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You can find at the North Carolina Association of Educators the new salary schedule for teachers (does not yet include Guilford County Schools salary supplement). The increases range from 4.05 percent to 9.53 percent.

Guilford County Schools has released the preliminary 2006-07 performance composit scores for the 18 schools that received an intervention team last school year because of their previous poor performances. More than half of them posted gains higher than the district average.

However, there were a few double-take moments: Smith's score dropped 12.08 percentage points to 35.4 percent profiency this year. What's up with that, especially given Noah Roger's taking of the reins in 2006? Washington Elementary posted a 13.78 percentage point gain to 54.7 percent. Keep in mind that the 2006 and 2007 scores are not apples-to-apples because of changes in some of the tests.

Seven of those schools are on track to make AYP.

Find the rationale for the intervention teams here and the teams leaders at each school here.

At least from my end, the budget cuts approved around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday were pretty painless. No physical person got the boot from employment and Superintendent Terry Grier even gave up a few central office positions.

Grier did not get everything he wanted: Several board members decided to scrape together $420,000 to save some elementary school teachers or add teacher assistants instead of funding Grier's twilight school. The district can squeeze 6 teachers or 10 TAs out of that money, which won't go far in reducing class sizes, so I understood Grier's complaints. But board members such as Darlene Garrett and Nancy Routh thought cutting 19 teaching positions in K-3 was just too much, even if it only increased average class sizes by half a student.

Board members were also able to save the suspension program at New Light Missionary Baptist Church. Read the annual report of that program here.

On Eastern, board members were pleased to learn that the pod village is on track to open on time and within budget. Maintenance crews started moving furniture into the pods on Monday and teachers should begin setting up classrooms next week. Some paved parking will be available at the site for people with physical disabilities.

The board unannimously approved a 20-cent hike in lunch prices to accommodate rising costs in feeding students more nutritious meals. Lunch will cost $1.80 in elementary schools, $2.10 in middle schools and $2.20 in high schools. Adults will pay for items a la carte instead of as a meal. Breakfast prices will remain the same.

Last, the school board made it clear it wants the city of High Point to pay the full $1.48 million it owes from the red light camera lawsuit. HP Mayor Becky Smothers tried to get Guilford County Schools to credit the city about $383,000 for site improvements done near Southwest High School and Oakview Elementary. (Read her request here, in which she mispells Alan Duncan's name). Thing is, High Point agreed to fund those improvements through a city bond referendum. Let's give Smothers an 'E' for Effort.

"There was never an agreement between our staff and the staff at High Point that we pay for that work," Grier told the board Tuesday. "We were never asked to pay for that work."

Check the Jan. 9, 2007 school board meeting minutes for proof.

The percentage of schools in Forsyth County making either expected or high growth on state exams increased to 54 percent this year, up from 31 percent in 2005-06, according to a press release I received today from the district.

In addition, 41 out of 67, or 61 percent, of schools improved their overall proficiency composite. None of the high schools increased proficiency; 76 out of 54 elementary and middle schools did.

The district as a whole met 76.3 percent of its AYP targets compared to 77 percent last year.
The state releases official results on Sept. 6.

Update: Guilford County Schools releases detailed preliminary report on the results, including strategies for improvement.

Check out the following revised Adequate Yearly Progress results here and here that I received from Superintendent Terry Grier today. The first shows a district comparison in preliminary results (note: Wake Public Schools has not released results on two of the measures). The second lists the schools that have preliminarily made AYP.

The third table I have shows preliminary cohort graduation rates for the 2006-07 school year. Keep in mind that the state will release official ABCs, AYP and graduation results on Sept. 6.

Note: I am publishing this information straight from the e-mails I received from Dr. Grier. I have not had time to vet them.

Check out an article the News & Observer ran today on a recent federal contract jacking up the price of state-grown fruits and veggies. I've been trying to reach Cynthia Sevier, GCS's school nutrition director, to get more details on the effect it's having here (the school board recently approved a 20-cent increase in lunch prices).

The American Civil Rights Union (not the same as the American Civil Liberties Union) sent letters to the Guilford County Board of Education Monday responding to a proposal to limit outside group's access to elementary schools until 6 p.m. General Counsel Peter Ferrara said the group would not hesitate to bring legal action against the school board, if necessary.

The letter was a little late: Nancy Routh and her policy committee bowed to public pressure and changed the facilities use policy last week. However, I'm not sure if the issue of limiting what flyers can be sent home to students has been addressed. Check out the changes on Thursday's school board agenda.

Find here a breakdown of Guilford County Schools' 2007 SAT scores by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. I also hear Advanced Placement scores are out and am waiting for that.

Update: You can find the NC SAT report here. Also, Dr. Gongshu Zhang disaggregates the data.

On the Advanced Placement front: Guilford County Schools improved in both scores and participation on Advanced Placement exams this year, according to results the College Board also released this week. Students took 8,393 exams during the 2006-07 school year compared to 8,102 exams the previous year. 46.4 percent of those tests received a score high enough to qualify for college credit, up 3.9 percentage points from 2005-06. I do not yet have an electronic version to post.