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#4 is my answer. sad but true! it was a best-of-the-worst scenario for me.

doug, it's called demoralization.

You don't have to worry, you have every right to be smug. You've got what you want. the kids are at good schools. they got through school without getting jacked. I'd kick back too. Must be nice. You don't get it. All we wish for... we all want to be Doug Clark

Come on, Savage. Too demoralized to vote? Are you saying you didn't vote?

I can buy that only if you thought this election had nothing to do with the schools. That's plausible to me, but it's not what I was hearing from the "vote wood and brown" voices on this blog before the election.

I voted for Wood even though I knew what the outcome was going to be.

Many people who have not had their child go through the lottery do not have a clue!!! I did not vote for Becky not only because of the schools but also her inability to manage the little growth in North High Point. We pay the highest taxes, and we don't even get a freakin neighborhood high school. Her concerns should be the schools along with bringing jobs here and not just jobs in the furniture industry.

Well, for me, it was issue #4. I simply cannot trust Steve Wood to do anything but that which is best for Steve Wood, and that's nobody for which I should be wasting a vote, regardless of how poor a choice I found Becky Smothers.

Interesting point... does everyone remember Lee Burnett's war on North High Point in the summer of 2003, when he decided to send the developers an early Christmas present and try to rezone everything down to Hicksdale 'unsuitable for residential use'? At the time, even after the City Council rejected his extremist position, Mr. Burnett was claiming it was unhealthy for people. Yet, tomorrow night, the Planning Commission is voting on a motion to expand River Landing, up on Sandy Ridge. THis is in the heart of Mr. Burnett's dreamed Industrial Zone and he assigned it the devastating designation 'Zone 1'. Yet, 2 years later, he's on record as recommending an expansion to the existing retirement home. This leaves us with 3 possible conclusions:

1) Lee Burnett knew all along that the noise from Fed Ex was a boogeyman that could be used to drive property values down and make some money for industrial/commercial developers.

2) Mr. Burnett believes that while it's not okay for an existing resident to sell their property in Zone 1, it's perfectly fine to pack grandma & grandpa off to their golden years in a noise impact zone that could result in developmental difficulties and sleep depravation of an extreme nature. (The language he wanted us to use in a required letter attached to the platts for our houses 10 miles further south!)

Can anybody else see Becky & Lee having some more fun playing "Let's make the developers rich" in the coming years, especially now that they have that nifty supreme court decision saying that they have every right to do so?

Oops, I forgot conclusion #3, that Mr. Burnett might actually not realize the contradiction for which he's now on record.

I can never imagine a reason to not vote other than you don't care about your community and your children's future.

By the way, why do you think that NOT ONE High Point representative attended the meeting on black, white and low income students last week held by the school board?

Wasn't this issue brought to the forefront by High Point but yet it's leaders did not find it important enough to attend. Not to mention Ms Smothers traveled all the way to Greensboro to endorse Simeon Stadium. Which goes to show that in fact she can get involved when she wants to.

I all I can is that makes for sorry leadership in my book!

Becky has a "strong mandate" for the next four years? Really? I guess if a candidate represents your own home grown interest you could make an absurd statement like this and say someone who wins an election where only five percent of the voters show up has a "strong mandate". Now if you're a neutral objective thinking person (like journalists are supposed to be), you may just have a little b.s. meter go off when you say this, but we know you turned yours off quite a while ago, Douglas.

The mayor's term is two years, not four.

Turnout was 11 percent, not 5 percent.

Obviously, 11 percent stinks. But the people who chose not to vote literally don't count.

Winning a mayoral election with 72 percent of the vote gives Becky Smothers a mandate. Your opinion to the contrary is just an opinion. It doesn't hold much water compared to an election.

Douglas,
as Becky's chief Campaign officer you have the right to feel smug and she must be proud to see you finishing off the job with some excellent stat research.
In my opinion Steve Wood came out too late with his anti "IT" push.
There was just not enough time to get the news out. We will be better prepared for the SB elections!
You had better tell your buddie Susan to look for another job already.
They are looking for people down at the NHP ABC store so I have heard.

