News-Record.com

We have somebody that is going listen. We dont know what else but he will listen.
Prince offered answers, Green offered to listen/

How dumb are we?

Green talks about excellance. However, he has never experienced it. In 2002, Charlotte-Meck scored 996 on the SATs. We scored 999. Not being specific about his plans may work in his favor but it does not work in the children's favor. What is in the best interest of Education in Guilford County should govern. I would have expected him to have options not a specific plan. The fact that he starts with clear slate instead of ideas that need to be tailored to our situation is a little scarey. It appears to me that he is likeable and wants to be liked. He will be like jello, you will have a hard time getting to do what you want it to do. We are due a good Supt. and he might turn out to be the one.

It might interesting to take a look at the teacher's school supply lists. For example, my granddaughter who will be attending Lincoln Academy this fall, has been asked to have two scientific calculators - one to use at home and the other at school. The one for school use has to be blue. Wonder what educational value blue brings to the process. This seems excessive and I think one of the reasons parents are frustrated with the school system. I tried asking the principal why this was necessary and I don't have a response.

Here is the deal.

The three Black school board members voted for Green because he is Black. Thats all. Because they can.

Kearns voted for him because she votes with the above ALWAYS.

Cookie voted for Green because Alan Duncan did.

Alan did because he plays both sides of the fence. Mostly with the Black board members and Dottie but sometimes with Herbert and Garrett.

His ultimate goal is to look after his special interest groups. He didnt care who got it but in this case he had more to gain by voting with Deena and Co.

Education and qualifications had nothing to do with this result so what can we expect?

More of the same.

No change.
Just more "no we cant".

Robin,

I believe that the Academy at Lincoln supply list indicates a 'blue' calculator to be kept at school to help differentiate the required Texas-Instrument 34 II calculator (which is blue) from other TI calculators. The teacher likely doesn't want the student to wind up with the wrong calculator.

There is a parent supported Yahoo! group for the Academy at Lincoln you can join that may provide some additional, helpful information on the school (membership/Yahoo! ID is required). To request a membership invitation, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/academyatlincoln/ and indicate your grandchilds grade and program.

We can also expect a nice cushy job for his wife.

Afterall this is GCS.

We pass over a highly-credentialed female for a young, inexperienced male. The good old boy network is alive and well--thank you,Alan. One of N&R's editors follows in the tradition by saying that Green seems to be made of "sterner stuff." Sexism at its best.

One school board spoke about Mo's integrity and honestly. I find this offensive. Is she saying Dr. Prince did not have these qualities? Should we pat the BOE on the back because they found someone that was honest? It is amazing how not having experience and not having any ideas of your own can be a desirable quality. What have I missed?

You haven't missed a thing. Since Green doesn't have much experience, people--school board members included--saw what they chose to see in him. During the process, he was a smooth talker, he didn't stated too many firm opinions and he didn't burst anyone's bubble. What's there not to like?

It just doesnt make any sense.

Why in the world would they pick Green?

I guess we can expect a lot of things that were done in Charlotte then.

It doesn't make sense to us as the public. It makes a lot of sense to at least a couple of people on the board.

Keep in mind that Green may only be here for specific purposes that the board--or a few people on the board--are privy to. He may be here to make major cuts in personnel and/or to restructure upper management in GCS. He may be here to make major cuts in programs. He may be here to address the achievement gap in ways that only a black superintendent can. Who knows? Some board members may not even intentionally mean for him to be here long. Companies hire CEOs to accomplish certain tasks (like restructuring companies), and then the CEO resigns because he wants "to spend more time with family" or some other innocuous reason. Then they hire another CEO who doesn't have that baggage. Whatever he does in GCS, Green can claim that he has a "learning curve." It's convenient and perhaps purposely set up that way. He "happens" to know Alan, which is interesting to say the least. I'm not so sure the search firm actually "found" him in the first place.

"But GCS paid $34,000 to find him!" you say.
Thirty-four thousand is a small price to pay someone if GCS recoups it in other ways.
It's also a small price when Green makes major changes that the some board members want.

So, no, it doesn't make any sense. On the other hand it makes a lot of sense. The board has hired a consummate politician for probably some very particular reasons. I predict he is going to make some major changes--under the direction of the school board (or Alan and friends). Then he's onto bigger and better things. It's a win-win for the school board and for Green. Don't get too upset yet. All this may work out in GCS' best interest...or maybe not.

Regardless, none of this is as straightforward as it appears. That's what makes the most sense.

Annonymous,

You give the BOE far too much credit. For them to have a plan, any plan, and then stick to it, is beyond my comprehension. They get tired. In a few months, they have already forgotten what was important. No, they do not have a plan.

Robin -

This is Amos Quick, the Board of Ed. representative for the Academy at Lincoln. Per Mr. Boone, Lincoln's principal, the TI 84-plus is being used for Algebra I and geometry and for certain 6th grade math classes. There is a general supply list on the school's website. If you would email me with specifics about your grandchild's class schedule I can help you further. My email address is quicka@gcsnc.com. Or you can give me a call at (336) 235-0345.

To the others, I appreciate reading your comments regarding our new superintendent. I am encouraged that he will do a fine job leading our schools. Please rest assured that, in my opinion and definitely in my case, no vote was cast for Mr. Green because of his race or his associations.

With the information we had, the majority of the Board felt that he was a better fit for our district at this time. Dr. Prince is a fine person and we were truly grateful to have met and spoken with her about our district.

A good conspiracy theory is hard to beat (see Oliver Stone's success), but in the end there was/is none to be found here.

The success of our district is the most important factor on the minds of our BOE daily. I can appreciate that our opinions are not universally praised. That's part of what makes a great democracy.

God bless.

Amos,
you will find that many of the schools back to school lists are totally out of control. You need so many riduculous things like purple pens, seven 1" binders, kleenex from every child.. etc. This is, of course, becuase schools don't have enough money. If 30 kids bring kleenex, and hand sanitizer, and paper towels and everyone has their own crayons, and colored pencils and highlighters and dry erase markers etc then the school doesn't have to provide them. I even had one teacher ask for 12 dozen pencils... yes 144 pencils. She thought maybe one person would do that and she would have enough for everyone, of course she didn't ask just one parent, she asked everyone. While I know that our teachers spend alot of money in their classrooms some need to rethink their lists. There is no need to have 7 1" binders, sometimes they want a specific color. Get real! Many of our parents can't afford anything at all, the color should not be important, they are tools that should enhance learning, not make a student feel like they don't meet the standards. I have had teacher even give a specific brand because they didn't 'like' the other brands.

I respect your views on our new superintendant, as you have always seemed to be rational and caring. I hope he will do a great job for our school system; however you must realize that most of us have questioned Dr Grier for years and yet the BOE praised him and gave him large raises over the years. He seemed to run the BOE instead of the BOE running the policy. Too many last minute programs, too many 'oh I don't have that info available', to many times there was never an answer to direct questions. It leaves the general public very concerned about the direction that the system is headed.

Please continue to monitor this blog and keep the public informed as much as you can. Open government is essential to getting the public to do their fair share to assist the schools.

to anonymous who said "here's the deal"

what about how Nancy R voted?

"it doesn't make sense to us as the public....he may be here to address the achievement gap in only ways a black superintendent can...."

I totally disagree and find this comment kind of racist.

The only way anyone will reduce the gap is by continuing to dismantle the AL program as we once knew it, keep watering it down, put the high achievers at GC Early Program, keep busing by mixing the numbers at each school. Anyone willing to do this without appearing to do this will lower the gap. You don't have to be black, pink, purple or polka dot to know statistics can be alterned. A lot of money gets you a great statitician. They can dazzle you with endless colored charts and graphs that even a school board member can't understand.

Amos, you are being disingenuous. You can hardly call a small group of board members planning a separate action, without the approval of the rest of the board, a "conspiracy theory." You of all people should know that, what with the bond vote. It's called politics...and yes, board members do it all the time.
Green's appointment flies in the face of logic.
All is not as it seems.

I don't see the achievement gap comment as racist. Women and blacks sometimes see life differently as a result of their lives. People will respond a little differently to them sometimes.

I get really annoyed sometimes because many people think that there is only one minority in this country.

There are a lot of people that come to this country and are discriminated against just because they have a strange English accent.
Mexicans, Bosnians, you name it. Many "Latinos" are on the wrong side of the acheivement gap too.

Amos,
Thanks for your comments and even being a bit patient with some of the things that are said here but I guess that you are used to it with this job that you do.

However, I do believe that there are behind the scenes deals done on the board and there is too much "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" agreements. As someone else mentioned, I was particularly disapointed with your Bond approach especially considering all the money that has been spent at Dudley over the last couple of Bonds.

Very selfish and small minded on your part in my mind.

But in the end thank heavens that conspiracy did not work out.

You are right Mario. A lot of poor people regardless of race are on the other side of the achievement gap too.

It seems that Mr. Green has indicated that his priorities are teacher pay, school climate, and achievement gap. As I recall, the purpose of public schools is to educate all children. Has everyone at GCS lost focus on that fact? Education should be Job One, everything else is a side issue. I would have liked to have seen a hire of a person that said that education of students is their one and only priority.

Charles Davenport had an excellent column last Sunday, and this was the essence of his column. If our schools would get back to the basics of educating all students, rather than worrying about closing the achievement gap, everyone would benefit. Educate all students, and the achievement gap takes care of itself.

Members of the BOE, are you listening? Your have only one reason for being there..E-D-U-C-A-T-E.

"Women and blacks sometimes see life differently as a result of their lives."

That might be true, but it shouldn't come into play when acting as a school superintendent. That's the same as saying the blacks can only educate blacks and women can only educate girls because they see things similarly. That is just wrong, if not racist in its essence. If it was true, then you'd have to segregate your schools and classes to get the "right" teacher for every class.

Different people see things through different lenses. It doesn't mean one person or the other is wrong. It doesn't mean one person is better than another. Different superintendents bring different outlooks and different strengths to the job. We should celebrate that difference, not ignore it. If students--especially black male students--can see Mr. Green (as opposed to Dr. Grier) as a role model then Mr. Green can make a big difference in children's lives. The board was correct in its efforts to look for diversity in leadership.

I don't necessarily think board politics are bad. I did not agree with Amos on the bond vote, but he has a right to caucus with whom he wants and vote how he wants.

Anyone who is on the school board is a politician. You can't survive otherwise. If Alan finagled Green's appointment and he he believes Green is an asset that GCS must have, then Go, Alan. I hope for all the children's sake, he is proven right. We don't have time to waste.

I agree Green's appointment has the earmarks of behind the scenes work.

It does make you wonder--after a nationwide, $34,000
search, we get a superintendent who was a partner in the same firm as Duncan.

Mo being a black role model for kids was probably a big deciding factor for the board but what are they thinking?

Most of these struggling kids have no idea of who or what a Superintendent is.

Its stinks.

Amos,

This Board has a long way to go to earn the trust of Guilford County residents.

The question is does the board really care and really want to change?

Are they really interested. Business as usual needs to go out of the window. More comments on blogs like these and genuine discussion are needed.

The dismantling of the AL program is a definite aim for some members of this board.

The comments about my behavior regarding the bond vote are fair and warranted. Trust me I know that I rightfully deserve to take hits on that misadventure in which I participated. As the vice-chairman of the Board, I should have accepted the board's vote and moved on. I did not and I again apologize.

The BOE was very open and honest with each other regarding the "super" search. We had difficult conversations. We disagreed strongly sometimes. I do not recall there ever being a "bloc" vote for any candidate. That is to say, I don't know of any group of BOE members that said "Let's vote for this person." The decisions were made individually. We analyzed this thing from a variety of angles, but the prevailing sense was that Mr. Green was the best fit for a majority of the Board.

I appreciate one of the anonymous comments who said that this Board has to earn the trust of the county. While I think there is some sense of trust for our BOE, I agree we can earn more.

Part of earning that trust, I think, is to articulate the many positives that happen in our schools for the majority of our children. That cuts across all lines. I would like for us to show this county, for example, the many African American males who are making strides and are achieving. That's not to say that we ignore the need for greater success, but, we need to tell the whole story and not let deficiencies define the district. I firmly believe that we get better by improving on those things that need improvement, but not at the expense of not highlighting those things that are working.

Our AL program has to be examined, as another blogger wrote. We as a BOE are committed to making greater strides for the students enrolled in those programs as well. Over 4,000 GCS students, from all backgrounds, participated in AP or IB courses last year. Their education and academic growth has to improve and continue.

But, I will share this with you all. Each spring, we as BOE members have the honor of shaking the hands of thousands of young people who either graduate high school or are moving from one grade level to the next in elementary "graduation" ceremonies. Nothing is more refreshing or energizing. To see and feel the excitement in the faces of those students, particularly the high school graduates, who have met this milestone is invaluable. Yet we, as a community, spend very little time acknowledging these students or the work of the professionals who get them there. Thousands of kids - from every background - who have done well are overlooked. While much smaller groups of students who need additional help seem to be the prevailing image of our district.

We must continue to give those students that help and continue to meet the challenges they face. And, we will.

And we as a board believe Mr. Green can identify and address these challenges for our district.

At the same time, we must celebrate the success of all our students whose achievements warrant such celebration.

We believe he is capable of leading us in that effort as well; as well as energizing this community around the issue of K-12 education as a whole.

God bless.

Amos thank you for speaking out on this blog and for admitting how has a board member who should be concerned about all students in Guilford County, you should have supported the bonds from the beginning. You do seem to care about children. We want you to care about ALL the children. As someone mentioned above, there are many different minorities and many other poor children who are not black that need our help.

There are children of economic means who need our help. There are many needs educational or emotional needs out there. These are all public school children.

We want the board to focus on education for all students. I missed Davenport's column Sunday but he always makes so much common sense. I believe the days are long gone for "getting back to the basics" in education. With so many rules for meeting NCLB, local politics, subjects like minority contracts, construction issues, etc. , it's a wonder there is any time left for E D U C A T I O N!

You and Garth have had the courage to speak out on this blog and take the hits. You are to be commended for this. I wish other BOE members would follow your example and C O M M U N I C A T E.

As someone mentioned on another blog comments somewhere, people are tired of the "lovefeasts" and "pump-up" board meetings. Positive PR is good, but let's get down to the real nitty gritty, have the courage to be honest with each other and have some real discussion of real issues.

Why is the AL program being dismantled?

They want more diversity in the AL program. Unfortunately in this world we live in that means more poor children in these classes.

Very noble of course but if the poor children have had not had the advanatges of others it means that they are not equipped to be taught at these higher levels.

That means that classes can not be as challenging as they should be thus defeating the whole purpose.

The Terry Grier's and D.Kearns school of ecucation was to always get smarter kids to teach the not so smart ones by mixing them up in the same class room

Thats where we are. Socialism with no rocket scientists.

Go Amos!

Once the board is finished looking at the current AL program, I hope it will understand the opportunities and the challenges it faces in creating one of the top AL programs in the country. One of the first challenges will be to convince that state legislature that the program needs to be funded in order to be able to educate our students for the world they will live and work in.

With the universities in this community and the region, with all the great research programs going on at the college level and RTP, we should be able to capitalize on our resources. Our community is rich with opportunity for children and youth to participate in the cultural arts.

We need a strong AL program
because we need a large intellectual base to help solve the enormously complex problems we face.
Some used to say that perhaps we needed someone to find a cure for cancer. Yet today, to say we need someone to find a cure for cancer is too simplistic. Cancer is not one disease; it is many diseases, and it is many diseases within the same particular type of cancer such as breast cancer or lung cancer. We need writers, artists, and speakers who can translate the results of research from scientific linguistics to the language of ordinary people.

We need leaders who are well educated in the humanities. It is through music, art, literature, and history that we come to understand what it means to be human. A rich background in the humanities can provide part of the background for the study of ethics and ethical principles. What kind of people to we want to elect to lead us, to represent our interests? We want the wisest and most civic minded representation we can find. We want leaders who understand what it means to hold the public trust.

We need leaders who are problem solvers--people who can think outside the box.
Though this idea strikes fear in the hearts of some, we need to be teaching our students to think critically. Students need to be able to brain storm a variety of solutions to a problem and then test their ideas against a criterion. They must learn how to evaluate sources of information, particularly when we live in an age when anyone who has access to a computer can write
whatever he or she wants to write like "A new study released today supports the fact that for some people, smoking is actually good for you. After studying a group of ten college freshman at the University of Least Resistance, doctors found that nicotene helped students concentrate while they were cramming for exams two hours prior to the exam. Although none of the students received a passing grade on the exam, all ten said that they felt calmer coming into the exam and that they would probably try this approach again. So there you have it. Smoking can be good for you."
Not a single logical argument, not one verifiable fact, but what does that matter?
On an Internet blog, I have read the one of our presidential candidates belongs to a religous denomination that many of our fellow citizens equate with terrorism. It went as far as to say that this same candidate was planted here forty years ago, so he could run for our presidency. so essentially that religion has been planning to take over our country. If this were true, the main stream media would have been all over it a long time ago say nothing of John McCain's political camp.

This is bothersome, very bothersome. First, there is no evidence that he has ever participated in the practice of this faith. Second, we have not done a real good job of addressing religous prejudice toward this group of Americans. And in trying to distance himself from the lie which would most likely make him unelectable in this campaign season, I fear that the candidate may unwittingly be reinforcing this prejudice. I have taught a number of students who practice this faith, and have found them to be extremely well-mannered, highly motivated, and appreciative---they let me know when they particularly enjoyed an activity or that their light turned on about a concept. Furthermore, without exception, the parents of these children are always extremely professional, kind, and supportive. Several have worked in after school and before school tutoring programs.

