News-Record.com

I would like to suggest all Citizens of NC to notice the situations in Martin County and North Duplin County Schools. June Atkinson is failing at her Job and she needs to go. She is being sued over neglect of her duties in Martin County. NC Voters need to put this out in front of people and do some research. She is Not doing her job.

So have they cut out any of the vote buying PORK projects. Teachers just keep voting for these democrat. They will keep screwing you.
What happen to the educational lottery? Another democrat sham!

People who are not teachers don't get raises every year. In fact, in this rotten economy many, many folks don't have jobs. I think our teachers should be glad they have a job, one that pays well with benefits and summers off, Christmas break off, and spring break off.

Ditto about the Democrats!

Is Morgan on vacation?

One of my child's favorite teachers of all time, a teacher featured in the Guilford Record for staring a mentoring program for youth, has lost his job w/Guilford County Schools over a technicality. We are losing a dedicated, enthusiastic & passionate teacher and it is such a shame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdFtk7skQoc

Anon,

I disagree. There is an established program for performance bonuses for teachers who meet identified standards in the class room. You can't cut the bonus after it has been earned. This is a kick in the mouth to the teachers that have earned it. The money should have been found in the budget to meet the obligations to teachers. In honesty, the money is there, it just is being used for different purposes.

As far as the teachers always supporting Democrats, I agree. What they get most of the time is a lot of talk, but not much action, but this is nothing new from our Democrat-controlled legislature.

Sure, the state is in a "financial crunch," but how about the rest of us (and I don't mean just us teachers)??

And in response to another anonymous comment - it's true that many other jobs don't get annual bonuses, but our bonuses are not guaranteed annually. They are merit-based. And most "other jobs" do have some kind of merit-based reward or promotion system in place.

There may be pros and cons to rewarding us for our students' test performance, but regardless of the politics, it's absolutely not fair to promise $1500 and then take a third of it away after the tests have been taken. Then again, as my colleagues well know, there's not much you can count on when it's attorneys, businessmen/women and politicians governing education policy...

And - GCS will have an attorney running the entire system in less than a month!

This is not on-topic for this thread, but there is not a thread from this night's BOE meeting. This has to do with the RIDICULOUS matter of the district and their completely out-there stance on the state's view of our county's HS math compliance. This has been in the paper recently. What has happened is that the state raised the bar for passing the Algebra I EOC test. The board is right now, as I type this, trying to justify their stance that Guliford County should be proud of their students for passing the Algebra I EOC. What they are trying to justify is that when the student passed the test, THEY ONLY NEEDED TO GET 39 OUT OF 100 QUESTIONS right!!!!! Now, the state has made them have 57 out of 100 correct!!!!! This just blows my mind. Forget all the bullsh** about how they changed the standard after the fact. Right now your BOE is justifying that they feel students should be allowed to pass with 39 out of 100 correct!!!! Who can allow this????? That is the worst F grade I can imagine. The problem is that most of the students who took the Algebra I test as eighth graders were African American. For instance, my daughter, who is in VSN, took Algebra I as a 7th grader. Many of the better students would have taken Algebra I as a 7th grader. The majority of 8th grade students taking the ALgebra I course were African American and/or Free/Reduced Lunch. So, when the state raised the standard, ZERO percent of schools with an African American subgroup of students passed the test. Gounzhou is on TV right now ridiculing the state for raising the standard 2 years after the fact, and they are all laughing, but I ask you, how can you justify our board's atitude, when they are saying that they think IT IS OK FOR STUDENTS TO PASS WITH ONLY 39 OUT OF 100 QUESTIONS CORRECT? They are trying to confuse people by throwing in the "percent" of students who "made proficiency" in any one year. So they are throwing the number 69 around. That means they are justifying that ONLY 69 PERCENT OF THE STUDENTS TAKING THE EXAM THAT YEAR GOT 39 QUESTIONS OUT OF 100 CORRECT!!!!! How can we allow that??? In order to show proficieny students should have to get at least 80 out of 100 questions correct. This school system s**ks, and I am so glad that I can send my daughter to a private school. 39 out of 100. Sheesh!

Every July, Anthony Scales pores over the numbers one last time, checking and double-checking before sending his data off to Raleigh.

As the program administrator for safety at Guilford County Schools, part of Scales’ job is compiling the numbers for the state-required annual School Crime and Violence Report.

It’s a lot of data. It’s easy to get lost in a 119-school spreadsheet. It’s easy to forget each of those cold, hard numbers represents a kid in big trouble.

For 2007-08, one number is particularly ugly: 638.