Doug,

you are correct about one thing, 11 percent stinks. but it hardly qualifies as a mandate. It's unfortunate that you OPINION, is so baised and unobjective. It doesn't hold much water either.

Mikeg, which opinion of mine is so biased and unobjective? That winning 72 percent of the vote gives Mayor Smothers a mandate?

What's your opinion, that she should regard it as a repudiation of her leadership?

The fact that 89 percent of registered voters didn't participate really can't be interpreted as a statement of any kind. Those people chose to be mute.

Doug, I want you to know, I did vote. I admit I did not do well on my High Point civics test (the mayor term is 2 yrs not 4.) In fact that's how we all got in this mess in the first place. If we knew High Point civics, we would know that High Point is ruled by emerywood, for emerywood, and everything in the town exists and derives value only to the extent in which it serves emerywood. We all learned this too late. If we just knew and accepted this, everything would be well and we wouldn't be here typing these stupid missives and then your blog would have NOBODY on it!!! So you should be happy we are ignorant.

Hey Doug, wanted to congratulate the N&R on the fine piece on Page High now appearing in your paper. I liked todays installment. Thought it was touching early in the article where the boy who's hurt knew even when he was a kid that he would being going through the "Page High" ritual on some distant fall Friday night. Then I thought about you and Mr Johnson editorializing in favor of proscibing this very same dream for some North High Point kid and instead having him say: Boy, I can't wait to get to High School so I can enter the lottery and play where Dot wants me to play football". It just gives one a warm fuzzy.

Actually Doug, those 89% who did not vote, many of whom I am sure of those who are writing such angry letters in this blog, actually voted for Becky Smothers. They voted by abstencia.

Doug I am also interested to know what the precentage of voters in Emorywood is to the remainder of High Point. The last time I lived there, Emorywood was a fairly small residential community made up of a lot of older homes, older people with a lot of younger folks buying and hoping to buy homes in that area because of the tranquil setting and quality of the homes built there more than 50 yrs ago. I am not sure that Emorywood makes up enough votes to control an election, or even has enough money as some seem to claim to control an election. Does not other parts of HP vote? Wouldn't those numbers override any numbers put up by Emorywood residents even if every person in Emorywood voted for the same person? Put out the numbers Doug and then maybe the rest of these folks will do what I suggested in a pervious post and get busy working to elect whoever they would like to see instead of siting around whining. It does work, believe me.

Mr. Produce,
I can assure you that most of us whiners did indeed vote. Jonathon Jones is the only person that I know that abuses his American responsibility.

Street Club Savage, thank you for speaking out. You're wasting your time on Mr. Douglas Clark though. His kids are gone, he's nest is empty and he's now a Dotty Do-righter that wants to save the world. He cannot narrow his focus to even try to understand the passion that families have over their children's education. You're an awesome dad to speak out for your kids but, if you live in High Point, you must play by the Socialist rules.

It's easier to just put your house up for sale. Greensboro gets screwed less often and with much less intensity when it comes to the schools. That's an option. Another option is totally out of Guilford county.

Maybe Doug's wife could shed some light on the educational opportunities available to your kids since she works in a neighboring school system.

I for one do not have to be beat over the head again. I understand the whole purpose of the developments in North High Point are to fund "old" High Point. And the sole purpose of our kids is to raise the educational base of "old" High Point. I'm NOT getting enough return for what they are forcing me to contribute.

We're making our way outta here. Slowly but surely. It'll be interesting to check back in, in a few years to see how "old" High Point is doing. My crystal ball says that "old" High Point will be even older. And North High Point will be, well let's just say, it won't have such generous families.

Doug, you just keep advocating the abduction of children. I do believe that some day, maybe a long time from now, you'll see the ramifications of following a Socialist regime.

mrp,

I don't exactly have the answer to your question, but the Emerywood neighborhood is entirely contained within Ward 4, which covers only one-sixth of the city. So it would account for something less than that proportion of High Point.

