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As badly as we need schools, I think this bond is doomed. Puting Eastern on it was a mistake and looking for the sympathy vote. Is Eastern now at a standstill without the bond. The commissioners say they money is there, but where? Can GCS continue with the plans or do they have to wait until the bond? Very sad for Eastern.

Last night was pure gold, watching Alton, Davis, Coleman, Duncan, and Grier not even come close to getting what they wanted on a variety of topics.

A true victory for the taxpayers of Guilford County.

debora,

The County finance officer explained that they had the cash on hand because they had sold some bonds earlier this year. They have the money in hand to rebuild Eastern. The commissioners told the schools to proceed building Eastern, but the board tried to play it too cozy by putting Eastern on the bond. It looks like it's a political game of chicken right now, and the commissioners have won. Could there have been any doubt who was going to win whereas the commisisoners control the money?

I think that the commissioners realized that the bond would be doomed if it went ahead this year, so they may have saved the board's bacon by delaying it. It's a strange day, indeed, when the commissioners have a better political ear than the school board. (Is the school board completely politically tone deaf? Of course, some of the comissioners are coming up for election soon, and taxpayers are voters. The gang of six probably are not so safe in their re-election, so they demonstrated greater sensitivity and fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers. The school board still doesn't get it. No trust = No bonds. They still view taxes as the bottomless pit.

Does anyone know why Dr. Grier did not stay for the Bond Issue portion of the meeting? Was he so upset about the operating budget allocation that he couldn't take it anymore?

Does anyone know why Dr. Grier did not stay for the Bond Issue portion of the meeting? Was he so upset about the operating budget allocation that he couldn't take it anymore?

Dr. Grier had to leave the meeting due to a late dinner reservation at the Chop House. Don't worry you paid for it.

And to think I was so looking forward to November 6th so I could VOTE NO!!!!

It's like Christmas has been postponed, oh well.

This will be interesting though because it means that next year's School Board candidates will have to address their position on the proposed School Bonds as part of their primary platform and more importantly how to manage the money better than Dot Kearns and Kris Cooke. Of course I'm assuming that the candidates are going to line up against Dot like the last time.

The money is there for Eastern per the commissioners. They weren't fooled by having Eastern added to the bond. There should be more turnout and May which means more NO votes. That's what the school board was afraid of.

Could it also be related to Deena's threats about the black community not voting for the bond if they don't have more minority contractors? Now she doesn't have that leverage with Eastern. It will be build regardless of the bonds. (HA)

From the HPE today, regarding Dot Kearns' comments about the commissioners' decision on the county budget and the 40% portion granted to the schools:

"I personally think that if the commissioners want to run the school system then we don’t need a board of education to spend all those hours to put together a bud­get.”

I couldn't agree more.

The chickens are coming home to roost. All the perceived needs will bankrupt this county. We have to live on less. Forsyth county gets buy very well building schools that cost 20% less than Guilford. They are not the same schools, but they get the job done. Our teachers/principals are among the highest paid, yet the achievements levels are a disgrace. As long as the tax base is only growing 1% a year, we are in real trouble. The BOE thinks the citizens can bare in tax increase. This is not true. If you were a company looking for a good location, would you select Guilford. No. You would run. Spending has to be brought under control.

I thought the supplement for Guilford County teachers was only a liitle over what Forsyth gives. It's a couple thousand less than Wake and other counties, I believe.

Finally Dot has gotten the hint. We don't need a board of education spending hours putting a budget together. Actually the commissioners could just give the school board X amount of dollars to spend then the school board could do the school budget when they know how much money they will actually receive. This would save lots of time.

Wacky World,

Exactly.

Kearns also said about the budget:

"the board put it together so labori­ously".

That is another Dotty joke. Does anyone think this idiot will run in 2008?

There are millions extra in the budget. Did you know they assumed zero vacancey rate for all positions. On fringe benefits, they assumed zero vacancey. Look at the parking lots. They will cut maintenance. I talked to Dr. Grier about cutting supplements so everyone could get a 4% raise. He said "it will not happen".

So much is off the table, it makes you wonder where the cuts will come from.

Cutting supplements? To teachers, do you mean? That would put Guilford County at a substantial disadvantage to several counties in the state, including nearby Forsyth. Sounds like a great way to attract new teachers to the area and hold onto the best ones here. Oh, yeah, I forgot, the "best teachers" don't care about the pay, they do it for love of children only. Even if it means less food and shelter for their own children.

If the county ends up with basically two, maybe three public high schools most newly arrived professionals would consider sending their kids, and some of them in danger of going downhill if the teachers leave en masse, I guess we deserve the "logistics" economy, gratis FedEx, everyone is crowing about. A city of (god love 'em and bless their hearts) truck drivers.

I heard rumor a new branch of Virginia's state colleges may open up in Martinsville with a major in trucking.

Congratulations to Charles Davenport on his second opinion editorial today. He told it like it is with Terry Grier and his budget. It's excellent reading, everyone should find it and read it.

