News-Record.com

This doesn't surprise me that so many schools need to 'comply' with the guidelines. One issue is that the guidelines can be interpreted so many ways, and even if the schools are abiding by these guidelines, who says they are effective. I don't think the lady in charge downtown even has AL certification, so just how passionate and knowledgable about this can she be? My apologies if I have been misinformed about her creditials.

Look at what they have to comply with - it's nothing about the rigor of the program. It's primarily whether or not parents know about the program and have signed the paper saying so and giving permission for their children to be "in the program". The "program" means NOTHING anymore.

What a shame!

The real audit needs to analyze whether or not these children are being challenged - THEY ARE NOT!

In addition to what Debora & Anon have said, there is nothing about whether each program has a qualified/certified AL teacher. Also, there is nothing about where the $2 million or so sent from Raleigh specifically for gifted education has gone, or whether it has been spent wisely. Finally, there is no assessment of how students in the AL program have progressed over the years. All of which are better ways to gauge the success of any AL program than its mere inclusiveness or whether parents have seen the correct description at the right time.

Given the general nature of the "Plan", it is truly amazing that any school could have missed pushing paper correctly or fulfilling the bureaucratic clap-trap. I would hope that the schools that missed the mark were putting their efforts into actually serving the students rather than in leaving behind the appropriate paper trail. But I doubt it.

In the four years we have had children in the AL program, this is the first year that someone asked for input from us as parents in a written form. I don't know what all went into this review, but I appreciate that the new director is interested in gathering information. My children have been served well in AL. Surely we are not the only family thankful for this program. It is not perfect, but it is a gift to us. The review provides good information for making improvements. Sounds like someone does care and wants to make things happen.

If the AL program succeeds in GC the achievement gap widens. Its just a mattter of what you want.

I agree the AL program gets children that have parents that care. Poor children cannot get on it because their parents dont care or basically exist.
What can teachers do about that?

The current focus of the AL Department is in creating AL students, not serving them. As long as the numbers look good on paper and the bureaucratic steps are in compliance (sign the generic DEP) then GCS will tout the program as a success. Never is curriculum, academic rigor or what’s best for students to help them progress the basis for decision-making.

I have a different experience than goldfinch…my involvement and input as a parent of a gifted child were much more sought after and respected when we initially joined the AL program. I felt there were real experts in gifted education who staffed the AL department. The problem was they had limited authority to effect change. When parents united to request this of GCS, asking for the AL director to have equal authority to principals who also oversee the AL programs at each school, we were denied.

The new AL leadership never met with the AL community at Lincoln until we as parents demanded it and even then it was apparent that the new director showed limited knowledge, sincerity, or vision of what gifted education should be (other than who should be included in the program or where the program should be located). The fact that she is currently asking parents for their input seems to me just a checkmark that she can claim and I doubt that it will factor into any decision-making. I have never heard her speak or be quoted with more than mere platitudes. I have emailed and called for several meetings with her but have never once been able to meet or talk with her one-on-one. The one meeting I was supposed to have with her, she didn’t show up and passed me off to a subordinate where the meeting lasted 15 minutes. If you want a comparison, learn about the AL program in Forsyth County and meet with the director there.

Meanwhile, I have watched over the 7 years that our family has been involved in the program, class sizes swell, the academic rigor drop off a cliff, critical thinking skills taught sparingly and the quality of some AL teachers lacking whether certified or not. More importantly, I have watched my children become bored with school yet again because they are not being challenged.

While I think the elementary VSN program and the elementary AL programs in some schools do a laudable job, they still can be improved (and due to larger class sizes, the teachers cannot be as hands-on with the kids as they once were). The middle school programs have been much weaker. I'm appalled at the lack of writing required of children and the lack of grammatical training. Even when there is actually a qualified teacher in the classroom, the science program has virtually no hands-on projects and there is virtually no differentiation. I have yet to find anyone in the AL department who can explain on a class by class basis the differentiation between what moderate, strong and very strong students receive compared to each classification and what traditional classroom students receive.

The benefit to VSN and AL is the peer learning, but even some of our "best" AL certified teachers tend to rely on that too much, having given up on teaching and assigning project after project for the student to investigate but not supplementing the knowledge or teaching correct research skills other than searching online. Watching videos and online instruction has become an increasingly large part of both the regular classroom and AL/VSN curriculum. How does this teach critical thinking or provide experiential learning? I think the mass exodus of many in the AL department and many excellent teachers (some who are leaving GCS to teach in the private schools) bodes poorly for GCS. Education to our most academically gifted students is suffering.

I am not surprised by the results of the survey. I was told 3 years ago by general GCS Leadership that the AL plan was just a guideline. The principals are not required to follow the plans. The AL plan is not part of the evaluation of the principal (ie to get a raise) and therefore the state registered plan is at the discretion of the individual school leadership. At that time, AL Leadership was aware of the attitude and the discrepancies of the AL Plan but felt that their hands were tied.
In response, the AL leadership was very helpful in helping to facilitate a last minute decision to accept my son's placement in the VSN program since he had previously qualified.

In my opinion until GCS buys into the AL program, and the sanctioned AL Plan we will not have a quality AL Program and the money from the state department will not be used effectively on the students who qualify for AL.

The above two posts are dead on...however, it's not just the the AL plan as written but the spirit of the plan that it is intended to fulfill which is to provided much-needed differentiation to those students who truly NEED it. I also believe that the downfall of the program began once gifted education was removed from the federal special education policies.

I appreciate the comments from the above posters.

To answer one of their questions, there is no differentiation in instruction between strong, moderate, and any other skill level, except the occasional extra homework for the AL students and when papers and projects are assigned, the AL students have to write more, show more, do more. I can tell you from experience that the lesson to be learned, from the student's perspective, is to get OUT of the AL program because it only means more work - not better instruction or more rigor.

There is no real meaningful AL program within our district! The evaluation is as a fox guarding the hen house and the board has no real interest in pursuing it’s failures. I have been quiet too long. Many principals do not buy into AL and only when spotlighted do they attempt to do anything. The second achievement gap is the gap between our schools best students and their counterparts. That we place nepotism before achievement, that we say we cannot hire good people without hiring their spouses, that we can pull the wool along with the empire state building over on the public is amazing unless you weigh it against public apathy. To the parents of Ferndale, “me ‘ats off ta ya good folks”, to the rest of the public and teachers, it is time to wake up, get a spine and chew the backside off your school board and you had best include this board member in the meal!

Garth,

You are right on several accounts there. No. 1 being that you have been quiet for too long!

AL diversity is virtually zero because children that qualify are mainly from middle class homes.
Why would this school board want an AL progra when this School Boards only aim has been to close the achievement gap. The only solution Terry Grier offered was to dilute! Stop the privelidged kids from soaring with the eagles and improve the disadvantaged by sitting them next to the kids with parents that cared.

