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Morgan:

The presentations and the report(s) last night were very unfocused. Also, there is almost no analysis to back up the recommendations.

This doesn't move us very far down the road and doesn't give the BOE much to go on.

School climate, whether it is true or not, is perceived to be a race issue by most people. We don't do a good job talking about those kinds of issues in Guilford County. I personally know it's not going to be a good conversation when a white person says to me, "She's black so you know she'll say.." or when a black person says to me, "He's white so that makes him racist by definition...." Both of those statements paint whole groups of people with the same brush. Unfortunately, I think we may be starting at just this point.

Morgan,

Your article stated that it would cost millions to implement the task forces' recommendations. Well, it seems that reducing class sizes to 17 was a key recommendation. I would expect that is based upon the belief that school overcrowding leads to violence and discipline problems, as Terrina has previously stated. That is a belief of some, but not really proven as a primary factor.

Nevertheless, if we decide that we buy this recommendation, then that would mean a huge investment in new schools and class rooms, because we have been told that children can't learn in mobile cottages. As a result, building of more schools and class rooms means hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, not a few million dollars. So, is this recommendation made to support the approval of the school bonds already on the table and planting the seed for many more to come?

I'm not sure that the taxpayers of this county can financially support these solutions.

Stormy,
The cost of the recommendations could range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions, depending on the combination of programs implemented. Obviously, reducing class sizes and overall enrollments would require a substantial amount of money and I didn't get the feeling from school board members that that is a direction they will go in soon as it pertains to improving student discipline. Some school board members and Dr. Grier actually support reduced school enrollments but realize that the cost of doing that may not be feasible because it is less expensive to build fewer, but larger schools. Case in point: the 1,600-student airport-area high school that is included in the bond referendum.

Morgan,

As might be expected, only a tip of the hat from Mr. Green about student responsibility, while the actual report put the burden totally on schools, the administrators and teachers. I guess that we must be living in Lake Wobegon, for nothing was mentioned about the possibility that we might have some dysfunctional families sending somewhat dysfunctional children off to school. I was especially amused that some of the Task Force members found it amazing that a certain percentage of the children they polled did not know what the GCS rules were. My own children would have been among them, for like 90+% of the children, they don't break the rules and therefore have no vested interest in knowing what all of them are--or the punishments that accrue for breaking them. After all, I don't know the exact wording or punishments for every traffic violation, but it doesn't matter since I stop for STOP signs and stopped school buses and seldom speed. Most importantly, on the couple of occasions when I've been stopped for speeding in 45+ years of driving, I took responsibility and accepted the ticket; I didn't say it was anyone else's fault.

Isn't this last the biggest part of the discipline problem in our schools?

Morgan,

As you know, in Gwinnett County, GA, they are building high schools with a planned enrollment of 2,000-3,000 students, and at a reasonable cost. The sq.ft. per student is much more modest than what GCS does. I even think that they buy some shopping centers and renovate them to get school online quicker. More importantly, they are getting it done, not talking about it. They implemented a $.005 sales tax to help pay for the school construction, and it generates a lot of money. This is in addition to property taxes. It is a very fast growing county, and the need schools badly and quickly. Perhaps GCS should consider requesting the same. The revenue gets flowing much faster and isn't such a burden on property owners.

Whatever side you are on, the truth of the matter regarding school facilities is that this county did not build schools for 20 years. That is not debatable. There is no community that is comparable to Greensboro that can get away with doing that. Now there is a massive catch up underway. We have to start some where and some time. If not now, when?

The other item that is not debatable is the lack of maintenance funding from the County Commissioners regarding our schools. For many years the CC's did not fund the basic maintenance and upkeep of the school buildings. They failed to pay for HVAC updates and repairs, for roof repairs and for basic maintenance. If you look at the current list of what is on the 2008 bond, many of those items should have been paid for out of maintenance dollars by the CCs. Please look at the info that is posted on the GCS website. Any of those items that are basic maintenance should really not be on the bond. The CCs should be maintaining the current facilities.

I totally understand the frustration the community and the parents have with the Board of Education. But we have to look at the fact that the CCs have the moral obligation to maintain and fund public education facilities, and that just hasn't been a priority here.

When I discussed the facility issues and its relation to student mis-behavior, think about when alot of people are crammed into a small space and then consider how that is intensified when the air does not work. In many of our schools, this is the situation on a daily basis. Everyone has less patience in that situation. It is not just my opinion, but research supported that over crowded hallways tend to have more fights and conflicts and it is harder for adults to supervise and see what is going on. Overcrowding with big high school kids does lead to more fights and rough housing. It also affects adult tempers.

