News-Record.com

Not surprising that Deena Hayes and the "chief accountability and research officer" would once again pull out the "racism card." Instead, how about looking, like Bill Cosby does, at the issues of in-your-face rapper culture, broken homes, too much TV, veneration of sports figures instead of educated people, etc. so prevalent in the black community today. And if we wonder why there was no progress for two years by white students, let's look at the same issues in the white community as well. The schools cannot fix these problems, when the parents could care less, and business as usual makes money off these trashy social trends.

But I sure could figure out how to save at lease $100,000 of the taxpayers' money, and I'm not even a Garth supporter. Simply do away with the "chief accountability and research officer position." Doing away with her assistants would save another whole bunch of money. Turn this into teaching positions.

To increase white scores the School Board needs to look at the drop out rate.
I dont mean the rate that we are used to hear about. I mean the drop out rate to Forsyth County, Davidson County, Private schools and Home schools.

A concerted effort to stop driving the whites away might improve the scores. The problem is that they do not want to recognise it as a problem. As with all sensitive problems they are all too scared to talk about it. At least Deena is prepared to do that.

I hope Garth gets onto the board. He was quoted in the Rhino recently saying "I could not care less about skin color, thats why I am not afraid to talk about it. All kids have a right to an education".

That is the sort of attitude that is desperately needed!

Thank god for Deena. She was the only School Board member to note this. I think what she was saying is that they have been telling the community that socio-economic diversity is the key to a better education for all.
There is clear proof here that it does not.
Those kids from Welborn have been bussed up to Southwest on a pipe dream. Sitting next to a middle class kid will not help them one bit. It just convieniently hides away their scores.

I've heard it many, many times: When a black child does well, their peers tell him to "stop acting white."

You can NOT blame this on the whites, Deena. They are NOT the ones that want to hold back the blacks. Being dumb is "cool" in the black culture from what I see and hear.

More postive black role models are needed so that there is something to look up to. All we see around here is Skippy and he's not much to emulate--black or white.

I think we need a black Superintendent.

Why don't we just make all tests harder for white kids and easier for black kids? We'll have a black AYP and a white AYP, a black SAT and a white SAT, etc.

That'll solve it.

"I think we need to look at that..." Hayes said. "When white students are doing that much better than black students coming from an economically stable household."

Morgan, this statement is materially different than what was published in todays' edition. The newspaper quoted Deena as saying "I just want to know what we're doing for poor white kids that we aren't doing for poor kids of color." The study that was done was reported showing that white students coming from a household eanring less than $20,000 a year scored about 40 points higher on ther math and reading sections of the SAT than black students whose households earned more than $70,000 a year".

Deena Hayes' statement of concern that the schools are doing something for poor white kids that is not being done for poor kids of color is not what the survey reported upon. It didn't report on "poor kids of color", it reported on black kids that come from upper middle class families.

So, I guess Deena's question is what are the schools doing for poor white kids that it isn't doing for upper middle class black kids. I'd like to know the answer to that one as well, because I can't think of anything. Perhaps, someone at the schools can help us understand what that might be?

Morgan,

You said above "Board member Deena Hayes asked Monday if it would be fair to say that white students coming from households that makes less than $20,000 a year do better on average than black students from households making more than $70,000. Dr. Gongshu Zhang, chief accountability and research officer, said yes. You can see for yourself the data here (page 26 of report)."

Zhang did give some answers as to why in the newspaper edition. He said that he suspects that the disparity stems from lower family and peer expectations (and a possible bias in the SAT exam). Did Deena Hayes explore the possible impact of these factors on the disparity? Is it possible that these may help explain the disparity rather than what the schools are doing for white kids and denying them to black kids? If Zhang is correct, then it sounds like the schools would have little ability to impact that.

Stormy,
Both of my quotes mentioned in the blog and in the story came from Deena; for space reasons I didn't include all of what she said in the article, although she repeated "I think we need to look at that" a few times. Also, I spoke to Zhang seperately after the meeting and asked him what he suspected were the reasons for the disparity. What he said was mentioned in the article (however he had said some of that in the meeting as well). Zhang presented two reports Monday, one of which was made available online. The report has a lot of information in it, not all of which could be touched on in the article.

