News-Record.com

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." --United States Declaration of Independence.

We at the Greensboro Ron Paul Meetup group invite you to come join the fight with us tomorrow at 7pm at the Chic Fil A on Lanada Rd in Greensboro, the one near stanley ave and west wendover.

If you are a supporter, and have not gotten involved yet, please I am asking you, come, help us, we need you. We do not ask for any money, it is just us folks sitting and talking about how to get the message of Freedom and Liberty to the People.

I once heard someone say if you think you are not qualified to run for office, to represent the people, you only have to ask yourself if you are the people, if you are, then you represent the people and are fully qualified.

Now I am not asking you to come and run for office, although I would love for you to. I am simply asking, come and be a part of NC Primary day on Tuesday, help hold a sign, take people to the polls. Canvas your precinct, by going and talking to neighbors.

If you are frustrated with the decision you feel the media is making for you, tired of the silly issues they discuss on the mainstream media programs. You know this is not what we need. We need someone focused on the serious issues our country faces, do you know who is talking about them? It sure is not any of the candidates you see on main stream tv. We are on the brink of our dollar collapsing, we are in a terrible war, our health care system is failing, we are losing all of our liberties in exchange for false security, a failing education system, total government control, global hatred to our country, entering the worst depression we have ever seen. Does it really matter the insignificant issues they discuss on tv are? We are the only campaign offering REAL change, real Freedom, imagine real, uninhibited Freedom, the same Freedom so many Americans have lost their lives to protect, they made the ultimate sacrifice, to defend the liberties that they are just taking from us without a fight now. Do you think we will get them back? Depends upon their mood that day. Do you want this to continue?

Even in the last depression, we at least had our industrial exports, and we could still work. Now with no more industrial jobs left here, everything has been shipped to china or other countries with lower taxes or regulations or cheaper labor than the us. There will not be this income, and we will be totally relying on our government, but in these situations, when countries will not loan us money because our credit score has gone so low, how will they feed you? The answer is they wont be able to. This is not a world I want to live in. I will not rely on the government to take care of me.

Come join the Revolution.

It is time

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." --United States Declaration of Independence.

How unfortunate that the school board is dividing along racial lines. It does not reflect well on our school board members.

I refuse to believe that we went through a civil rights movement that was based on the concept that we should all be judged on merit, and not our skin color, only to adopt a racial spoils system by which we give construction work to companies based on the owner's race.

The school board is, among other things, a custodian of the public's purse. It should be concerned about the price, qualifications of the company and the company's reputation for quality work, when selecting contractors and not superficial "qualifications" like skin color.

Spot on, Paul. From what I've seen, GCS has bent (too far) over backward to boost their MWBE participation percentages; very possibly to the taxpayer's detriment.
The best thing that could happen to improve economic participation by historically underrepresented businesses in the construction industry would be a real-world educationally-based (dare I say "incubator") model that would help insure the long-term success of participants (in both the public and private sectors), rather than the flawed current model that has yet to yield acceptable results after two decades of use by some local governments (longer by the federal government). It's tempting to believe that the current system is a failure by design, so that the demogogues among us will always have convenient ammunition.

You can go to 99% of the building sites around this place and you will only see Mexicans working there. I am happy for them but its very strange that our White and African American community is not represented.

No, but the fact that Kris Cooke is still on the Board and could potentially be responsible for almost as much money in this bond offering as the prior two bonds is reason enough to vote NO tomorrow.

Paul, you speak volumes.

I vote NO for the school bonds.
I vote No to Deena Hayes husbands Company CoMor getting anymore contracts from Guilford County schools.

I vote no to another new Lexus for Deena Hayes.

Vote NO tomorrow!

Funny, I've never heard Deena advocate for the Asian contractors or for the Hispanic contractors.

Why is that?

Sadly, these three board members have put their patronage concerns ahead of the educational needs of our children.

If the bond fails, the students at Allen Middle ($9.1 million), Allen Jay Middle ($12.2 million), Dudley High ($6.7 million), High Point Central ($6.3 million), among others, can thank these board members.

Paul Daniels,

"Opposing school bonds has been a civil rights strategy for a long time, and we're employing it today," Hayes said."

It appears that Deena (and Walter and Amos?) views getting black contractors significant amounts of taxpayer money as the new civil rights movement. When he was sitting in the Birmingham jail, was Martin Luther King thinking about about how much school bond money he could get for black contractors when he said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere? Is this the "not too distant tomorrow that the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty" that he envisioned?

Is this what Ezell A. Blair Jr., David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain were thinking when they sat at a Woolworth lunch counter to launch a civil right movement? How much tax money can we get for black contractors?

""We believe that it is imperative that this community hold this district accountable to our children and remove barriers to equitable access to a quality education," Hayes said at a Monday news conference in front of the district's central office."