Again, we need to be able to teach students how to recognize stereotypes and how to recognize non sequitors.

It bothers me when I read a letter to the editor in this paper where a writer asserts that only in America would, race, class, gender matter in the selection of a school superintendent. Only in America??? I repeat, Only in America??? One does not have to turn the pages of an ancient history book to find that this is clearly not the case. Ironically, the suppositions of the writer make it evident that we must work harder to help students understand the world they live in.

Hopefully, some of these highly gifted students will find something attractive about returning to the academic life and help educate the next generation.
We need to improve the minds of all the students in Guilford County, including those who are gifted, or highly gifted. To refer to them as elitist and then disguard them, is not acceptable. These students have needs.

Twenty percent of the student population that does not graduate from high school is gifted. If a person is gifted, his or her chances of developing depression is twenty percent greater that someone of more average intelligence. There is a percentage of gifted students who are twice exceptional. That means that he or she will have a specific learning disability such as the inability to control the fine muscles of the hand for writing, or behaviors of attention deficit disorder to the degree that he or she will need additional strategies to be successful in a gifted class. Gifted students have a sometimes dry sense of humor which can be misconstrued into being a smart aleck. Gifted students do not need the same number of repititions more average learners need, so their homework should not be about quantity, but quality in depth assignments. Also, althought seventy-five percent of the general population is extroverted, only twenty-five percent of the gifted are extroverted. In fact, when looking at the gifted population as a whole, seventy-five percent of the gifted are introverted. Teachers, for the most part, are extroverts and because of this, some of the ways that gifted children prefer to learn may not be employed by those teachers. I could go into greater detail, but I have written enough.

The gifted child has much to offer us on the individual and larger level. They benefit enormously be having the opportunity to go to school with others whose interests and intellectual abilities are similar to their own. We award excellence in athletics. We cheer when one of students makes all county orchestra or is chosen for a part in the community theatre. So why is it so hard for us to accept that we might have an eleven year old ready to take geometry? Do we take a cheetah and try to turn it into a turtle? We need to challenge and nurture all children, but not by making our gifted students the sacrificial lambs of the school system. Students who are exceptionally bright should not be penalized because they have extradinary ability or because even though they are diverse, they are not diverse enough. The suggestion that the program needs to be watered down to allow for more diversity is an insult to students of color. The very idea that these students would need the program watered down to get in in the first place or afterwards so that they could stay in is an insult to all the truly bright children who are capable of being in the program.

In fact, it is frequently the case that students of color take advantage of many of the summer programs offered to them through the Duke Tip Program.

If the board wants to evaluate the or AL/VSN program by tracking the progress of students now in high school or in college, it should be a fairly simple matter to get in touch with these students, most of whom have pages in Face Book or My Space. Figure out what your criteria are and we can get it to them.

Once the board is finished looking at the current AL program, I hope it will understand the opportunities and the challenges it faces in creating one of the top AL programs in the country. One of the first challenges will be to convince that state legislature that the program needs to be funded in order to be able to educate our students for the world they will live and work in.

With the universities in this community and the region, with all the great research programs going on at the college level and RTP, we should be able to capitalize on our resources. Our community is rich with opportunity for children and youth to participate in the cultural arts.

We need a strong AL program
because we need a large intellectual base to help solve the enormously complex problems we face.
Some used to say that perhaps we needed someone to find a cure for cancer. Yet today, to say we need someone to find a cure for cancer is too simplistic. Cancer is not one disease; it is many diseases, and it is many diseases within the same particular type of cancer such as breast cancer or lung cancer. We need writers, artists, and speakers who can translate the results of research from scientific linguistics to the language of ordinary people.

We need leaders who are well educated in the humanities. It is through music, art, literature, and history that we come to understand what it means to be human. A rich background in the humanities can provide part of the background for the study of ethics and ethical principles. What kind of people to we want to elect to lead us, to represent our interests? We want the wisest and most civic minded representation we can find. We want leaders who understand what it means to hold the public trust.

We need leaders who are problem solvers--people who can think outside the box.
Though this idea strikes fear in the hearts of some, we need to be teaching our students to think critically. Students need to be able to brain storm a variety of solutions to a problem and then test their ideas against a criterion. They must learn how to evaluate sources of information, particularly when we live in an age when anyone who has access to a computer can write
whatever he or she wants to write like "A new study released today supports the fact that for some people, smoking is actually good for you. After studying a group of ten college freshman at the University of Least Resistance, doctors found that nicotene helped students concentrate while they were cramming for exams two hours prior to the exam. Although none of the students received a passing grade on the exam, all ten said that they felt calmer coming into the exam and that they would probably try this approach again. So there you have it. Smoking can be good for you."
Not a single logical argument, not one verifiable fact, but what does that matter?
On an Internet blog, I have read the one of our presidential candidates belongs to a religous denomination that many of our fellow citizens equate with terrorism. It went as far as to say that this same candidate was planted here forty years ago, so he could run for our presidency. so essentially that religion has been planning to take over our country. If this were true, the main stream media would have been all over it a long time ago say nothing of John McCain's political camp.

This is bothersome, very bothersome. First, there is no evidence that he has ever participated in the practice of this faith. Second, we have not done a real good job of addressing religous prejudice toward this group of Americans. And in trying to distance himself from the lie which would most likely make him unelectable in this campaign season, I fear that the candidate may unwittingly be reinforcing this prejudice. I have taught a number of students who practice this faith, and have found them to be extremely well-mannered, highly motivated, and appreciative---they let me know when they particularly enjoyed an activity or that their light turned on about a concept. Furthermore, without exception, the parents of these children are always extremely professional, kind, and supportive. Several have worked in after school and before school tutoring programs.

Again, we need to be able to teach students how to recognize stereotypes and how to recognize non sequitors.

It bothers me when I read a letter to the editor in this paper where a writer asserts that only in America would, race, class, gender matter in the selection of a school superintendent. Only in America??? I repeat, Only in America??? One does not have to turn the pages of an ancient history book to find that this is clearly not the case. Ironically, the suppositions of the writer make it evident that we must work harder to help students understand the world they live in.

Hopefully, some of these highly gifted students will find something attractive about returning to the academic life and help educate the next generation.
We need to improve the minds of all the students in Guilford County, including those who are gifted, or highly gifted. To refer to them as elitist and then disguard them, is not acceptable. These students have needs.

Twenty percent of the student population that does not graduate from high school is gifted. If a person is gifted, his or her chances of developing depression is twenty percent greater that someone of more average intelligence. There is a percentage of gifted students who are twice exceptional. That means that he or she will have a specific learning disability such as the inability to control the fine muscles of the hand for writing, or behaviors of attention deficit disorder to the degree that he or she will need additional strategies to be successful in a gifted class. Gifted students have a sometimes dry sense of humor which can be misconstrued into being a smart aleck. Gifted students do not need the same number of repititions more average learners need, so their homework should not be about quantity, but quality in depth assignments. Also, althought seventy-five percent of the general population is extroverted, only twenty-five percent of the gifted are extroverted. In fact, when looking at the gifted population as a whole, seventy-five percent of the gifted are introverted. Teachers, for the most part, are extroverts and because of this, some of the ways that gifted children prefer to learn may not be employed by those teachers. I could go into greater detail, but I have written enough.

The gifted child has much to offer us on the individual and larger level. They benefit enormously be having the opportunity to go to school with others whose interests and intellectual abilities are similar to their own. We award excellence in athletics. We cheer when one of students makes all county orchestra or is chosen for a part in the community theatre. So why is it so hard for us to accept that we might have an eleven year old ready to take geometry? Do we take a cheetah and try to turn it into a turtle? We need to challenge and nurture all children, but not by making our gifted students the sacrificial lambs of the school system. Students who are exceptionally bright should not be penalized because they have extradinary ability or because even though they are diverse, they are not diverse enough. The suggestion that the program needs to be watered down to allow for more diversity is an insult to students of color. The very idea that these students would need the program watered down to get in in the first place or afterwards so that they could stay in is an insult to all the truly bright children who are capable of being in the program.

In fact, it is frequently the case that students of color take advantage of many of the summer programs offered to them through the Duke Tip Program.

If the board wants to evaluate the or AL/VSN program by tracking the progress of students now in high school or in college, it should be a fairly simple matter to get in touch with these students, most of whom have pages in Face Book or My Space. Figure out what your criteria are and we can get it to them.

Once the board is finished looking at the current AL program, I hope it will understand the opportunities and the challenges it faces in creating one of the top AL programs in the country. One of the first challenges will be to convince that state legislature that the program needs to be funded in order to be able to educate our students for the world they will live and work in.

With the universities in this community and the region, with all the great research programs going on at the college level and RTP, we should be able to capitalize on our resources. Our community is rich with opportunity for children and youth to participate in the cultural arts.

We need a strong AL program
because we need a large intellectual base to help solve the enormously complex problems we face.
Some used to say that perhaps we needed someone to find a cure for cancer. Yet today, to say we need someone to find a cure for cancer is too simplistic. Cancer is not one disease; it is many diseases, and it is many diseases within the same particular type of cancer such as breast cancer or lung cancer. We need writers, artists, and speakers who can translate the results of research from scientific linguistics to the language of ordinary people.

We need leaders who are well educated in the humanities. It is through music, art, literature, and history that we come to understand what it means to be human. A rich background in the humanities can provide part of the background for the study of ethics and ethical principles. What kind of people to we want to elect to lead us, to represent our interests? We want the wisest and most civic minded representation we can find. We want leaders who understand what it means to hold the public trust.

We need leaders who are problem solvers--people who can think outside the box.
Though this idea strikes fear in the hearts of some, we need to be teaching our students to think critically. Students need to be able to brain storm a variety of solutions to a problem and then test their ideas against a criterion. They must learn how to evaluate sources of information, particularly when we live in an age when anyone who has access to a computer can write
whatever he or she wants to write like "A new study released today supports the fact that for some people, smoking is actually good for you. After studying a group of ten college freshman at the University of Least Resistance, doctors found that nicotene helped students concentrate while they were cramming for exams two hours prior to the exam. Although none of the students received a passing grade on the exam, all ten said that they felt calmer coming into the exam and that they would probably try this approach again. So there you have it. Smoking can be good for you."
Not a single logical argument, not one verifiable fact, but what does that matter?
On an Internet blog, I have read the one of our presidential candidates belongs to a religous denomination that many of our fellow citizens equate with terrorism. It went as far as to say that this same candidate was planted here forty years ago, so he could run for our presidency. so essentially that religion has been planning to take over our country. If this were true, the main stream media would have been all over it a long time ago say nothing of John McCain's political camp.

This is bothersome, very bothersome. First, there is no evidence that he has ever participated in the practice of this faith. Second, we have not done a real good job of addressing religous prejudice toward this group of Americans. And in trying to distance himself from the lie which would most likely make him unelectable in this campaign season, I fear that the candidate may unwittingly be reinforcing this prejudice. I have taught a number of students who practice this faith, and have found them to be extremely well-mannered, highly motivated, and appreciative---they let me know when they particularly enjoyed an activity or that their light turned on about a concept. Furthermore, without exception, the parents of these children are always extremely professional, kind, and supportive. Several have worked in after school and before school tutoring programs.

Again, we need to be able to teach students how to recognize stereotypes and how to recognize non sequitors.

It bothers me when I read a letter to the editor in this paper where a writer asserts that only in America would, race, class, gender matter in the selection of a school superintendent. Only in America??? I repeat, Only in America??? One does not have to turn the pages of an ancient history book to find that this is clearly not the case. Ironically, the suppositions of the writer make it evident that we must work harder to help students understand the world they live in.

Hopefully, some of these highly gifted students will find something attractive about returning to the academic life and help educate the next generation.
We need to improve the minds of all the students in Guilford County, including those who are gifted, or highly gifted. To refer to them as elitist and then disguard them, is not acceptable. These students have needs.

Twenty percent of the student population that does not graduate from high school is gifted. If a person is gifted, his or her chances of developing depression is twenty percent greater that someone of more average intelligence. There is a percentage of gifted students who are twice exceptional. That means that he or she will have a specific learning disability such as the inability to control the fine muscles of the hand for writing, or behaviors of attention deficit disorder to the degree that he or she will need additional strategies to be successful in a gifted class. Gifted students have a sometimes dry sense of humor which can be misconstrued into being a smart aleck. Gifted students do not need the same number of repititions more average learners need, so their homework should not be about quantity, but quality in depth assignments. Also, althought seventy-five percent of the general population is extroverted, only twenty-five percent of the gifted are extroverted. In fact, when looking at the gifted population as a whole, seventy-five percent of the gifted are introverted. Teachers, for the most part, are extroverts and because of this, some of the ways that gifted children prefer to learn may not be employed by those teachers. I could go into greater detail, but I have written enough.

The gifted child has much to offer us on the individual and larger level. They benefit enormously be having the opportunity to go to school with others whose interests and intellectual abilities are similar to their own. We award excellence in athletics. We cheer when one of students makes all county orchestra or is chosen for a part in the community theatre. So why is it so hard for us to accept that we might have an eleven year old ready to take geometry? Do we take a cheetah and try to turn it into a turtle? We need to challenge and nurture all children, but not by making our gifted students the sacrificial lambs of the school system. Students who are exceptionally bright should not be penalized because they have extradinary ability or because even though they are diverse, they are not diverse enough. The suggestion that the program needs to be watered down to allow for more diversity is an insult to students of color. The very idea that these students would need the program watered down to get in in the first place or afterwards so that they could stay in is an insult to all the truly bright children who are capable of being in the program.

In fact, it is frequently the case that students of color take advantage of many of the summer programs offered to them through the Duke Tip Program.

If the board wants to evaluate the or AL/VSN program by tracking the progress of students now in high school or in college, it should be a fairly simple matter to get in touch with these students, most of whom have pages in Face Book or My Space. Figure out what your criteria are and we can get it to them.

I hope that we can get back to the basics of writing.
Beginning, middle and end.

Fiver,

You can say that again. Actually, you said it three times for emphasis, I suppose.

Amos,
Although I did not agree with you regarding the bond issue at the time, I did not think you all were doing anything all that bad. I saw some very frustrated people who cared about black kids failing again and again. I saw it as a political stance for something you felt strongly about--nothing more and nothing less. Being a school board member is a political job so I
am not surprised when school board members' reactions are political occasionally. I don't think you need to apologize for something like that. You do need to acknowledge to yourself that occasionally you will be dabbling in some politics and not everyone is going to happy with it--even your mom.

2 Cents Only:

There is some diversity in the AL program, and in procedures we have tried to add more and I believe Amos, who’s daughters have participated in various aspects of the program may actually have seen a better face of it than I have with my sons. That said, we need to train teachers to recognize and encourage more diversity in the program and enlarge it, not dismantle it like many administrators and some Board members have encouraged behind the scenes.

Amos and I have both swallowed shoe leather on occasions but some of this race discussion has escaped both of us who are working to try and understand each other and the issue and possible resolutions. If our society can survive the next hundred years, racism may be all but gone, but that is only if we can educate another 4 generations successfully.

As for dismantling AL, I wish it were conspiracy theory, alas were it in my head as a dream, sadly I have enough material and then some as does the media who also a year ago thought conspiracy theory. Too many people have come forth now and the trail dirties many hands along the way. AL is not a race issue, those using it to hide segregation behind have no support from myself, it is an issue of freedom of intelligence, freedom to become all we are able to become without regard to the immaterial differences of race, religion, gender or so called social class. AL is as important an issue as remedial reading and education.

Some give up because they are over challenged and feel inadequate, some because they are bored to tears and some, because a teacher does not understand their needs. We must serve them all for it to be real public education.

Garth,

I certainly agree with all you have said about the AL program and what needs to be accomplished, but how will that be possible with leaders who have no concept of gifted students. Do you know if the new facilitors that were hired meet the criteria of the plan?
Meaning that they need to be AL certified and have taught AL students for 3 to 5 years?

Garth,

I agree that the AL program/problem should be simply addressing how to best serve the 5% +/- who are identified as AL/gifted. And accepting that children in that cadre might or might not match any set of demographics otherwise important to the board, staff or other administrators. Most of us parents have insisted all along that identifying "diamonds in the rough" should begin in pre-school or kindergarten programs and then the students identified given whatever extra help or enrichment deemed proper so they are on a par with their peers by the time AL services begin.

Simply placing children in AL classes to meet some diversity goal or match predetermined quotas by income, race or whatever seems anathema to a program that's supposed to push our most able students to the same degree that we want to push all other students. In the parents' eyes is has to do simply with ability; and that has nothing to do with socio-economic status, skin color or ethnicity.

Garth,

I agree that the AL program/problem should be simply addressing how to best serve the 5% +/- who are identified as AL/gifted. And accepting that children in that cadre might or might not match any set of demographics otherwise important to the board, staff or other administrators. Most of us parents have insisted all along that identifying "diamonds in the rough" should begin in pre-school or kindergarten programs and then the students identified given whatever extra help or enrichment deemed proper so they are on a par with their peers by the time AL services begin.

Simply placing children in AL classes to meet some diversity goal or match predetermined quotas by income, race or whatever seems anathema to a program that's supposed to push our most able students to the same degree that we want to push all other students. In the parents' eyes is has to do simply with ability; and that has nothing to do with socio-economic status, skin color or ethnicity.

