News-Record.com

Excellent column, Allen. Like the song says "Where Were You when We Needed You". You've come a long way, baby- from labeling people who didn't want to be victimized by Grier/Kearnsism as xenophobic, provincial, racists in search of "quaintness" I believe was the word you used at one point, to now glorifying us. Ah yes, seems like just yesterday you were writing editorials saying the schoolboard "did the right thing"

Sounds like somebody's jumping on the bandwagon. Don't worry, there's lots of room on here. Hope the N&R can accomodate the arrival of their new libertarian columnist.

Viva Bandwagon Al!!!

ps.. Allen we hope that you don't think that today's bit of pabulum is going to make anyone forget about the glaring failure of the N&R looking into the Deena Hayes home improvement conflict of interest story, do you?. Rest assured, we all await your future column(s) on this subject too, since there seems to be some type of self-redemptive effort taking place on your part.

What I'm going to say is going to be earth shattering (or pack the punch of a tidal wave)I know, so loosen your collar, and it might be best if you sit down.

How about writing a column of use to every tax paying citizen in Guilford Co. Of course I'm talking about the Deena Hayes Christmas Club scandal. Maybe interview her and give her a chance to clear the air, look at it from both sides, totally objectivly as is the N&R's policy, of course, because now it doesn't look that good. Then AFTER you write this column, THEN you go see a crappy MOVIE. Deal?

So it takes a nice BLACK family, with education as their first priority, to make you see the unequities in the "choice" plan.

How sad that WHITE families, with the same story, were/are labeled racist, and their stories get not press time whatsoever.

Now, if you could just get Deena to open her eyes to the reality of the situation, we might actually save this school system from self-destruction.

I am curious, Allen why the N&R has laid off the Deena story. Because Jill Wilson (GCS Atty) said there is no conflict?

Imagine if back in '73 you had Robinson/ Johnson instead of Woodward and Bernstein at The Post.

Gee, Allen, what do you think?

Look, John Mitchell, I mean-the Attorney General of the United States, said no crime occured.

And the President also said he is not a crook.

You're right John...What about this Deep Throat guy?

Allen, I think he's just some kind of wacko with a political axe to grind.

I call him and tell him no more meetings.

Right.

Allen,

You "get it". This is by far a great column. It truly IS about taking responsibility for one's own actions, being truly involved as a parent, and not trying to have the school system raise our children.

Thank you for writing this one.

Allen,
do you think the Thompsons had a right for their children to attend the SW schools? I live in very close to them. Went through the same process but my daughter did not win the lottery.
It blows my mind that you come out with a story like this NOW. Its more than one year too late and it is still happenning today!

I have to wonder, if the photo stuffed into the full blue folder had been of a blonde haired, blue eyed kid, would they have been granted their appeal?

From what I was told, yes.

Allen, why do all your replies on your blog always seem like you're making them as if you were seated in the congressional hearing room being grilled by Joe McCarthy with an attorney sitting by your side, whispering in your ear?

Ah, maybe it's just me.

Allen, you were told wrong.

My daughter is lilly white we live 800 yeards North of SW. We lost our appeal. I also work close to this region. I think I see the color of their decision!

Fay Thompson said she knew of parents in her neighborhood who had won and lost appeals.
Her perception, she said, that was that you had to be persistent -- that you needed to keep calling and meeting and not taking no for an answer.
I don't know that you can generalize from two cases -- your case and hers, whose details you don't know -- that white appeals were denied and black ones were granted, do you?

John Gehris:
I don't if Deena Hayes has done anything wrong -- that's hard to tell, based largely on anonymous and uncorroborated interviews, as it is.
Of course, conflict-of-interest cases have surfaced before with the school board, but based on much more solid evidence.
Meanwhile, minority contractors still aren't getting very much school business.