Thus we have ended up with mediocrity.

Mediocre,

Mediocre.

ORDINARY!!!!!!!! We are AVERAGE.

THAT IS GUILFORD COUNTY>

I agree.

Yes Nepotism runs rampant in GCS which is a shame. I look forward to hearing from the supervisor candidates and what their vision for the future of GCS is. At this point, I keep thinking.... 3more year... 3 more years... then my family is done!!!

The sad thing is that I am very passionate about education and give alot of time, money and effort to this cause, but am so very tired of beating my head against the wall.

Garth,

What exactly do you want the parents to say that hasn't been said before? And why should the parents of children who are blessed with greater ability have to explain to the "professional" educators what giftedness is and how educating gifted children is different from simply getting students to pass a set of minimal standards tests? After all, when it comes to low-performing, discipline challenged, poorer students the entire burden is on the schools: administrators and teachers; when it comes to gifted children the whole burden should be on the parents to constantly push for what's needed and right?

And why should parents be willing to put their necks out anymore than you and your colleagues do? The last time a group of us spoke before the board we were told we were elitists and racists and that our children in the VSN program at Lincoln had a master/slave relationship with the neighborhood children. Funny that last, because at the time my 4th grade son was tutoring a Dudley student in math on the bus home each afternoon and helping the young man finally pass some sort of pre-algebra class. And all the rest of the board sat on their hands and stayed mum while the parents were being castigated for having gifted children--as if any of us got to pick the kids we have.

The AL program in GCS will always suffer as long as the driving force behind all educational decisions is equity by racial demographics and NCLB seems only interested in children who aren't doing well. As you know, many times in these blogs the opinion has been put forth that the smart kids will do okay . . . meaning they will pass the minimal standards tests put in front of them. Sorry, but I want more for my own children than that, and I want every child in GCS to be pushed to their fullest achievement, whatever that might be. When diversity for it's own sake is held up as almost the educational goal and before truly demanding classes, excellent teachers and learned self-discipline, why would you expect any program, much less one seen as elitist like the AL program to flourish under such a political situation?

I would love to see you turn some of the BOE meetings into open and meaningful exchanges of ideas--probably heated at times-- than the effete lovefests they are now. And I would like to see you and other members beard publicly the board members who give every excuse for poor performance in the book. And then allow the gifted kids to languish. Because they don't like the way the squad is currently chosen, they won't let the students who qualify for special classes by whatever method you want to practice or play.

You can bet that gifted students in Europe, China, India, Singapore, etc., are getting what they need while we fiddle. Good luck.

The parents of Ferndale knew within a few short weeks of school that the Guiford County Board approved AL plan was not being followed in our school. This group of parents began to make noise everywhere, principal, teachers , AL coordinators and even top staff of the AL department. They were dismissed and continued to be told the plan was being followed. When members of the board inquired as to what was happening at Ferndale ,Terry Grier went so far as to state to the board that the Ferndale parents were only making noise because we saw children of color in our classroom. The parents contined the noise and by the end of October staff finally met with these parents and confirmed what we already knew. We were not in compliance. The move of the children was offered but true compliance at that point could not be achieved. The option was far from desirable and the parents felt it was to late to move these children ,which at that point would have been another injustice. I firmly believe that the new AL director and staff knew this all along and thought these parents would go away. We did not but - but what did we truly gain but confirmation of the deception in the AL program.

I feel Darelene and Garth are allies in the fight to maintain an AL program but many times they are also deceived by staff as they were in the cover up at Ferndale. We must all the stuggle to maintain an AL program in Guilford County Schools.

What is most interesting to me is that Anne Barr was replaced by 3 individuals. The combined salary of the 3 is roughly 3 times Anne Barr's salary. How is that? I still have not heard that the new AL director has any AL background or qualifications. Does anyone know what qualifications and background Jane Fleming has in AL????? I guess she was just part of the package husband/wife team. My how we do pay dearly for those team players.

Yes - as in Jocelyn and Eric Becoats. Well, look at it this way - hopefully they only paid one set of moving expenses for the teams to relocate

GCS is NOT interested in the AL program which for them is a form of segregation!!!!

They want the bright kids to teach the not so bright kids.

That is Griers legacy and it was his formula for success for years and years.

What did it get him?

Super of the year.
An excellent Resume.
A great job in San Diego.

What did it get the not so bright kids?

Nothing.

What did the smart kids get..

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Certain school board members and ex-school board members should be charged with negligence!

From the GCS Advanced Learner Blog

I am sure many folks have looked to check out the salaries. I know that salaries are determined in all sorts of ways, as the Rhino mentions. This is what I see when I look up the three top folks in the AL dept. (keep in mind that A.Morrison has already left...)
Jane Fleming $97,500 Executive Director
Lise $86,812 Director
Ashley $61,169 Grant Coordinator for the AP/IB programs

That would be a total of very close to 1/4 of a million dollars. $250K. I don't want to denigrate Ashley. She's an all right person, but Ann Barr had all of the responsibilities of these three....and had leadership skills that made her capable of fulfilling these responsibilities, she killed herself working, and I do believe she earned less than $80K per year.

To top the stack...other directors who have been in GCS for quite some time, and who KNOW THEIR STUFF.....earn: Doyle Craven, $70,200. Sadie Bryant-Wood: $83,200. Mayra Hayes, who has not been here as long but is also a director earns $79,056. Would someone tell me what negotiating power Jane and Lise had to get these kinds of salaries, what exactly do they do (other than dismantling the department quite well) and how did these two people get the titles of Executive Director and Director: two titles which were never in the AL department before? If they are worth $180K+, was Ann Barr not worth any more than she was paid? Ann Barr should be filing a law suit as fast as her fingers can sign the papers. I do believe she might win it.While this next comment may be "beside the point", NO teacher or any other school employee that I know has ever been able to negotiate a salary. What they earn increases because they have stayed the course.

Wonders really DON'T ever cease, do they.

FYI to everyone about the AP/IB coordinator. Ann Barr applied for a grant for that position before she retired. She hired Ashley, a highly qualified candidate for the job (I guess that explains why her salary is less than the other candidates - I apologize for the sarcasm!!). Unfortunately, it appears she has decided to move on to other things as indicated by the vacancy posted on the GCS employment search page.

Jack for school board!!

Jack for school board!!

Thank you for the vote of confidence, Anon, but I don't think that's me. My political saavy about matches my tact . . . which is to say very little. I appreciate your support, though.

