News-Record.com

Morgan,

No, it doesn't sound at all familiar. If you happen to be referring to the High Point choice plan fiasco, there is absolutely NO similarity whatsoever.

Wake County treats every student the same. When Guilford County tried this, they targeted a single high school - only 1 of 14 (at the time) was bused.

Unless you can give examples of when Page and Grimsley were bused??

AAAAAMEN! And keep this in mind, that ONE high school that was forced to ship their kids across town, those kids are now voting age. I can't wait for them to vote Dot Kearns outta here. What comes around, goes around. Right Dotty?

Whoever came up with the original idea that public education dollars are better spent on diesel fuel and bus tires than tutors and computers deserves a swift kick in the backside; or am I horribly unenlightened?

Hopefully busing for "balance" in any form will soon be a victim of the increasing push for environmental sustainability. That's a major interest of yours, isn't it, Morgan?

One school, one community almost broken by two wicked women.

This isort of fuzzy logic is what sounds familiar:

"Ann Denlinger, president of the Partnership, said diversity is necessary to meet the school district's goal of closing the academic achievement gap between poor and more affluent students while maintaining overall test scores at all schools."

This is the old Kahlenberg theory that you can magically close the academic achievement gap by simply spreading children of poverty around to higher performing schools. It's the old belief that kids will get smarter because they are sitting with higher performing students. GCS's results with forcing students into AP classes show that the gain in achievement for those students is small, but in so doing, the curriculum rigor suffers in what is supposed to be a fast-paced college-level class that mightily challenges even high performing students.

What really happens is that you spread the children of poverty around sufficiently so that they get lost in the crowd. Their performance really doesn't improve, but you don't have them concentrated in a few schools, which stands out. Viola, you no longer have any low performing schools, but rather a bunch of medium performing schools. Then, the administration doesn't have to really do anything because the problems are hidden.

As the article says, the real solution is to improve the low-performing schools, improve their resource allocation, get the students' parents involved, and get them highly-qualified teachers. But, hey, that's harder to do than to bus everyone around and create confusion for a few years, until you figure out something else to do.

Oh, and Terry Grier has claimed great success with Mission Possible, getting highly qualified teachers into low performing schools. As a matter of fact, it was one of the factors cited by San Diego for hiring him for that big job. So, if it such a great success, then Wake should give it a shot. It would be cheaper than busing students around Wake County.

They also need to hire Terry Grier as a consultant since he has been so successful in closing the achievement gap here. Wake can learn a lot from him. I'm sure he would work on the side for them at a reasonable consulting fee, after a few months when he gets San Diego shaped-up. I'm sure he still has his consulting briefcase from his Guilford County days..

Channel 2 is going to be airing a special next week about the cover-up of violence in Guilford county schools. Apparently, principals are starting to speak up about violence that is not being reported. Now that Grier is leaving they are getting the courage to speak up!

I can't wait for GCBOE to post this site with statistics detailing the accomplishments of our public school system. If only they were true. Thanks channel 2 for attempting to get the truth out to the taxpayers about the damage done to our schools over the last 8 years. While Dr. Grier was playing fast and loose with the facts to justify his $370,000+/yearly salary, where was the BOE? It is my opinion that "education" in High Point has been damaged the most, our entire county has paid a terrible price under this existing BOE. How is it that other counties in NC can provide its citizens/taxpayers with a quality service and Guilford County can't? The answer is simple, we have the wrong people on our BOE. Unless and until we as voters throw these people off the BOE, we should just shut up and accept whatever comes our way.

No, this isn't the same at all.

2/10/04 was an all out attempt at legalized child abduction by Dot Kearns, Susan Mendenahall and few of her friends. I remember that day like it was just yesterday. Around 10:30 that night Dot was babbling on about helping Georgia peanut farmers 40 years earlier and explaining how this was the same thing.

It did propel one of the largest growth spurts in private schools in Guilford County which in turn freed up many seats in the Guilford County schools. If I'm not mistaken that new wing at Wesleyan over in HP is referred to as the Dot wing.

I met someone the other day who put their kids into Wesleyan because of the choice plan. His daughter is a junior there. She is taking her first AP course this year. My son stayed in the public school system and he took 2 AP's last year (scored a 5 and a 4) and he is taking 5 AP's this year. He will graduate with several HS credits and the way its going will start college as a sophomore.
Unbelieveable but I think that Wesleyan is a liitle behind our public schools.