Allen, have you read Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt (of "Freakonomics" fame)? They write:..."(I)t isn't that parents don't matter. Clearly, they matter an awful lot. It's just that by the time most parents pick up a book on parenting technique, it's too late. Many of the things that matter most were decided long ago — what kind of education a parent got, how hard he worked to build a career, what kind of spouse he wound up with and how long they waited to have children. ...The privilege gap is far more real than the fear that haunts so many modern parents — that their children will fail miserably without regular helpings of culture cramming and competitive parenting." (http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-05-03-parents-edit_x.htm)

The story you wrote is very noble, Allen. May I venture a guess that this pair of parents are middle- to upper-middle class? If they live near Sothwest, isn't the average home value pretty up there? If so, they probably have decent educations, and/or own 50-100+ books (which they don't even have to read, just having them is a marker of success and educational expectations for children, according to Levitt & Dubner), and they are clearly trying to get involved in their child's school. Was the mother 30 years old or so when the daughter was born?

People always crow about discipline (probably good, in moderation), hard-work ethic and of course, lotteries. But if you are an involved middle- to upper-middle or higher income parent, who doesn't have bare bookshelves and especially if you waited until you grew up to have a child, your kid will have a better outcome almost anywhere they go. This doesn't disreagrd sheer anarchy if such exists in certain schools, of course.

Oh, and another major indicator: children who speak English (and whose parents do as well) generally get a head start in this country's schools. Kids who go to Head Start don't seem to do much better than those who don't.

Freddie:
You're absolutely right. The Thompsons are well-educated and solidly entrenched in the middle class -- at least.
Some parents couldn't what they did if they saved and sacrificed for a decade.
That's where community and extended families come in.
We had those when I was growing up. We looked out for one another.
We had economically diverse schools.
We held our kids accountable.
And we held each other accountable.

Allen,
you cannot appeal an appeal. The school board, you can be sure, were sick of me. What I find laughable is that you applaud an African American family for fighting for their children and the likes of me are called racists, facists, you name it.
Next year my daughter is back at SW. No more long car rides, no more filling up the tank every few days. More time at home with her brother and sister, more time resting in the morning and more time to play or do her homework.
Will you come out next year with a story about the black families who are fighting against being transferred up to Southwest? You will probably ignore the white families who live one mile away from SW and have to now travel several miles to Andrews. Allen, this just shows how little you know about the real story in High point.
Allen, thankyou for yesterdays editorial. I hope this is a sign that you are waking up!

Allen, your editorial and your comments thus far have been the best I have read from you. The original post was fair minded. I'm happy that you mentioned you did not blame it on "white flight", and took note that although racism exists, many of the problems are more causally related to bad parenting and low ambition. Recognizing this is the first step towards a real solution.

I would also add that illegitemacy has almost a direct numerical correlation to the disproportionate number of minorities suspended from school and in the juvenile justice system. This is not because of race, because the numbers for white students also track similarly. However, the illegitemacy rate among blacks is nearly three times that of whites. This is a hard reality that must be addressed in the community rather than to try and explain it away as a vestige of racism.

The illegitemacy rate among blacks is higher now than it was 50 years ago even though great progress has been made in civil rights. It is difficult then to say it is a racial issue when rights have been expanded, yet the rate has almost tripled.

I am happy that you have gone beyond the easy rhetoric and addressed matters as they really are as opposed to what is considered politically correct or the province of politicians and academics who don't see first hand what is happening on the ground. I don't know the answer, but it is great to see an honest discussion of the subject.

Allen, are you denying that there has been legal tender flowing under Deena's roof as a direct result of her lobbying and rule changing that she was able to engineer by using her position on the schoolboard that might not have been flowing there if she wasn't on the schoolboard? This is the ONLY criteria you need to START an investigation. I'm not saying she should be convicted and executed.

Maybe the man who lives with Deena brought home the same paycheck before and after the newer, larger no-bid contracts were awarded to the company where he works, I don't know. Finding out is obviously the province of law enforcement, or maybe, as is the case to date, reporters with integrity.

You mentioned minority contracts-a totally seperate issue by the way, and one that shouldn't even be part of a discussion or a concern of people who are supposed to be educating our children. It almost seems you're saying conflict of interest is okay if a minority person benefits? I'm not sure what you're implying. I'm just talking good old fashioned graft.

