News-Record.com

Unless Ms. Carr is directly involved in EDUCATING children, she should be let go immediately.

At the very minimum, the board's hiring of her last week was UNETHICAL. They knew that these cuts were likely.

$150,000 can buy a LOT of paper, and other supplies that the children will use DIRECTLY.

SHAME ON MO and the School Board Members who approved this.

I think Garth and Anita were the only ones to vote NO

THANK YOU GARTH AND ANITA for always being the financial voice of reason.

I asked the BOE a month ago to start cutting like other districts. They did nothing. Now I know why. They wanted to slip the Carr hire in before the pain begins. This has nothing to do about educaion. It has to do with spending other peoples money. This is an awful start for the new Supt.

Absolute horrible timing on the hiring of Carr.

See: http://guilfordschoolwatch.blogspot.com/
2008/11/now-its-5-million.html

This has nothing to do with the integrity or intellegience and possible contribution that she might have for Guilford County Schools. We have a PR person...she can take his place....but create a new position for admin and freeze teaching postions...NO!!

Brian you want to put this in perspective....
$150,000 = 2 principals
3 very experienced teachers
6 teachers in the classroom
12 teaching assistants

As long as we have classrooms with 40+ students in them, either teachers need to be hired or students need to be moved.

Now let's see what did MO say....
This will not effect the classroom....

He NEEDS a PR person now.....and he needs to know Guilford County parents forget NOTHING!!!
This was a slick not-so-slick manuever........

I know there is a difference in operating expense and building funds....but with $13 million left from
the 2003 BOND and 1.5 million left from the Southern High school building....I think we can float a year without taking pencils and paper from the students...

-Let's turn the heat off downtown..
-End ineffectient IP programs at Smith and Page
-Stop bussing students for after school make-up
days...make their parents foot the bill.
-Cut every Senior position downtown by 25%

"I know there is a difference between operating and building funds."

What about money being taken from Ragsdale/Jamestown schools to start an academy at Smith High that was NEVER in the originial bond package.

Mixing money......hmmmm....switching funds...this has never been done before (sarcasm here).

It sounds just like the car manufacturer flying in on their private jets to beg the government to bale them out.

Can we p l e a s e have some common sense and a little humility here.

What about unfilled positions at some schools? Does anyone have the details of the hiring freeze and what positions will be affected?

We're arguing about creating new upper level positions and where that money could go. Now we have a freeze on hiring (conveniently timed as noted several times above) and our students are the ones hurting here. Supplies are already purchased on long-term contracts for the most part, so our students won't be without their materials. However, they will be without the 37 qualified staff members who are needed to fill current job vacancies for certified staff as posted on the gcs website. Granted, a few of those are also a little top heavy and won't directly affect students, but for the most part we're talking classroom teachers, EC positions, and school psychologists.

http://vacancysearch.gcsnc.com/

The 37 is just for certified positions, and doesn't include classified positions which would cover positions not only custodial, cafeteria, administrative assistants, et cetera, but also includes our behavioral specialists, elementary assistant teachers, EC one on ones, and the likes.

The bottom line is a room full of crayons and paper can’t teach a kid or form a relationship that makes every kid feel important.

I’ll cautiously offer the old adage,--admittedly not politically correct--that right now in GCS we’ve got too many Chiefs, and not enough Indians.

I'm just concerned a hiring freeze for these positions might not be the way to get this money back.

Anonymous (first posting), Be careful praising the two dissenting votes. It was my understanding that they were in support of the hire, but offered nay votes based on where the funds were being allocated from--a reimbursed program for Exceptional Children.

I disagreed with:

1. Where money came from (I wanted staff reduction to cover cost of new position) also pointed out this was not money spent educating, just fluff!

2. The more we spend on PR, the less real information the public gets, just better cover ups.

Even though I will contradict myself here, Mo does have the right to his own staff with our oversight. Ms. Carr is qualified for the position, too qualified for the deceit and cover-up history of our district.
Also Joe, note that cuts are coming from classroom money, not head office bloat! Yes, there was planning for these cuts, I am curious where the money will come from, magically 2.6 million will appear the rest might just hurt, not enough to keep the spending machine from tossing the salad as vigorously as ever.