Not necessarily to revisit an issue that arose some time back, but, now that we have a superintendent with a law degree from CMS, how does the GCS AL plan compare to CMS as related to AL services in third grade (remember, testing in second grade is illegal):

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/departments/Talentdevelopment/index.asp

...
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools uses a variety of instruments to identify second grade students. These include Standardized Testing (the Cognitive Abilities Test, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills), a nationally normed Gifted Rating Scales, and a student-created portfolio. There is a specific listing of Gateways to identification. Grades three through twelve are identified using a composite score on a nationally normed achievement and aptitude test.

Elementary students who are identified as Gifted have two choices within CMS. The first choice is one of the six academic magnet centers that offer full-time gifted classrooms for students in grades 3-5.
...

I think one of the problems with the AL/VSN program has in terms of community and perhaps, board support, is a misunderstanding of its purpose. The AL/VSN program is not a magnet program where anyone with an interest and perhaps some talent should be able to apply and get in. The AL/VSN program is just that, a program. Special programs have entrance standards and, usually, exit standards, if needed.

Since it is a program that by definition supports the intellectually gifted, only students who are intellectually gifted should be in the program. At the VSN level, you are talking about students who score in the 97% in mathematics, social studies, language arts, and science. This is a very small part of our total population. To participate in the other levels of AL, the standards are still fairly rigorous. There is a difference between being bright and making good grades and being gifted, particularly with the highly gifted whose minds sometimes seem to be working like computers with flesh.

Having said this, exciting new brain research shows us that intelligence is not fixed. When we put children in a language and experientially rich environment, their brains can grow dentrites. The more dentrites in brain, the more "hangers" the child has to attach information to. Years ago we were told that intelligence was probably fixed at birth. Today, we know that is not true. We also know that children's brains mature at different times. In the case of gifted children, or at least those identified early, their brains mature earlier than others their chronological age.

So the points I wanted to make are:
One, the gifted program is for those children who are truly able to learn on a different plane than other children their age.
Two, this is a relatively small population, not only in Guilford County, but in the population as a whole.
Three, the group of students that qualify for this program is not fixed. As students mature in general, more students will grow better brains.

Finally, I read a comment that the school system was trying to get more poor children in the program. There are and have been poor children in the program. A poor child who reads a lot and is thirsty for learning can be quite successful. This is not about parental income as some have tried to portray it; it is about serving the needs of a highly talented group of students.

but wanted to mention that I believe Amos Quick does have a child in the AL program. I've seen the name several times on the A honor roll list - congrats!

When my son, then a Kindergartener was tested as very advanced in his abilities by private testing, we were patted on the back. We thought it unusual that he could read at a 4th to 5th grade level in Kindergarten and comprehended concepts such as fractions and could tell time. We had him tested to simply see what he was capable of doing. We approached the curriculum facilitator at his school to look into the idea of possibly letting him do work above his grade level and see if possibly he could be advanced to another grade where he could find children that he could relate to more due to his abilities we were informed that we dont do that here. I assumed that to mean Guilford County. I have struggled, made phone calls on the county level and begged for help and received none, not even returned phone calls at times. I feel he is one of those students being neglected and overlooked by a broken school system. His teachers and the AL instructor at his school have been great about working with him but their hands are tied (by who I am not sure). Why is it so hard for the schools to recognize children that need special help when it is of the advanced nature. Are there really not children in Guilford County advanced a grade because it is inconvenient? He is now entering 2nd grade and really has slowed down his progression. It isnt because he doesnt have potential, it is simply because he is not being challenged and given the opportunity to grow. I hope for his sake we can find someone to help us before it is too late and his is one of those that does not finish school because he is 'bored'. Alot of greats in history never finished school because there was not anyone to recognize they needed extra help and I simply think that it is a sad fact that it is happening in our county. I am sure that I am not alone.... It would be sad if we never get to see his full potential because the AL/VSN program is so watered down it offers him no real opportunities.
Sorry if this posts twice, my computer burped :)

We should just have a VSN program and that's it.
My son was in AL and it was nothing special.
It's just a program to say that GCS has a program.
I say dismantle it. The money can be better spent all the way across the board for all kids.

AL was also disruptive to the regular classroom
The AL kids had to be brought up to speed when they came back in class. I can't blame the teachers for wanting to get rid of it. It's totally useless.

I am certain that the AL program and all its needs and challenges will be high on the list of priorities and on our meeting agendas for our BOE and superintendent in the very near future. And not just to talk about it, but to do something about it.

The frustrations that we have heard about in the past and that are being expressed on this blog cannot be ignored.

The district also wants to ensure that we are not missing out on students who could be served in the AL program. This does not solely have to do with race or socioeconomics, but in all honesty, ONE (!) of the questions being asked is: Are we missing students who are poor or minority, or both, in our current methods of identification?

That being said, we know that even as it stands now, our AL program deserves review and strengthening. Immediately.

Amos,

I hope you and Garth will spearhead a substantive review of the AL program from top to bottom, and let the empty "review" done by Dr. Fleming be consigned to the round filing cabinet. Thanks for your interest and support of an important program in GCS. Don't let it dwindle away by inches like it is now.

Interesting how the topic of our new superintendent quickly morphed into one on AL services. Other than the last two entries, the AL discussion in this blog is becoming hackneyed and repetitive with nothing changing, just a lot of frustrated folks venting. All talk, no change or action. No real response from the AL department about what their vision is or what they will do to repair relations with frustrated parents and students. I do appreciate Garth and Amos talking and I hope they are sincere about making and forcing improvements.

I’d like to suggest that board members require the AL department to form and lead a committee/panel/team/call it what you want (perhaps a chapter of PAGE) of gifted education experts (outside of GCS), AL teachers, GCS staff and parents of advanced learners to work together to determine the future direction of the program (you would think this would already exist and the GCS AL department would say it does, but it doesn’t). What used to be a partnership between parents and the AL department no longer exists. The team that reviews the Plan for Advanced Learners gathers once every 3 years for a short duration of time (a board member was part of that committee but didn’t attend any of the meetings).

The Plan is the high-level policy that does not address the spirit or the specifics for how the plan should be implemented (and there is no accountability for when it is not implemented). For example, the only statement in the Plan to describe the services for students demonstrating a Very Strong Need for differentiation is: “Full-Time Placement in Homogeneous Groups for All Four Core Curriculum Areas, at a designated school(s). Teachers who instruct each core curricular class will be highly qualified and licensed in their discipline and also licensed in gifted education.” Even if we put aside the fact that this high level statement is not being met, the Plan is not designed as written to mandate what will be taught in those homogeneous groups or how it will be taught. There is no distinction in the curriculum for regular students, Moderate, Strong, and Very Strong.

There needs to be a future vision of what AL services should and could be for GCS with key milestones to achieve it. The discussion and actions need to move beyond eligibility and demographics of who participates in the program, to the effectiveness of the curriculum on a class-by-class basis in meeting the needs of advanced learners, something that is rarely discussed. If the program were currently effective, no one would be complaining about who could get in or how they got in. If students were being challenged and test scores of this group were going up most of the other issues would take care of themselves.

jwg is right to bring up the need to revisit when AL students are identified and when services begin in GCS. This was something Dr. Grier, others on his staff, and some board members pushed through. Since most parents aren’t even aware of an AL program in GCS until their children get tested, there was no major parent up rise other than from those already receiving services who knew what younger gifted students would be losing – it was not enough to tip the scales and most parents didn’t even realize that they lost something vital. As is demonstrated by other school systems such as Forsyth and Charlotte/Meck, there is nothing illegal about identifying giftedness in children younger than third grade -- this was merely a trade-off when the VSN program was consolidated and moved to Lincoln and was thought to take away an advantage of white students over non-white students who test better at an earlier age (isn’t this what an advanced learner is – testing at an advanced level at an earlier age than peers??). Dr. Grier didn't have the room to house or the funds to staff -- nor did he think that parents would send -- third graders to a middle school. The reason for the consolidation was to promote vertical integration of the VSN curriculum which has not been fully realized at Lincoln (and since the change in GCS AL leadership, has regressed) and to remove the program from hostile and non-supportive environments.

There is a very long history involving AL and VSN that several parents took the time to document with the input and validation of teachers and staff from the “former” AL department leadership. Several parents tried to provide that history to the new AL leadership but were turned away.

Finally, parents of gifted students should know that there is another parent supported Yahoo! group for GCS Advanced Learners that they can join (free membership/Yahoo! ID is required). To request a membership invitation, simply email GCSAdvancedLearner-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Amos and Garth,

Here's another thing that bothers me. My daughter scored 99th percentile in the Otis Lenon test, has scored 99th percentile every year in math, 98th percentile in Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. Each year we receive a letter from VSN notifying us that she is eligible to participate in that program.

We live in High Point and my wife and I both work in High Point. It is much too long of a bus ride for her to go to Lincoln. Yet, she is NOT being served in her High Point school.

Doesn't she deserve to be challenged? Why is Greensboro the only place in this county with a VSN program?

I'm not so sure that AL can be justified in GCS or anywhere else. Any national studies on the efficacy of AL programs nationwide?

It does seem the AL program is purposely being dismantled. How can we expect it to get any better with a Al director who only recently received her certification and her qualified AL staff compelled to jump ship? Our children be the ones to weather this storm.

There have been some excellent points made. I am glad to hear from Mr. Quick that addressing the needs of the gifted population will be one of the priorities of the board.

Amy, hang in there. One of the most effective, but also resisted, methods of meeting the needs of the gifted is to allow the child to advance a grade or more referred to in the literature as grade acceleration. Research that has been done with students who have been accelerated is clear. There is no down side for the student. In fact, students actually do better socially in an environment of their intellectual peers than they do if they are not given the opportunity to advance. Many professional educators do not endorse this approach, but the research is absolutely clear and consistent. And again, this underscores that people in decision making positions should have an understanding of how most gifted children are hardwired. Gifted children frequently prefer to relate to the teacher or other adult rather than chronicallogically aged peers. Because of the age of Amy's child, he is too young for VSN services, but it does not make sense to hold him back. Grade acceleration works for the child.

A bigger priority will be the scheivement gap.

That will kill the AL program.

Several extremely well-written epistles have appeared on this subject. Mr. Quick, Mr. Hebert and Fiver, I especially enjoyed your writing style. Thank you for your informative input!!!

I have watched as the 2007-08 school year closed and now the new one is set to begin. I watched as the AL department was taken through its trials and dismembered. I want to share a few things that I witnessed over the years when I had close contacts in that department.

I know that every pf that was in the department and the former coordinator, Ann Barr, were continually aware of and concerned about one of the stated goals of the program, which is to nurture the potential of students who are from populations that are called "traditionally underserved". This included all ethnic students and white students who receive free or reduced lunch. While this was not perfect, the AL department worked tirelessly to follow these students' progress closely and to use curriculum that would nurture this potential, such as BRIGHT IDEA and SINGAPORE MATH, just to name two.

The apparent success achieved through the nurturing of this potential was supported by the number of these students who were later found eligible for AL services Simultaneously, the department worked hard to use appropriately challenging curriculum for the students who were "certified" as AL. (Of course, with the name of the department changing, this means that these students are now certified as Advanced Learning. Sounds a bit strange, doesn't it?)

The department was given a new focus in the fall of 2007-08, This resulted in the weakening of the two programs mentioned above, as well as a decimation of the training that pro facilitators had formerly provided. All of the pro facilitators, including those who were the experts in these programs, were given so many other tasks, that no time was available to monitor the usage of the program and the progress of these students. Sadly, the tasks were mostly smoke & mirrors, and they were performed repeatedly by the pro facilitators, because the new exec director did not/does not know what she was/is doing.

And that has not changed; the exec continues to have no idea of how the program once worked and seems to have no real interest--or perhaps it is actually ability--in learning from people who do know.

The AL department once had a procedural handbook that gave specific directions so that the AL plan could "happen". It was updated each year as needed, often just to clarify the format or directions. By referring to and following this procedural handbook, those charged with the responsibility for the fulfillment of the AL plan could indeed... follow the AL plan.

However, like so much of the work of the past several years, this procedural handbook was thrown onto the trash heap. No document exists that counselors, principals, teachers and any other school personnel can reference that explains HOW to fulfill the AL plan. The plan gives the "what"; the procedural handbook gave the "how".

Do you know of any other policies in GCS that aren't written somewhere and available to the folks who need them? Perhaps there are some.

Re: Rigor in the Classroom. No one could possible disagree that all students need challenge. That challenge must start at the school-level via the teacher, supported by the principal, who should have both the support and the insistence from the IIO that rigor in the classroom is part of the responsibility of the principal.

In the AL department, we understood that "we are hired to be advocates for Advanced Learners". and that was the framework used for decisions that were made.

While I would agree that the rigor, especially in middle school, was/is a weak point, the AL dept. staff worked feverishly each year to insure that scheduling for AL students occurred as per the AL plan. The staff also continually monitored student progress and student movement to insure that students did not get "lost" if they moved to another GCS. But the school system's management teams MUST be the backbone of the "rigor" effort.

When the AL department had 4 pro facilitators for all middle and high schools, these facilitators conducted staff development to encourage differentiation and generally made themselves available to help in whatever way possible both with programming issues as well as being a liason between school and parents. The AL department can conduct staff development until the end of time, but no one in the AL department can force anyone in the schools to provide rigor in the classroom instruction, and they cannot force principals to properly schedule. But GCS has many members in upper level management who CAN force proper student scheduling and who are charged with the responsibility of seeing that the BOE approved AL plan is followed.

But when unschooled (sorry for the pun) folk are running a program, and are unwilling to LISTEN so that at least the scheduling can be correct, there is no longer an advocate for the Advanced Learner in the Advanced Learning department. Does that seem a little strange to you? No advocate for the Advanced Learner in the Advanced Learning Department.

I wanted to "hang my head and cry" when I read the statement by exec that the old AL information system was rife with errors. I honestly don't think she has any idea how the old system worked, and although the offer for tutorials was made, neither she nor the director availed themselves of the opportunity. I suppose too much should not be made of exec calling the old system a "bunch of spreadsheets", but gee, you'd think that after a year in the job, she'd know that it WAS a bona fide ACCESS database system

But I digress... One of the AL department's responsibilities was providing lists of rising Middle School AL students with all of the most recent data (EOG's, grades, etc) to the principals by June 30th each year, so that the principal would have the lists to create the schedules. That was the department's way of partially fulfilling its mission by seeing that students were properly scheduled. Were there a few errors? Always. But very few. One of the pf's spent part of July combing through the database looking for errors that would cause a student to be improperly scheduled or who had an entry that would cause the student not to "show up" as he/she should show up on the roster.

The disingenious and disdainful attitude by the present AL department staff interpolates to disdain for the students for whom the dept. exists and for whom the dept. is to advocate. Thus, not only do students who are "certified AL" not receive the appropriate attention, but students who are or once were in the groups to nurture their potential don't receive the attention and support they need. The good doctor (now in San Diego) was no friend to the AL department, unless, of course, he wanted numbers and charts that would show trends from the last 200 years, and which he might ask for AGAIN but in a different format two weeks later. He wanted more ethnic students in the AL program. The AL department wanted more AL students in the program from underserved groups, but the AL department did NOT depart from the eligibility guidelines for any students.

With the new emphases (whatever they are) of present management, the numbers of these students who become "AL" may not grow so fast because no one has time to give them and their instructors the attention and training needed to continue making that facet of the AL plan/department so effective. The pro facilitators who were so highly skilled in the two programs mentioned earlier have left the department.

The duplicity of this predicament is almost humorous. Allow me to amplify. The goal is to increase the number of minority students in the AL program and so we'll do that by ripping out the support systems in place to encourage the fulfillment of the goal...am I missing something here? I think the tail is wagging the dog.

I think this is another case of "shooting one's self in the foot", and it seems that the AL management is packing the heat, fully armed with enough ammo to eliminate a lot of folks, but has no training or understanding in how to use the weapon, and so
the weapon is waved around very carelessly, and has "taken out" 5 of the 7 pro facilitators from September 1,2007-June 30, 2008, plus the coordinator for the IB/AP grant, who is a very capable person just as the pro facilitators.

As the late (and great) Hank Williams, Sr. said so well, "I was looking back to see if you were looking back to see if I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me....." I can't think of a more apt description.

And I am sad.

I have to agree, the taking out of a “select” few for a “bit” of differentiated learning does little for anyone except those with the misconception that we are better meeting the needs of these kids. There is so little being spent on the program that it is almost laughable, and I believe it could be done in a way that costs less and provides more. Our screening methods, advancement methods and teaching methods as well need to be revised. It can be done. For those discussing placing kids in these classes for racial or social balancing, an open mind is truly needed. Many very capable kids miss out on life because they are never identified for having the misfortune of having a different learning capacity.

There are so many that are “AL” capable that do not exhibit such signs because of boredom, emotional or “slow” developmental issues. We know almost nothing of teaching and developing high capacity learners in this world. Asperger’s, Autism, poverty, nutritional/medical chemical imbalances and emotional issues and slower emotional developmental growth all can hide true learning capabilities and we will never have the resources to do something about it. This being said, there must be a shot taken to fix it.