Allen was told wrong. All blacks were granted their appeal to return to SW. A few whites.

I know a kid (white) that lived less than a half mile from SWHS. They were assigned to Central in the lottery. They appealed due to serious medical conditions which required that the parent be close to the child. Denied. Appealed to school board members with 2 notes from doctors(the appeal was with Dot, Susan and Marti). Denied.

The family hired a lawyer and granted guardianship to a close friend with a child already at SW. Because of the sibling preference rule, the child was then allowed to attend SW. Remember, all this happened to a sick child living a half mile from the school.

This school board is pathetic!

Five years.

Smith results.......DOWN.

Deena's Personal wealth.......UP.

She has failed at her job and the children she represents but she has not failed where it counts in the pocket. She has lined hers very nicely sir.

As Deena said to the Sheriff in her accusations of him being a racist.Deena prove that you have not profited one iota from from CoMor. Prove it Deena! Or prove it N&R!

Excellent points Samuel Spagnola about illegitemacy. It further proves that people (of any color) need to take responsibility for their actions. What is truly amazing is when there are several illegitemate siblings in one family. You would think that a person would see how hard it is with one illegitemate child. Then again, the government will take care of them. Obviously raising educated children are not some people's priorities.

Allen, I thought the purpose of a blog was to have discourse on subjects of interest.Why have a blog if you're not going to answer when someone asks you a direct question. If you don't want to answer, say "I don't want to answer that" or say John Robinson and the newspapers atty or Jill Wilson would rather I not answer that. Or just say "yes" or "no". If you would rather not talk to people then quit posting on subjects of any civic interest at all and just do "All Movies, All the Time". Why don't you just close this blog and apply with Siskel and Ebert and be a shill for crappy movies instead of crappy government.

John, minority contracts are a legitimate issue. This is taxpayer money and all businesses should have fair access to compete for publicly funded contracts.
As for Deena Hayes' conduct, I can't know if there is any impropriety without having done my own investigation. That's a question probably better addressed by our news department.
As for movies, I give "Akeelah and the Bee" an A.

Allen, economic development in the minority community is NOT repeat NOT the concern of a schoolboard. There are economic agencies and other governmental bodies for that. They have absolutely NO mandate from ANYONE in the community to do such a thing. Do you not think they have enough other things to worry about?

p.s. at least you didn't give Akeelah and the B "two thumbs up" and we thank you for that.

I didn't say it was the main concern. But it is a legitimate concern. The school board oversees all aspects of the school system's operation.

The only concern of a schoolboard should be getting the best value for the money from competent contractors, whether the company is owned by Queen Latifah, Billy Bob McKendrick or a consortium of little green men from Mars. The consequences of hiring based on any other criteria is obvious and probably extant as we speak after reading the paper the last few weeks. Surely you, as a newly baptised Libertarian, can see this.

Allen,

I am not saying I told you so, but it seems the likelihood of having community and PTA-active parents all but requires they be better-educated with jobs that allow for the time and energy to be "politically" active, as well as to offer the communal nurturing you bemoan the loss of, consistently. Single mothers trying to pay the rent with multiple jobs are not in the position to do so very often.

What if, as the writers of "The Two Income Trap" argue, we de-coupled education from zip code? What if vouchers allowed any parent to send their child to any public school they wished, regardless of geography or socio-econo-racial numbers? If all the county's schools were available to all students, wouldn't that decrease the bidding wars that made the Thompsons feel they had to sacrifice only to be thrown a loop? They might have been able to send their daughter to Southwest while staying in the Northeast, as long monies were allocated for transport (this would be parents' responsibility, I assume). That would still be cheaper than trying to get into the "right" neighborhood.

And if more middle- to -higher income families stayed near where they grew up, eventually every neighboirhood might gradually improve in quality of life. The bastions of suburbia and exurbia are the very death-knell of the village shared.