RE: comments about FD parents knowing within first few weeks of school. When I contacted the PF for Ferndale and told the PF that my child's schedule was not correct, an immediate check was done on the students' schedules, according to the Pf. When the PF saw what had happened, the PF contacted the FD principal to ask about the scheduling, knowing that the PF had submitted several possible schedules that would've been in compliance. The response from the principal was basically that the changing of schedules for compliance to the AL plan was not going to happen. The PF then referred it to the Franklin Blvd. leadership team of Dr. Fleming and Ms. Timmons, which turned into absolutely nothing. When I spoke with these two folks, I received nothing: no air of concern and no plan of action. That's all I know, except that although my child loved the 6th grade teacher, academically, the year was a wash.

From the Rhino

No Easy Fix For Advanced Mess


by Paul Clark
Staff Writer write the author

July 24, 2008
The Guilford County Schools Advanced Learning Department, which is supposed to provide advanced education to the brightest students in Guilford County schools, is in chaos after a mass exodus of its staff and is in danger of being unable to provide state mandated services to those students in the 2008-2009 school year, according to school board members, school employees and parents familiar with the program.

The Advanced Learning Department, long the Advanced Learners Department, provides accelerated teaching mandated by the state, and by the school system's Advanced Learner Plan, last approved by the Guilford County Board of Education in June 2007 and since approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The department was run for the last nine years by Ann Barr, a much lauded advanced learning specialist with 31 years' experience in such programs, who retired in April 2007. Barr still works training advanced learning teachers in a joint venture between Guilford County Schools and High Point University.

Sources familiar with the department say its decline began with the departure of Barr, while at the same time then-Superintendent Terry Grier promoted and expanded the administrative staff of the program, something he declined to do during Barr's tenure. Barr's title was coordinator of advanced learner education, and she never made more than $80,000 a year. Grier replaced Barr with an executive director, a director and a grant coordinator, making a total of $245,000.

Grier brought in, in June 2007, as executive director of the department, Jane Fleming, who was hired as part of a package deal with her husband, Kevin, the incoming principal of Grimsley High School. The Flemings were hired from Maryland, where Kevin Fleming was principal of Fallston High School in Bel Air, and Jane worked for the Maryland State Department of Education. Kevin Fleming served as principal of Grimsley for a year, then was transferred last month to become principal of the Middle College at GTCC-Greensboro. Jane Fleming's salary last year was $97,500; Kevin Fleming's was $125,000.

Grier and then Chief of Staff Eric Becoats brought in as director, or Jane Fleming's second-in-command, Lise Timmons, at a salary of $86,000. They added, as the third-ranking person in the office, a coordinator for the advanced placement/International Baccalaureate program, Ashley Morrison, at a salary of $61,000. Morrison is leaving the department next year to return to Grimsley High School, where she worked before taking the job.

The hiring of the Flemings mirrors Guilford County Schools' hiring of other couples; Eric Becoats and his wife, Jocelyn, were hired in a similar package deal. Jocelyn Becoats is the school system's middle school officer of curriculum and instruction.

Neither Jane Fleming nor Timmons, when hired, had the qualifications required of a coordinator in the Advanced Learner Plan. The plan requires the coordinator (the top administrator position before the creation of the executive director position) to have a state certification in gifted education and five to seven years' experience working with gifted students as an administrator or teacher. School board members say they made no exception to the requirements for either Jane Fleming or Timmons.

Jane Fleming refused to be interviewed for this story, but provided a written response in which she said she and Timmons earned their advanced learning certification in June 2008, and that Timmons has worked in the advanced learning field. Fleming also has a doctorate in administration and state school leadership certification.

Jane Fleming said, "While neither position description required AIG [academically or intellectually gifted] certification, Ms. Timmons and I decided to be proactive and earn that certification." The school system has not posted job descriptions for the new positions, but the lower position of coordinator did require certification.

"It was brought to my attention that members of the community have questioned my personal commitment to advanced learners," Jane Fleming said. "Professionally and personally, this department has demonstrated its commitment and passion for AL children with each of our initiatives – some directly in response to concerns by our parents."

What happened after Jane Fleming was hired depends on whom you ask.

Some school board members and some employees of the program described it, under Barr, as one of the success stories of Grier's tenure, a program that became a national model for similar programs. They described Jane Fleming as unfamiliar with advanced learning, abrasive and unwilling to learn the basic mechanisms used to provide services to gifted students. They said the program, although not a priority of Grier's administration, was popular with parents of advanced students.

Jane Fleming, in a public interview last month, said parents had been very unhappy with the program and that it needed improvement.

What's not in dispute is that when Barr left the department in April 2007, it employed eight program facilitators – administrators, many with years of experience, who worked with principals and teachers to identify and track gifted students and to arrange accelerated education for them. By the end of 2007, that number had dropped to two. Most of the program facilitators had left, some citing unhappiness with the change in leadership and with what they saw as an unraveling of the department at the hands of an administration that did not support it. The department has since added two new program facilitators.

Jane Fleming attributed the exodus of program facilitators to circumstances unique to each individual, including a retirement, two program facilitators moving to be near spouses when their homes were sold, a promotion, and three accepting other jobs in Guilford County Schools. She attributed those three job changes to family, school and professional concerns. Two of the employees on Jane Fleming's list, however, told The Rhino Times that they left because they considered Jane Fleming hostile to the department's mission and because the department was rapidly declining, but that they had not left for the nominal reasons Jane Fleming listed.

Since she was hired, Jane Fleming has completely reorganized the department, in which program facilitators had been assigned to one level, such as elementary school or middle and high school. Jane Fleming made every program facilitator, in theory, responsible for every grade from kindergarten to high school seniors, something educators with long experience in advanced learning say is not practical.

The exodus of administrators was accompanied by what one educator referred to as a "parent uprising" at Ferndale Middle School, where parents said former Principal Lori Garrison had watered down the program by refusing to group advanced students together for weekly accelerated classes in reading and math, as required by the plan. Garrison, in response, described parents as resistant to having students of color in their children's classes and as attempting to limit classes to students from their own social circles and their own neighborhoods.

Oct. 4, 2007 letter to the editor

Workers at the school appealed the issue to Jane Fleming, who supported Garrison and sent an email to principals to that effect. Jane Fleming's email prompted an anonymous letter from a teacher to the editor of The Rhino Times, published on Oct. 4, 2007, accusing Fleming of substituting her own agenda for that of the school board and the state, and asking whether or not she had been hired by Grier to dismantle the advanced learning program.

Sources familiar with the department said the letter to the editor was the last straw that broke the already fracturing department, resulting in frantic efforts by Jane Fleming to discover and punish the letter's author, and a series of escalating mutual recriminations that led to the exit of some of the remaining program facilitators.