Anyone telling me that one’s skin color or financial background can be used to determine learning ability is out to lunch. There are white families leaving a school district in Northern California because the curriculum and demands are so great that there kids are suffering emotionally and segregation is occurring as it often does by choice of neighborhoods to live in. The district has a problem of becoming predominantly upper middle class Asian! We must change our methods of addressing AL, but in so doing we must find a way to cast the next to catch those that need help most. Several studies have shown that behavioral issues are actually more prevalent among those not being “challenged” enough.

That said, placing a child in an advanced setting for “babysitting” purposes almost guarantees failure in many regards. If we do place “non-traditional” AL kids in a demanding environment there must be a serious overview of their development in the environment and are we hindering their growth. AL should not be a way of having a private school within a school, just a tool to meet children’s learning needs, not principal’s and teacher’s convenience needs!

Just FYI
Many of those we call Asperger’s, Autistic and Bipolar are far more gifted than our traditional AL children, yet in our society, because they do not have the social/emotional norms we desire they get left in the cold! Most of the truly “gifted” people I know do not meet the social norms of society. What we call medical abnormalities may be nothing more than a truly advanced and gifted mind that the rest of us are too socially immature to appreciate.

The discussion of AL and true academic challenge and growth for all may be society’s next greatest frontier.

Let's get "Mo for our money" and get Mo Green to start commenting on this blog.

Mo want are your plans to fix the broken AL Program?

Amy,

See the Chalkboard entry - "Board to discuss advanced students again" 3/22/2005 (http://blog.news-record.com/staff/chalkboard/archives/2005/03/board_to_discus.shtml)
and the BOE meeting minutes/summaries and local media sources around that date.

Anonymous,

"Why is there no VSN in High Point?".

There was a suggestion by unidentified staff brought up at the BOE retreat 9/26/2006 to split the VSN program and create a High Point site (http://www.gcsnc.com/boe/2006/10_10/minutes_9_23retreat.html).

Over the course of the next few months, various proposals were floated, meetings held, and presentations made to the BOE on a High Point VSN site which eventually boiled down to: "There's hardly enough staff, resources, and support for one VSN program, how can GCS have two quality programs?" (see the BOE minutes/summary for 12/19/2006 and prior meetings)

The end result is that the issue is to be revisited in 2009 ("The board also voted that no changes will be made to the program at Lincoln until 2009, and that any recommendations for the future of the program be deferred to the Advanced Learners (AL) committee, who will be reviewing GCS' AL program. Additionally, board member Amos Quick will serve as the liaison from the committee to the board.")

There are many families attending Lincoln from the High Point area that I'm sure would be willing to car pool if distance/time is the only obstacle to your child's attending the VSN program.

Re: broken AL programs. I don't think that the AL program is any more "broken" than lots of other departments in public schools. I think that what the AL department has done is to make an effort to address the needs of these students. I am amazed at whatr they are able to do, at what public schools do in general, although I am so keenly aware that its failures are many. When I started teaching 30 plus years ago, I never considered that I might be confronted with a student carrying a switchblade who would not hesitate to use it. For me, that is really the beginning and the end of the issue. Schools that are not safe because of poor discipline fail in every way because they do not give students a way out of circumstances that they can do nothing about. An orderly learning environment may be the only place for many students to have "peace"; and in many schools, that is not the case. Thus, these students have NO WHERE to turn.

Now, could we find two people out there who would agree on how to "fix" the discipline issue? Just remember that you will have to balance your remedy with all of the multitude of groups who will not agree. By the time your plan becomes agreeable to everyone, you will not recognize your plan and you will have a new set of variables to consider and so.....you are back to square ONE.

I am sad for education. If I could start again right when and how I started 30 years
ago, I would teach again, because I loved it.

I don't agree with the concept of AL. We didn't have AL when I was growing up and we still ended up with scientists, doctors and lawyers. It is money that can be spent more effectively in other ways.

I think a lot of education professionals agree with me--we just tend to hear from the AL parents. There are many ways to be smart. We don't pull kids out for artistic talent, sports talent, plumbing/electrical talent, performing talent, creative talent, speaking talent, construction talent, singing talent and so on.

If you don't belong to the Future Doctors Club of Elementary School, you're left behind in the classroom, while the "smart kids" get pulled out.
AL even has special field trips that all kids would benefit from. Kids left in the classroom figure all this out and label themselves. If you think it's any other way, you are sadly mistaken. I've seen it again and again in classrooms.

And yes, non-AL kids eventually figure out they are not going to be the doctors. We just don't need to start in the third grade telling them that the "smart" kids are being pulled out.

There's got to be a better way.

Garth,

It is so reassuring to know that you are viewing the issue of the gifted student from such a broad window. There are many gifted people and students who do not fit the"norm". Sure, you have some students that are handsome, athletic, artistic, and musically talented. Some gifted students are cheerleaders, debate team stars, and quarterbacks. In fact, some gifted students have put their energy in enough different niches that they choose to stay in their home school and they will thrive.

On the other hand, there are those children who are twice exceptional who get left out or are targeted for teasing and bullying because they know the answer to every question the teacher is going to ask or they seem to be "goody goodies." Many gifted kids could care less about the latest styles and will wear their khaki shorts and T-shirts on the coldest day in winter or they will come to class with their hair oddly mussed because they really don't care about style. Be assured, that there are plenty who do care about their appearance. The point is the truly gifted child is interested in what is going to happen to the character in the book he is reading or how to write the computer game program he wants to do.

Since I have taught both gifted and non-gifted students, I have an interesting observation that is absolutely true. You can read into it whatever you want, but here it is. In my regular grade level or below grade level classes, my students would always look at my feet first. I was forever getting comments on my shoes. In my gifted classes, no one ever looked at my feet or commented on my shoes. One day I said something to students in the gifted class about the fact that they never commented on my shoes. Their was a communal shrug as eyes and heads fell to my feet and then another shrug.

These children were always so interested in seeing what was on the board or getting started on the assignment that they spent most of their time looking up to see what they were going to learn or get to do that day.

I, too, know a number of adults whom I consider truly gifted. In my own graduating class of four hundred, their were a number and most of them were my friends or at least associates. Two died of aides twenty years ago, one was a director of a tour for the Cann film festival. One became a veterinarian and then vice-president of a pharmaceutical company. A few became doctors, dentists, lawyers, and wonderful mothers and educators. But some of them got caught up in the world of drugs and alcohol, and I don't know what happened to them. I was fortunate to go to a high school that had a great (the Vince Lombardi of) band directors who produced broadway musicals with full orchestra twice a year. A lot of the students who might have been lost gravitated to this area of the arts. Long after the rehearsals were over these talented students had found their niche and it carried over to their social place in school. I have also known some gifted students especially from high achieving families who inwardly rebel at following the family tradition who struggle against their own talents for years before finding their niche. So when you look at those students who are the valedictorians or salutatorians or find out so and so made a 2100 on the SAT, it is a mistake to assume that the world is their oyster automatically. Of course, it will be for some, but not for all of them.

One other thought, students who extraordinarily gifted can choose to use their skills and talents to serve humanity or to destroy it (OK--I know this is a little dramatic for this blog, but...) but we must ask ourselves at some point if we want the forces that nurture our children to help them find the threads of our common humanity, or do we want to leave our children floundering so that they get caught up in a gust of who knows what that will shape them.

As to the efficacy of gifted programs as determined based on national norms, I believe there must have been enough evidence that they work or the general assembly would not have written into state educational law that each school district is to provide services for this exceptional group of children. Interestingly enough, a lot of the brain research being done now is being driven by doctors and reasearchers who struggled themselves with learning issues and wanted to learn more about the brain and how it works.

I am curious. How would you evaluate whether or not a program for gifted students is effective? What would the criteria be? A lot of folks have complained that the gifted are not scoring as well as they should on the state mandated tests. To be perfectly frank about it, unless the test includes questions that are based on abstract reasoning, the tests are not likely to allow for the gifted student to stand out. Most of the test preparation materials for the EOG have to do with preparing the student to student to pick out concrete data and draw conclusions based on what they have read. In order for gifted students to stand out, there must be some questions on a test that most students would not be expected to answer correctly. Some nationally normed tests are written with this in mind.

In the case of the gifted student, you would be better off looking at SAT and ACT scores or AP scores or course specific scores in high school.
Also, it is important for studens in the gifted program to have had extensive work in vocabulary and advanced, preferably classical reading texts at or before the seventh grade before they take the SAT. They take the SAT in order to earn a spot in the TIP program sponsored by Duke University. This program includes a number of advanced classes, programs, seminars at college campuses throughout the United States. Again, students qualify for this initially by SAT score. The TIP program offers enormous opportunities for students of all backgrounds, but particularly for those who may not have had exposure to the level of academia they may be striving for. In the case of the gifted program, a better barometer might be looking at SAT scores rather than EOG scores. Or would you look at the number of students who scored in the gifted range who chose to participate in AL or AL/VSN compared students with similar scores who chose not to participate in the gifted program?
Or would you look at how many students received college scholarships or how many students were accepted into what are considered "top colleges"? Or would be wait and see how many graduated from college? Or would you wait to see rather or not these students chose professions that allowed them to give something back to society?
Or measure the number of gifted students who were suspended from school who were in a program for the gifted as compared with those who are not.

The bottom line is--what do you measure and how do you measure it keeping in mind that in education as in medicine, there are ethical guidelines that must be followed. Most research in education tends to be historical, that is, it looks at what happens to a group of students over time and looks at things like grades, test scores, graduation rates, suspension rates, activities, honors earned, completion of programs like IB or AP test scores. It is more difficult to set up action research with one group of students getting one "treatment" and finding another similar group who is either not getting the same "treatment" or getting a different treatment and comparing the outcomes. However, we can do this effectively sometimes through pilot programs. The idea of "doing no harm" to any group or individual students is the ethical bottom line.

There has been a lot of talk about evaluating the AL program, and I am curious about what kinds of things our research and development people think are important to measure to determine effectiveness.
Once you have the class rosters of a particular year or group of years, it should not be too difficult to do a longitudinal study. There is a wealth of information in the News and Record's own archives. This type of information from the annual scholarship insert to the sports pages would be impressive, but anecdotal. So, where do you go, what questions do you ask, and to whom do you ask them? Now there's the rub...

Anti- sadly they did have a program similar to AL 40 years ago in many districts…The way we do it here isn’t working very well though, but alas, maybe something is better than nothing? Spreading the kids out and letting them be bored to tears is an answer? News flash, a bored kid will often cause problems, the way we do it now, the kids that need the least challenging work to meet the minimum passing scores on our great tests have their needs met, the rest…

Your right there has to be a better way Anti…, private schools, I can’t think of a greater way to re-segregate our boardrooms, our medical schools, our law schools, etc.. Fifty years ago was a much easier time to understand and live in for some, forty years ago many figured out advanced kids could and needed to do much more…today we could give all advanced kids a $3,500 per student fee to go to private school and save taxpayers some money. No, that isn’t public schools, that is one size fits all schools. If it doesn’t fit, too bad, leave. Worse, even our average kids are being let down!

Of course the Guilford County way is to tell the public we have AL, pretend we have AL, and then do everything the way we want anyways, heck the public is too dumb to figure it out! As long as we keep the public uneducated the next generation will never figure it out either. That’s why we have a PR department after all, to help the public think the way they are supposed to! If that doesn’t work, we can tell Dr. Zhang to over-simplify it for them and allow staff to interpret the oversimplification so that it is reassuring.

“I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Ditto!

Yes, there has too be a better way!

Fiver:

Now we are talking, real angus sirloin type talk. You truly have begun to lay out some healthy parameters and concepts that need to be in the ring. Now let’s get us some good ole fashioned braided hemp (pre 60’s) and try to lasso the real long horns of the dilemma!

Anonymous,

"Why is there no VSN in High Point?".

There was also a discussion on this topic at Allen Johnson's blog 'Thinking Out Loud' - "Deena Hayes: Right question, wrong words" (http://blog.news-record.com/staff/outloud/archives/2007/01/deena_hayes_rig.shtml) - along with some numbers on VSN participation. I'm not sure how much of the referenced materials are still available on web sites.

Garth-
AL is just wrong. Pulling kids out for a couple of hours a week makes very little difference. Most AL parents know that and just don't say it.

It's also hurtful to the kids in elementary school who don't go to AL. They perceive that they are the dumb ones. I've heard them say it. There's no justifying programs like these in elementary school.

My guess is that GCS is going to see studies that show that programs like these cause more problems than they solve. Keeping a AL program just to make parents satisfied or to effectively to separate white kids apart from black kids are not good reasons to keep it. Don't believe it? I've actually heard AL parents say more than once, "Make sure you get your kid in AL classes in middle school. The best teachers are in AL. The kids in the regular classrooms are troublemakers--lot of black kids--not very smart." Teachers say the same thing. No one talks about these issues, but that's what parents are bombarded with. That's what parents and teachers perceive. So parents are pretty desperate to make sure their kids get in AL. You can see it run through all these blogs about AL.

More to the point, teachers are totally capable of providing AL kids with additional work in the regular classroom. That's a teacher's job. Give teachers more credit.

This whole AL concept, the racism and elitism, and
the perception of kids left behind that they're the dumb ones makes the whole AL program completely dysfunctional on so many levels. I hope GCS comes to its senses and does the right thing--dismantle it.

Anti AL.

Its VERY, VERY you know what to say that AL is to "effectively to separate white kids apart from black kids". Didnt you read that Amos Quick's kids have been in AL.

SHAME ON YOU AND YOUR SMALL MIND!!!

Go and live somewhere else!!!

Anti AL,
If you are an AL teacher, I feel sorry for your students. AL provides differentiation which means different work not more of the same.
Maybe taking some AL couses or reading some reseach would give you a better understanding of these students.

Of course I know Amos' kids are in it. I know other
AL black parents too. Calm down and take a breath. Whites are not any smarter than blacks, although the inequity of whites and blacks in AL inaccurately might give that impression.

So much of the rest of it is what parents "perceive"
I've heard AL parents say these things and I've heard non-AL parents say it. This attitude is rampant in the schools. It's all the way through, from elementary school to high school.

It's elitist and it's racist. AL needs to be dismantled
and teachers need to assign additonal work in the
regular classroom.

I like living in Greensboro. Sorry, I'm staying.
Small minded? I hardly think so. It's called "thinking outside the box." We need to change the way we do things.

Go Mo!

Give the classroom teachers some credit.
They're not stupid.

Anti AL,

I have been a classroom teachers for over twenty years. It is very difficult to do a good job of differentiating for all students within the same classroom and doing justice to all needs of all students. AL teachers work with more students than just the AL students. They work with students that have potential to possibly become AL to inspire them and expose them to things that a classroom teacher can't possibly do. Unless you have been there don't give this as a suggestion.

I stand by my views. AL in elementary school will be on it's way out in coming years. It can't happen soon enough.

Anti AL.
Its elitist to think that Blacks are the only discriminated race in this country. I am sick of it!!!

Latinos are discriminated against just as much but we dont have excuses to hide behind. We dont complain. We will just get on with it.

We know that we have to be better to be equal but if that is the game we are up to it. No excuses. We will succeed in this wonderful country that have gives opportunites to those that are willing to go and take them!!!!!

I hope that AL will not die. I hope that in years to come Latinos are involved increasing numbers. In fact I know we will!

I note that anti says in one of the above posts that the regular classroom teacher is perfectly capable of giving students more work.

That is a concept that the AL department has constantly faced and tried to influence teachers so that they do NOT think that "more work" is a proper differentiation strategy.

Highly capable students do not need MORE of the same kind of work they already know how to do. They need different work assignments that nets them new knowledge and wisdom in its application. After all, would you as adults want to do 50 algebra problems when you have already demonstrated your mastery of the concepts in 10 problems?

Tell me most anything, but please do not tell me to give AL students "more work" and think that their academic needs are being met. Please.

Anti must be one of the school board members that is trying to dilute the AL program!

"and yes the non-AL kids eventually figure out they are not going to be the doctors...." anti-AL

and what's wrong with that? maybe they will be a teacher, a social worker, a basketball star, an electrician.....the point is that all children's needs should be met and you can't do that in a regular classroom environment. every child is special and has certain gifts and talents and each individual should be encouraged. in a regular classroom would you teach to the highest? spend more time with those struggling while the smart kids are bored and cause trouble? do you teach to the middle and leave the slow learners behind and yes, the high achievers behind. these are the kids being left behind and not served. the point as someone mentioned, this is the law that they are they are to be educated.

if we do not encourage our top learners to be the best they can be, this country will only be left behind in a global economy

you sound like a very jealous person. if your child was bored, his talents being wasted, and you just felt this big gap for him, I'm sure you would feel differently

I watched the BOE meeting on television when the AL parents went to bat for their kids. Deena was rude and insulting to them. why would any board member who took an oath for the education of all children in this county be so demeaning? as a member of the GC school board, what does this say about our school board members who did not speak up for these parents

it reminded me of the board meeting a few years ago where professional policemen took time to come out and speak about the School Watch Program as they had been asked to . once again, they were treated rudely by this same board member. why do other board members put up with this crap?

parents with gifted children should be encouraged. these are the future doctors, lawyers, presidents. we need these children just as much as we need plumbers and electricians and janitors

as for kids feeling "badly" if they don't go to AL, I have not found this to be true. it depends on how the teacher handles it and what the kids are told at home.

and yes, this is the real world. some will have make more money, invest more money and retired wealthy. others will not. some will receive job promotions and the world will be their oyster because they have been blessed with multiple talents. others may have less talents, but have something just the same. it depends on how they use this talent and on their attitude

I feel sad that you sound so hateful toward these children. I felt extremely sad, frustrated and embarrasses for the AL parents who had to take the abuse at a school board meeting

and why do you say "go Mo"? because he is black??? we are paying him over a 1/4 million dollars for another lawyer. I truly hope he's worth it, but I doubt he will be this great Messiah who can reduce "the gap" and as someone mentioned, we have Latinos and other races that should not be left behind. Let's just educate ALL children to the best of their ability and restore order in the classroom and support our teachers who work so hard. Everything else would then just fall into place.