Morgan,

Thanks for the explanation. It seemed that I was reading reports from two diferent meetings.

My daughter's teacher just left our house. She comes over all the time to do my child's homework. She also gives her the answers to upcoming tests. Then they bake cookies together and play board games before going out to catch butterflies, just for fun.

I thought this was something they did for all the white kids.

Shhhhh...Don't tell Deena.

Let me get this straight. Schools don't get children until they're five, those incredibly important years when the acquisition of language skills and the hardwiring of the brain for math readiness takes place. Then, the schools have students 37.5 hours each week and the students are with their families or on their own for 115.5 hours each week, or 22% and 78% of the time each week respectively; and then they have two months off each summer. BUT all disparities between the scores of white and black students must be the result of racism. I'm sure there is dysfunction in our schools, but the major dysfunction which impacts children's success in school is way beyond the school's control. Let's get real about where some tightening up needs to take place.

Education can be encouraged and helped by the parents, but the prime responsibility lies with the school system. Millions of children learned in the 1920s and 1930s even though their parents could not read or write. Some educators like to blame Parents, or Raleigh or Washington or lack of money. I just don't buy this.

Please take it easy on Deena, for once in a blue moon she has a great idea. Let’s find out what we are doing better for poor white kids and then apply it more effectively and for all our kids. Logical, intelligent thinking applied uniformly will help, not hurt the system. Now all we need is a superintendent smart enough to figure it out? Any ideas? Yeah, I know every good idea has a weak link.

White kids are getting NOTHING that black kids don't also get. Be careful Garth. You had me at "Accountable School Board" but if you start assisting Deena with her one agenda in life, then you'll lose some votes.

Deena is looking for the easy out. "blame the test, blame the whites, blame the teachers, they treat blacks differently, yada, yada, yada, etc"

NO Deena. The school fairy is not handing out good grades just to the whites. Get off your color kick and wise up, the desire of the student to succeed is the problem. Go into your community and tell the kids it's okay to "act white."

Does this jive with the statistics on Advanced and Intellectually Gifted students? AIG, as a percent of enrollment, has increased from 12.98% in 2001 to 14.59% in 2006 (indicating there's a larger percentage of smart kids enrolled in GCS). Of the AIG students, African American went from 14.14% to 16.36% while White fell from 79.38% to 72.09% over the same time frame. Minority representation went from 20.62% to 27.91% (see the AIG information at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/data/childcount/)

Joe,

You cannot compare the 1920s and 1930s with life today. Most children came from traditional two parent families; family life was valued; you didn't have the divorce rate and blended, extended, steps and other families you have today. You didn't have MTV, the internet, video games and even television. Children had books, family time, learning time and down time, and above all, discipline and respect in schools. Society was diffent back then. People came from Europe at the turn of the century for a better life; they worked hard and had a strong work ethic. Each generation improved. Education was seen as a way to improve one's lot in life. Values have to start at home along with expectations for your children.

Just my 2 cents.

Jennifer or Morgan,

Is anyone else interested in the number of schools
that are turning to "SMOD" and why? A parent was
complaining at our school because after purchasing
SMOD wear to attend one school she had to go out
and buy all new appropriate "SMOD" wear when her
student transferred to another school within
Guilford County that did not use the same colors.
Why is this only happening in the lower income and
lower performing schools?

Anyone wishing to discuss this off "the Record"
may contact me at
guilfordcountyschoolparents@yahoogroups.com

Why pay any attention to Dr. Zhangs opinion.
He is not qualified to have one.
Best I can tell he has no educators license.
Does not qualify for one.
Our school system has never seen his college transcripts.

His whole application of statistics is some simple
averages ( sinple arithmetic ).

He is the sorcerers (Terry Grier) apprentice.
Plain and simple. ( at about $130,000.00 /yr )

Below a recent E-Mail to Hayes and Quick.
No response. Don't expect one.

Dr Zhangs Credentials.

Why don't you have a look Mr.Quick,Ms Hayes

I think he is a communist plot put here to screw up education. It's working

This guy is making decisions about education of Black Students,Test results etc.
Don't you care if he is qualified. I guess not. You all don't seem to have the chutzpah to make real waves.
You sound good though.