People inside the department and Guilford County Schools said Jane Fleming tried to get access to employee email accounts, and the hard drive of at least one employee, in an effort to discover who wrote the letter to the editor. Jane Fleming said she didn't.

"I did ask staff members to provide passwords to my support staff in the event of an emergency," Jane Fleming said. "This was a customary practice in my previous leadership position. I was later told that this was against GCS policy; consequently, it was not done."

After the initial Ferndale brouhaha, Jane Fleming and then Chief Academic Officer Mack McCary met with parents at the school in an attempt to placate them. Parents said McCary assured parents that Garrison and Jane Fleming's policies were not harbingers of a greater shift away from providing advanced learning services. Garrison has since left Ferndale, and the uprising there is remembered mostly as an exemplar of a larger conflict between forces in Guilford County Schools that have diametrically opposed views of the Advanced Learning Department.

One side sees the program as, if not exactly racist, at least suspect of being elitist, because it focuses attention and resources on advanced, often upper-income students at a time when most of the schools' focus is on improving the grades and test scores of low-performing students, many of whom are minority students and from low-income families. "Close the gap, close the gap, close the gap," was the rhythmic way one educator described the current mandate. But about 40 percent of the advanced learning students at Ferndale were minority students.

The other sees students who the school system also has a mandate to serve being shortchanged by blind adherence to that mandate, and obsession with the needs of low-performing students. The state requires school systems to have advanced learning, or "academically and intellectually gifted" programs, and pays Guilford County Schools extra for advanced education for 4 percent of the school system's students. The advanced learning program includes an estimated 12 percent of Guilford County Schools students, and the school system picks up the tab for the other 8 percent.

That conflict is reflected in the change of the department's name from the Advanced Learners Department to the Advanced Learning Department – to avoid, according to those familiar with the program, the suggestion that there are such things as advanced learners. In the words of a speaker at a recent school board meeting, in a statistically unsound, unironic and probably unintended echo of Garrison Keillor, 100 percent of the children in Guilford County are above average.

"Dr. Grier would have liked to have totally changed the criteria, so everybody was gifted," one former member of the department said.

Some of the criteria for advanced learning students were weakened in the three-year Advanced Learner Plan last approved by the school board; the most recent plan dropped the required grade for students to get "strong needs" advanced instruction – the middle of three levels of advanced learning help – from an "A" to a "B."

The internecine warfare in the Advanced Learning Department could be considered a personality driven conflict in a department with long working hours and administrative pressure from above, were it not for two things: insiders say the department is in real danger of being unable to provide state mandated services to advanced students this fall, and the dispute has boiled up to the school board, where some members say they are going to demand an accounting of what's happened in the department during the last year.

The concerns over the provision of services focus on the department's process for identifying and tracking advanced learners, which included end-of-grade testing, grades, observation by teachers and program facilitators and portfolios submitted by students. Data on those criteria were fed into a database that, until the exodus of the department's staff, was maintained by program facilitators. After the exodus, it was turned over to the information technology staff headed by Chief Information and Special Services Officer Terrence Young.

Sources inside the department say Young's staff certainly has the skill to run a database of 10,000 names, but that the labor intensive process of identifying potentially advanced students and entering them in the database has broken down, and predict Guilford County Schools will have lost track of current advanced learning students, or at least failed to identify many new ones, by the time school starts.

Jane Fleming said the old database was actually a collection of spreadsheets, some on desktop computers, that was incompatible with the school system's main student-records database and was "rife with errors."

She said she worked with Young and other staff members to create a new database that is compatible with the main system, can electronically import data such as test scores, and has limited access to maintain data integrity. She said, "The database is still being refined, but at the last audit, only about two errors were found for over 10,000 student records."

School board member Garth Hebert said, flatly, "I'm told they have no database."

Only the advent of the new school year will show which prediction about the Advanced Learning Department's tracking system and database is accurate. But some educators say Jane Fleming has virtually courted conflict with the school board, her ultimate employers, by telling educators she intends to rewrite the Advanced Learner Plan, which was approved by the board and the state and will not be up for reconsideration until 2010. Jane Fleming said she has supported the plan as written and that a recent review of the program will result in all cases of noncompliance with it being fixed before school begins.

School board member Darlene Garrett said she will ask for a complete review of the department soon after school starts in August. She said she fears that Jane Fleming does not have enough experience in advanced learning to properly lead the department.

"We had all these bright people in the department who already knew the plan," Garrett said. "It could have been a seamless transition from Ann Barr, who was phenomenal. But it hasn't worked that way."

Garrett said she regrets the loss of the years of experience among the staff members, and fears advanced students are slipping through the cracks and will not be recovered. She said the chaos in the department was too complete to be accidental.

"I think it does make some sense that there must have been someone in authority, which must be Dr. Grier, who didn't value that program," Garrett said. "I wish he were here ... well, no, I don't wish he were here, but I'd like to ask him."

Jane Fleming said she is unaware of any concerns that the department will not be able to provide services this fall. She said her department will offer the same services and will be able to improve the quality of those services.

School board member Amos Quick, who, as the school board's liaison with the Advanced Learning Department, helped rewrite the plan, and is perhaps best situated to understand the department's problems, said he will meet with Jane Fleming in the next two weeks to learn more about the situation in her department. He said he has heard complaints from parents that the department is slipping in its mission to help advanced students. He also said he has heard warnings that the tracking database is no longer being maintained.

Quick said the department, and the plan, should remain firmly under school board control.

"Any dramatic changes in the program will of course have to have board approval," Quick said. "The board's position is that we have a plan in place. Until such time as the board changes it by official act, that's what we have."

Quick said he's not aware of any movement among school board members to alter the plan. Jane Fleming said she looks forward to meeting with any concerned school board members.

Quick said he thinks advanced learning departments nationwide are probably missing students who would be well qualified to take advantage of their services and may need to find new methods to identify and serve students.

Hebert, who has two children being served by the Advanced Learning Department, said its employees are dropping like flies.

"It's almost like it's intentionally being taken apart," Hebert said. "It appears to be an intentional destruction of the AL Department. I think Terry [Grier] just sabotaged it."

Hebert said the result of the department's disintegration has been noted in recent interviews by candidates to take the superintendent's job now shared by interim Co-superintendents Eric Becoats and Sharon Ozment.

Hebert said, "They've already seen the statistics, and they've seen that our gifted kids aren't doing as well as the state average."