The truth is that all professions should be valued.
We need plummers, we need carpenters, Firemen etc..
What wrong with being one of these?

These are dignified and noble professions with worthy people.

But we also need doctors, we need scientists.

How do we do that through public education if we dont have programs like AL?

I'm not sure why--except for shrinking budgets and many demands on the money by NCLB--each program in GCS has to be done as an either/or situation: either this program is supported which helps your child OR this program which helps other children. Any time the perception is that the schools will do for my child OR for other children, why would anyone think that parents wouldn't push for what they think will help their own children? That's both logical and human nature.

Why can't GCS figure a way to do right by AL students AND all other students? Other counties seem to . . . aren't we just as capable as they are?

To Anti-AL:

One can't help being black.
One can't help being white.
One can't help it if they aren't very smart.

But one can help being bitter and jealous of others who just want the best for their children. I'm sure you want what's right for you child. Why deny this to these children, yes children?!?

I am the parent of an extremely gifted, successful child (not a child any longer). Thank God for some AL classes and definitely AP classes and great teachers. Gifted children come with their own bag of problems and insecurities as someone explained very eloquently above. It's a tiring job as a parent when you have to be on your toes to keep up with your child's mind games that start at an early age. There are issues of depression at times (as someone mentioned) and being "different",having your peers not understand you and not quite knowing where to fit in at times, working part-time jobs where you know more and can conceptualize more than your boss.

Let's all support these children and especially these hard working parents who struggle daily raising a gifted child. It's not easy. The children deserve better than the verbal abuse their parents have had to suffer from some of our school board members.

Amos Quick, I am so impressed that you read these boards. I would like to encourage more people to use their real names and not hide behind the "Anonymous" ones. It makes for a more legitimate discussion.

Anti AL: Who are you kidding? Do any of you think that in India or China that they even bother to educate all students? The only kids who can even make it into school are those whose parents can afford to send them to school. Therefore, the only kids who are considered for advanced classes are the kids who have demonstrated to their parents FIRST that they CAN do the work (otherwise the parents whould never waste their food money educating their children), and then the schools SECOND, after they take the entrance exams in order to be admitted to the advanced classes. So, these classes do awesome BECAUSE they are completely full of extremely motivated students (remember - they are using their families food money) who have passed extremely competetive exams (oh yeah, I forgot to mention- they made it into these classes in competition with MILLIONS of other students). Another small detail is that in many of these other countries that the US is competing with, they are not mucking around with racial/PC obstacles. Most of these countries- China, India, Japan, Norway - have pretty homogeneous populations with similar backgrounds and when the state says, "Jump," the parents simply ask, "How high?" They do not say, "Well. my child is uncomfortable with an authority figure due to an historical distrust of autoritarian males, so I need you to institute an alternative program where my child can come at noontime and have basketball practice first and then, maybe you all can ask him if he wants to sit down at his desk." This is actually FUNNY to me and my daughters, but feel free to be offended by my spot-on evaluation of the way things are in the real world.

Ignore the VSN students at your own folly. We have sent our children to private schools which are so far above anything that GCS could ever offer gifted children that I would willingly clean the floors of the offices at which my husband is privileged to make the money that affords us this opportunity.

By the way, to the person who said that we don't need VSN, he thought that when he was in school there was no VSN but there were still doctors, etc.: I went to a very small HS in Massachusetts. There was no VSN. We had NO AP CLASSES!!! But we still had awesome teachers who met the needs of the very smart students in my class. My math teacher had 3 of us do 4 years of math in 2. Our language arts teacher did independent study where we read novels (I, a white girl, read Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" when I was 15.) Extremely smart/gifted children will never be left behind with the right teachers and parents. I feel for those who have neither. But holding gifted children back will never work. You cannot stop the truly gifted from learning. All any of us need is the ability to read, a library card, and a caring adult.

Farewell GCS. I am so happy to be out of the system, but sorry that my tax dollars have to pay for the poor policies we leave behind.

People who are afraid that they will lose their jobs in GCS are not likely to identify themselves beyond
"anonymous". Perhaps the atmosphere of intimidation experienced at the hands of Tyrants Weast and Grier will be decimated under the new super, and GCS employees will no longer live in fear for sharing their thoughts and/or concerns. The change would be welcomed.

Angie Smits

what's in a name?

how do we know you are really Angie Smits?

where is the proof?

I enjoy reading all the comments, opinions, facts and idea. I don't care who says them. They rae all comments from strangers. There's no proof of credibility on any blogs. How the heck do we really even know this is Amos Quick? It probably is but I don't think the N & R is tracing every IP address Amos might use.

I find anti-AL's remarks a little discouraging because they represent the way a number of administrators and teachers feel about AL kids. I have been a passionate advocate for AL children, and I can not write here some of the things that I have had said to me by people who really should know better. If someone has little experienced with children who are truly gifted, perhaps you look past them without seeing who they really are. What I fear is the attitude that anti has against AL students might be used as a reason to eliminate a program for students who have a need. The program is not racist.

I once worked in a school that 97% minority. With one AL class, I had the opportunity to loop (stay with the same class for two years grades 9 and 19), and there were students in that class who went to Georgia Tech, Georgia, Morehouse, the University of the South, MIT, Howard, and so forth. These were wonderful children and I would not want to trade my experience with these children. However, they were in a school where everyone else looked like them, and this resentment against AL kids did not exist. I also taught remedial students in the same school, and the county ended a highly effective lab program because more black males were in the program than any other demographic, so in schools that were more mixed than ours, that became an issue. It was a shame because the materials in the program, and the addition of an aide in the classroom really helped move these students along. Again, because we were a school with a pretty homogenous population, no one objected to either of these programs because of race. It bothers me a lot to know that we have teachers and administrators who can not or will not look into a child's eyes and see that there is a person there. It bothers me a lot to hear people especially teachers and administrators paint children with the broad and very superficial brush of color. If that is all you can see, you are really missing it. And that is racism, and I think it is going to be really hard to erase racism while some of us who have the power to influence children are harboring attitudes that are this destructive.

I am not naive. I have talked with many of my minority students about experiences they have had and the way they see events. In previous positions, parents and colleagues talked openly about some of the horrible, degrading experiences they had. Importantly, I should say critically, at the same time, they realized that those days were over.

If two of us, any two of us, were both standing side by side on a ridge looking at a mountain and afterwards we wrote down what we saw, it would be unlikely that our papers would describe what we saw in the same way because we each brought to that ridge all the experiences
we had had before. This would be true no matter how much we looked alike.

Mankind has struggled with racial/ethnic conflicts since the beginning of time, and these conflicts continue all over the world. Think the Sudan, Iraq, France. It is human nature to gravitate toward people that are like us. Its just that what we share with other people can be a lot more than skin color. For example if children play on the same soccer team,
play in the orchestra, are Star Wars fanatics, or are passionate about paint ball, they develop bonds with others based on common interests. If we as educators don't realize this, how can we help children understand this?(Actually, sometimees children learn this more easily than adults, but they are constantly watching us.) I don't know how many of you who either say or heard about the remarks made to the VSN parents who were lobbying for services for their children at the board of education meeting, but the words that the board member directed toward the parents were taken from Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech". As a person who has found the writings and speeches of Dr. King inspirational and uplifting and as a person who has also spent much of my life working to educate children of color, I was offended by more than the obvious. I was offended that someone in a position of power would take the words of Dr. King and twist them into a dagger to cut at the very hearts of a group of parents trying desperately to get their children the appropriate education that has been promised to them under North Carolina state law.

I am bothered that parents in the AL/VSN program are being attacked on the basis of elitism and racism. Why? Because these parents want their children educated in the public school system where they will be exposed to people from all kinds of backgrounds. They have not run to private schools or returned to their neighborhood schools. I never heard a parent express a concern about the skin color of students in the program. The only concern I ever heard had to do with maintaining a certain level of rigor.

It is confounding to have race and rigor so mixed up. Yes, Ann Barr was concerned about offering more opportunity for children from families on the lower end of the socio-economic scale to have experiences that would enrich them academically at a younger age, so that they might have the opportunity to choose an advanced curriculum.

Remember that participation in AL/VSN is a choice. I have no doubt that there are children who have the scores to be screened for this program, but decide with their families for whatever reason, to stay in their home schools. To be sure, there may be some children who are AL eligible who may not know anything about VSN. It is not hard to understand why a a teacher or counselor might not rush up to a child with outstanding abilities to tell them about a program that means they will be leaving that school.
I
I agree with Jack. We should not be saying that we have to help the students who need remedial help OR the children who need more depth and more advanced instruction. We need to do both, and there are some really simple things we could do that would help with both ends of the spectrum by reorganizing some of the resources we are already paying for.

Finally, what this system and this school system and community need is healing. We need to quit thinking if the purple zebras get X, then the green goldfish can not have Y. We need to see that the needs of the purple zebras and the green goldfish as well as the red sheep are met. We need leaders who will demonstrate by their words and their actions that they respect their fellow human beings. A sincere apology by someone who breeched a levee of good will with some of the hardest working and most dedicated parents in the school district might be one place to start. This single act defined for many others the mind set of tthe board. We need to do a lot better job of treating each other--parents, teachers, administrators, students, support staff--everyone the way we want to be treated. As long as we allow each other to lump other people by race, income, or any other broad measure, we will continue to dehumanize each other, and with this dirty, pungent cloud hanging over us, we will never fully educate anyone. As the Bible and later Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself can not stand."

I never said we shouldn't have a VSN program for the truly gifted. VSN and AL are two very distinct programs.

AL as we know it in elementary school should be
dismantled.

Tracking in middle school has pros and cons. These
same arguments have been made for many years in the educational field. Nothing new there.

I stand by my views.

This is "the real" Amos Quick, and I enjoy reading blogs like this one to get a real picture of what SOME parents and students are facing.

I am following this particular blog closely.

Again, please know that we as a Board will continue to address this issue.

As always, I invite contacts at either quicka@gcsnc.com or at my office (336) 235-0345.

God bless.

I know several of people setting this up. We slowly loose some of our best students because we fail to realize the Public’s desire for academic rigor and classroom discipline and not rigor mortise. My question, do we respond in a positive manner or just keep doing the same old things. My middle son is AL and is so bored at South West Middle and tired of the disrupted classrooms that he is constantly asking to be put with a more advanced group of kids. The Principal as SW middle does not believe in AL as several Board members and administrators apparently feel the same.

Maybe classroom discipline and academic rigor are outdated concepts, but they will migrate to an arena that will cost our “public schools” even more. I find it exciting that this group is doing such a great job of getting corporate and academic buy in before proceeding.

My real curiosity will be our response. As I hear my son tell me how he was taught the same things he learned in 7th grade in his 4th grade, I chuckle thinking, well we need to dumb down our 4th grade so it doesn’t happen again!

In stead of searching for excellence we appear to be searching for placation. In ignoring the needs of the public we now have created fertile fields for schools like this to prosper.

Regarding the new TMSA (Triad Math and Science Academy) starting this fall. Link to www.tmsacharter.org (Greensboro College will be supporting with athletics coaches, volunteers, etc.)

I know several of people setting this up. We slowly loose some of our best students because we fail to realize the Public’s desire for academic rigor and classroom discipline and not academic rigor mortise and institutional anarchy.

My question, do we respond in a positive manner or just keep doing the same old things. My middle son is AL and is so bored at South West Middle and tired of the disrupted classrooms that he is constantly asking to be put with a more advanced group of kids. The Principal as SW middle does not believe in AL as several other principals, Board members and administrators apparently feel the same.

Maybe classroom discipline and academic rigor are outdated concepts, but they will migrate to an arena that will cost our “public schools” even more. I find it exciting that this group is doing such a great job of getting public, corporate and academic buy in before proceeding.

My real curiosity is what will be our response. As I hear my son tell me how he was taught the same things he learned in 7th grade in his 4th grade, I chuckle thinking, well we need to dumb down our 4th grade so it doesn’t happen again!

In stead of searching for excellence we appear to be searching for placation. In ignoring the needs of the public we now have created fertile fields for schools like TMSA to prosper. We should send back the millions in AL grant money we receive from the State, tell the public the truth, we do not support the concept and send our money to the "charter schools" where it can be done properly by those that believe in it. Now I need someone to start a liberal arts charter as well where we can get rid of our Arts from public schools and all those parents that want the Arts can get a better quality and quantity as well.

Garth,

I too, HAD, a child at SWM - but he will be attending the VSN program in a couple of weeks.

You're right - absoluely NO support for AL in that school.

NONE.

It's disgusting.

My child was also sick and tired of sitting among disruptive children all day long and LEARNING NOTHING.

An entire year wasted (6th grade). Hopefully 7th and 8th will be better and then he'll be off to Early College.

Disruptions have to stop. A focused child that has a poor teacher, can use the textbooks and other reading material to stay current, but if there is disruptions, the child is in a difficult situation. We cannot even agree in Guilford County that students should be quiet and sit in their seats to receive information from the tacher. I talked to one teacher who said that students learn in different ways. Some learn roaming around the class room and some learn by paying attention to the teacher and sitting at their desk. Why can't we stop this? Site based management? The word has to go out from the BOE and the staff that disruptions will not be tolerated. Principals must tell each teacher, that if you can not handle disruptions to call him/her and they will come and take real actions including sending the children home. The fact that we have people in responsible positions that still think that we must be nice to Johnny and Jane and overlook their disruptions is misguided. We have to have order in the classroom before learning and teaching can take place.

Dear Garth, Amos, and Others,

I did not know that a group is setting up a charter school for math and science. I once worked in such a magnet and it was such a great experience. I am so glad to hear that at least some students in Guilford will get that opportunity. It could have been part of an excellent VSN program, but...

Anyway Garth's comments about his son's experience at SWM are some of the most important comments that have been made in this blog. It is the number 1 reason children can not achieve. This system allows disruptive children to stay in the class all year long. Counselors, teachers, social workers, principals, mentors, parents try to no or little avail to improve the child's attitude and behavior. We give children a bagillion chances. In the meantime, you have twenty-three or twenty-eight or...other children in the class whose education is being disrupted everyday. Meanwhile, the teacher is getting tired. He or she prepares lessons that should just flow along, but they can't flow because one or two children--sometimes, but rarely more, manage to disrupt the class every single day they are present. And many of them are present every day because the last thing Mom wants is to have that child at home.

If we are serious about raising achievement for all students in Guilford County we need an excellent alternative school, and we need to send our disruptive students there in September or October and not wait until second semester when these children have had the opportunity to disrupt class for an entire year.

Garth and Amos, you are positions of power and influence. If you could do just one thing that would really change the classroom experience for the majority of children in Guilford County, particularly in classrooms where there are a number of minority students--wait, I am not saying that all classes full of minority students have misbehaving students, but it does seem that proportionately, that is where children with behavior issues, both minority and white children with behavioral issues, are found---the change would be to get the trouble makers out early.

This will positively change the school experience in several important ways. If experience is any teacher, other students who think about misbehaving might think twice about it if they see that the school system is serious about making sure classrooms are for learning. I can not stress enough how important this is because minority children are stuck in this situation disproportionately, and their parents (I am referring to the parents of students who are behaving well and want to learn, which is the majority of the students, do not seem to understand what a serious impact this has on the classroom experience of their students. Therefore, they are not raising a big enough fuss.) In my opinion, this is THE major reason we are having such a difficult time raising achievement in this system, and it is so unfair to the twenty-five well-behaved students in the room that the energy for positive learning is destroyed by one of two really disruptive students. We can not let our well-intentioned desire to save all our students destroy what we can do for those who are motivated to learn. Students absolutely hate to come into a classroom anticipating the conflicts and mind games they are going to have to put up with again.

Some parents and educators do not understand that while group work and partner work is important to some types of learning, there is also a time for quiet so students can concentrate. To learn, students must have an environment where they can learn to concentrate and this is what so many of them do not experience during the day.

I promise you that if you get these disruptive students on another campus, the atomosphere in the classrooms and halls of every middle school in the county will improve.
Also, it is likely that these students will achieve more because they have more structure.

Teachers will be more motivated to teach "up" to students who are able to listen and participate in classroom activities.

Safety, first physical safety and then psychological safety are absolutely essential for students to learn and teachers to teach. If students fear what someone might do to them between classes, their minds are not going to be on what they are learning. If teachers are kept in this constant state of fear by their administration or by parents who try to intimidate them, they can not bring the love for their students or their subject matter, i.e. passion, they need to their classrooms. It is not possible to be in a loving and fearful attitude at the same time, and what the children in this school system need is love and nurturing in addition to academic rigor.

Garth and Amos, how can a school administration be allowed to fail to provide AL services when it is mandated by state law? Where is our Code of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct in all of this?

There are administrators in Guilford County who say they are all about what is good for children, but when it comes to doing what is good for children, it is sometimes doing what I can say is good for children and get away with doing when it is really what makes me more powerful or secure. Therefore,in the case of AL, I can water it down where I think it should be.