I think the point that is being missed is that our problem does not derive from inadequate teachers or schools, but rather from deficient families and disinterested students. If you don't care about education, the best teacher and the best school in the world isn't going to help. Waving dollars at the problem and school redistricting makes no difference for students who don't care.

Those that do care do well regardless of who teaches them and where the go to school. The low test score issue is simply a function of averaging those that care with those that don't. To solve that issue, you have to fix the student. That must be done in the home, not by government.

Government can do little to change attitudes, replace absent fathers or instill ambition in someone. Only family and brining back the concept of shame can do that.

Sam, why then are some parents to intent on their children not attending certain schools?

Discipline, or lack therof, comes to mind.

So, if a school has few disciplinary problems but low test scores and high poverty, a student still has no excuse not to succeed there, right?
And his or her parents should be perfectly willing to send him there?

I think it is a combination of perception and discipline. The reputation for being a violent, or low scoring school has a big impact on these decisions. But I think the facts about performance speak otherwise. Every year, our lowest performing schools overall still churn out honors students who get scholarships and go on to be very succesful.

Yes, I believe that a person can be very succesful at a school that has few disciplinary issues, low test scores and high poverty. You can't judge an individuals test scores based on what every one else is doing. Like I mentioned before, you are dealing with averages not individuals when it comes to test scores. If I sit next to someone who is failing because they aren't in class every day or doesn't care, how will that affect my performance? That person will bring the average down, but not my average.

As far as poverty, I still don't see that being a direct indicator of ability or performance. That is akin to saying poor people are inherently less intelligent, which I do not believe. There is a correlation between poverty and the other factors that affect grading such as school attendance and discipline. But I believe it is an indirect affect that goes directly back to the home. The mentality of the parents is the key. One may say "I'm poor but I'm gonna make it out of this mess" or one can say "I don't care about my situation and neither do my parents so why bother." They are two different mentalities that have their roots in parents. You can be motivated out of poverty, or you can do nothing.

I would venture to say that if you suddenly gave someone who is considered poor a bunch of money in the hopes that somehow money will change their mentality about school, you would be mistaken. I also don't think this is unique to the poor. There are many middle and upper class students who don't care either. The difference is they are smaller in number because most middle and upper income parents will usually not accept failure or excuses so they will motivate their children. After all, the parents didn't become middle and upper class without being motivated themselves.

A parent that will tolerate unexcusable poor performance is a bad parent regardless of income. It is hard for any student of any class to overcome bad/weak parenting. Skipping school and not doing what is expected of you must be met with consequences in the home because it will surely result in consequences in real life. So many at-risk kids have no father figure to enforce the kind of discipline that is necessary to succeed. Single mothers throw their hands up and say "I've done every thing I can, he just won't go to school". Then the juvenile justice system kicks in. It is very difficult for a single mother to control a 15 year old who is 5'10" or taller and who is the only man in the house. I see this in almost every case in juvenile court.

The fact is the main reason so many families are considered poor is because they only have one income. There is an absent father, so his income is missed, and he is not there to help discipline. This is the true link between poverty and performance if you ask me, because a person who is more likely to live in poverty if they come from a single parent household. However, it is also true that the same type of problems appear in non-poor single parent homes. I would venture to say that 70-80% or more of my delinquency cases involve kids with no father figure. These are the kids that are causing the discipline problems, skipping school, and failing on the tests that bring the schools averages down.

Black children are more likely to live in poverty because they are far more likely to come from single parent homes due to the illegitimacy rate of 68% in the black population. With that fact comes all of the negative matters we are discussing here. Notice how the illegitimacy rate of 68% is almost identical to the percentage of suspensions for blacks in our schools. I would also venture to say that the number for white suspensions per capita is also nearly identical to the illegitimacy rate for whites (approx. 28%). If you were to walk into a juvenile courtroom on any given day, you would likely find that out of 10 juveniles, 6-7 will be black, 2-3 will be white , and the rest will be of another race. Almost identical to the illegitimacy rate.

If poverty alone had an actual causal link, then nobody that was poor would ever do well in school. That is simply not the case. Poverty should not be a crutch for failure.