Thanks for the post from the Rhino Times- this answered all my questions about the demise of the AL Dept. in GSC. NON QUALIFIED AND OVER PAID DIRECTORS - How nice that they received certification only the end of this year. What is wrong with this picture- businesses are not run this way. Why did the board not know this was going on within the department? Grier pulled a big one here and evidently pulled one over on the board. It is obvious that they did not intend to follow the board plan. Who knows what will happen this year with so many fine people jumping ship. They were more qualified than their superiors.WHAT A FINE MESS

Anon said:
Just saw today's comment re: Ferndale MS. The pro facilitator there was contacted by several parents as soon as the schedules were mailed home. The Pro Facilitator did a random check and then a detailed check of the schedules for the incoming 6th graders. When the PF discovered how the scheduling had been done and that none of the choices the PF had given that would all have fulfilled both the spirit and the letter of the AL plan had been adopted, the PF asked the principal about it. The principal basically responded that she was NOT going to group students that way. When the PF notified Fleming and Timmons, they basically "sided" with the principal. When I contacted Fleming and Timmons, I got NOWHERE. My sixth grader was one of these students who was improperly scheduled. He basically sat in his reg education class with15 non-AL students and 4 other students who were AL in either reading or math and they just had to keep themselves busy. Between the behavior problems and the learning challenges of the many learning levels in the classroom, my child didn't stand a chance to getting any meaningful instruction. He had a wonderful teacher, whom we love; but challenge? not once; not even once. As the whole issue unfolded, Fleming, Grier and the principal tried to blame the PF for the scheduling fiasco. I don't believe THAT for even one second, and Fleming and Garrison showed their colors quite well. I know all of this because this was the third child I had to go through Ferndale; each child had unique circumstances and I contacted the same PF for each child....in two of the three cases, the situation was rectified almost within the hour. Of course, the PF couldn't rectify my last one who is now at Ferndale, because Garrison was allowed to simply "dismiss" the AL plan because it did not suit her. Dr. Garrison had some strong points; I just sorta forgot what they were through this experience.

Your bloggers are correct in that the program review is all smoke and mirrors. The way the PF explained it to me was that impacting classroom instruction was quite challenging for the AL department, partly because of lmtd. numbers of staff. The MS and HS PF's had to focus on the nuts & bolts of not letting students fall through the cracks and to focus on SCHEDULING as the AL plan directs so that at least these students would have the advantage of peer group intellectual stimulation.

Cheers to all of you. I tell you all again....if you have a middle school AL student, you'd better watch carefully when the schedule is mailed to your house. This is especially true for rising 6th graders. If your child was not AL in years past, but had an 85th percentile or above and "A" or "B" average in Math for '08 EOG...you'll want to inquire regarding his/her schedule. I have four children....with 3 having been through the AL program, I can quote you the guidelines pretty quickly!!!! :)

My last comment.....I promise. The Bright Idea program in GCS was spearheaded by Ann Barr and one of the recently resigned Pro Facilitators. It is an exceptional program; one of our children was part of that in a different NC school system. With the new AL "leadership", however, it basically became a defunct program. The same is true for the Singapore Math Program. The PF's this year had all sorts of tasks assigned, and this program review is an example, but they probably had the least impact on the actual AL program and the AL STUDENT of any year since merger. That's what can happen when people come on board as package deals...principal of a HS, spouse needs a job, a new job title and attractive salary are created just for spouse, regardless of the lack of qualifications, etc ...... and the director? let's just don't even go there.

Posted on July 22, 2008 12:59 AM

Unless something has changed in Guilford County, the principal has complete control over the schedule, and which teachers teach what subjects and grade levels. Unless something has changed, a principal can assign a provisionally licensed teacher to teach an AL class and assign an experienced, successful, teacher with AL certification to teach only basic level content. Unless something has changed, the AL Program Coordinator can make recommendations, but the principal controls what happens in his or her school.

Unless something has changed in Guilford County, the principal has complete control over the schedule, and which teachers teach what subjects and grade levels. Unless something has changed, a principal can assign a provisionally licensed teacher to teach an AL class and assign an experienced, successful, teacher with AL certification to teach only basic level content. Unless something has changed, the AL Program Coordinator can make recommendations, but the principal controls what happens in his or her school.

To the Ferndale parent,

I have a child at Southwest Middle. While there is some amount of differentiation, there isn't much.

Her 6th grade year last year was also a wash. She learned NOTHING.

Re: principal having control over schedule. I understood from two sources that the plan was expected to be followed. Principal who did not do so...and I know there have been others prior to the FD situation....did so either under the radar or because they had received a "special dispensation" from Grier to NOT follow the plan. This happened at Kiser and probably some others. However, I understood that each PF checked the schedules for AL students in each of their assigned middle schools to be sure they were properly scheduled and if they were not, it was the PF's responsibility to
do what the pf could do to get the scheduling correct according to the PLAN. This particular PF did this at all of the schools assigned to this PF because I have friends who had children at other schools who knew it was done; sometimes it didn't all shake out like the PF or parent wanted it, but the schedules were checked. I had a principal tell me that they received both the AL student list and a coversheet from Ann Barr each year around July 1 regarding HOW the plan says these students are to be scheduled.

I hope the fall goes well. I want to believe that Fleming and Timmons want this program to do well, but my experience last year causes me to question their commitment, regardless of the JF quote from the Rhino article. I just want to say,"two more years in middle school....if I can just make it two more years!"

The PF at Ferndale did all she could to adjust the schedule but was hampered by the principal and central office. The Ferndale fiasco was all part of the new philosophy of the AL Director and Principal at Ferndale.

We have a new principal at Ferndale, he has told me of his support for AL and I believe him. Those parents there will let me know if there isn’t any, I trust them.

If more parents would email us of their problems they can be addressed as Ferndale showed, enough parents and we have a chance. I have already heard a few other school complaints, but need more to determine a pattern. Darlene and I take this very seriously!

Garth

It's funny that when Mrs. Barr was here people complained about her. Now the new people have come in, you are complaining about them. You expect them to make major changes in 1 year. I have an AL Child in "middle school" and I like the services that she is receiving at Kernodle. When there was a problem, and I had an issue with my childs being in the wrong classes, I contacted the AL Department and they fixed it immediately. Maybe if you all were nicer, you could get better service.

No major problems Garth---try fixing another area, maybe school board.

Mr Kernoodle.

You will have no problems at Kernoodle.

Try being at a more mixed school like Aycock, Ferndale, Guilford Middle.

Thankyou for your support garth!

;-)

Correctly stated. The AL department PF for Kernodle probably still had some impact there; and the principal there likely retained a commitment to the plan. However, Kernodle is hardly a school that has a diverse population so neither the questions nor the answers are the same for Kernodle & any of the city schools of High Point and Greensboro. These city schools represent huge challenges for everyone associated with them and schools like Kernodle, Northwestern Mid and Northern Mid could not possibly understand these challenges, although I do not doubt the sincerity of any attempts made to understand.

