News-Record.com

Allen, once again, a open-ended, nebulous, ineffectual column that will quickly be forgotten. Al Goldstein wouldn't even give it half-erect status. You basically said "wouldn't it be nice if..." yada yada, yada. If you really want something done, you are going to have to go in and say Grimsley to Smith and Page to Dudley. Get the poeple talking! But we all know, you value your job, so you won't say this. You will counter by saying "but it's not my or the papers job to do this". Allen, if you really want something done, how long do you think are you going to have to wait for Alan Duncan, Kris Cooke and Marti Sykes to send their friends, neighbors and kin on a bus to these schools? Hint: a long time (like maybe forever) and like you said, it looks like time has run out. It's obvious you don't want to force this issue because you'll arrive at the naked truth: that the High Point fiasco was not the result of any coherent philosophy on the part of the board but just local-yokel back-door politics. Maybe we can get through to you using cinematic terms -The calvary is not coming to Dudley, Allen. There is no calvary.

"But this new de facto segregation is different and arguably worse than the old-fashioned brand. Nearly two-thirds of Dudley's student body is economically disadvantaged in 2006.

In the old days, Dudley may have been racially segregated, but its student body represented all walks of life, from the sons and daughters of doctors and lawyers to the sons and daughters of factory workers and janitors."

Allen, I find this a curious statement of yours. How is it that in the old days that Dudley was racially segregated, but the students were sons and daughters of doctors and lawyers, but in today's racially segregated Dudley, the students are sons and daughters of factory workers and janitors? Obviously, you are saying that the problem is socioeconomic, rather than racial, but that would mean that the black doctors and lawyers don't send their children to Dudley or they don't exist at all. So, which is is it? How do you explain that Dudley was once racially segregated as it is now, but there are no longer any sons and daughters of black professionals there? I know that the answer isn't that black professionals and their children don't exist in Greensboro, so why have they abandoned Dudley as their school of choice? Surely, it can't be because those black professionals want their children to go to a good school, could it, and they know that Dudley is not that?

Maybe it is time to launch your diversity call for Dudley. We need to bus well-to-do black and white students (to ensure racial and socioeconomic diversity) to Dudley to return it to its past glory. As a matter of fact, I thought that you were going to launch your campaign this year for diversity at Dudley. I haven't seen anything on it, so maybe I just missed it.

Don't blame the superintendent and/or the school board? Why not? They are the ones that hold the office and should be accountable for the results, or lack thereof, in public education in this county. If everyone is accountable, then no one is accountable. If we the public and taxpayers are responsible for this disaster in public education, then let's release Terry Grier and the members of the school board from their positions. We don't need them any longer, if they aren't responsible and accountable for results, and we certainly don't need to be paying them for this mess.

Allen,

Your most revealing line may be "Over the years, however, the commitment to racially balanced schools crumbled under the weight of white flight to the suburbs and growing community indifference."

It's the DAMN WHITE MAN's fault for moving away! Why not fix it the same way they did in High Point? Bus WHITEY in and bus the poorest, least represented BLACK kids to the suburbs where they will have little to no support from their local community.

Just say what you mean, man. STOP the rhetoric.

By the way:
1. Grier and the Board of Education ARE ACCOUNTABLE! It's why we pay them with OUR hard earned tax dollars.

2. The parents and the kids are accountable.

3. The teachers and school leadership are accountable.

Your "community" is not accountable but we as human beings are all responsible for each other .... regardless of skin color and economic status.

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY are two different issues here.

You and others who wish to cure the ills of our society by forcing people against their wills will simply drive people like me away (In the case of forced busing I mean that term literally. I'm moving from Guilford County as soon as my house sells!) People like me will also continue to HELP those in need as long as it is by choice. Force me and I will take my time, talent and treasure to another place/person in need of assistance. You see, it's still America..... we still have our free will!

Allen,
I hope you take the time to read the audit reports on Smith,Dudley and Central. The ONLY recomendation for diversity was in the Dudley report. Central and Smith are "richly" diverse. It stands to reason that if they had done a report on Andrews then it would also be labeled "richly" diverse.
You and your paper joined on the band wagon of back door politics in High Point and continually, continually supported it.