That’s 638 total acts of crime and violence in the 17 most serious categories tracked by the state Department of Public Instruction. That’s the highest total reported by the school district since the state changed the format in 2001-02.

The previous school year, Guilford reported 482 total acts. The jump to 638 is a 32.4 percent increase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To What???

You've got to be kidding me! Go check the data before you spout off.

Your precious VSN child may have taken Algebra in the 7th grade, but MOST kids in this county take Algebra in the 8th or even in the 9th grade.

WHat??? said:

"The problem is that most of the students who took the Algebra I test as eighth graders were African American."
"The majority of 8th grade students taking the ALgebra I course were African American and/or Free/Reduced Lunch"

Where was that statistic?
What does it matter?
And your point is?

What??? said:

"Forget all the bullsh** about how they changed the standard after the fact."

I don't like the 39% any better than you do but you are the one who has missed the point.
How would you like it if your child started VSN and then GCS changed the standards for VSN mid-year and your child was pulled out mid-year? I'm pretty sure you would be in there bellyaching--and rightly so.

You don't make standards retroactive--you go forward with them.

Perhaps the new attorney super can find a legal loop hole that allows only 39% of the questions to be correct. This is pathetic!

Dear Dismayed and Concerned:

Congratulations on your efforts to save the teacher who meant so much to your child. I have been following reports, and it looks like the county is going to work with him, so he can stay here.

Here's to the power of the pen, and utube, and common sense! Not to mention persistence.

Dear Dismayed and Concerned:

Congratulations on your efforts to save the teacher who meant so much to your child. I have been following reports, and it looks like the county is going to work with him, so he can stay here.

Here's to the power of the pen, and utube, and common sense! Not to mention persistence.

The whole idea of being paid a bonus for teaching so that students reach a certain level on a test is demeaning. It makes me think of the greyhound races in Florida where the dogs run as fast as they can to see who can catch the bunny.

I take teaching very seriously. The discipline I teach is essential for success in other subjects, so I always teach earnestly and enthusiastically because I know that student success or lack of it will determine what kind of future the student may have. When you realize that everyday when you come into contact with a child, you have an opportunity to touch that child's life in multiple ways. Most of the time we never know where or how our influence will change a life.

For me, the rail road ties that one of my students brought me after mountain biking in Coalwood, West Virginia. Coalwod is the setting for the novel Rocket Boys which we had done a unit on. You could not give me $1500 for those ties. Then there is a hand-made hanging vase with a heart on it that a student gave me one spring shortly before Mother's Day. I thanked her profusely, but suggested that it might mean a lot to her mother if she were to give it to her. The girl smiled and then shrugged, and told me she wanted me to have it. Later, I found out she was homeless. Talk about getting a pit in your stomach. I wouldn't take 1500 for that either. And believe it or not I have every little nicey note any student, parent, or administrator has ever written me.

Then there are the students you see in the hall with library books written by authors that you have studied in class. I teach for the aha moment, that flash of recognition that a student has when he gets it. When you get a student in your class who is going through a difficult time such as the death of a parent or his parents' divorce, sometimes it is enough for that student to come to class every day and engage to whatever degree he or she can.

Why not funnel some of that money into finding more tutors for students or hiring teacher assistants. Even a working copier would be a big help.

Also, as it is, the system rewards schools and not teachers. I have taught classes that reached and surpassed their expected growth for the year, but I only received a bonus if the whole school received a bonus. As it is, teachers whose students meet and surpass expectations for growth, but whose school does not qualify, receive nothing. On the other hand, if a teacher's students do not grow more than expected in a school that has met and exceeded expected growth, that teacher will still get a raise. I have had classes that I have done just about everything I know to do short of standing on my head. I have worked long hours, not to earn a bonus, but to find something that will reach the kids where they are. So if my students performed well, it was not a happy accident. If you teach the toughest kids in an otherwise not to tough school, there is no reward.

So due to the intrinsic unfairness of this bonus system as well as the intrinsic demeaning nature of offering rewards for excellence. If doctors were evaluated only on the basis of how many of their patients were alive two years later, who would treat the most serious and life threatening diseases? Would doctors limit their practices to patients under 30 with good health insurance? Teachers do not get to pick their students, and it is shameful, just shameful, to have an administrator fuss at a teacher because a level 4 dropped to a level 2. The teacher knows that child as John. The teacher knows that John's father died last spring and that his mother was dying most of this year and no one was talking to the child about the frightening things he saw every night when he went home. Nor did he have any idea about where he was going to live. The whole idea of dehumanizing students into 4's, 3's. 2's and 1's has been a result of our approach to testing, and it is a most unfortunate one.