Now an experimental program will give some of our best teachers incentive to go to schools they would never choose to without incentives, spend 2 years there and find that their old positions are no longer available. Worse, they will find out that the after tax incentive is closer to 5,000 a year as the tax liability for these incentives is 13.5 % more than normal. Ie min.15% FED + 7% STATE + 13.5 SELF EMPLOYMENT FOR A MINIMUM OF 35% and more than likely 46% going up to over 50% IN 2010. It also does not count towards state retirement amounts. (plan has my absolute no vote, even though I agree with the premise of the plan, I will not keep throwing more and more resources at one segment of our schools and ignore the needs of others for unproven money spending) Even if experiment pans out, we could not afford it after fed experiment is over.

I cannot believe that Mo can just have this kind of money for a new hire. At this time? I'm no genius, although I did major in Economics, but I have a FEELING that there may be some UNPAID tax bills in the next year or so. People are losing jobs, and GCS needs to be doing what every household in this county is doing right now, namely taking stock and figuring out how we can navigate the next 5 years. Many people have lost a significant portion of their net wealth. And the bleeding is not over. So we are saying, what can we forgo now? What can we cut out now? What can we tell our kids we are not going to be able to do for the forseeable future? That is the fiscally responsible way. The writing is on the wall. Should things improve before we are thinking they will, well then, by golly, you just go and add back those expenditures to your household budget. But who in their right mind would be taking on additional expenditures right now when your income projections are way down?

Another thing I would like to say is, where was Mo Green educated, and did he get a special pass or something? Did he not go to Duke? I think Duke is pretty embarrassed every time Mo opens his mouth. Can he say, "educating" or "walking" without dropping the 'g'? Can he pronouce the word "vaccination" with a hard 'c'? How sad to watch him at his press conference calling for "vassinations." If Mo is an educator, then Mo needs to sound like an educator. As a taxpayer, I do not expect to pay a superintendant a superintendant's SALARY and then hear him speak like he is trying to get down with a bunch of 15 year-olds.

There are all out of their tiny minds!

Its like the school board getting on the Guilford County private jet to pick up some CM talent.

Will any County be able to afford PR people in the future when we are a third world country?

Wake up people!

We are on the edge of a cliff and this kind of irresponsible behaviour is driving us over into the dark sea.

The mantra "it's about the kids" or what's best for the kids plays hollow when the first significant action is to hire a very talented PR person at a very significant sacrifice of 3 full time teaching staff. But then again if every parent, child and taxpayer realizes how much better we are now, then maybe we have fixed the problem. I hope the upcoming town hall has some bright parents and taxpayers as I wonder if the first thing that comes from these listening sessions is a bigger and better PR program and department hidden under the Chief of Staff position, we have now communicated where we are heading.

What does it tell you when the new organizational chart has Chief of Staff (a nationally recognized PR person first emerging at Colombine ) sitting on top of PR department but no other. Now move one of our temporary Superintendents into a lesser role and I have a difficult time not seeing this as a non educational Superintendent bring in a non-educational Chief of Staff. What I guess really bothers me is why I am not thrilled. I have found the greatest impediment to school reform is the entrenched traditionalism in education methodology, now we have non-traditional finally arriving and I am questioning it? I need a shrink!

On a more positive note, I am assured that we will get a more accurate accounting of the non-existent gang activity, rape, arson, violence etc. Just in case you cannot follow the bouncing ball, our SAT scores are still lower than a decade ago, our AL program is still wondering the halls somewhere in the head offices, if anyone sees it please bury it so we can get 5 more full time teachers in our overcrowded classrooms, then at least we could say we are using the money intelligently. Our new chief of curriculum had better get a hard hat, my baseball bat is ready to take aim at our moronic academics where we recruit teachers that assign a ton of homework to make up for their inability to prepare a stimulating lesson plan.
I am already missing Anita Sharpe, Guilford County owes her so much more than they can imagine. The millions she has saved the taxpayers cannot be overestimated! Sadly I am not of her caliber, I would be a basket case at the end of such a tenure, her patient persistence combined with intelligent questioning is awe inspiring, I shall miss her presence more than anyone will ever no.
Well time to dig out my snow shoes and shovel the snow off the driveway to I can get my kids to school (2 hour delay will help me deal with snow and maybe help me cool off a bit). Anyone know a real good shrink or maybe even a good neurosurgeon willing to do experimental lobotomy, it might help my coping skills and definitely make the rest of the Board happier.

Way to go Garth!