All the time the real crime, the real problem was at Dudley.

Allen you have failed so badly!
You should be ashamed of yourself!
Your paper too.

Please read these reports and maybe do an editorial on them. The other worrying things you will see are.
Total lack of discipline and punity in these schools.
And then the most obvious. Schools within schools. Emorywood kids are in the AP and honors classes while the poor kids are in there own.

Griers diversity plans through magnets etc does not help. He really needs to teach. That is what we have been asking for. Allen its so obvious and you have fell for it.

"How could we as a community allow this to happen"?

The question is how did the N&R let this happen? While Dudley and Smth has been poor schools for the last five years the school board has wasted much energy over the last 3 years on High Point. You have supported them.

Many, repeat many North High Point parents have pointed this out time and time again.

The N&R blindly followed like little ignorant sheep.
BAAAAAAAAAAA!BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The really tragic part of all this is that this school district is floundering under the lack of leadership from the superintendent and school board. Yes, Allen, you can hold them responsible and accountable for the condition of our schools.

If everyone took a look to the west at Winston Salem/Forsyth Schools, they would see a totally different picture of public education. The reason - simple, leadership on part of the superintendent and school board.

Forsyth is building stunningly attractive new schools, on or under budget, with no over-runs. They recognize that they are accountable to the taxpayers and will get approvals when they go back with new bond referendums. Drive over some day and see their two newest high schools just opened in 2005; Atkins Academic & Technology High School, a magnet school on Old Greensboro Road, Winston Salem and Ronald Reagan High School, a traditional school located in Pfafftown. Incidentally, Atkins will have a School of Biotechnology, School of Computer Technology, and a School of Pre-Engineering, and unlike many magnet schools, it will have full fledged sports teams competing in football, soccer, baseball, and basketball, along with a band. Wasn't that what we were supposed to get at Andrews with the Choice Plan? Whoops, no leadership with vision to see it through. A lot of talk and promises by the High Point school board representatives, but short on delivery. As a matter of fact, what happened to all of those promised world class schools in High Point? It seems that all that High Point got for its investment was a lot of yellow buses to transport students around.

Educational quality? Sure, across their school system, 85 percent of their students in grades three through eight were performing at grade level in math and reading, compared to 68 percent in 1997. 85%! How many are in GCS?

The achievement gap between majority and minority students continues to narrow at a rate faster than the state average. In the 2004-05 ABCs of Public Education program, 10 of their schools earned North Carolina’s top recognition for student performance as “Honor Schools of Excellence,” and 14 schools were named “Schools of Distinction.” Forsyth has much fewer schools.

Qualified teachers? Sure, GCS complains about the teacher turnover, but guess the destination of those leaving? Yes, Forsyth Schools.

Atendance assignment problems? No, they have an open enrollment program that lets students select schools of their choice. Allen, they offer the best of both worlds - neighborhood schools with an option to attend any other high school in the county.

The GCS school board talks about everything except education. They just talk the talk. Forsyth is walking the walk. They are living the vision. Here's their vision statement:

"Students, parents, teachers, staff and the community are valued as unified partners in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System. Well-trained educators foster academic achievement at the highest levels in our safe, state-of-the-art facilities. All students possess an excitement and commitment for lifelong learning. As partners, we develop tomorrow's citizens, parents and leaders."

Wouldn't it be nice if GCS had such a positive and forward-looking vision? What is the vision of GCS? Anyone have an idea? I'm not aware that they have a vision.

Judge Manning is right. It's not the need for more money that holds GCS back. It's leadership! Experts on leadership will tell you that what makes a great leader is VISION, and the ability to inspire others to the attainnment of that vision. If you don't have a vision, you can't be a leader and you sure can't inspire others to attain that vision. That is why GCS will continue to flounder. Terry Grier and the school board don't have a vision that thaey can articulate and inspire people to rally around.

Stormy for school board.

If you have a good football team, a good basketball team, and a good band, why can you not get good grades????? Could it be that the coaches and band people demand accountability,and respect? It not the building, building do not teach.