I believe there is always shared responsibility with all of this. Parents and students do need to have 100% responsibility for what is going on in our schools, not just the teaching staff, but it is shared. So the deal is, some of school climate falls on the adults in the building. And the reality is that in any situation if one part of the system changes the whole system HAS to change. It is not possible for the other components to continue along the same path if ONE part steps out of the pattern. So is it possible that if the adults in the school change, even though the family life of the student does not change, that some kind of change occurs? You bet it does.

We may not be able to change the family life of many of our children, but we can change the way we react to those children in a way that the research tells us is most effective. Why not make the effort?

It is like when a couple comes in for marriage counseling and the wife says, "I am not going to change until he changes." But the deal is, if SHE changes, he has to change too because the dance is not the same anymore. It takes two to tango? So someone has to step off the dance floor here. We can change the dance on these kids who come to school without any sense of how to act and get along with others. There are strategies out there that work with difficult kids. Instead of waiting for them to change and waiting for them to have a better home life or better parents, why not just change up the dance where we can?

Northwest is very crowded but we dont hear of many fights.

Dudley is a super school, one of the best in the County, but it is one of the lowest performing schools we have.

I am not disagreeing that we should not improve our schools but just focusing on that will definitely NOT solve problems.

We need a change of attitude and by the way its not only minorities that are the problem. Many white parents would be suprised at the disrespect shown by their children to teachers!

As far as maintenance goes, I've always wondered why, if legal, an escrow fund for maintenance couldn't be added to the initial cost of a new building. Many colleges and private schools insist that donors do so when they raise the money for a new building, and the interest generated is used to keep the building maintained so it is always close to 100% usable. I assume that with a public school some sort of provision could be added that returned the money to the county's general fund or was used to pay off a bond if the school were closed at a later date. I agree with Terrina that not maintaining what we already own is just as criminal as not building what we needed as the county population grew.

Dear Terrina:

There is no doubt that facilities and class size are important parts of the school climate and that the community should address those issues. Realistically, however, these things are not going to change (and cannot be changed) in the near term.

The GCS needs recommendations that can work with the facilities and basic staffing that it has. Put simply, the discipline issues are too important to wait on the other (important and worthwhile) improvements.

The call in the report for discipline planning, especially the PBS approach, is good. The related call for more consistent administration of these policies is also good.

The call for social workers might also be a good idea, though the report wasn't specific about how many social workers are currently in the schools and what the actual needs are.

The call for standard mode of dress in all schools seems unnecessary. It may be a policy that increases ticky-tack punishments rather than decreases them. Like broken tail lights and seat belt violations in cars, SMOD would give the SROs and adminstrators an excuse to stop and harass some kids. Also, unlike the claims in the report, it doesn't stop people from sneaking onto campus--all they have to do is pick out the right clothes and they'll be able to pass as a student.

A gentle reminder regarding facilities, class sizes, etc. accompanied by a disclaimer that these issues were beyond the scope of the committee would have been a better way to go. The specific facilities requests are likely to turn off a big chunk of the community. The requests also give the impression that the report was driven by an agenda other than discipline.

As you said in your presentation, the report was rushed. It's clear that a lot of hard work went into gathering input. I hope that that hard work isn't undercut by over-reaching.

I agree with Terrina about facilities. Our schools are in terrible shape. You don't have to take Terrina's word for it--you can visit our schools and see it first-hand. I think most adults in Guilford County would be shocked at some of the conditions children, teachers and staff work in--especially in the poorer schools. Unfortunately, it's out of sight, out of mind for most people. What a shame. I don't think companies looking to relocate to North Carolina visit schools and say, "Wow, Guilford County Schools must be really careful with their money." I'm sure that they are dismayed, just as Terrina was. We need to pay attention to what people like Terrina are saying because they have been in other school systems and they have a basis for comparison. It doesn't reflect well on Guilford County.

Regarding taxing authority, taxpayers should be able to hold one (and only one) board accountable--the BOE. Until that happens, we are in a game of "he said, she said" when it comes to most school issues and the taxpayers are in the middle. The BOE can always point to the County Commissioners and say it's their fault that the school system is not funded appropriately and the County Commissioners can always point to the BOE and say that they don't know how to handle the money. This is a no-win situation.