What is sad is that Mo thinks the problem is PR. The message is not getting told. The problem is our children are not learning. This is bein ignored. The first big hire is a PR flak. We deserve better.

No, no, no, nooooooooooooooooooooo!

This is just wrong!

Garth...

Nora's resume reads loud and strong if we need a public speaker and marketing rep. I am fairly sure that position was filled by someone that barely speaks English so that he can be understood and often offends those that understand him.

Positions need to be elimated as a result of this hiring...but qualified as Chief of Staff???

How many people has she actually managed in
any situation?

The fact that she does not have an education degree does not bother me...what the Chief of Staff position needs is a good manager of people resources and information......

I still say it is poor and questionable management to create a position, fail to post it for anyone to apply for, and to hire someone that fails to meet the "MINIMUM HIRING REQUIREMENT" based on the job description. OH yes...and do this just prior to setting forth a hiring freeze.....shame....

The school board should hold the Superintendant to be accountable to follow basic human resource standards and policies.......and do things the right way!
-Eliminate key positions where needed.
-Consolidate positions that are not needed.
-Bring the right team members in.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not right!

And the board thinks we will ever trust them with
TAXING AUTHORITY.....oh...my side hurts...that is funny

......NEVER!

"way to go, Garth!" is for what??? I don't see where he has done anything but talk in circles.

When the School Board approved this for Mojo they basically were giving a big signal.
He gets what he wants! Its a free pass! Its a sign that he will not be made accountable.

Its just the continuation of their weak management style that led to years of no accountability during terry Gire's reign.

Worse still is that its a sign that they continue to not prioritize EDUCATION!

From an earlier Blog

Well think about it.

Who would need a PR communications expert.

A system that screws everything up.

Someone has to do damage control and spin.

Mo is on to something

From another earlier blog
Carr, Becoats

Mo has to be kidding.

The kids can’t read write and do arithmetic and we get a new marketing advertising person as Chief of Staff and move a guying looking for another job to Human Resources
Oh, and we actually had two unreported rapes last year.

There are now three top level people who have never taught in a class room

Ask Mo if he ever knew a law firm run by a person who was
not a lawyer?

I guess she can spin the news from bad to good. More of the same.
She can blame the rapes on teen age hormone aggression.

The cynic's dictionary definition of marketing and public relations:

“Organized Lying”

After months of "Mo Wants to Know" the outcome is better public relations/marketing.
More business relations. Perhaps Wachovia/ Merrill Lynch/American Express. US Icons of progress,

Did anyone actually suggest a Public Relations position? Seriously.

Becoats wants another job so Human Resources will be a good fit for him.
He can Network and make job connections

This dissappointing. I frankly had great hopes for this Superintendent. I will not give up on him yet and I think we all have to give him another chance.

The school Board should not give him everything he wants either. Its not good for him or any of us. They need to question him on everything.

Enlightened,

Before the board can take any action, they will have to form a committee to study it to death to define rape. After all, we can't take action until we understand what it is, can we? It's the same as gangs, it's a behavior, and we can't confuse people who may become rapists with the behavior. It's such a complex matter.

There's got to be a good reason for Mo to hire a PR person as chief of staff. Especially in this economy while he's still new and trying to prove himself. Sounds to me like more changes are in the wind. I agree with Angry Parent's assessment of the current situation. PR goes both ways. And right now, the school district needs good relations with folks around here.

VOR,

I cannot see that as a good reason!

I'm saying I don't think we know all the reasons yet. If Mo hired Carr and does not come back with more changes that justify this, then it was a stupid move and we have another Grier who never really listens and cares more about his career than the children. I hope this is not the case. He better try to make us understand this soon before the damage is done.

oh get real people. this is public school. do you honestly think it's ever going to be good? even our new president elect doesn't trust government schools for his own kids.

I am one of public schools biggest critics but I still support it.

I do believe that it is good and my kids have had a great education from it. I have seen many of my friends pull their kids out and go private, homeschool and even move. I have stayed put and kept faith and my kids are having a great Education.

Of course it can still be much better but I dare say so can private schools!

My other friends who have also stayed put have their kids going to UNC, NCState, Duke and so on. The private schoolers are going to the same colleges.

Who has got the best deal?

After saying that I do believe, we have the right to keep pressing the school board, and Mo. There is still much to be done.

There is absolutely no reason why a Private Schooler can have an advantage over a Public Schooled child.