Stormy, I suspect you may be giving the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools more credit than they deserve.
Carver High School in Winston also is on Judge Manning's list of under-performing schools.

As for the issue of community accountability for schools, we should be accountable. We have stacked the deck against more diverse schools by having less diverse communities, in High Point and Greensboro.
That makes it almost impossible in some cases to create racially and socioeconomically balanced districts.
Sprawl has been a problem, as has white flight and the presence of more private schools.
As I noted in my column, when desegregation first began, quality education was available throughout the system.
So I submit that white flight was driven by something else.

I don't view the presence of more private schools as a problem, IT'S THE SOLUTION; atleast it was the solution for my family.

Notes a Winston-Salem Journal editorial on Carver:

"Redistricting may have taken some of the school's better students. Also, just over half of the school's 1,069 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. They come from needy families, and their parents, sometimes working more than one job, don't always give as much time to their children's education as do parents at other schools."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Allen , some excerpts from the audit report from Central.

"White students dominate the academically advantageous AP and IB courses at the school.
While they represent slightly less than 40% of the student body, they constitute 80.4 percent of the IB enrollment and 65.7% of the AP enrollment.
With the exception of Multiracial and American Indian students in a few AP courses, non-white student are consistently underrepresented in AP and IB courses. For example, Blacks, the largest student group at the school, comprise 42.7% of the school’s enrollment, but only 21.5% of AP enrollment and 14.4% of IB enrollment".

Grier's magnets result in the above. The real problem is this.

Another excerpt from the Central report.

"However, strong perceptions exist among most teachers and staff that students from socio-economically deficient circumstances are not capable of achieving the high standards established by the State’s Courses of Study. Instead of believing that they can create an environment that fosters the success of all students, many staff believe they cannot compensate for the major academic deficits of freshmen students. Varied expectations for students’ deportment are evidenced by teachers’ observed tolerance of minor conduct violations and low homework demands".

Allen, bussing and diversity is not the answer. It starts by the leader "really" believing all children CAN be educated.

Grier does not. Now that is the "REAL" problem.

Allen, you are so far off base. Now, once again, read the evidence from outside auditors. Read it.
Then help us Kick Grier's backside ottahere!

Our problem schools are in disarry. There is no sense in harping on about diversity all the time when there is no dicipline and no willingness of the leadership to really teach poor children.

We need to give the basics a chance before we start bussing people around. If you look at the reports it is clear that the basics are not there.

Allen,

From the Forsyth website:

"High school attendance lines have been redrawn for the opening of Atkins and Reagan high schools in the 2005-06 school year. The schools will open with ninth and tenth grades. At least 100 rising eleventh-graders must commit to each school for it to open with an 11th grade."

So, yes there was a redistricting process in Forsyth in 2005. Some of those better students mentioned by the reporter obviously chose to go to the new Atkins High. The Atkins attendance zone would be adjacent to Carver. Carver was 28% white and 72% black in the 2003-2004 school year, so it wasn't exactly like Dudley. It had some diversity.

Also, with the open enrollment program in Forsyth, no student is locked in to attending one schools by redistricting. They can choose to attend other schools. So, I'd still say it is much differnt situation in Forsyth than Guilford, and they still have much better leadership.

Sure, they have their challenges and everything isn't perfect there, but it is miles ahead of what Guilford is doing.