By the way, there's no abduction of children, and the only "socialism" is the principle that all public schools belong equally to everyone. There's not an entitlement for anyone to have their children attend a particular school. If you want that, you have to choose a private school. Even then, the school has the option of whether or not to accept the student.

Wrong again Douglas.

If I lived in GSo my daughter would have the right to go to my neighborhood school.

Doug,
I think it's time for your yearly check-up. I think your head has slipped up into that dark orifice again. I know a good Doc that can pull it out for you if you need a recommendation. Well, he could try. Some cases are lost causes.

Doug,

any time an encumbent like Becky Smothers who has a pretty strong long term track record as a leader loses a reasonable percentage of the vote to a challenger who, in all estimation, is totally unqualified for the job, it should send a message. The message is that all is not well. We have a president, as well as school board members who wrongly see that winning is a clear mandate for the status quo. Perhaps they ought to take a look at those who didn't vote for them, rather than just the victory. I voted against Becky, not becasue she hasn't done a good job; She has done a good job overall, but has refused to engage herself in the school debate which threatens High Point's long term viability. You as a journalist should examine both sides of the issue, not just spout whatever nonsense comes to your mind. It is supposed to be your mandate to be a journalist, not a mouthpiece. After reading many of your blogs, it is clear that you are the latter, not the former.

reassigned, there is no "right" to go to a neighborhood school. Not every neighborhood even has a school, meaning one that is clearly closest or otherwise associated with that neighborhood. If you define neighborhood school as the one closest, well, it just doesn't work because some schools have more children who live closest to it than the school can accommodate. So some kids have to be sent to another school farther way. That's not a violation of anyone's "rights."

All children do have a right to attend a public school, but a child from north High Point has no more "right" to attend Southwest than does a child from south High Point. You're talking about a desire, a preference or an expectation, not a right.

Mikeg, you seem to be dismissing Steve Wood too casually. The man was elected to the state legislature eight times, most recently in 2002 when he defeated Chris Whitley among others. He also happens to be a Republican in a city that often votes strongly Republican (although this was a nonpartisan election). Nevertheless, Becky Smothers won 72 percent of the vote. That's impressive. I'm not her mouthpiece -- and she hardly needs one -- but a re-election with 72 percent of the vote is meaningful.

Doug, I repeat. You need your check up. Please call for an appointment immediately. Your head could be greatly compromised if left up there for too long. I'm seeing the symptoms already.

When Tim Brown contacted me to help round up some folks to vote for him (and I don't even live in High Point) my husband said, "Barbara Ann tell him to please promise he will never annex us to High Point and you will help him."

Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.

We are in the county.

And that is the end of the story for many of us lucky ones.

Doug

Neighborhood school - one in which everyone in a given neighborhood attends the same school.

HP Choice plan - idiotic plan where no one knows where they'll attend high school and children living in 3 houses side-by-side could be forced to attend 3 different high schools.

I've contacted the Realtors Association and have requested that they stop advertising schools in their home listings.

Since Doug has clarified that there is no such thing as a neighborhood school, and the "rights" to one are as old fashioned as douching, then I expect home-buyers to stop investigating what school district their prospective new home will be in.

Oh, and I've only contacted the Realtors in High Point. Apparently, the "rights" to neighborhood schools have only been severed in High Point.

You only have a right to a neighborhood school if you go to Grimsley, Page, etc.

You can plan for years for the big "game".

You could look at it like this: Children in three houses side-by-side could choose to attend three different high schools.

But, no, better to "abduct" them and force them to go to what someone decides is their neighborhood school.

Is anyone really opposed to the concept of choice in principle? Isn't it only when you don't get your choice that you object?

"Is anyone really opposed to the concept of choice in principle? Isn't it only when you don't get your choice that you object?"

Doug, what kind of a statement is this? I look at the phrase and I dont get it.

Let me put it like this.

We from NHP are not against choice but we are the only ones that do not have it.

Are we against it or are we for it? I dont know now I am lost!

So you're saying every child in NHP was denied first choice of high school.