Kernodle probably didn't have more than a handful of questions even posed from parents to JF because the PRINCIPAL was committed to the plan and any errors were easily rectified because the PRINCIPAL was willing to do so. Apparently, this was not the case at FD.

To Kernodle -
Until your child sits in one of the "other" middle schools in GCS, please don't complain. You are fortunate that your child attends the very best middle school in this county. If we were only half as lucky.................

Also, at Kernodle the school leadership did not change annually. Mr. Burns was there for 6 consecutive years. I think he was moved this year - will be interesting to see what happens. Also, the PF for Kernodle was the "expert" PF in terms of middle schools. Now, I believe, she has retired as well.

I hear that the curriculum at Kernodle is very challenging.

I know of one teacher who took her son out of there because he could not cope.

Those kids are all being pushed and challenged.

If you have good AL defend it! Kernodle has the most AL certified teachers of any school in district! You are at the right place for AL, Northwest Middle would be the other great haven, I have good reason to believe that the dismemberment of AL is intentional and supported by some board members behind the scenes! Flemming may just be scape goat, I accept all sacrifices and keep on trucking till I get the real meat! Sacred Cow = Poor Hamburger

To Anon and Ferndale Parent (and others):

Yes, we have had the same principal for several years. But it is because we don't criticize him on blogs. I am happy to be at Kernodle, there is a good staff but we do have a new principal this year. But I talked to him and he has already met with people from the AL Department. Again, if you were nicer, maybe your principal would speak on your behalf to the AL Department too.

Again, people complained about Mrs. Barr and she was doing a good job, but because of complaints I think she left. Now you complain about these people and if they leave then you will complain about the next people... That is why there has been a lot of change at certain places. If you support who you have, they will stay.

By the way, there are more people pleased with the services of the AL Department in Middle School that I know of. I met a few parents from Aycock, Kiser, Lincoln and Penn Griffin at that AL Parent Workshop they held at Grimsley this year. No one seemed to be as upset and uninformed as you guys. My secretary has a moderate student at Mendenhall and when the parents wanted more differentiation in science at that school--that Exec. Director and Director held a meeting and workshop to assist the school. Things have gotten better. So again I think you should get your facts straight and take advantage of the stuff they are putting out. My secretary also met some PFF from the AL Department who said she will be with the child at Mendenhall and also help her at Page. That is something that I wasn't aware of. Either way if you all would take time to meet some other people and stop being so negative, then you may get more stuff at your school.

To Anon and Ferndale Parent (and others):

Yes, we have had the same principal for several years. But it is because we don't criticize him on blogs. I am happy to be at Kernodle, there is a good staff but we do have a new principal this year. But I talked to him and he has already met with people from the AL Department. Again, if you were nicer, maybe your principal would speak on your behalf to the AL Department too.

Again, people complained about Mrs. Barr and she was doing a good job, but because of complaints I think she left. Now you complain about these people and if they leave then you will complain about the next people... That is why there has been a lot of change at certain places. If you support who you have, they will stay.

By the way, there are more people pleased with the services of the AL Department in Middle School that I know of. I met a few parents from Aycock, Kiser, Lincoln and Penn Griffin at that AL Parent Workshop they held at Grimsley this year. No one seemed to be as upset and uninformed as you guys. My secretary has a moderate student at Mendenhall and when the parents wanted more differentiation in science at that school--that Exec. Director and Director held a meeting and workshop to assist the school. Things have gotten better. So again I think you should get your facts straight and take advantage of the stuff they are putting out. My secretary also met some PFF from the AL Department who said she will be with the child at Mendenhall and also help her at Page. That is something that I wasn't aware of. Either way if you all would take time to meet some other people and stop being so negative, then you may get more stuff at your school.

Yes, the PF at Kernodle was on top of it all. After the second MS/HS PF left in January, the poor PF suffered through the rest of the year as the ONLY MS/HS PF who could possibly understand all of the details of the program, scheduling, etc. She about killed herself working: all day and all night, so I understand. I don't believe she would have left GCS had it not been for the events that occurred in the department; her husband would have looked for a new job in this area if she had not been dying (literally and figuratively) under the workload.

And this is this anon's last statement on these subjects. I believe it is completely "worn out".
So may 08-09 be a great year for all of the GCS students and may the AL program get stronger and better than ever and most of all, I hope that all is smooth sailing for these students regarding schedules for the fall. That will be good for everyone, JF not withstanding, of course!!!

To Mr. Frankly Fred: If you had been where I was and other parents were-- trying to follow the chain of command, if you will, and trying to generate some concern with the FD principal and then through the central office personnel in a futile attempt to just get them to listen and to take us FD parents seriously, you'd know why we sound so "mean". I can tell you that I didn't start out that way. We simply asked questions but we could not get any focus from the principal, AL supervisory folks, Dr. McCary, Dr. Grier...frankly, we couldn't get any help from anyone. The meeting that was held at FD with these folks and us parents was interesting. We had to submit all of our questions in writing to Fleming; when those questions were "answered", we were not allowed to ask any other questions. Fleming closed the meeting immediately by saying, "I have taken up enough of your valuable time." and that was the end of it. I had heard many wondeful things about Mr. Johnson at Kernodle; you are right that not having the change in principal every year or two helps. I heard a FD teacher say that as of last year, he was "training" his 15th and 16th new administrators in 5 years. and when I sat & made the list, this teacher was correct. The changes in administration were so frequent, FD was sent several administrators who had NO middle school experience, some with NO principal's experience at all and some who had no teaching experience at any level, and some who fell into all of these categories, I as a parent did sometimes feel that Ferndale was being constantly set up for failure. FD desperately needed consistency, experience, commitment and someone who could build FD into a place that ALL parents could believe in and would support. and yes, I do think that that was possible. The students at FD are not stupid nor incapable. But they were the brunt of the central office's commitment to destabilization of school communities through the fruit-basket turnover that was an annual event; Oh no, it might not have been intentional, but wouldn't you think that Dr. Grier would think this through and know that this population deserves to have these traits in a principal. Isn't that what a leader is supposed to do? How do you suppose Kernodle was able to keep Mr. Johnson? You were able to keep him for 6 years, a feat nearly unheralded in GCS. Kernodle's students have lots of home support that helps to create a wondeful learning environment; I am happy for that school. But don't you think our FD deserves the same kind of consideration, realizing that it takes time for school administrators to build community support for their efforts and that moving principals so often places a school population that already has many fragile students in greater danger still?

I'm sorry for sounding so "mean"; but my friend, you have NO IDEA what we as parents experienced last year just to try to get compliance with the plan...which is what you had, but we could not get. I look forward to the new principal at FD and to the commitment to this population and all of the 25 or so sub-groups (AYP). EVERY student deserves not to be "left behind".