Judge Manning, distinguished legal mind that he is, has been credited as most responsible for the condition of Education in North Carolina. In his most recent evaluation of the states High Schools he published a list of schools that should be closed due to lack of student performance on test. This same judge has been responsible for rulings and processes in public education for some time now and apparently knows what he is talking about. If there is some deficiency in the system shouldn’t he take part of the blame as well? How much of this “blame pudding” did he put on his plate before he started passing it on to principals, administrators, teachers, janitors or anyone else within range of his accusatory musings. His judgment may be founded in the finest educational statistics but my Grandmother taught me years ago, “Lorenzo honey”, she used to say, “people use statistics like drunks use a lamp post.” She used to say, “Drunks need the lamp post to hold themselves up honey, they don’t need it for the light.” Grandma has already turned over in her grave and given contemporary culture the finger considering the way it has begun statisticizing her grandchildren.
The current environment merely leaves me with question after question. Why are we in NC (any other state for that matter-I think only Rhode Island or Maine had the good sense to walk away) following a federal program for our children that has destroyed every creative and nurturing aspect of what used to be the promise of American education? It couldn’t be the money. The federal government only provides 8% of the budget for education in NC. What is it? Political ties maybe? How in the name of good conscience can we sacrifice the minds and futures of an entire state? We just passed a lottery bill, couldn’t we put 60 % into education rather than the low 40%. We could throw out that Texas jackass testing mentality that comes with Federal money and have a “Made In Carolina” educational system. Our motto really is Esse Quam Videri-To Be Rather Than To Seem- Why can’t we create an educational system that works for Carolina’s children? Who needs 8% if it is given as medicine and we find out that its poison, it makes good sense to stop taking it. And what do you call an educational lottery that only gets 40% of the take? You call it something other than an educational lottery. Pork Barrel Playhouse maybe!! What kinds of educational progress could we make if our resources were focused on a curriculum that develops access, opportunity and exposure for our children? Some questions we should ask!!
I don’t know, but I bet the Judge never walked the halls of Dudley, Smith or Carver while school was in session. He probably has no idea of the amount of education that goes on unnoticed, unrecorded and in spite of the nature of the system. The issues that teachers confront on a daily basis are often too much for some of them to bear. As a result we have an extreme turnover rate in education. Yet, our children and those teachers who stay, return to school and their home environments day in and day out. Teacher and child can be found shouting in church on Sunday praying to God because it seems no one else gives a damn. What do you tell your children when they realize that the creators of No Child Left Behind only utilize that statement as it applies to soldiers in Iraq? How do you tell a judge who interprets a culture addicted to testing in education that the culture needs a 12-step program to get over its addiction to misinterpreted information.
How do School Boards tell parents and children in educational systems that their lives and histories have great value in the present though marginalized in the past? How do you tell the children of Dudley that you know their scores are not the greatest in the world but for whatever reasons that too is only a temporary because we intend to find answers to the problems of education? Why hasn’t anybody talked about archaic curriculum and the need for change in design and implementation? Why don’t we teach the students at Dudley and Smith that many of the “thousands gone” who preceded them may not have had Duke or Harvard entry scores, yet history bears witness to their contributions to the development of local, national and international policy and progress? Today’s children are expected to and in spite of the criticism leveled at them, will probably do the same.
Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, “You’ve got to go there to know there.” Our children need to be exposed as a result of access to corporate, political and social cultures and their use of technology rather than isolated in an antiquated banking systems of education. (Open brain, insert information and pray for growth of interest) When you spend time in schools, you see lots of people doing the best they can with what they have. We, in American culture, have to stop pretending that we already tried to do what John Dewey suggested back in the 1930’s. Writing as a result of his experiences creating and directing a community school in Chicago, Dewey surmised and submitted to the intellectual community of his time that, what was most desired for our children (elite) was what all of America’s children needed. We, so far, have lacked the courage to make that great leap of educational faith a reality. As a result of our political and social ineptitude, our children suffer miserably. Not just the children of the poor, all of America’s children are either misguided, misled or miseducated under the national paradigm and there is lots of blame to go around when discussing failures.
Don’t blame the system you say. What about parenting you ask? Those children don’t care about anything you suggest. Perhaps for perspective we should go and brush up on our American History. I’m sorry, I forgot, when it comes to our recollection of our history USA does mean United States of Amnesia. We’ve tried our best to disguise, hide and manipulate the history we do know.
Until we develop the courage to fulfill the promise of American education, we should leave Dudley and the rest of the State’s schools alone. Our courage and vision for education could set a course not only for education, but it also could create valid and lasting direction for America in the future. For me, it really is about all of our children not our dollars, oil and guns. We are already richer than God, more armed and dangerous than the devil himself and so addicted to oil we need counseling and continuous intercessory prayer.
After we remind ourselves in North Carolina that the children are our future, maybe then, we can summons the courage to send the same message to Washington, DC. “Liberal, naïve babble” you say. Say it twice while holding your children and grandchildren in your arms. While you’ve got the attention of your precious ones, explain to them how we are jeopardizing the future for our vanity and pride. Tell them how we have pawned their bright hopes and futures for fantasies of imperialism and then if you sleep well at night, we really are in deeper trouble than I could have ever imagined.