Creating or allowing situations where good teachers can not work is not good for students. It is not good for other teachers. This de-energizes other faculty members who then are affected. They start thinking more about their next job. This means less energy for the challenges of teaching.

As for AL in elementary school, why not have a certified AL teacher in every school who teaches a subject such as science, social studies, reading, writing, or math. It would not have to be the same subject area for all children, but this way the children would have contact every day with a specialist and not get behind and have to make up work. That takes away from the spirit of AL for both student and teacher. In addition, the other students in the class would not see the student leaving the classroom, and feel like he or she was left out. All the teacher has to say is that Tim or Nicole has a different way to learn X and leave it at that. This may mean the hiring of more teachers, but it might also mean more and better services to a group of students who need them.

As for VSN, it would work much better if the AA and core classes were organized as a school within a school. Many magnet programs do this and they are able to do more for their students by being a completely "dedicated" program?

How would that be different than what is currently being done? Instead of having teams that are mixed with VSN and non-VSN in homeroom, only VSN students would be in the same AA's and they would continue to take their core classes together. This is what the elemenatry VSN program is already doing.

This might mean that teachers would have to double up their preparations and loop with students through seventh and eighth grade subjects which some might object to, but as it is, it is difficult to do all the things that could be done for the students, and it would eliminate the conflict that often occurs as a result of AA when students see that what VSN students are learning and doing is different from they are learning by reading bulletin boards, essential questions, looking at materials, etc. Students would still take foreign language, phys. ed., band, art, or other electives with their fellow students in the larger student body. VSN students do not need ninety minutes of algebra everyday. Algebra is learned better in smaller chunks, and they should have science and social studies every day. Currently, they have science and social studies every other day. Science and social studies teachers are split between two teams making it difficult for any real team focus on either team by the usual number of adults. Forcing VSN students to follow the schedule that was intended to help students who are closer to average and somewhat below average is a disservice to them, and it is so totally not necessary. In addition, it would make it easier for VSN students to take academic field trips. There are many who dislike the idea of separate field trips for VSN, but if a class is going to a museum to study rocks and minerals and they are equipped with handouts they are to complete that agree with the objectives of their course unit, why should they be prevented from this just because other students in their grade are not studying rocks and minerals? Non-academic field trips should be inclusive and even some academic field trips. This is not a hard problem to solve if there is a will to solve it. However, if there is a desire to hold a lid on the top achievers to close the gap faster, then I don't know. I like the idea of raising the floor and the ceiling. It seems much more fair and ethical.

There are so many truly talented and
dedicated teachers in Guilford County. Many of them work hard with children before and after school either through sponsoring activities, tutoring, or working on creative lessons and experiences for students.

My hope is that our new super will have the integrity and courage it will take to restore the public trust in the system. I hope he will demand the highest ethical and moral standards as it relates to the treatment of children, parents, teachers, administrators and other staff who work with the schools. If we get back to seeing that what is done is what is what is right and just, real change can occur.

Dear Garth, Amos, and Others,

I did not know that a group is setting up a charter school for math and science. I once worked in such a magnet and it was such a great experience. I am so glad to hear that at least some students in Guilford will get that opportunity. It could have been part of an excellent VSN program, but...

Anyway Garth's comments about his son's experience at SWM are some of the most important comments that have been made in this blog. It is the number 1 reason children can not achieve. This system allows disruptive children to stay in the class all year long. Counselors, teachers, social workers, principals, mentors, parents try to no or little avail to improve the child's attitude and behavior. We give children a bagillion chances. In the meantime, you have twenty-three or twenty-eight or...other children in the class whose education is being disrupted everyday. Meanwhile, the teacher is getting tired. He or she prepares lessons that should just flow along, but they can't flow because one or two children--sometimes, but rarely more, manage to disrupt the class every single day they are present. And many of them are present every day because the last thing Mom wants is to have that child at home.

If we are serious about raising achievement for all students in Guilford County we need an excellent alternative school, and we need to send our disruptive students there in September or October and not wait until second semester when these children have had the opportunity to disrupt class for an entire year.

Garth and Amos, you are positions of power and influence. If you could do just one thing that would really change the classroom experience for the majority of children in Guilford County, particularly in classrooms where there are a number of minority students--wait, I am not saying that all classes full of minority students have misbehaving students, but it does seem that proportionately, that is where children with behavior issues, both minority and white children with behavioral issues, are found---the change would be to get the trouble makers out early.

This will positively change the school experience in several important ways. If experience is any teacher, other students who think about misbehaving might think twice about it if they see that the school system is serious about making sure classrooms are for learning. I can not stress enough how important this is because minority children are stuck in this situation disproportionately, and their parents (I am referring to the parents of students who are behaving well and want to learn, which is the majority of the students, do not seem to understand what a serious impact this has on the classroom experience of their students. Therefore, they are not raising a big enough fuss.) In my opinion, this is THE major reason we are having such a difficult time raising achievement in this system, and it is so unfair to the twenty-five well-behaved students in the room that the energy for positive learning is destroyed by one of two really disruptive students. We can not let our well-intentioned desire to save all our students destroy what we can do for those who are motivated to learn. Students absolutely hate to come into a classroom anticipating the conflicts and mind games they are going to have to put up with again.

Some parents and educators do not understand that while group work and partner work is important to some types of learning, there is also a time for quiet so students can concentrate. To learn, students must have an environment where they can learn to concentrate and this is what so many of them do not experience during the day.

I promise you that if you get these disruptive students on another campus, the atomosphere in the classrooms and halls of every middle school in the county will improve.
Also, it is likely that these students will achieve more because they have more structure.

Teachers will be more motivated to teach "up" to students who are able to listen and participate in classroom activities.

Safety, first physical safety and then psychological safety are absolutely essential for students to learn and teachers to teach. If students fear what someone might do to them between classes, their minds are not going to be on what they are learning. If teachers are kept in this constant state of fear by their administration or by parents who try to intimidate them, they can not bring the love for their students or their subject matter, i.e. passion, they need to their classrooms. It is not possible to be in a loving and fearful attitude at the same time, and what the children in this school system need is love and nurturing in addition to academic rigor.

Garth and Amos, how can a school administration be allowed to fail to provide AL services when it is mandated by state law? Where is our Code of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct in all of this?

There are administrators in Guilford County who say they are all about what is good for children, but when it comes to doing what is good for children, it is sometimes doing what I can say is good for children and get away with doing when it is really what makes me more powerful or secure. Therefore,in the case of AL, I can water it down where I think it should be.

Creating or allowing situations where good teachers can not work is not good for students. It is not good for other teachers. This de-energizes other faculty members who then are affected. They start thinking more about their next job. This means less energy for the challenges of teaching.

As for AL in elementary school, why not have a certified AL teacher in every school who teaches a subject such as science, social studies, reading, writing, or math. It would not have to be the same subject area for all children, but this way the children would have contact every day with a specialist and not get behind and have to make up work. That takes away from the spirit of AL for both student and teacher. In addition, the other students in the class would not see the student leaving the classroom, and feel like he or she was left out. All the teacher has to say is that Tim or Nicole has a different way to learn X and leave it at that. This may mean the hiring of more teachers, but it might also mean more and better services to a group of students who need them.

As for VSN, it would work much better if the AA and core classes were organized as a school within a school. Many magnet programs do this and they are able to do more for their students by being a completely "dedicated" program?

How would that be different than what is currently being done? Instead of having teams that are mixed with VSN and non-VSN in homeroom, only VSN students would be in the same AA's and they would continue to take their core classes together. This is what the elemenatry VSN program is already doing.

This might mean that teachers would have to double up their preparations and loop with students through seventh and eighth grade subjects which some might object to, but as it is, it is difficult to do all the things that could be done for the students, and it would eliminate the conflict that often occurs as a result of AA when students see that what VSN students are learning and doing is different from they are learning by reading bulletin boards, essential questions, looking at materials, etc. Students would still take foreign language, phys. ed., band, art, or other electives with their fellow students in the larger student body. VSN students do not need ninety minutes of algebra everyday. Algebra is learned better in smaller chunks, and they should have science and social studies every day. Currently, they have science and social studies every other day. Science and social studies teachers are split between two teams making it difficult for any real team focus on either team by the usual number of adults. Forcing VSN students to follow the schedule that was intended to help students who are closer to average and somewhat below average is a disservice to them, and it is so totally not necessary. In addition, it would make it easier for VSN students to take academic field trips. There are many who dislike the idea of separate field trips for VSN, but if a class is going to a museum to study rocks and minerals and they are equipped with handouts they are to complete that agree with the objectives of their course unit, why should they be prevented from this just because other students in their grade are not studying rocks and minerals? Non-academic field trips should be inclusive and even some academic field trips. This is not a hard problem to solve if there is a will to solve it. However, if there is a desire to hold a lid on the top achievers to close the gap faster, then I don't know. I like the idea of raising the floor and the ceiling. It seems much more fair and ethical.

There are so many truly talented and
dedicated teachers in Guilford County. Many of them work hard with children before and after school either through sponsoring activities, tutoring, or working on creative lessons and experiences for students.

My hope is that our new super will have the integrity and courage it will take to restore the public trust in the system. I hope he will demand the highest ethical and moral standards as it relates to the treatment of children, parents, teachers, administrators and other staff who work with the schools. If we get back to seeing that what is done is what is what is right and just, real change can occur.

Garth,

"The Principal as SW middle does not believe in AL"

I see from the highlights of the AL Program Review that a meeting was to be held with the principal of SW Middle by 8/5 (http://blog.news-record.com/staff/chalkboard/2008%20AL%20program%20reviews.pdf).

Any word on the outcome of that meeting?

Ho do you expect to run a school or teach a class when you have kids in it that read at three grades below the one that they are in?

Thats Guilford County schools or the BOE's approach to Education.

Mix em all up, mix em all up....

Fiver,

"As for VSN, it would work much better if the AA and core classes were organized as a school within a school."

Probably politically unacceptable and contrary to the desires of many VSN parents - see: Allen Johnson's blog 'Thinking Out Loud' February 16, 2007 - Very Strong Needs revisited (http://blog.news-record.com/staff/outloud/archives/2007/02/very_strong_nee.shtml) and the referenced editorial.

"This is what the elemenatry VSN program is already doing."

The elementary VSN students are the only elementary students at Lincoln so, by necessity, they are separated from the remaining students. Having elementary VSN as a 'school within a school' led to issues that caused the VSN parents to campaign to have the program moved from Wiley elementary. A proposal was made to the BOE in January 2005 to use (the then empty) Craven elementary school as a dedicated VSN school (4-8) but went nowhere.

JWG

I remember this time period. I attended several meetings where what to do with the middle school and elementary VSN programs was discussed. Interestingly enough, both programs were going through unrest at the same time. Though the narratives were different, the spirit behind each was similar.

I do not remember much about Craven other than that the name was tossed out there as an option. I do remember that one of the arguments for moving it to where it is was the opportunity to combine it with the performing arts magnet. I also seem to remember that there was discussion about extending Brooks Global Studies through eighth grade. Amos then reminded the board that promises had been made to people in the community that he serves that had still not been followed through, so a certain number of seats were allotted to the children of the community where VSN is currently housed.

I have worked inside and outside of four special programs in four schools, and from my point of view, it is a lot easier to deliver academic and special services to students and parents within a special program if the students are on a dedicated team. This is especially true when you have students with very different academic and psychosocial needs on the same team. It is so easy to have someone cry favoritism when all you are really doing is trying to meet a need. You do not have this nearly as much when students getting different academic curriculae are taught by different teachers. In fact, a lot of programs within grade levels try to keep their numbers at around 100 per grade, so there will not be a contrast between what and how teachers teach the same subject. At least that was a rationale used before teachers were given scripts...

Interesting blogs... About 30 years ago, my child (white) was in the AL (or GT at that time) program. He had to make 10 points higher on an entrance test than minority students. I don't know if that is still the practice or not...

Also, if we fail to teach to the level of the student, whether advanced or behind, we are doing them a huge disservice. If we fail to discipline students because they are minority and we already have too many minorities that have been suspended, etc., then we fail those students, their classmates, and their teachers. If we fail to put students not reading at grade level in a special setting to bring them up (instead of putting them in an advanced setting where they are sure to fail), we are not serving them correctly. Instead of complaining that the student is being singled out, parents should embrace the idea that their child is being helped. We simply cannot continue to teach down to AL and up to those students that are not at grade level.

It is a problem to have VSN or some other magnet programs in a regular school. It becomes haves versus have-nots.

It is the have and the have nots.

Those with exceptional inteligence and those without.

Re: discipline in schools. I continue to believe that the public school's failure to provide a safe environment for academic pursuits to border on "malpractice". If a student comes from a background where he/she has not had structure and rules, and if he/she does not find this as school, where will the student find it? Don't we owe that to ALL students, and especially for those who come from this kind of background, the opportunity to learn in an environment that helps them know that they are not stupid and that they really CAN behave themselves? But when school official's try to do this, the mantra "keep'em in school" is all you will hear from administration. The problem is that GCS nor any other system can keep'em in school--the "them" in this scenario would be students who exit public schools and attend private schools because of chaotic classes in which the students have pretty much taken over and the teacher gets too tired to try to manage that level of unruly student behavior AND give students who are in school to learn a proper amount of attention.

We have a blogger (Anonymous above) who edits other people's blogs. Her intelligence is matched only by her egotism and her rudeness.

There are a lot of people who think teaching is an easy job. The following is just one of the many, many things that can happen in the school day. Teaching can be a richly rewarding life choice if what you value is what you get from it. However, sometimes what you get is the antithesis of what you value, and I am not talking about not getting summers off or an auto matic pay raise at the end of the year. I do not know if I am in the minority or not; and it really does not matter. I would gladly sacrifice a pay raise for better working/i.e. learning conditions for students.

The number one responsibility of the teacher to see that his or her students are safe. If they are not safe physically or psychologically, they will not learn and the teacher can not teach them. This is one of the first concepts education schools teach from Maslow's Hierarchy or Needs and it is so true, and if you stop to thnk about it, there is a lot of transfer of this theory to other life situations.

Imagine if you can, standing in a hallway during a class change and witnessing a small female with books and materials stacked to her chin rushing to class. On her way, she is pushed from behind by someone in a group of other students. She finds herself on the floor with her notebooks, textbooks, pencils, colored markers, scattered on the floor; they are everywhere.

The floor is hard as cement, and her elbow and her hip are screaming. While she is lying there, a thousand thoughts race through her head, but her feelings are hurt, hurt, and hurt some more. Her possessions are scattered across the hallway. How will she recover them? She will be late to her class if she gets to her class. Right now she'd like nothing better than to see her mother, but there she is lying helplessly on the floor. Another student rushes to her aid and then another, but she is surrounded by a group of students who start pointing at her and laughing like seeng someone hurt and humiliated was actually funny.

You get through the throng of students and check on the student who is trying to get to her feet, and she tells you she is OK; she is focusing hard on getting her legs under her. A couple of students are starting to pick up her things for her while she brushes herself off and tries to regain her composure. Still there are a couple of students who remain further down the hall way laughing and pointing. The sub from the class next door who also witnesses this says, "That's it. I can[t come back here." Then she adds, "They can't pay me enough to come here."

The next day the mother comes to withdraw her children from the school.

Rewind. You are still the teacher. What you have just witnessed but were unable to foresee pulls you in different directions. First, you check on the child who has been bullied to the floor. When she can stand up and walk, you see that she has all of her teeth and that her glasses are not broken. You are somewhat relieved. But you know that the hurt inside the child can not be measured, not today, not next month, not next year.

And then you feel sick about the lack of humanity of the other children shown in this moment. Some of them you talk to regularly during lunch or in the hall. You find it hard to believe that they could point fingers and laugh about a small, shy, studious girl lying hurt and helpless on the floor. Yet, they are. You know they are not truly "bad to the bone". You also know that people do things as a group that they would never even consider doing as an individual--its that mob psychology thing. Yet, you struggle to reconcile how these children can show such glee over the misfortunes of someone else---

Yet really, is this so different from the bloggers who wrote things like he is getting what he deserved when they learned that columist and commentator Bob Knovac had decided to retire because he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor which he described as dire? Is the behavior of these children that much different from this group of adults? There is often a larger perspective to view what happens in the microcosm of a school.

And of course, there is the responsibility of being the adult witness, yet not seeing through the crowd to be able to identify the face that belonged to the hands that actually shoved the child to the floor. But you can do nothing about this part now because you have a class of thirty students, most of whom were already in the classroom before this happened and are already writing in their journals. Thank goodness!

You have a lesson to teach. You've prepared props, Powerpoint, and activities, and you have to turn around, walk back into your classroom, and shake off the scene you have witnessed that you can not quite yet fully grasp that you witnessed because you are the teacher. You make the weather in your classroom. You start the lesson sick inside, but you have to teach as if your heart were on fire. You want to lead; you want to inspire! But there is a part of you that is still in shock because the brutality you have just seen.

After the class leaves, you try to find an administrator to talk to about what you have seen, but you can not find one because they are not available which is different than being not at work. There is so much that happens in a school during a day. No one can do it all. So you go to Plan B. So you go to your computer and write up what you witnessed and email it to the administrators. Some days later you learn that someone, a student, has reported what happened to counseling and are assured that what you witnessed is being addressed.