Terry Grier cries about where he can cut his budget, well, Mr Davenport told him several areas where cuts could be made with little to no pain. G'mon, Terry, do the right thing. Let's get back to basic education for the kids and bag all of this other "stuff".

i found it...

http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/davenport-has-spoken/

I agree with many of Davenport's suggestions, especially the top-heavy administration; but I have to disagree about cutting down planning time for teachers. "They get two months of planning time", he says.

My wife works at the longest school-year school in town, and gets about a month before having to teach again. That's about two weeks to spend in her classroom, and at home, prepping for the start of the new school year, after a well-deserved two-week vacation, the only time we ever go out of town (usually to my parents', so it might not even be all that relaxing for her). And GCS always makes teachers, even if they will be in the same room the following fall, pack up everything and clear away everything. Tabula rasa.

Davenport says teachers should do all their planning in the summer. How does that help when you have to plan according to the contingencies and realities of the actual school year and live students you haven't even dealt with as individuals with their own needs until summer's over?

Do you think a lot of kids would decide the heck with school if the basics were the only subjects offered? How basic are the basics supposed to be?

For reading, do we simply teach your basic comprehension, your basic vocabulary (How basic is that? Newspapers write for an average of, oh, 8th grade, right? Why bother teaching the majority of students anything beyond that?)?

For writing, to what level of assumed audience should most students be expected to communicate effectively? Again, why go beyond the "basic" level of, say, 4th or 5th grade writing, since we wouldn't expect most adults to be able to produce "basic" journalism in a newspaper? For purposes should be they expected to write? Most Americans need very few writing skills. Lawyers draw up wills. Realtors have boilerplate for financial transactions (taken from lawyers). Job applications for non-college-graduates (still the majority in our country) may need you to make a few notes about past work history, but no narrative, no intellectual stance.

Ah, you say we need to have the basics taught to students precisely so they can get into and then graduate from college. Aside from the fact that almost anyone can go to some college nowadays (community college to start, then other doors often open for those willing to work hard and seek financial aid), do you think those students whose parents are pushing them for college---whose parents may well have graduated themselves--- who are around people who read and write passably or even well---do you think they will be motivated by constant drumming of the basics (which many, one hopes, will have learned at home or by their visits to, oh, I dunno, the library?)?

On what sorts of topics, then, should we expect the more motivated students to write as discourse? Or maybe we don't expect discourse, really. Most Americans don't express thought cogently in writing, mainly because they don't have to. What we don't expect of adults we can scarcely ask of youngsters.

None of this applies, I am sure, to the fine people of this blog. We know we all produce impeccable discursive prose. Except myself.

"Most Americans need very few writing skills"

That is one of the most ridiculous statement I have ever read. Why should Americans be able to write? How about:

To communicate effectively
To not look stupid
Writing thank you notes
Writing a resume
Filling out a job application; being able to
spell correctly (without spell check in
hand; using correct grammar
As a positive creative outlet (Did you see the
movie a few months ago about the low socio
economic high school students who used
writing to express themselves, share their
everyday life stories and wrote a book? It
was an awesome movie.
To write a basic business letter; i.e. letter
of complaint on a product or service
Writing a speech
Writing a letter to your congressman
Writing a letter to the editor
Writing for an occupation (just as drawing),
i.e. journalism, publisher, editor, technical
writer, lawyer, English teacher
To express oneself in an intelligent, non-
boring manner.

The list is endless as to why Americans need to write. Do you want our children to be a bunch of illerates? Reading and writing go hand in hand. The more children read, the better writers they become.

test

Jim,

What other jobs do people get planning time? At most office jobs people are there until after 6:00. Ever heard of office people bringing their work home or going in on Saturdays and Sundays? Ever see the crazy hours people work in retail.

There's planning time if you make it. It's called going in early and staying when the kids are gone. Most veteran teachers used the same lesson plans year after year with a few variations.

How many workers get off 10 days at Christmas, a week plus for Spring break, time off in the summer. Get real.

“Very few Americans need to know how to write.”

That is one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever read. Why do Americans need to know how to write? How about:

• To communicate effectively
• For a creative outlet (just like drawing) (Ever see the see the movie that was out a few months ago about the socio-economically challenged adolescents who wrote some dire stories about their everyday lives to let others know about the challenges they face? It was an awesome, inspiring movie.)
• Writing a resume
• Being able to fill out a job application and write a paragraph with correct grammar and spelling (when spell check isn’t available)
• To not look stupid
• To write a simple business letter, i.e., a letter of complaint about a product or service
• Writing your congressman about a concern
• Writing a letter to the editor
• Writing a thank you note
• Writing as a profession: publisher, editor, lawyer, technical writer, writing computer manuals, professional fund raiser, PR person, English teacher, journalist, etc. etc. etc.
• To compete in a global economy

The list is endless. I cannot believe as a teacher that you wrote this.

The more children read, the better writers they become. Reading and writing go hand in hand. This includes spelling, vocabulary, proper grammar usage and yes, sometimes drills but these can be hidden in a fun way. Many of the TV and computer game children of today haven't had the benefits of creative play. They don't know how to "think". Great, interesting teachers can bring this creative aspect out in our children. I have seen elementary school children sit there for 20 minutes with a blank piece of paper. Once you get them started (and sometimes it's like pulling teeth), they can be taught how to write.