Not all but many, many more than SHP.
The facts have been quoted on these blogs several times.

Furthermore, Nancy Routh one of the brighter SB members has said several times that the (supposed) Magnets of HP which make up the chop plan have no entrance and acceptance criteria. This in itself shows quite clearly that choice does not exist.

Now Dougie...SHUT UP!

Doug, you really should listen a little more.

Sure, 3 kids living side-by-side COULD choose 3 different schools. That's an option. But they should also be allowed to choose to attend the same school if they'd like. JUST like the rest of Guilford county. The REST of Guilford county gets a "base" school and then any magnets in the County of course are a CHOICE. Or they can choose private or home-schooling. The point is that the % of families that choose magnets in Guilford county is extremely low. I can't think of the percent right now but on average, most families do NOT choose a magnet when in a public system. In High Point, the option is taken away. You MUST do the lottery with no "base" option. I don't think that's too much to ask.

And still, not one board member will dare answer the question, "Why not a county wide "choice" plan? I think the whiners would stop whining, and your life would return to some normalcy if there wasn't this mad rush to "fix" High Point. You know it's not a real choice. The BOE should "fix" the entire county if this thing called "economic-integration" is the cure. They know it's not, otherwise we'd see lottery tickets for all. Even Mr. Kahlenburg writes that in order to "work", choice must be system-wide. Even I'll shut up the day that happens!

Doug,

Where have you been for the past year? EVERYONE at Central and Andrews got their FIRST choice. WHY would they object. It is a fixed game. A large number of students at SW did NOT get their first choice. Having to be put in a lottery for a second or third choice is not CHOICE.

The rest of the county does not choose their high school by a lottery. Their kids know where they are going to school unless their neighborhood is redistricted. Even then, an entire neighborhood where kids have grown up side by side get to move together. Below is a cut & paste I put on the CB tonight. Maybe this will help you "get it". Our children have suffered; families have suffered. You wouldn't know unless you where in their shoes. How would you like to have 3 kids of different ages in three different schools at different ends of town and both parents work? Add after school activities to that. You cannot FORCE social engineering on people. Those that can afford it are going private. Others are moving from High Point and taking their tax dollars with them. That is a fact. And yes, some High Point people are so ANGRY with what has been forced on them, they are supporting the market going to Vegas. How will the mayor deal with that. Her own citizens helping Vegas? how does that look?

Those people who invented and promoted and/or support this plan to get the "right mix" insult the entire black race. There as been a loud and clear message that Central wants the "right" ornumbers in their school. Who is to say what is "right" kind of kid or "better"?

CUT & PASTE FROM CB BEGINS:

My neighbor is moving to Florida in a week or so due to her husband's job promotion. I talked to her today. Her 9th grade son was lotteried to Central this year. She said he likes it okay but misses his buddies he has had since "forever" dearly. So he is glad they are moving. He doesn't care. He has been depressed since school began. He has lost his "buddies" already.

While the rest of the entire county gets to know where they will go to school, our kids are cheated out of this tradition. See "Off the Record" today. Some people still just don't "get it" - the idea of neighborhood schools. It is not the "location"; it is knowing where you will go to high school with the same kids you have bonded with for years and not be a lottery number to satisfy politicians' personal agendas and voting promises to certain groups. (refer to P-G forum if you were there - a lot of comments were sure flying around)

Just tonight on the news, three students at A & T were killed in a car wreck. They have known each other since high school and longer and now stayed friends through college. There are some things that are more important than the utopian idea of a perfect mix that you will never find.

This is stable friendships that our children need at this vulnerable age. That is the travesty of the IT plan. You are cheating our children out of this.

You will never ever get the perfect "mix" because what is the "perfect" number. The more you strive to achieve this goal, the more people will leave the system. The more our kids will have to cope with.

I think teens have enough in their lives to deal with and stability should be a number one priority.

As we have all said before, if this is so great than surely the entire county needs the IT plan. We might as well force all these kids to "get over it" and just "adjust".

Posted by: Barbara Ann at November 17, 2005 12:12 AM