Public school is not great but private school is definitely not what they make it out to be. I took my son out of Wesleyan and put him back into public school beacuse Wesleyan would not give him any extra help (tutoring) for his learning disabilities. That was three years ago. He is doing great now.

I have never heard that before or even thought of it. I would have thought that private school would be much better.

Gary, in response to your comment:

"Unless and until we as voters throw these people off the BOE, we should just shut up and accept whatever comes our way."

So far I have seen only two citizens other than incumbents declare their candidacy for the BOE. We have no choice but to continue as usual if members of the Board run unopposed.

Why in a county this size do we not have more people running? Is it because of the abuse and criticism we and the County Commissioners heap on our School Board? Is it the meetings that last for hours, sometimes even after midnight?

I have seen some very insightful comments on this blog. PLEASE, why don't some of you throw your hat into the ring?

I just thank God we have a choice. Each family and each student has different needs and one fit does not always fit another family/student. To tell the rigor of a High school you need to look at all the classes offered, the collegeboard scores of the graduating class, how many go on to college, etc...there are many factors that come into play in determining how "good" a high school is. It's not just the number of AP classes offered. Grier has brainwashed us all to think that the more AP offered the better. I would rather have one superior AP class offered at my school than 7 "waterd-down" AP classes.

I think that the pay of $12,000 is a detriment to running. It is not enough money to be considered a full time job, there are tons of meetings that the BOE goes to, 5 attended our ribbon cutting yesterday, for instance. They are under alot of legal issues that they have to understand. The county is diverse and you can't please everyone all the time, so people are unhappy with you. I also think that those that run want the best and are passionate (I didn't say we agree with what they think is best-so don't jump down my throat) but there is alot of time away from you family, alot of miles on your car not to mention the late meetings, your name being dragged through the mud, etc. It would not be an easy job.

I ask the citizens of Guilford County to forgive my previous comments about our Board of Education. They have done a great job for our children and have spent all of the tax monies allocated to our schools in an outstanding manner. I want to thank each and every board member for their hard work and especially what they have done for public education in High Point. Our public schools are perfect. I must confess, my son goes to Wesleyan.

Gary, You lost me on that one..

Looks like Channel 2 story on School Crime Coverup is tonight...below from digtriad.com

Tonight, 2 Wants to Know looks into why nearly 100 violent crimes committed in area schools were never reported. The violations include assault, rape, arson, and robbery. And the one crime that's still making headlines today, has never been officially reported.

Frank Mickens investigates these reports to learn why schools would cover up this information, and asks a Guilford County sheriff his thought about why the reports aren't being filed. This is one of 2 Wants to Know's most important investigations this month so make sure you tune in to WFMY News at 11, tonight.

MRSA reported at Jesse Wharton. Letter from principal said, "the student's parents were wise to seek medical attention early, and the student is effectively responding to antibiotic treatment."

Debora is absolutely right. People lose sight of the fact that being a board member is one tough job. Most people think the board members just show up for some very long board meetings and that is the extent of their work. Like Debora said, that's just not the case. I may completely disagree with the BOE on some very major issues, but you will never catch me criticizing their work ethic. Theirs is a thankless task and I am surprised we get anyone running at all sometimes. I am still shocked about how rude and hateful people are to them, even in these blogs. There's just no excuse to treat another human being like that. It reflects more on those people than it does on the board members, in my opinion.

We desperately need people to run and be involved in School Board. You will find the stipend does cover gas but you will not show a profit, it is challenging as reading material is plentiful, but most important it is democracy in action. You want to know what being a citizen of this great country is all about, try it.

Go to County Offices in Greensboro and sign up. Guilford County Needs YOU!

First of all, before anybody in Wake co. gets this thrust on them they need to make darn sure that the people suggesting busing are:
1). Sane
2) Have no ties to the Realty industry in Wake or surroundiung counties because it will cause churning of real estate to beat the band.
3) Are not kept in power by a political machine making it impossible to remove them if issues #1 and #2 apply.
4) Is done on a county-wide basis and not to exclusively upgrade schools where the people advocating it live.
5) Is not done to help build a journeyman careerist educator's resume
6) A clear majority of people truly want it including members of all socio-economic classes

Obviously, none of these criteria were met in the GC busing program.

If it meets these criteria then have at it.

Well said Garth. Thank you for your public service, your patriotism and your participation in this dialog.

Dont forget to give input to the new Superintendent search at the following link.

http://www.gcsnc.com/leadership/index.aspx