They need to write. Some children don't have the benefit of educated parents at home. Education can break the poverty cycle. And besides mommy and daddy love to see those creative writings on PTA day.

Barbara Ann,

I have to believe that Mr. Langer wrote his post to provoke discussion or as satire. He can't be so dense to believe what he wrote, can he? If children don't need an educaton beyond the 4th or 5th grade, then let's save hundreds of millions of $$ and graduate them into the world when they are 12 years old!

Other than bulleting a resume or filling out a job application, many, many people in our economy are never asked to write. The tasks you describe are all rather middle-management or above. And far fewer are in the professions you tout at the end of your bullet list.

To write their congressman? I think emails, usually pre-written, have replaced the individual complaint in writing. Or telephone calls.

I do not think thank you notes are taught in high school. maybe they should be. And college. But they still are not discursive prose, the sort asked for by the SATs and other assessments. Or should we test them on greeting card ettiquette?

While writing does allow for creative outlets, that is still not mainly discursive prose. Again, the SATs don't grade poetic ability. Nor should they.

The fact remains that large swaths of the American public are able to survive and be happy, apparently, both thinking and writing (or not) at the aforementioned grade levels. Many, many technically-skilled workers (including, I submit, graphic designers, for example) may not ever need to write beyond that.
I do agree that reading comprehension is valuable to ever-increasing numbers of people. But technical directions and manuals aren't exactly Moby Dick.

To write an e-mail is still writing. You still need to know spelling and grammar to not look stupid and get your point across whether it's a complaint e-mail or e-mailing your congressman or whatever.

We might as well raise a bunch of illiterates and save money as Wally World said. No need to educate beyond 5th grade.

Apparently the SAT folks think writing is important. It's being counted next year with math and reading. Does your kid have a phobia about the SAT writing portion?

Clerks and secretaries write letters for bosses, i.e., middle management, and clerks and secretaries are not middle management. They need to know correct grammar, spelling and punctuation too to cover the boss's butt so he doesn't look stupid in his letters.

What about writing proposals for grants? bids for construction projects? Many contractors and subcontractors (independent proprietors) need to be able to write an effective letter to "sell" their skills. Math helps too.

The importance of reading and writing is underestimated by the general public. In the school system, reading and writing competes with everything else including computer time. If you study the lives of great speakers like Billy Graham, John Kennedy and Franklin Rooesvelt, you will find that they were great readers. The lack of reading in the single largest reason the SAT's in Guilford County are very poor. I am afraid that many of our teachers are not readers. They just don't understand.

It certainly would be interesting to find out what kinds of books the teachers of GCS are reading on their two months off, eh? (If they have he time while not prepping frantically for the coming school year) Come to think, I wonder what the brightest minds in Greensboro are reading? Are narrative and and reportage, correct spelling and grammar the most important part of learning language and its use? The latter two are mostly learned by rote repetition, aren't they (especially since English spelling is notoriously fickle...the Founding Fathers would used variable spelling of the same word quite as a matter of course)?

I read online yesterday (CBS MarketWatch I think) about Jane Jacobs's new book on the economies of cities. I've read some of her other work. Cities like NY or Chicago, Boston, etc. attract more talent and energy, and generally creative sorts than other places, notwithstanding the crime and other ills that afflict cities of all sizes but get amplified when you reach a million-plus population. That number seems the magic one, somehow, to really get the ball rolling nowadays. The economies there become self-generating, essentially, by constant competition to outshine and push boundaries.

London went from 80,000 to over 200,000 as it attracted the likes of Shakespeare and Marlowe. Florence, lowly population of 150,000, landed Leonardo, Michelangelo and myriad great masters.

The birth (or re-bith) of Greek and Roman classical ideas, imparted by Academies that didn't give out grades, had a lot to do with it. Newly-prosperous middle class families with aspirations sent their children (in Italy, that included girls). Everyone partook of the public rivalries among "genius". How could a young person not be moved to join in, to battle it out, to gain knowledge? Even the vast industry of goldsmiths, where most apprentices would labor in anonymity, held a place of honor among the intelligentsia. Soon, one could make one's fortune as a craftsman, if one was also literate in debate, discourse and, yes, poetry. A big dose of Biblical iconography and more than a smattering of philosophy helped, too.

Like any benighted provocateur, I will not admit whether I am being merely absurd or trying to honestly assess the needs and abilites of many of our 230,000 or so. Actually, with attrition of retirees, even less need to read beyond middle-school level. Do you know the odds of getting Alzheimer's??

As the smart Americans continue to read, learn and absorb, there will be a cure in the future for Alzheimer's. Then these same scientists hopefully will be able to write with proper grammar in the English language in medical and science journals to be shared with other scientists who have learned to read and write.

Ditto everything you have said, Joe S. Writing is just as important. There's too much time wasted on "fluff".

And Jim this is not ancient times, this is 2007. Are the odds of getting Alzheimer's closing in on you?