Rewinding again to the afternoon you witnessed this single, violent act... there is still a report that you have to turn in, a test to finish writing and By the time you finish this, it will be time copy. By the time you finish, the committee meeting will be starting. But while you are standing semi-minlessly at the copier, you become aware that there is a piece of your heart that is lying on the floor in front of your classroom because you never saw this coming, and because you did not could not see it, you did not could not stop it. You could only react to it and in your mind that just is not good enough when it comes to keeping children safe.

When an incident happens in school, most people would think about what happens to the child who was pushed and to the child who pushed her. Yet, if you reflect on this a little further, you realize that the ripples of this incident will not be over after the bully receives consequences.

The child who was pushed to the floor will never forget what it felt like to be rushing to class eagerly anticipating what she was going to be doing there, and from out of the blue, she finds herself lying helplessly on the floor, humilated. The children who were involved will know somewhere inside that they violated some standards that make us all human and that will not feel good to them---ever. The bystanders and friends who happened to be in the same area will internalize feelings of vulnerability because they know that feeling that we refer to as "There, for the grace of God, go I."

The person substituting in the classroom next door will not forget what she saw and no doubt, she bore witness to some in the community about those children at that school, and it will not be a positive one. Maybe not today, but at some point, she may re-evaluate if she even wants to be a substitute teacher.

For the teacher, sadly enough, it is just one more thing that you never anticipated. You feel drained, but somehow you know you have to fill up your tank for all those children you have to teach because you are the teacher, oh, and have I mentioned subject verb agreement, not ending your sentences with a preposition, especially with AT???

Fiver,

Little things grow into large things that damage all of us. We must expect and demand that students will behave. If they do not, they must be segregated from the other students. Everytime you let a child do disrespectful things like roaming the room or chatting with other students when instruction is underway, seeds are sown for more violent behavior. I suggest we put cameras in every classroom and every hall in those high violence schools. I have suggested this before and all I get is that the teachers will never let this happen. People who work in banks are under the camera all the time. They get used to it. Many parents can't believe it unless they see it. However, don't blame students in High School for misbehavior if they went to Middle School three years and noone told them how to act. Students are not supposed to have fund in school. They have a job to learn and to let their fellow students learn. Many of the teachers are unprepared for violence and the colleges do nothing to prepare them for the real classroom. In the finaly analysis, it only happens in some schools and some classrooms. The children were not born that way, they acquired the awful behavior. One of the problems is that we have pulled out so many good students for magnet schools that there is not enough good students to form a group with core values that can support the teacher. It is bad, but it can be fixed over time. The BOE has to come out four-square against this type of behavior. If that means scores of students are sent to other venures, so be it.

Just for the fun of it:

Joe by way of slight, very slight disagreement, our kids should have fun at school. Every teacher should look for a way to make learning fun for every student. When learning is fun, life is fun and then learning truly becomes a life long experience.

One of my clients, a doctor, just retired a year ago at 82, still loves medicine and is still keeping up. We must find a way to make learning fun, but not at the expense of classroom discipline and control. As strange as it might sound, even a comic book can be a teaching tool used properly. Building a rocket or sewing a heating pad all can be turned into lessons in math, science and other valuable skills.

The Board has ignored the classroom environment long enough, the last years endeavor accomplished nothing for classroom environment and it still needs addressing.

Garth,

I totally agree with you. Learning can be fun and should be. Our children should be excited and want to learn. We all remember our favorite teachers and they certainly weren't the boring ones. There were ones that just made us excited to go to school every day. There can still be discipline, respect and a positive learning environment where kids enjoy learning. It only takes one or two students to ruin the learning environment, put the teacher in a bad mood and disrupt the learning process for the entire class. On those days no one has fun.

That's not to say that some parts of lessons might be boring or repetitive like the treaded multiplication tables. If students aren't strong in elementary school math, it's hard to for them to comprehend Algebra 1 if they don't even know how to factor a simple problem.

Garth thanks for all you do. You are appreciated by many.

Oops - meant to type "dreaded" not "treaded" - I know it's late when I start making typos

I agree fun is better than not fun. However, having fun should not be the focus of the teacher's efforts. There are some things in life that are just not fun. This fact should not come as a surprise to our children they they become adults. Who is best, a fun teacher that don't get the job done or a stern teacher that gets the job done. I like fun as much as anyone, I just think that the pursuit of it in the classroom can decrease our chance to the children meeting our academic goals in some instances. I may be wrong.

AL like any program is as good as the teacher who is planning, facilitating, encouraging students etc. Many teachers in GCS become AL teachers not simply to cultivate growth in the minds of advanced students, but due to the fact that it is perceived as "one step out" of the regular classroom environment ( not having to take kids to the bathroom, going outside for recess, quarterly report cards, not having to worry about value added data). The data is clear---most elementary students in AL "flat line" on standardized tests; of course the EOG's in my opinion are not a reliable indicator of educational excellence. While there is a Standard Course of Study for AL, many teachers exceed what is expected and some simply do the bare minimum as with all classroom teachers, principals, custodians etc. Some parents are content and are pleased with the notion that there child is going to AL each week with little regard to what they are actually doing----the recogntion is enough. Other parents demand to know what is going on and rock the boat a bit. I surmise that most parents fall into the "JUST GLAD LITTLE TIMMY IS IN AL" Good Day!

AL like any program is as good as the teacher who is planning, facilitating, encouraging students etc. Many teachers in GCS become AL teachers not simply to cultivate growth in the minds of advanced students, but due to the fact that it is perceived as "one step out" of the regular classroom environment ( not having to take kids to the bathroom, going outside for recess, quarterly report cards, not having to worry about value added data). The data is clear---most elementary students in AL "flat line" on standardized tests; of course the EOG's in my opinion are not a reliable indicator of educational excellence. While there is a Standard Course of Study for AL, many teachers exceed what is expected and some simply do the bare minimum as with all classroom teachers, principals, custodians etc. Some parents are content and are pleased with the notion that there child is going to AL each week with little regard to what they are actually doing----the recogntion is enough. Other parents demand to know what is going on and rock the boat a bit. I surmise that most parents fall into the "JUST GLAD LITTLE TIMMY IS IN AL" Good Day!

Mom and Dad trust that little Timmy’s being challenged. Often teachers say little Timmy is not paying attention or is acting out and little Timmy is to be misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD. Sadly we will drug Timmy into stupor, label him as needing medication and move on and parents had no idea little Timmy was just bored to tears. I believe this happens far too often with African American Males who may just need more PE time like most young kids, but also are too easily diagnosed as behavior and social issues rather than boredom that they nor their teachers understand.

Some criticize the lowering of the bar for African American admittance to the “AL Program”, If you could see the other bars placed in their way you would be more compassionate and understanding . Identifying an advanced student is an absurdly difficult thing to accomplish on a good day with best of circumstances. Sadly once we “identify” them our program fails them in more ways than I have time to type.

Some believe we should dump AL, I agree with them. We should be able to meet most of these kids needs in a “normal classroom environment”. Sadly, with the classroom issues most of these teachers put up with and deal with and some even miraculously cope with, I see little hope this will be accomplished in the next decade unless we address the classroom environment in a “total remake” manner. We are still covering up our failures which instead of mollifying me irritates me even more, we are not even attempting to address the issue in any intelligent practical manner.

There is much good about public education in our county, but until we become open, honest and begin to address real issues instead of plastering over with worthless verbiage and paper Mache I will continue to be the thorn, the pain that never goes away. The best thing that can happen for Guilford County public education is for the Triad Math and Science Academy to become a great success. Will someone please start a Liberal Arts academy for excellence as well in this county, then maybe the Board will recognize the needs of all our students. You heard right, a School Board Member is publicly encouraging and supporting our “other public schools”. Maybe they will become a ray of light to lift the shadows that so “cover up” our administration.

Good luck trying to get into Greensboro Academy, I do not find it interesting that new charter schools promoting safe, rigorous learning environments are so in demand. Common sense and plain old fashion physics, nature abhors a vacuum.

I have to take issue with the word "fun" in relation to education, for it suggests that going to school is a game. But it's not . . . it's a serious, demanding, even difficult task to become educated. As Montaigne put it in one of his essays on education, "the gain from our studies is to become wiser and better." If Montaigne is correct, then education is one of the higher moral pursuits and thus is nowhere in the realm of fun and games. One of the bloggers had it right when she said that school should be exciting for students; I would add students should enjoy stretching their minds, for that is what makes us human. But mere fun. No way!

I disagree with you, Garth, over dismantling the AL program, for even if we could somehow make all the classes demanding across the board, there would still be that 5% of children who, for whatever reason, have an intellect that makes them stand head and shoulders above their peers. And they will always deserve to work alongside and be pushed by their intellectual equals. I wish Lake Woebegone were a real place and that Guilford County were the southern part of it, but it's a clever, funny fiction; only in a made up story could all the children of one place be above average.

If you say that the current method of including students in the AL program is flawed because it leaves out too many bright youngsters, then work to fix that problem in identifying those "diamonds in the rough." But in the meantime, please do right by those students who do qualify for the program currently. After all, we would not stop players already on the varsity football team from practicing or playing because we thought the current coach didn't do as good a job as he could in identifying quality players. And the selection process should neither work against any particular group or for any particular group: it should be focused on individual ability. Like it or not, opportunity should always be equal, but achievement will always be personal.

Wow!! There are so many thought provoking comments on this blog. I agree with so many of them, even the ones that are seemingly contradictory.

If you had enough time, you could make almost any lesson interactive and dynamic or whatever the current fun factor is. Interestingly enough recent research seems to indicate the old sage on the stage might be the most effective way for students to learn information. I am sure that this is dependent on the age of the learner, the length of the lecture, and the talent of the sage. There are some teachers who do not bore their students with lectures. Sprinkling their lectures with a little humor and using analogies that oustudents can relate to, these teachers can captivate their students, so the mindless insistence of group work or partner work needs to be tempered.

I agree with Jack with regard to AL. It would amount to cruel and unusual punishment to do away with a program that is designed to serve the needs of our brightest students. Garth, your remarks about bright, energetic minority students being mislabeled as ADD and ADHD was closer to the truth than you may know. In fact, one of the co-existing traits of many gifted individuals is the presence of ADD or ADHD traits. I had the opportunity to attend a seminar about this topic, and when I asked what the difference between being ADHD and ADD or only having the traits, the response I received from a Ph.D. who studies this type of thing stated that it is all a matter of degree and has to do with how much the ADD or ADHD behaviors interfere with the individual leading a normal (whatever that is) life. In other words, having ADD or ADHD is not, to paraphrase from another author, like being pregnant. It is not like you either are or are not.

I also take exception to the statement that bright African-American males are drugged with ADHD drugs and assigned to behavior disorder classes where their brightness will never be discovered. Having worked with both minority and non-minority parents who have children with ADD ADHD, I have found there is a good deal of prejudice and misinformation among African-American parents with regard to this state of being. Understandably, parents do not want their children labeled, but it is the parents who are providing the label, "the bad boys disease".

It is difficult to for mothers to seek treatment for their sons, if getting the treatment means that others will be able to misuse the label to mischaracterize their children. I have talked to mothers who wanted to talk to their pastors about whether they should have a child evaluated. I can understand this, and I can understand that most mothers fear that providing their children with medication may open the door to illicit drug use. To the contrary, many more ADHDers are likely to self-medicate with alcohol and caffeine than those who are diagnosed and treated appropriately.

When I call a parent to talk to him about the behaviors that are contributing to his child's underachievement such as disorganization, distractability, and a lack of stick-to- itiveness, I may also be aware that this student has the ability to quickly and absolutely "get" information and apply it while their classmates, even AL classmates, are plodding along. I have had some African-American students who had scores that qualify them for AL, but whose ability to concentrate or sustain attention to a task will prevent from getting the kind of test scores that would allow them to demonstrate their problem solving skills in combination with their mathematical and linguistic skills. As you indicated, sometimes these children are a little more active than others in a classroom. However, there is absolutely no way, I repeat, no way that hyperactivity translates into purposely aggressive behavior and defiance. These children may cause accidents or run over one of their teachers, but it is a result of extremely poor impulse control as opposed to bullying. I have only had one child, in the entire time I have been teaching who used his ADHD as an excuse for poor behavior, and he was not a minority.

In contrast, my experience with non-minority parents is that they have less of a problem with labeling than they do with the fact that their child is underachieving. I know that this is a broad stereotype, which I hate, but the fact is that at the grade level I teach, I made very few recommendations to non-minority families of male students regarding ADHD because the children have usually already been evaluated.

In girls, ADHD is usually not accompanied by the hyperactivity element, so it is less likely to come to the attention of a classroom teacher as a reason a female student might be underperforming.

It might surprise people who have not had a reason to study this type of learning challenge to learn that a number of people who have ADHD and ADD are quite successful. By adulthood, some people have either learned to cope or have a support system around them that helps them to function. The leading pediatric neurologist in the world operates a program for children with a vast variety of learning differences just down the road in Chapel Hill. He admits that he, like some other leading researchers in this field, suffers from ADHD. He half-jokes that if his assistant did not remind him of his appointments and set his calendar for him that he, too, would likely be missing appointments and have his schedule in a mess.

It is unfortunate that children who have this type of challenge are so poorly understood. If a child squirms and fidgets all through class,I look at his face and eyes. If he is engaged, I am not going to worry too much about what else he is doing unless he is distracting others. However, if he is not engaged or keeps others from being engaged, that is another matter.

When trying to get help for a student who needs his ante upped, I start a discussion with parents about what I see like the child's notebook, missing or partially completed assignments, written work which does not reflect what the child's oral skills tell me about his or her intellect. Then I ask the parent a few questions about how the child is at home in terms of completing chores, putting things away, and so forth. Depending upon what the parent tells me, I may decide to continue observing, suggest that the parent may want to discuss these behaviors with his child's pediatrician, or just listen. I might find out that what looks like ADD or ADHD to me, is, in fact, something quite different. Or, the parent might learn that her ADHD child is not complying with medication directives.

The decision about whether or not to medicate a child with ADHD is a serious one, and most parents do not enter it lightly. Again, I would disagree with the assertion that there are a number of bright African-American males being held in special education because they are too drugged to shine. If I were going to bet on it this side of the River Styxx, I would guess that it is more likely just the opposite. That is, that there are children who can not learn because their neurons are running at nanospeed when they need to slow down so that their little neurons can vault across the synapses at exactly the right time. However, lest their be any minunderstanding, I am not advocating medication for the purpose of raising test scores. Yet in the case of the child who has a significant amount of difficulty concentrating, organizing, or recalling due to ADHD,
the use of proper medication in the correct dosage under the supervision of a physician can be life altering.

Someone suggested that perhaps the male students who are getting into trouble might benefit from an extra period of PE. Although I have not had the chance to read much more than headlines, research is currently being done to investigatge the possible benefits of using exercise to modify the effects of ADHD.

Jack, my apologies for misleading you, I have no desire to do away with what little advancement we have…but were there enough support to do it right, I would do away with AL as we now plan and implement it. No, I will not go there with my current Board. The way AL is now is such a poor counterfeit for the real deal. Also, yes the top “nerds” need to be “separated” for everyone’s sake, many of these kids will drive a “normally sane” person over the edge. The term “lash out irrationally” comes to mind often when dealing with this crowd.

Fun, I love learning it is fun and if you haven’t guessed I am dead serious about it! I pay thousands a year to keep up my education and I love it. I would make learning fun for everyone if I could. I used to swim with a group of guys known as “Seals”, one of my best memories is of hiking a hill in another country with a single tank (one guy carried a triple), suit, weights, water and some other “toys”, and I remember puking my guts out to my embarrassment near the end, they waited patiently, I picked myself back up and carried on and they told stories about how they had all done the same. It was some of the best fun I can remember! Work, hard work can be very fun.

Fiver: ADD/ADHD, Asbergers, I am much closer to these than anyone knows. There is a reason I am so hard for the board to grasp, many believe it is hereditary and my wife blames me! Three Psychiatrists later (a lot of reading and some medication) and she still will not believe that her husband can get lost in a grocery store or home depot (Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and REI require chaperonage) and not have ADD. Even with a quasi intelligent adult patient and trained psychiatrist ADD is difficult to get a grasp on and treatment even more difficult. Some researchers believe it is associated with overstimulation at younger years combined with a lack of physical activity and then dramatically lesser stimulation and more inactivity in classroom setting. Then there is the refined sugar or bleached wheat starch crowd.

I am of the belief that there are as many ADD/ADHD beliefs as there are religious and almost as many radicals as well.

Garth,

Of course I know you take learning seriously . . . I hear it whenever you speak at a BOE meeting. It's many of our students who don't have that internal drive to better themselves or expand their horizons or deepen their knowledge that's the problem. Not being able to read is a serious impediment and whether, as in your case, it was genes or nurturing or a combination, you have as part of your intrinsic nature to want to exercise your mind. Youngsters today, unfortunately, are bombarded with external stimuli, mostly of the physical variety, and many never discover the most powerful pleasure of being human, using their brain to figure things out, to assimilate new knowledge and to create new things; long after smell, taste and physical wherewithal has faded, the lucky among us can still travel from the depths of the oceans to the farthest reaches of outer space if we read and use our minds.

I figure that any day in which I don't learn at least a dozen things I didn't know before is a day wasted. Many of our students look upon school and learning as something to take up the time between the really interesting things in life: themselves and their social life.