So, who does Deena Hayes think that "this district" is that should be held accountable by the community? Aren't Deena, Walter, and Amos part of the district? Aren't they part of the problem? Deena Hayes has the lowest performing high school in her district. What has she done to to remove barriers to equitable access to a quality education for those students. The graduation rate from Smith has been appalling: 2002 - 39.5%, 2003 - 49.5%, 2004 - 59.4%, 2005 - 45.2%, and 2006 - 34.3%.

Yes, Deena, it's time that the Smith community hold you accountable to the children and remove barriers to their equitable access to a quality education. Perhaps, you should be more concerned about that than how much taxpayer money you can direct to black contractors.

Paul....
You said it all!! AMEN!!

I am embarrassed by the poor black leadership being demonstrated today. If Deena would have spent the last several years addressing the drop out concerns at Smith to the same extent that she has addressed the black contractors receiving GCS business.....she might have a little credibility as a "school board representative!!!" If she was concerned about how hot the Smith High School unairconditioned gym was...she could have gotten another black contractor a bid.... I intentionally say
black because she considers no one else in the "Minority"....

You would think that the Black Leadership would care that the High Point Central students do not know from one day to the next if they are going to have heat or .......AIR!!!

By the way AMOS...how much more money do we throw in the bottomless pit......When you do a comparison of the dollars spent at the following schools and compare it to the dollars spent at the proposed schools...you don't have a leg to stand on...other than you want more..............................

Dudley.....how much have we spent the last few
years
Hairston...?????
Lincoln.....?????
Smith Academy??????
Central Academy?????

People - Amos has left the building.

The kitchen just got too hot for his liking.

Dudley, is arguably the best High School campus in the whole County. Largely due to the high amounts of money spent on it from the last two school bonds.

I did think that Amos Quick was a breath of fressh air when he came onto the school board. Now we know he just cates to the special interest groups.

Shame on him!

As a parent and a teacher, I can tell you right now, that if these school board members want to look for reasons why black students perform poorly, they need to look at the parents. Every night, I have to help my kindergarten son with his homework. Yes, that's right, homework in kindergarten! The curriculum is intensive nowadays, and it only gets more challenging from here. I have also had to tutor him all year, so that he can keep up with his class. His father and I also make sure that we volunteer in the classroom and communicate with his teacher. This is a lot of time and work for parents, but we feel that it is important, because we place a high priority on his education.

Unfortunately, too many black parents do not help their children and THEY are the ones who let their children fall through the cracks. You cannot expect the teachers and the schools to do everything. Part of it has to come from the home. Being the parent of a school-aged child is a huge responsibility today. My child attends a kindergarten that is 50% African American. But whenever I take time off of work to go in and volunteer, there are only white parents volunteering. Why is that? If I can take time off of work and drive 1 hour round trip to show my son that it's important for parents to be in the classroom, why can't others?

Parents also need to back up the teachers when they discipline a child. If my child gets into trouble at school, I find out from the teacher what happened; I listen to BOTH sides of the story. Then I use appropriate, consistent discipline. My son knows that I have high expectations for his behavior at school. Children need to be taught to respect teachers and other students, take care of school property, and to come to school ready to learn.

If these school board members could just get the parents in their districts to participate in their children's education, then they would see their test scores improve. It doesn't matter a darn bit about contractors and whatnot. But as long as they can keep crying about something, it gives them an excuse to avoid the real issues in their community. And it gives those parents another excuse not to help the kids with their homework, because if their kids went to a school built by black contractors, somehow, they would magically be all right.

Thank you Sue for spelling it out, once more.

It would be interesting now that school bonds has passed, to review the precinct voting on them. Did the precincts within Deena, Walter, and Amos' districts vote against the bonds? Were the three of them influential in the voting in their districts? Now that the bonds have been approved, Deena can swing in action to start hammering about getting a generous set-aside for black contractors from the bonds. In legislative circles that is called bringing home the pork, but how much will their regular constituents actually benefit from it? Will Smith actually become a high-performing school that can graduate more than 1/2 of its students?

What's a blackboard member?

This morning's paper reported that the Deena's district voted to support the bond at a higher percentage than the passing rate. Perhaps this is something the she needs to re-examine. It could be she is out of touch with her constituents concerning this issue.

debora,

So, did Deena, Walter, and Amos publicly oppose the bonds in order to get voters to respond by voting for the bonds as a backlash? If so, it worked.

No, I dont think so. In my opinion they were against the bonds as they said. My point was that Ms Hayes obviously was speaking on a view point that her district did not support. They supported the bonds, not her view that the bonds were not needed for the reasons that she stated (achievement gap, low MWBE participation, disproportionate minority disciple etc)-- It could be that they voted to support the bonds inspite of these issues.

She always maintains that her constituents back her 100%.

Maybe they are not as blind as she thinks!