In fact I think that Colleges prefer Public Schools.

I too am a supporter of local public education. It was the hallmark of my recent school board campaign. However, the ongoing difficulties that GCS endures from both the front office and the school board as a whole, and to see my daughter continuously struggle to grasp the third grade curriculum and to see her frustrated with the amount of testing she has to face this year, private school is looking very attractive at this point. She's discouraged, there are days that she doesn't want to go to school...third grade! What are we doing to our children?

Are you sure that she will want to go to PS too?

I have to do what's best for my child. I will wait to see how she does through the remainder of this year. But right now, I'm not holding my breath. GCS is headed in the wrong direction right now. And that's not conjecture, that's fact.

And what direction would that be?

You want no testing? No accountability?

Come on. Seems like your daughter cant cut it so you are taking her out.

As much testing and stress as occurs in these key grades, I understand, it has little to nothing to do with not cutting it. We no longer teach kids to learn, we teach them to test well. We do little to encourage real teaching and incite true scholarship.
Garth

E.C.
Don't get too worried about your daughter yet. We moved here from another state when my daughter started third grade and she was quite stressed and worried about the testing that year too. However, once she realized that the tests were not as hard as she thought they were going to be, I never had a problem with her about testing after that. She has done well in our public schools and is doing very well in college. I too always refused to give up on public schools but instead got very involved so to help the schools, rather than give up on them.

Good Luck with your child!

Garth's right. It doesn't even have anything to my daughter cutting it...or not cutting it, and I'm frankly offended at even the suggestion otherwise. When my wife and I spend time extra teaching her concepts that she should be learning in the classroom (not test-taking tips), there's a disconnect somewhere. I do want accountability from our public schools, but I don't want test-prep factories. And quite frankly, I'm merely exploring my options at this point, which could even include a magnet school. But it is my choice and my decision to do what's best for my daughter.

Huey,

I am very suprised to hear you say you may go private. I am now glad that you did not get on to the School Board. My vote was really wasted on you.
Mychildren have been through our school system. It hasnt been a perfect ride but we have stayed with it and on top of it and we now have wonderfully educated children!

You wrote:
It hasnt been a perfect ride but we have stayed with it and on top of it and we now have wonderfully educated children!

And that's what I'm doing at home...and don't think for a minute that we're not doing what we need to do at home; for we go above and beyond what we've been doing at home.

I'm actually surprised at the negative comments here today, considering I am months away from even making a decision as to where my daughter will be next year. I'm committed to public education in this county, but I will not fail my daughter, and I will not let GCS fail my daughter.

I agree with the poster above you EC. I dont know how you could try and get elected to the School Board and the next minute think about putting your kid in private school.
Doesnt make sense.

EC,

So you are the only one that cn be negative?

You whole campaign was negative and now you are going private?

Strange.

Hey - EC has brought up some very valid points, the schools are getting worse, the violence, the lack of discipline and yes, the lack of quality instruction. Yes, I also ponder the private school option looking at the dismal reports I get from our middle schools. Our High School principals deserve medals for doing so much yet have so little support and resources to do it with that patchwork is the best that can describe the bandages holding our High Schools together.

Eric was at least willing to stand up and fight for better schools. He was in the trenches, knows what goes on, and yes, I have to think any sane person should be evaluating private vs public education especially in High Point. What really shocks me is that it appears to be standard operating procedure with our staff. When we have kids arrested for armed robbery out on parole back in school 10 days later, yes we have problems. I won't even go into school reassignments, if you knew what really goes on in our schools you'd be a touch negative like Eric also.

Reply - correction on the above early morning post, in second paragraph - the word "parole" should be "bail". Again. apologies, went to bed and realized wrong word.

Garth,

You comments are shocking. Why are you not fighting more to keep good people in our schools?
Instead you advise people to leave?

What are your special interests now? Do you have part ownership in private schools?

Lay off E.C.! At least E.C. signs his name for every post...at least he was willing to run.
What's your name
Mr. anonymous? If you think you can do better
than Garth or E.C., why don't YOU run in 2010?

No I am not trying to get people to leave, I deal with truth and fact where it can be found. Almost every parent I have talked with has wrestled with the issue. Until the Board and Superintendent deal with safe, effective schools directed towards true academic achievement the issue of public and private will be there and be very real. When a principals claim to fame is we made AYP this year we have failed true academics. A minimal standard is never enough.