I know Ann Barr personally; she left because she was working all the time; I mean all the time; Day, night and weekends; she worked and worked and worked and worked. after awhile, a person just cannot work any more and it becomes crystal clear that the folks in charge have little respect for you (her) until/unless they wanted something from her. You simply would not believe what new assignment Dr. Grier would give her in April or May and tell her to "make this happen by July". The summer camps for high school student is but one of several examples. Of course, some folks complained about her; no one who is in a position of leadership would expect everyone to automatically love everything they do, but she could not have worked any harder or smarter because of the sheer number of tasks that she was given. And remember, financially, she was worth only 1/3 of what the three present AL administrative positions are being paid. In spite of the fact that the good doctor sent her all over the country to make speeches about the AL program (AP, IB, all of those special programs especially), the doctor did not value her, her experience, her expertise, her loyalty to the department, to the school system and to all of the GCS students; Because of these traits, she stayed through some trying times, she was concerned about the future of the department and her loyalty kept her at that job longer than she probably should have stayed, when all factors are weighed. I know that Ann wanted to have a life to enjoy again and she knew she could not stay forever regardless of the sometimes very difficult conditions of her job.

Sorry Freddy but there is NO way that you can compare your Kernodle experience to others.

You are mingling with the privelidged. The richest of the richest in Greensboro.

When Kernodle opened many parents took their kids out of private school because they knew this.

Sorry buddy but dont try it. Dont even go there.

Freddy,

The comment about your principal staying because you dont critisize him on blogs was pushing it a bit wasn't it?

People on this blog dont generally do that.

Freddy, you are right that we should all be nice; we should. I hope you never have to try to get the attention of folks who are turning their head to try NOT to hear what is being said when the subject is your child's WHOLE school year, or his health, or a grade on a test...or a mix-up on his school absentee record....or any number of issues that will concern you as a parent. Do you have a suggestion as to how FD parents might have done this differently? What recourse did FD parents have if they followed the chain from pf to principal to AL execs and J. Becoats/Lewis Ferebee, on to McCary and to Grier and still the issue remained unresolved and received very little attention and even less concern from the very folks that are supposed to see that the plan is followed?

Perhaps a more effective avenue would have been to go to the RHINO TIMES; I suspect they would have printed the story with a headline similar to this. "FD principal won't follow AL plan; AL dept. won't make her."

Here ia a letter to the Edotor of the Rhino late 2007..

Deteriorating school system

I've been a teacher in Guilford County a long time. I've seen five superintendents come and go and it seems with each successive superintendent, our school system deteriorates just a little more.

I remember attending a meeting in 1980 when the superintendent told us: "You are the new blood in this school system. I want you to rock the boat. Tell me what you see that isn't working and I promise I'll at least listen to you and maybe even make some changes." He actually meant what he said.

I cannot imagine Terry Grier saying something like this. A new teacher, or a veteran teacher for that matter, would be out of his or her mind for voicing a contrary opinion to Grier's agendas.

With this in mind, I cannot help but comment on a recent email sent out by Dr. Jane Fleming, the new director of advanced learning (AL) in Guilford County.

In her email to principals, she mentions moving to an "all inclusive classroom" for advanced learners. She also tells principals that "direct AL services will not be affected this school year."

If I'm reading this correctly, Fleming wants to halt direct pull-out services for advanced learners.

The timing of her planned changes for next year strikes me as a little odd when one considers the recent evaluation done on the advanced learner program by Dr. Zhang and the AL steering committee. The evaluation pointed out what a success our AL program is and should be expanded.

The AL steering committee consisted of professional educators, administrators, a school board member and other interested citizens.

The AL program in Guilford County is one of the few programs that actually works in our school system. Now the current AL director, Dr. Fleming, wants to change the program to an inclusive model. This means there will no longer be direct services to those children identified as gifted. Under Fleming's new plan for gifted, there will be no identification of gifted students at all. I guess all students will now be the same.

Will the parents of gifted students really support Fleming's new plan for gifted students in Guilford County? I doubt it.

Fleming's new plan begs the question, "How does one person's personal agenda trump the Guilford County school board and the NC Department of Public Instruction approved plan for gifted students in Guilford County?"

One has to ask if Fleming was hired by Grier to dismantle the very successful AL program. If so, then perhaps Grier needs to be held accountable by his bosses – our elected school board.

Should we be asking the important question as to whether or not our school board members care about our gifted students? If they let Fleming have her way, then in my opinion, they are not representing all of their constituents and are certainly not taking care of all students in this school system.

If you have a child who is in the AL program, now is the time for you to get involved and make your opinions known to your board members before Fleming quietly slips this new idea into our schools before we have time to react.

Fleming has decided to neglect the needs of gifted students in our school system. At the very least, all concerned should be asking questions of our school board and Dr. Fleming about this planned change for AL next year. And if Fleming is going to make these changes, then she should at least justify how her plan better meets the needs of gifted students in our school system. Will the school system consider the opinions of parents and teachers of the gifted? I know they don't care about what the teachers have to say, but maybe they will listen if enough parents speak out.

Maybe it's time to rock the boat a little.

Anonymous
October 04, 2007

Humm

Something smells.

Sources familiar with the AL department said the letter to the editor was the last straw that broke the already fracturing department, resulting in frantic efforts by Jane Fleming to discover and punish the letter's author, and a series of escalating mutual recriminations that led to the exit of some of the remaining program facilitators.

People inside the department and Guilford County Schools said Jane Fleming tried to get access to employee email accounts, and the hard drive of at least one employee, in an effort to discover who wrote the letter to the editor. Jane Fleming said she didn't.

"I did ask staff members to provide passwords to my support staff in the event of an emergency," Jane Fleming said. "This was a customary practice in my previous leadership position. I was later told that this was against GCS policy; consequently, it was not done."

As a parent of a 6th grader at Ferndale I contacted the school math teacher to check on my child's schedule. It was within the first 2 weeks of school and I felt something was wrong. I simply ask if the class was an AL math class. The teacher told me they had been advised by the principal not to discuss any AL situations with parents. Since when is the education of our children a secret. That was just the beginning of the secretive first few months at Ferndale. I was also told by the Guidance Counselor that the principal refused to make Ferndale classrooms into neighborhood setting and that the classes would stay as they were. The Strong and VG AL students were mixed intially with low 2 , 3 and 4. The Guidance Counselor told me that Central Office would back the principal and supported her placement. A do not think the principal was acting on her own agenda.