See if the system will let you view his educational transcripts.
Tell you why he is not licensed. ( Go look at his attached job description)

There is more to education than expulsion rates.

Terry runs all over you.

I may be a pain in the a** but I'm spending my golden years trying to teach these left behinds math.
Not as exciting as the school board. However a hell of a lot more productive. At least I feel like I'm trying.

Either of you ever taught?

It's a real eye opener. K-12 was suppose to do the job. Forget SAT's they can't do arithmetic or read past a Jr high level.
Put simply the system is a disgrace.
This is the school system functioning on your watch. But hey we got "Striving, Achieving, Excelling" "Mission Possible"
"Diversity" etc. Best slogans in Dixie. Hell we even had a Presidential photo op.

We also had a ISO 9001:2000 certified Quality system until I put stop to that crap ( cost us $300,000.00 )
I bet you never heard of it. Could have helped a lot of expelled kids with those funds.
Terry just spent another 15 grand on it only to have the certifier tell him his system was a shambles.
There is a report. Have a look at it. Never heard it mentioned by the board. How come I have seen it and I bet you haven't
Ah whats 15 grand chump change. If your interested call me. I bet you don't.

The system you paid all that money to put in place should have been able to keep the Dudley maintenances fiasco and
unsafe buildings from occurring. Nobody did what they were suppose to do. You don't even know you had implemented ( I use the word loosely ) it..

Of course that all happened on your watch. Don't just blame Terry.

It's kind of like Enron.The Board of Directors let the share holders down.

Let us know if you get a response.

Can you tell us what ISO 9001:2000 is?

Thank you for sharing.

KUP,

See www.iso.org.

ISO is the International Organization for Standardization.

ISO is the world’s leading developer
of International Standards.

ISO standards specify the requirements
for state-of-the-art products, services,
processes, materials and systems,
and for good conformity assessment,
managerial and organizational practice.

Any company worth its salt is ISO certified.

David Colin for School Board!

David,

Do you live in Deena's district? You could be a write in!!!

I just read the following story on the WRMY News 2 website. How can we get this VIP program to ALL of our High Schools? If it's such a good program, and it sounds like it is, why wouldn't we want ALL juniors and seniors to benefit? Jennifer or Morgan, please help, what can we do to get this available to ALL? Thank you.

Students Learn Driving Dangers


A mock crash gives students an up-close and sobering look at the dangers of teen driving.

Greensboro, NC -- Students at Southeast High School got an up-close look at the dangers of driving Wednesday.

It's part of the "VIP for a VIP," or Vehicle Injury Prevention for a Very Important Person Program.

Local emergency agencies work together to create a scenario in which a teenage driver dies in a car crash.

The program is targeted towards juniors and seniors.

It hits close to home for the school. It lost two students in a crash last year.

"For a couple of weeks it was different, it was quiet, but then it just gets back to normal," said Andy Camp, a senior who played the "victim" in the scenario. "People forget about it."

The goal of the program is to not let students forget about dangers like drunk driving, talking on cell phones and not buckling up.

The program was started back in 1998. There's talk of taking it statewide.

Already, agencies in Virginia and Alabama have expressed interest in taking it to those states.

I am very interested, please tell me more.

I do know ISO and I did not know TG did.

While ISO is great corporate methodology, it might not fit schools, but then again it definitely has to beat what they have already. Is there a handbook in districts hands and an identified employee for implementation? What training so far has been done and do they have info system in place? You are correct though, had it been properly in place we could possibly have saved millions. It might get rid of arbitrary discipline of principals and teachers as well as maint. staff etc. Could also hold TG and his overpriced crowd more accountable.

I am very shocked that someone had enough chutzpah to try it and wonder how far we got.

Thanks
Garth

Garth,

I am sure that ISO was just another expensive program that was sloppily implemented, or not, in the schools and quickly forgotten. I am sure that it was found too hard to implement and use to success, so it was bagged; cost be darn. This is the GCS way under Terry Grier. ISO was just another silver bullet that was bought to solve a myriad of problems, but wasn't given a chance or enough time to succeed. Flying by the seat of your pants is much easier.