Students today are just as smart as they have ever been, but more unlearned than I ever expected to see in one of my classes.

Garth,

Of course I know you take learning seriously . . . I hear it whenever you speak at a BOE meeting. It's many of our students who don't have that internal drive to better themselves or expand their horizons or deepen their knowledge that's the problem. Not being able to read is a serious impediment and whether, as in your case, it was genes or nurturing or a combination, you have as part of your intrinsic nature to want to exercise your mind. Youngsters today, unfortunately, are bombarded with external stimuli, mostly of the physical variety, and many never discover the most powerful pleasure of being human, using their brain to figure things out, to assimilate new knowledge and to create new things; long after smell, taste and physical wherewithal has faded, the lucky among us can still travel from the depths of the oceans to the farthest reaches of outer space if we read and use our minds.

I figure that any day in which I don't learn at least a dozen things I didn't know before is a day wasted. Many of our students look upon school and learning as something to take up the time between the really interesting things in life: themselves and their social life.

Students today are just as smart as they have ever been, but more unlearned than I ever expected to see in one of my classes.

Back to the original subject of school superintendent......

Last Thursday' Rhino was a very interesting read about part of Grier's salary being paid by Action Greensboro and local business. (Enjoyed your comments, Garth.)This does not come as a surprise to many of us who have known for a long time local Greensboro power players' involvement in our schools. What is appalling is that members of the BOE were not aware of this side agreement. What is also appalling was to read that the Moore law firm which I believe is Alan Duncan's law firm was a contributor.

GARTH AND AMOS: DO YOU THING THIS IS A BLATENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST? Is such an agreement legal?

Are you aware of any such deals being cut with Mo Green? Is it just a coincidence that Mo used to be employed by the Moore law firm?

Something SMELLS !

Law firm of many attorneys donates to Action Greensboro-
Action Greensboro Donates to School District for special purpose
School Board accepts donation and specifically complies with terms
All is well

Law firm has Directors, Mssr. Duncan is “senior partner”, but not the controller of the checkbook.
Action Greensboro accepts gift “Board of Directors” not one person, authorizes agreement with School District
School Board Accepts gift, again not one person
Control and direction of funds appears to be independent

If Board did not accept gift and restrictions there would be a very serious issue.
If attorney voted on law firm’s board, Action Greensboro’s board and school board there might be an issue, if attorney was legally advising school board on issue and was on law firm’s board and Action Greensboro Board voting, there might be an issue.

My issue, was the School Board informed and voted with full knowledge, if so there is not be an issue, as I was not on Board when these events occurred I pass no judgment as they probably occurred behind closed doors. I would have argued that they be made public as there appears to be no reason for keeping such from the public. Again, though concerning and in my book tainted in judgment and appearance, my moral compass is a tad bid skewed from the norm and cannot be used for other than my personal purposes.

Thank you Garth.

I guess there is always a way to make something "legal" but not ethical. This seems to be the status quo of the school board before you became one of same.

Garth:

Thank you for sharing more of your perspective on ADD and ADHD as well as Asberger's. In just the last couple of years, scientists have been able to develop scans of the brain which allow them to follow the activity in the brain in real time. Hopefully, as this new technology becomes more sophisticated, we will have better ideas about how to mitigate the most severe symptoms of this disorder. Yet even now, we know that stimulant medication in the right dose works wonders for both children and adults. How do we know this? Because people who were unable to meet the tasks of daily living without the medication, are able to meet these same tasks with the right medication in the right dose. If someone who does not have ADD or ADHD takes too much of a stimulant, that person becomes hyper. If someone with ADD or ADHD takes too much of a stimulant medication, he becomes drowsy and may fall asleep. True, there are many theories about these disorders, but some are more based in scienctic observation than others. This is one disorder that has been around for a while as has the medication to treat it. Yet, because we have no blood test, rashes in the hairline, or x-rays to diagnose it, some will continue to be skeptical. Just bear in mind that there are things that we do know for sure. The same behaviors can be observed by similarly trained people in locations all over the planet. Likewise, the same changes in behavior after the patient is treated can also be observed. It looks like Michael Phelps may shed some insight on his struggles with ADHD in his upcoming biography. No doubt ADHD has played a big role in helping him meet his Olympic Dreams.

On another subject, I read with great interest an article in our weekly newspaper about a study that linked student crime with two areas where students live in Guilford County. One was in High Point while the other was along the 29 cooridor in Greensboro. The research and development group should be commended for examining this factor because it has been proven to be relevant in other places. Without going into detail, nationally syndicated columnist Lewis Pitts wrote two columns that appeared in this newspaper citing how a philanthroper/developer in Atlanta managed to turn around the futures for a number of people by changing the neighborhood where most of the worst problems of the city were centered.

I urge the newspaper's editorial staff to consider reprinting Mr. Pitt's two columns. They appeared in the Steptember 12 and 16 2007 editions of this paper.

We seem to have a number of businesses and Action Greensboro trying to support the school system. I wonder if Greensboro or Guilford County has a developer/ philanthropist who could do for us what Tom Cousins did for the East Lake Meadows area in Atlanta.

This scool system mirrors the DeKalb system where high school students from this area went to class. This is almost cliched (ouch)since this African proverb has already been a book title, but in this case, a philanthropic developer rallied his resources to build a village to raise the city's neediest children.

Even if the paper elects not to reprint Mr. Pitt's columns, I hope our city leaders who are interested in improving not only education, but quality of life for its residents will find a copy of these columns in the archives. Found in them is the type of vision and energy we could use here.

Morgan,

can you close out this strand and start a new one on ADD, ADHD, autism, etc.

Morgan,

What you think should be done with this blog is entirely up to you. I, for one, have been writing to share with other bloggers, but also with the hope that maybe our new superintendent and board members would be reading as well. I think we are in a critical time period during which we can express our hopes and concerns while our new super is taking in information to determine how he wants to use the resources we have here.

One subject that has appeared in this and other blogs is the idea of retaining students who are not working at grade level at the end of the school year. When I first began working with remedial readers in a high school setting, I thought it was terrible that children could get to the ninth grade and still be behind four or five grade levels in reading. What that system did for elementary students was base 70% of the student's grade on attendance. It almost took an act of congress to retain a student. In the many years I worked in that system, I had only one child who had been retained.

In contrast, I have taught many students in Guilford County who have been retained at least one grade. I do not advocate social promotion, but the alternative which is to have eleven and twelve year-old middle school students in class with fourteen and fifteen year-olds is not a desirable alternative. The difference in attitudes and social experience is difficult to bridge especially if there is an equal number of repeaters with children on grade level. To his credit, one of the last programs Dr. Grier began working on was a special program to separate older teens from middle school students. If it takes special tutors, summer programs, or a modified curriculum, everything should be done to keep a child on grade level. The biggest predictor of failure is past failure, and this is true across all socioeconomic classes, ethnic groups, and genders. By adding support through tutoring, summer school, and modified curriculum, the needs of this group of children will be addressed. Children want to succeed. However, all children are not equally ready to learn when they start school, as we know. If a child must be held back, then do it in kindergarter or first grade when it does not matter so much. In fact, some families decide on their own that their child would do better if she were on the older end of the grade level as opposed to the bottom end. This does matter for a few years. After kindergarten and first grade, all efforts should be made to see that a student masters each grade level's skills as he moves through the grade.

With this said though, there will still be a few students who are just slow learners. Even with extra services, some children may find themselves during their senior year in high school still reading at the second or third grade level. Surely no one would sentence an eighteen year-old to the back of the classroom with a bunch of six year-olds. Fortunately, there are not many students who will fall into this category, but there will be some.

While I support testing and standards, I also support the treatment of all individuals with kindness and compassion. Sure, we are trying to prepare students to join the work force, but employers need people with all kinds of talents.

Whether or not a child is held back a year or moved on with his peers is a matter that will have ramifications in all aspects of that student's life. However, if a student insists on failing by not coming to school or not turning in assignments, then that student has a right to fail. I never knew a teacher who enjoyed having a student fail her class, and most try any number of strategies before this happens.

Fiver,

Haven't you learned by now it's not about "education" it's about how good the numbers look. It's about politics. Check out the GCS mission statement or is it their goals Don't believe I saw "education" listed. I do remember diversity listed.

Good luck for trying. You have a lot of great information to share. Hope you don't get tired.

Hi....

Mr. Mo please stop talking on television and hire someone to speak for you. I am being laughed at in another county because of our ignorant sounding superintendent and his ignorant answers to the questions being asked.

I just hope you do a better job at hiring qualified educational professionals to do your job than the school board was capable of doing.

No Mo' Mo please.......!!!!

Anonymous,

Thank you for your comments. I am not sure if you meant tired or fired, but either way. . .

Like you, I noticed that none of the board's goals included education--not even something simple like "to offer a variety of educational opportunities to meet the needs of a diverse student population". Does anyone other than the public review these things?

I wonder. I was told by an administrator that teaching was not what I was hired to do. Not kidding. Seriously, not kidding. However, said administrator did not elaborate as to what it was I was hired to do.

There has been a lot of discussion about why our new superintendent was hired in preference to a highly qualified educator with a track record of success in raising student achievement. My hope is that perhaps through his legal training and character he will insist on the ethical use of our educational resources so that the needs of all students in the county can be met. I hope that his experience with the legal system and understanding of what is and is not criminal activity on the part of all parties (students, teachers, staff, parents) will enlighten us all. Perhaps there will be more emphasis on actually solving some of the serious safety issues that occur in some schools. I bet he knows that starting fires in schools is one of the defining behaviors of a child with a serious character issue, and that this kind of behavior needs to be reported to the police.

Maybe he will have the strength to stand up for the children who have to sit in classrooms that are disrupted by the same students from August to May, and explain to the community that allowing these students to disrupt the learning of others is contributing more than any other factor to the under achievement of children trying to learn in such an environment.

Guilford County Schools has a code of ethics for professional behavior. I hope he makes a point of making sure that all staff know about it and know also that he knows about it.

I hope he sets a tone for the young men in Guilford County Schools that lets them know that he doesn't want to hear any Don Imus language coming out of their mouths directed at any of the female students.

If Dr. Green lets people know that he is a man of integrity and that he expects no less from any one who is working for him, we will be on our way to a better place.

Anom's comments about Dr. Green's public speaking reminded me of an once upon a time election that was held for a senate seat in the state of Georgia between a handsome, silver tongued speaker and a more plain spoken, less flashy public servant. Both had been active in the civil rights movement. One had marched beside Dr. King and had survived being clubbed during what was supposed to be a non-violent demonstration.

There was no debate about which man had the superior oratorical skills or who appeared more senatorial. Yet, on election day the people of Georgia decided to send John Lewis to the United States Senate where he continues to serve with honor and dignity. Public speaking skills are pretty critical for a school superintendent, but a Duke educated attorney should be able to hold his own out there. Let's give him a chance.

I don't think he has a doctorate in anything.

Fiver,

I seriously meant I hope you don't get "tired".There's no reason to fire you. You have much to offer. But it does get very, very tiring. Reread some of Garth's posts. You can feel the frustration in many of his writings. I have heard Darlene G referred to before as the "lone ranger" because she speaks from the heart and votes accordingly for the good of the community, often being the minortiy vote.

It's tough being on a school board when you know you are being hand fed only certain information, when you know much of that information is controlled, when you know who is pulling the strings and you are only one voice. It takes 6 to act and how can you act when you don't get the facts you want.

Best to you Fiver. Keep fighting for those kids.

Fiver:
You know the subject well, but alas, very few “scans” are done in “real” world and the holes on observational diagnosis can be used for housing 747 fleet. We have come a long ways though, with even longer to go. A couple years ago the mainstream thought was you never outgrow ADHD, yet I have witnessed it in dramatic fashion. The greatest uncharted universe is still between the ears.

Many complain their ability to reason or create is impaired by these medications. They describe it as a weight on their mind that is almost physical. I can verify the weight part, but my ability to reason may be so lacking already as the additional impairment was negligible.

Anonymous,

Thank you for your sentiments. I think what I am really tired of is hearing people unschooled in life or human behavior try to justify advancing an agenda that only meets the needs of some children. Even worse, are people trying to advance their career which just happens to be education rather than something like transportation systems. I am tired of seeing twenty-five children in a classroom being forced to try to learn when the same old disrupters ruin lesson after lesson. Yet there are some who think too many children of a certain race or gender are being suspended. I don't know about that. All I know is that in a classroom where everyone is basically ethnically the same, you can have fifteen students trying as hard as they can to learn, four or five who will go with the flow, and a couple who will not learn anything unless they can get some special attention (but they desperately want to learn), and then two or three more who are bent on preventing anything positive from happening. If parents stepped back to see the larger picture, I think we would hear more about providing alternative education for students not able to learn in a traditional school and less about how high the suspension rates are. As for those who think that "Failure to foll a directive from staff," is a little thing, I think some more investigation would show that these are the chronic disrupters. In their own way, they are more destructive to the education of their peers than inexperienced teachers or old textbooks or anything else you want to blame a lack of academic achievement on. The tragedy is that the result is playing itself out right in front of us with a staggering lack of achievement and low expectations that some others have written about.

If parents realized what was really going on in some schools they would be trying to get these disruptive destructive students out of the traditional classrooms where they do so much damage and into more structured situations. This might take money and require building community support, but is it fair to continue to sacrifice the masses for the few? We don't have to build new schools, but we do need to use the resources that we have differently.

Garth,

Many people are better able to handle the symptoms of ADHD as they mature. Then there are those who may have handled their brain chemistry through sports or exercise who find themselves with a full time job, three children, and a traveling spouse and then everything unravels. A lot of women are not diagnosed until adulthood or near adulthood, so that it looks like this is a disorder that is more prevalent in men than in women. Women tend to be more like day dreamers. In school, these are often girls who sit in the back of the room or next to the windows. The troubling signs are when they can not find their home work, don't do their homework, find their homework after everyone else has turned his in, so they leave it in an obvious place in the room where they think the teacher will find it like on the VCR or DVD player.

I definitely agree with you about the enormity of what we do not know about the brain, and also that in our every day lives most doctors are not going to be doing brain scans in their offices. Most of the research is being done at universities that have medical facilities where neurologists are working cooperatively with psychiatrists and psychologists. I have had both a professional and personal interest in this subject since the early nineties, so I've managed to gather a lot of moss on this subject. In order to understand what happens when the brain in not learning, I first had to learn what happens when the brain is learning. What I have learned has made me a better teacher, and a person who can enjoy and appreciate other people's quirks (most of the time).

Correction:

Maurice Green is a graduate of Duke University Law School.

Duke Univesity Law School graduates earn a Juris Doctor degree.

Therefore, Maurice Green is a doctor of his profession.

We traditionally refer to attorneys as Mr. Ms. or Mrs. unless they have been elevated to the bench or elected office, I do not know what the protocol should be in this situation. Most educators place a value on degrees, so I referred to Mr. Green as Dr. Green. I wonder what other people think about this. I have seen print articles using both Mr. Green and Dr. Green, so I'd certainly like a little more information on this one.

Report: High school tried to fix test scoresWednesday, September 3 (updated 2:38 pm)
By The Fayetteville Observer

LAURINBURG (MCT) — A state investigation of Scotland High School alleges that at least 115 students were removed from the rolls of end-of-course classes and put into nonexistent classes to improve test scores.

Dr. Shirley Prince, superintendent of Scotland County Schools, denied the allegations and said the investigation was biased and full of deliberate omissions and inaccuracies.

The report, released by the state Department of Public Instruction, is the result of a monthlong investigation into allegations that the school was trying to fix end-of-course test scores.

End-of-course tests are used in 10 subjects to measure knowledge of the subject. They are used to track a school's progress under the No Child Left Behind law, which requires schools to meet benchmarks in math and reading or face consequences.

The investigation said Prince told principals on Feb. 1 that students who were not likely to be successful in the EOC classes could be "recoded" out within the first 10 days of the semester. Students were then placed into classes that did not exist, the report said.

"I was shocked when I read that," Prince said. "The bottom line is I didn't make anybody do anything. If we had left kids in classes — if we had done nothing — they would have sat in classes they were not prepared for."

Prince said the February meeting was meant to tell principals about the 10/20 Day Rule, which states that students can drop a course with an end-of-course test within the first 10 days if the school is on a block schedule or within the first 20 days if the school is on a traditional schedule. Scotland High is on a block schedule.

Prince said students who were removed from the EOC classes were put into online learning courses, where they could learn at their own pace in a computer lab manned by a facilitator.

Prince was one of two finalists for the superintendent's job for Guilford County Schools. In July, the Board of Education hired Maurice "Mo" Green from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Jim Willis, a school board member, also said the report was invalid and called it the result of "a witch hunt initiated by disgruntled employees." Willis did not name the employee, who he said had been fired by the district.

Prince she requested the investigation as a way to clear the air and vindicate the school system of any wrongdoing. Prince and Willis said the school board plans to fight the investigation's findings.

The rebuttal is expected to be submitted to the state today, and Prince said she and the board will meet with state Superintendent June Atkinson on Thursday.

Vanessa Jeter, a spokeswoman for the state education department, said the state Board of Education will take both reports into consideration before possibly discussing the information during three days of meetings that start Tuesday.

The Scotland County testing issue is one of the EXACT reasons that testing AND testing bonuses are so ridiculous. The jiggling and wiggling that goes on in testing would make the public's head spin.

Bonuses go to schools who know how to play the game.