I realize this is a lengthy post, but I believe that my observations are correct. The absence of a strong male father figure is destroying our youth. We can blame poor performance and crime on poverty, race or lack of funding, but those are the wrong things to wrong things to focus on. The real problem is right in front of us, but nobody wants to talk about it for fear of being judgmental, or because blaming extrinsic forces is so much easier than dealing with the real problem.

Sam, you make some valid points but I believe the picture is much more complex than that.
Undoubtedly, lack of male role models in the home is an issue. Single-parent homes also tend to be more financially strained. That, too, is an issue.
Poor parents also are less likely to be engaged in their children's schools.
High poverty schools are tougher places to teach, and to attract the best teachers.
Finally, there is almost a direct correlation between high poverty and low achievement not because the students aren't as smart but because they bring more challenges to school from poor households.

Allen, what's your take on Bill Cosby? The man went off again at the Spellman commencement the other day saying the "ladies have to do it, because the men are gone." What do you think about this pronouncement? Is
Cosby being brave or is he having delusions of grandeur and flailing about like a bull in a china shop. There's times it seems like both.

John:
Cosby makes valid observations; more black men are in prison than go to college.
Black males tend to be the worst achievers in schools and tend to be suspended most often.
There's a crisis going on here.
That said, I wish Cosby's tone were more constructive.

Mr. Spagnola,

Would you consider running for At-Large School Board member in 2008?

Is having every family earn two full-time incomes (from two people) the panacea? By that logic, why not put the kids back to work in the fields and factories?

There are single-income families, mostly white, who seem to do quite well in their outcomes, too. Why is that?

Could it be the kinds of jobs and pay that single African-American women are working for? That could improve, if they and their children get more education (and more barriers against hiring minorities come down). How do we open that opportunity to them? How about more subsidized daycare or late afternoon acre, so these mothers can attend classes while still holding down a job? How about more scholarship money?

Don't think being in the middle-class and pulling down two incomes is all that great. The average two-income family today IN FACT has LESS discretionary income for all those extracurricular goodies than they did several years ago; virtually NO savings to speak of to pay for a college and wait until the bills come in for the boomers' retirement.

Why are we in this mess? Because this influx of income that came like a wave in the late eighties and nineties started bidding wars to get into perceived "better" or "best" school districts.

Plus, there's health insurance and the crazy second-mortgage of daycare expenses! And the endless loop continues. How many first-time homebuyers, even with two incomes, can afford a 20% downpayment on the mean-priced existing home in Greensboro's "better" school zones?

And then, when disaster strikes, like an illness and accompanying medical costs, or job loss, there's no back-up...they've budgeted using both incomes to the hilt (and owe an averge of $2500 I beleive, on credit cards). So they take out more credit. Revolving, revolving until they spin out of control. Maybe they get a home equity line, hoping house appreciation will cover their debts...until the bottom falls out or inflation kicks in...

It's all coming to roost, my friends. The poor will take a terrible brunt, but the middle will collapse, too. Ain't no happy-go-lucky extra-green lawn with regular sprinkler-time gonna save you.
Capitalism has its good points, but mix it with the need to get more people a good basic education, and hell breaks loose.

And, Mr. Spagnola, do you have a suggestion for "fixing" what some black women may even have decided would be better for their children, if their fathers are abusive (perhaps more non-working white mothers would leave abusive husbands, if they vaunted societal pressure to stay wasn't foisted on them...or they may feel attached to the income)?

Allen-----enjoyed your letter......I only wish you had written it last year when we had to go through the lottery. Now we are facing redistricting.........any letter coming on that??? Can you explain to me why BOE would be redistricting a neighborhood that goes to Parkview, a "school of the arts" to Southwest----which is now NOT an "Art" school anymore---- instead of sending them to their neighborhood "Art" school---Penn-Griffen? Does this seem logical to you??? It sure doesn't to me........wonder what the reasonings are for this redistricting????

Freddy,

You say, "Capitalism has its good points, but ...". Are you suggesting that communism is the better alternative?

