Sunday's story on this.

Following is a breakdown of the $816 million worth of identified projects (the board plans to hammer out a final list and timeframe for a bond in coming months):

$82.2 million: Completion of Jamestown Middle, Ragsdale High, Special Ed West and Guilford Middle (left over from 2003 bond)

$270.3 million: Seven new schools accommodating about 6,200 students in the southeast area and near the airport and Simeon Stadium

$131.8 million: Renovations at 11 high schools, including academies at Dudley, Page and Andrews and SCALE sites on English Road and Craven

$34.4 million: Renovations at Allen Jay, Allen, Northwest and McIver middle schools

$35 million: Renovations at Madison, Summerfield and Pisgah Church Road elementary schools

$21.6 million in improved athletic facilities

$47.8 million in maintenance, safety and security needs

$35 million in other needs, including land purchases and mobile classroom relocation

$158 million to cover inflation

The alliance partnered with the Center for Teaching Quality this summer to analyze the 2006 teacher working conditions. The local schools advocacy group also created last week a taskforce of about 15 teachers to draw up a list of priorities for the public and Guilford County Schools to focus on in improving the schools.

Check out Center for Teaching Quality's report. You can also review the original report here. What stands out to you? What should GCS focus on?

The Guilford County Board of Education discussed more than a dozen topics during its Saturday retreat. I wasn't able to elaborate on all of them in the paper so here is a breakdown of the more interesting topics, in no particular order:

This is the third time I've covered the district's Celebration of Excellence. This is the event where the 15-most improved schools are honored and the top two students at each school can pick the teacher who influenced them the most. Schools win $8,000, teachers $1,000 and students this year got a $50 American Express gift check.

It is uplifting to see the unabashed joy - and pride - on the faces of teachers who were chosen as a positive influence. Many of them walked hand-in-hand with their former students as they made their way across the stage at War Memorial Auditorium Monday to receive their awards. Some kids picked their kindergarten or first-grade teacher, even though they had not been in those classrooms for several years.

The noise is unbelievable. Picture your typical pep rally, then multiply it by 15. If your school ever wins, I recommend that you attend. Just bring ear plugs. And for heaven's sake, wear school colors or prepare to face the consequences. This is the ultimate School Pride Day!

But it isn't just a pat on the back.

"Eight thousand dollars to a lot of people isn't that much," said Lisa Cooke, principal at Eastern High. "But to a school, it's just awesome."

Since this was Banned Book Week, I thought I'd post this interesting read (registration may be required) from Education Week on a parent who challenged what books were in her child's middle school library.

The American Library Association publishes a list of challenged and banned books. Over the years, the list has included such classics as "Of Mice and Men," "Huckleberry Finn," and popular new works such as "Harry Potter."

The ALA's research shows the top three reasons, in order, for challenging material are that it:
* is "sexually explicit"
* contains "offensive language"
* is "unsuited to age group"