Allen, you imply that the deck is stacked against economically diverse schools by simple geography. So in other words, you are saying that the people in High Point who have got shafted are stupid for not moving farther out in the suburbs than they already are. You're in effect re-inforcing "white flight" by saying: "if you're going to do it, get as far away as possible so no Dot's can reach you, you High Point people are fools."

You are fostering even more isolation than already exists. You're saying :"if they are close enough grab them, if they're farther away you have to leave them go." If "diversity" will fix schools, then no distance can be too great.

Stop the bs about white flight about diversity and all that crap.

Allen, teachers in the schools do not think that poor children can learn. The school board doesn't think that poor children can learn.

GRIER DOES NOT THINK THEY CAN LEARN. The more the board act in this way. The more they reinforce it.

Wake up man! All children are sponges. They CAN learn!

Sponges:
I agree. All children can learn, in the right environment with the right support.
It angers me that some people feel that the desire for diversity is some silly quest to have dumb black students get smarter by sitting beside smarter white students.
That is ignorant, mean-spirited and beyond condescending.
The notion instead is ...
1. to create a learning environment in which students can see beyond their own life experiences.
2. to create higher expectations for ALL students.
3. to be able to attract more high-caliber teachers, who tend to shy away from poor schools despite the lure of bonuses.
4. To not concentrate all of the students with the most home/classroom challenges in the same place. That's not fair to students or teachers.

Allen,

Let's get the Diversify Dudley campaign underway. It sounds like you are ready to support a diversification program there. There is no other way tko achieve your 4-step plan.

Logic,

I had to read you post several times before I really understood what you were saying. Now, I get it. The sad condition on our public schools in North Carolina is George Bush's fault!! We can now officially list this as another problem to be placed at George Bush's door. But, do you think that there were any of these problems in our schools before George Bush became president? You reallyneed to read the assessment reports that Terry Grier commissioned on three schools, including Dudley. Those assessments lay out what the problems in the schools are very clearly, and they didn't mention George Bush once that I can recall, although they did lay out some blame for central office. NCLB us not the cause of problems in our schools. Terry Grier and the school board would like you to think that it is. They call NCLB an unfunded mandate. It is something on a mandate alright. It's a mandate for school administrations and school boards to start fixng the schools that are in such sad condition. Lack of funds is not the problem as Judge Manning stated. It's lack of leadership.

Stormy,
I agree. It is leadership. What I am implying is that, historically, we have had poor leadership in American education. Not just George Bush, since King George of England, American education has been designed for the NAACP. (Certain People)
Lorraine Hansberry once wrote, "man will do what the ape never will. Man will impose on life a new meaning for life." Why are we reluctant to step up to the plate in this hour of necessity and technology. The direction of education in America could orient the entire world in a more positive and productive way. We just refuse to do so due to our habituation and dependence upon poor myths and isms.
I don't blame George or Terry. I think American culture needs a wake up call. I thought 911 did the job but we retreated back to the cave rather than walking toward the light.

Logie,

Well, we do disagree on one point. I do blame Terry Grier. He is paid very well to be superintendent of these county schools. These schools are funded to the tune of $500 million annually by the state and county, and then when you read those assessments of Dudley, Smith, and Central, it is very clear whose immediately responsible. No case can be made that responsibility can be deflected to a national level. In this case, the buck stops at Terry Grier's desk. If he can't do his job, let's get rid of him and find someone that can. There are school districts out there that succeed, in spite of the conditions that you blame. Saying that Grier and his associates aren't to be held accountable for the mess here is much like saying that Ken Lay and his associates can't be held for the Enron debacle. Yes, they both can and should be. They are and were in charge, and got paid very well for it. If we can't hold Terry Grier and his associates accountable for this mess, then let's get rid of them. At least we'd save some money that could be used to pay teachers.