When gangs and fear are found in our schools so is failure. I may sound negative, there is much good, but pointing to a few good things means we are failing most things. I will not believe that comparing oneself to failure justifies ones existence. When my constituents see no need for me I will leave very happily, when people believe we are doing a good job of educating our kids, then I am no longer needed and should be gone and I will go quite willingly. Because Mo wants a paid listening holiday on the taxpayers wallet does not mean I must shut up and give it to him.

What is my agenda? A safe, effective educational environment for our children with teachers capable of teaching to an above average academic norm so that instead of driving down the nations average we are pulling it up. While the rest of NC is aiming for national average as a goal, I believe we should be aiming to lead the nation. That is my agenda, it has never changed and there will be many who will fall by the wayside as I trample the path to get there. My thanks to Eric and others who have the courage and conviction to challenge the norm and demand better for the next generation.

No I am not trying to get people to leave, I deal with truth and fact where it can be found. Almost every parent I have talked with has wrestled with the issue. Until the Board and Superintendent deal with safe, effective schools directed towards true academic achievement the issue of public and private will be there and be very real. When a principals claim to fame is we made AYP this year we have failed true academics. A minimal standard is never enough.

When gangs and fear are found in our schools so is failure. I may sound negative, there is much good, but pointing to a few good things means we are failing most things. I will not believe that comparing oneself to failure justifies ones existence. When my constituents see no need for me I will leave very happily, when people believe we are doing a good job of educating our kids, then I am no longer needed and should be gone and I will go quite willingly. Because Mo wants a paid listening holiday on the taxpayers wallet does not mean I must shut up and give it to him.

What is my agenda? A safe, effective educational environment for our children with teachers capable of teaching to an above average academic norm so that instead of driving down the nations average we are pulling it up. While the rest of NC is aiming for national average as a goal, I believe we should be aiming to lead the nation. That is my agenda, it has never changed and there will be many who will fall by the wayside as I trample the path to get there. My thanks to Eric and others who have the courage and conviction to challenge the norm and demand better for the next generation.

Garth,

You are probably the school board member with the most real/grass roots support. Dont ever forget that. Having said that the area that you represent has been the most screwed region of this County in the last few years. There are many people who are p****d off and are totally against public schools for that reason. Some of them even support or hope for its downfall. You need to weigh that fact into your listening and learning because I do believe that you are a strong supporter of our schools.

Anyway, I think that this is a futile arguement/discussion. If people want to go Private then so be it. Let them go.

I said.

Mychildren have been through our school system. It hasnt been a perfect ride but we have stayed with it and on top of it and we now have wonderfully educated children!

Garth, I have done that by continually challenging the norm as you stated.

As the above poster said if people want to leave public schools then let them go but I dont believe its an easy ride there either. I have friends who also complain about bad teachers and drug problems in the private school that their kids go to. I have also seen no clear visible difference to the education that my kids get and what my friends kids get at their private school.

The bottom line is:
Wherever you are there are problems and as a parent you need to be on top of them.

Mr. Huey,

Good for you. I honestly have to laugh at the comments of the posters who belittle you for considering a private school. How selfish. This is America and the last time I checked, parents had a right to choose public or private or anything inbetween. Obama just chose private, I wonder if he's getting hate mail too.

Thank you Mr. Huey for you attempt at fixing our system. We need more people like you and Garth who are willing to be honest.

Amen Karen Rogers!

If our schools aren't good enough for Obama's children, why isn't he fixing them?

Its ridiculous think critcize Obama for putting his kids in private school. I am sure it was his only choice. With all the crazy people in this country he needs to be very, very careful.
Homeschooling might be better.

The problem with Mr. Obama putting his children in private school is that he was financially able to do so; he made his choice for his children. I would also say that in his case because of security reasons that is the right choice.

However, where I disagree with that decision, he also does not support private school vouchers for the poor minority children in Washington DC which has the worst schools in the nation. If Mr. Obama has a need to make the choice for his children, then shouldn't other concerned parents have the same rights, even if they are poor and minority?

P.S. Mr. Obama, like all of the other politicians in Chicago, do not send their children to public schools because the schools there are failing. And, to make it worse, he has appointed the Superintendent there as his Education Secretary. So, he is going to fix the nation's failing schools? What makes us believe this?

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