Allen, do you think that the Thompsons had the right to go to SW just because they lived .71 miles from the school?

Surely you cannot say that, I believe in the past that people such as you, Dot Kearns, Doug Clark Bruce Davis and other bloggers such as David Hoggard, Bubba and more have said that nobody has the right to say they SHOULD go to school X.

How dare you now come out with this letter. For over a year you have implying that other people are selfish and much worse for not sharing their local school and not being willing to go to another school across town. I want an explanation.

Posted by: Allen Johnson at May 16, 2006 05:25 PM

"So, if a school has few disciplinary problems but low test scores and high poverty, a student still has no excuse not to succeed there, right?
And his or her parents should be perfectly willing to send him there?"

No, a parent should be perfectly willing to do what is in the best interests of their child. Allen, that's ultimately where you part from most of us on the other side of this issue: for you, social justice (or engineering) trumps doing what's best for your kid. With black parents, you can sorta kinda see the parents' argument, but most of the time utopian visions blind you to how real people make these decisions. Even if my kids will do fine because they have all the advantages, I'll still send them to the school I deem in their best interests (currently, by the way, a majority-black school, after we pulled out of a white-plurality school).

Truth:
I am not sure I agree with what the Thompsons did. But I admire their involvement in their daughters' education.
I'm not sure you're fair to jump om my case about writing this now. It's an update. I wrote the original column on the Thompsons more than a year ago.
As for being so close to the school and having to attend somewhere else, yes, that seems to be an extreme policy.
But I still question the long-term benefits of so-called neighborhood schools.
Resegregation still bothers me now as much as it ever did.

Allen,

But not enough to come out strongly and demand that the Board of Education apply the High Point redistricting plan to Dudley, Smith, Grimsley, and Page.

Your talk is rhetoric and exhausting.

Numbers, let me allay your fears: Communism is a absolutist statist governmental philosophy, based on abolition of all individual property rights. That is an extreme I would not embrace. But I am glad we have National Forests, aren't you? And my grandparents would not have lived to the age of 80+ without Medicaid.

Would you prefer utter dog-eat-dog anarchy, where each person is unfettered entirely and must rely on sheer will to power to crush one's neighbor...Capitalism at its utmost?

Big Business benefits from much government subsidy in our country. Why not Little Children?

Our nation has experimented since Teddy Roosevelt's days with the balance between socialist and individualist policies. In the particular case of education, the Jeffersonian vision of public, secular schools has mostly prevailed (with years of perverted prejudice still being corrected). The Capitalist direction would allow, nay, invite big business to make profits off the "captive audience" of students in classrooms. Check out the whole "Channel One" phenomenon. Studies definitively point to students retaining far more about the products advertised, overtly and covertly, than the purported subject matter of "lessons" taught with the "blessings" of mega-corporations.

Social conscience, sharing of resources for the good of all and the enlightened self-interest of individual taxpayers (better educated, employed youngsters are less likely to be violent public criminals; I am not sure whether they are less likely to perpetrate white-collar or domestic crime). This isn't Utopian; it is common sense. The alternative is self-protection, massive private armies and eventual class warfare. It is a cost the wealthy should WANT to pay, in order to be safe to make more money than everyone else. If they make too much, though, without kicking back enopugh for general social betterment, they risk insurrection.

I don't ADVOCATE conscious "bribes" or "extortion", nor would I ever wish to see outright "class warfare". But our system has DEVELOPED this way. "Social mores" and the like are polite ways to put a mask on it.

My main reference for all this isn't Karl Marx, but a mainstream economist (and co-author with new Fed chairman Ben Bernanke), Prof. Robert Frank's What Price the Moral High Ground? Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments.
He also wrote the eye-opening Luxury Fever; Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status; and The Winner-Take-All Society.

Nope and we won't. We do, however, believe some type of solutions need to be studied to address the growing lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity.