As a parent of a 6th grader at Ferndale I contacted the school math teacher to check on my child's schedule. It was within the first 2 weeks of school and I felt something was wrong. I simply ask if the class was an AL math class. The teacher told me they had been advised by the principal not to discuss any AL situations with parents. Since when is the education of our children a secret. That was just the beginning of the secretive first few months at Ferndale. I was also told by the Guidance Counselor that the principal refused to make Ferndale classrooms into neighborhood setting and that the classes would stay as they were. The Strong and VG AL students were mixed intially with low 2 , 3 and 4. The Guidance Counselor told me that Central Office would back the principal and supported her placement. I do not think the principal was acting on her own agenda.

As a parent of a 6th grader at Ferndale I contacted the school math teacher to check on my child's schedule. It was within the first 2 weeks of school and I felt something was wrong. I simply ask if the class was an AL math class. The teacher told me they had been advised by the principal not to discuss any AL situations with parents. Since when is the education of our children a secret. That was just the beginning of the secretive first few months at Ferndale. I was also told by the Guidance Counselor that the principal refused to make Ferndale classrooms into neighborhood setting and that the classes would stay as they were. The Strong and VG AL students were mixed intially with low 2 , 3 and 4. The Guidance Counselor told me that Central Office would back the principal and supported her placement. I do not think the principal was acting on her own agenda.

I would like to say I have spoken with the new Ferndale principal and he supports and believes in the AL program and the board approved AL plan. He assured me that the students would be placed according to the plan.
My hope is that Ferndale will continue to make progress and all children will be challenged and make progress. I believe Ferndale has come a long way and now has some wonderful teachers, staff and a great parent base. But I do think we must continue to push for a strong AL program and be leery of Jane Fleming and her agenda and philosophies.

Looking forward to a better year

Sorry for the duplication of posting.

I wish I believed that the principal was not acting on her own agenda. I could give you several reasons why I think that she was acting on her own (although she may have had this approved by the doctor; who knows?), but you know, I am tired and I'll bet y'all out there are also tired. I just want next year's classes to be "done right", although the situation will not ever be "rectified" because the students basically had a year to develop serious laziness as they floated through the school year. and no way exists for the students to reclaim that learning time. So I am going to think positively and perhaps with all of this really bad publicity, any concerns with schedules will be addressed rather than having them set aside, ignored, placated, trivialized and demeaned.

“Vigilance, constant vigilance” Nepotism must stop in our school leadership. If there is a presumption of a honeymoon for the new super FORGET IT! If members of this Board playing behind the scenes intend to dismantle AL as we know it, I will pull out all stops. AL must go forward, not in reverse. We must aim for academic excellence in all children and address the achievement gap at the same time. The easy way out is not acceptable any longer and if I must I will be the bitter pill!

Rhino reporter held his pencil back so to speak…His sources were impeccable and his confidentiality great. Some of the best information as to the manipulation and corruption of the system was held back to protect the identity of his sources. Flemming’s “coincidental” request for passwords is just the tip of the iceberg. What “professional” would ever request such? Dr. Young advised her not to do this again as it was against policy, I hope my further information on the issue is distorted.

There are individual principals out there who would like to dismantle AL as we know it, others support it, District stated policy is to support it, yet implementation to dismantle it! There are a few Board members left who believe in academic excellence and none who believe in using AL as a tool of segregation within desegregation. We have rigged the system to allow those from less affluent backgrounds easier access to AL program causing a cry of reverse racism. I can argue both sides of this issue all day long and therefore believe it a just compromise.

Fact – we know that strong learners in Math and Language Arts in an environment of similar children will excel! Studies on other subjects have been inconclusive. Some in the public have said I have been quiet too long, maybe correctly so. I have been busy learning, studying and listening to our teachers and administrators to find out why we keep falling down. Also, I have tried to work with fellow Board members and maintain the professional and cordial example of the Board as a whole. One school leader remarked that my comments in the discussion were very sedate and disappointed them.

Someone else remarked that I brought Mo’s wife into the fray. I did not do this, I brought the concept of nepotism into the issue and now people are running for cover. Two teachers working at the same school does not constitute nepotism in this environment. Two administrators does in my view. I worked on a horse ranch with 150 horses, I know equine fecal material handling well. I also learned that when handling such materials the odor and material tend to rub off on the handler. Bathing and clean clothes might help, but it is hard to get oneself truly rid of the stench. Careful, those gloves I threw down cover some very smelly things, some hands are clean and others…,well it is hard to work on a ranch and not have the smell attach itself.

Now the gloves are down, they can quietly be ignored and I may pick them up… Those who may construe this as applying to you, it might, but believe me Isaiah’s dualistic and trilistic prophecy and innuendo have some competition with this writing.

Mrs. Green was not and never has been a target of my ire, neighboring districts would love to have a professional of her stature and so would Guilford, but actions of prior nepotistic Endeavour’s has tainted the pot in my view and the sooner we clean up this smelly issue the better. I look forward to having her and her children here in our schools, I am sure such a great family will be a wonderful addition to our community. A man that speaks as highly of his wife as Mo does, is well and truly married, a committed father and potentially a great leader. Anyplace is blessed by the presence of such a family.

As for Mo, the man speaks my language, open transparent communication, no retribution for telling the truth, trust, integrity; with this great men are founded. If he does practice what he preaches we will work well together. I truly pray for his success, he needs all our prayers.

Garth I agree with you!

If Mo Greens wife needs to employeed in GCS as part of the conditions of his employment then it should not happen.

This would NEVER happen in the real world and there are just too many examples of it in GCS. If the school board accepts this as the norm then they must trully take a good look at themselves.
Its wrong, Its nepotism, end of story.

Thankyou for the work you are doing with AL.
The middle school experince for my children has been a disaster.

Very little has been learned so far. We need to EDUCATE!

Good job, Garth; You and others of like mind do have a huge challenge; you must keep a professional, friendly and cordial relationship with the entire board in order to move this system forward. You have stated your position quite well. Thank you for your continuing attempts in both the AL department and and the other many trying issues before you.

Yes, Mr. Green and his family should be a fine addition to the community; if he presented his true self, he will be a breath of fresh air just in terms of his leadership style. Surely we can have a dynamic, energetic super with integrity, honesty and vision to lead in this high profile but well paid position. I pray the board will demand no less. and yes, Mr. Green & family both need and deserve our prayers.

Garth,

I really enjoy you open minded,honest, and free spirited approach to being a School Board member.

You set a fine example for the rest of the school board who keep too much behind closed doors.

Mo's wife should get a job in an adjoining county. He could buy a house close to the county line and the commute would be tolerable. Not only should we not hire here, the professional thing for her and Mo would be to not apply. I hope this will happen.

Good idea Joe and I agree with you and other posters.
If GSC hires his wife then his true salary will be + whatever she makes.

many ex-GCS teachers are already working at Forsyth and commuting.

Not a problem for them.