Anybody know what happened to Hammer? (see yesterday's "Grier Good, Board Bad" column in Rhino) Senility? Greensboro Actioneers threatening to pull advertising? Bribery? I mean, you'd certainly get no argument that over half the people on the board are lucky if they can tie their shoes in the morning, but to say Terry Grier is a competent (one debabacle after another, Dudleygate and Deena Gate only the latest examples) inspiring administrator is a red flag. John, time to head back to Spain, or is it Portugal, for a little break, soon.

Allen,

So what's good for the goose isn't so good for the gander after all?

You were quick to support the redistricting in High Point, but only want to "study" some type of solution in Greensboro?

I beg of you - what is the difference between Greensboro and High Point????

No it's not. There needs to be plan in the rest of the schools, but not the identical one used in High Point. It does not appear practical in the other locations.

Allen, how would you adress the racial imbalance problems in Greensboro, say, if you had absolute Kearns-power to make people go wherever you wanted them.Does it not concern you or incite envy that this problem has been solved in High Point but not your town?

Allen, by saying High Point solutions in Greensboro may not be practical, do I assume you mean in a political sense- as in Irving Park and Grimsley moms not permitting their childrwen to be ripped out of their respective schools by crazy baordmembers and bused to Dudley and Smith? Why, I think you're absolutely right, definetely not practical in Greensboro.

I didn't say Greensboro. I said "the other schools." A plan would need to involve schools such as Northwest as well.

John, it does concern me that diversity has dropped off the map as an issue on the school board. It almost has become a bad word.

Sounds like great material for a column, Allen, since it was listed as Grier's #1 priority-if you'll go back and read his "homecoming" guest column after returning from his Charlotte sojourn.

Allen , please explain to me what you find practical about the High Point redistricting?
Do you know the geography of High Point?
I mean really know it? Have you been down in High Point to see the difference that Parkview kids will have to travel now to Southwest instead of Welborn.
The distances between Dudley and Grimsley are a lot smaller. It should be more practical.

So much for all that hankering after "better school assignments through buying into expensive neighborhoods": Grimsley's in lock-down from a report of a gunman on the premises. I don't know; maybe Greensboro is just getting too violent, period. Or maybe it's a tiny skirmish in the coming class wars?

Allen,
The attempt to redress economic and racial/ethnic biases is exactly the sort of wise investment for enlightened self-interest (sometimes in the well-meaning guise of "social conscience") Frank discusses. It is the interests of well-off whites (or any upper-income families) to develop better chances and options for the less-well-off...to a point. They wouldn't necessarily want to underwrite their own demise from atop the oligarchy that masquerades as meritocracy here in the U.S.

There are a growing number of careers that do, however, reward disproportionately the "best", putting thousands of wannabes into dire straits clinging to false hope.

And I was only (half) joking about the incident (if there is one...no confirmation yet on N&R website) at Grimsley. Since my wife works at Brooks, I certainly don't revel in any potential threat to safety there or at any school. I just got off the phone with the secretary, who says all is fine, but they, too, are locked down.

Logical-------how can moving Parkview students to Southwest logical when students living less than a mile away on Skeet Club can't go to Southwest because they live on the other side of Skeet Club road????? They are being bussed to Welbourne and Andrews. Nothing about this is logical! Why don't you come out here and drive it yourself. Then see if you would want your child bussed to another school....I already know the answer. You would be next in line behind the Thompsons!!!!

On Grimsley, Freddie, glad to hear it. It was real but it's apparently over now.
On the self-interest: You're right. We all benefit when more of us are better educated.
And we pay when that fails to happen.

Allen, diversity was on the map only as an excuse to shaft North High Point. Send people who live one mile from one school to another nine miles away. The convenient excuse (used by you too) was to call these people selfish when they were "self interested". You now have started to champion similar situated people, just because they are african American, as "best practice".
You still haven't answered my question, which is a fair one. Why are High Point district lines now "practical" instead of gerrymandering and why is it not practical to draw similar conceptual lines between Grimsley or Page and Dudley since the distances are in fact smaller.
Can we have a answer? I feel that you are starting to see through the BS of the school board and I would like you to admit it.

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