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Allen, since there is no space to comment on todays once again limp, redundent editorial on "re-segregation", for lack of a better locum, I'm apologizing in advance for posting here.

You're just burning so many poor trees writing about this same subject over and over again. Never challenging, never naming, never questioning. Just generically saying this imbalance exists. Which everbody knows . You might as just say "the sky is blue" Who do you think is going to read this editorial and act on it? I'm just curious. Do you think, Marti Sykes, Kris Cooke or Alan Duncan are going to come in to Eugene St. next week, have a crisis of conscience, and send their friends and neigbors across town to different schools. Do you think Kearns, Mendenhall and Childs are going to come up, after leaving north HP in smoldering ruins, and go on a crusade to diversify Greensboro?

You did trot out Margret Arbuckle. Now I'm going to go out on a limb here, and if Ms. Arbuckle's kids were bused across town to a different school and they actually went, more power to them, and then she has every right to speak to this subject, but I'm going to play devil's advocate here and wager if Ms. Arbuckle had kids they attended Grimsley, Page or Greesnboro Day. It's just funny how all the above named people turned into fierce "diversity advocates" after their kids were safely through their own respective neighborhood schools. It's just kind of funny, but maybe just to me.

No John, it's not just you. I'm laughing right alongside ya. ...well, I guess you could call it laughing. It's more of a hysterical shrill, like the Wicked Witch of the West...or was it the East? No, I'm sure now, it was the North. Yep, that's it, the Wicked Witch of North High Point.

And on your very good point of saying that these "leaders" always make sure their children are safe before announcing their stance on diversity, I'd like to remind you of (God rest his soul) Garry Burnett, former School Board member that sent his son to Greensboro Day.

Yeah, it's all funny. So damn funny till someone gets an eye poked out.

John, I expected you'd not appreciate today's editorial. But we're still writing about the problem of resegregation because it's still there ... and even worse.
You've said you see the reason for diverse schools.
With all due respect, today's post makes me wonder.

Allen,

I believe that you misunderstood John's point. JOhn said that everyone understood that imblaance existed. What he meant was that not all schools are equally diverse. He was not making a comment that he sees the need for diverse schools. That was your take on what he said.

I read your editorial today with interest, and, as John said, it is old, recycled stuff of yours. You've stated many times before that schools are becoming resegregated and that is a problem. And, you said that you can't bus kids across the county (across High Point, I suppose, but not the county). Magnets aren't working. OK, now that you have stated the obvious, what do you propose as a solution? This editorial is no different than all of the ones before. If you are going to bemoan this as a problem, then present a solution. Don't just cry that "someone" should do somthing.

Allen, you are nothng more than a problem identifier. If we have a problem, then become a problem solver. We have enough problem identifiers.

I would submit, as the editorial does, that the first step is to acknowledge that there is a problem. I fear that we, as a community, are still in denial.

Allen, my kids have gone to one of the three most diverse highschools/ middleschools in the county for the last five years, so why you would question my commitment doesn't fit with the facts.

What most of us are opposed to is the hypocrisy of the current BOC in re; to forced busing.

You have mis-interpreted what has gone on here the last three years and it's not entirely your fault-You were snookered. The only agenda driving the High Point mess is the Ahab-like, ceaseless quest on the part of Dot Kearns and Sue Mendenhall to try and improve the proportion of white children at their school. They tried #1: a lottery #2: a forced re-districting (which, if one looks at the numbers, is an abject failure at the cost of alienating and removing hundreds fo middle class students from the HP public schools to boot) and now, all else failing, #3 finally segregating black children right on the campus of HP Central by creating bogus "culinary" and other types of "academies" effectivly splitting out minorities from the main student body. Many of them unknowingly drftwed to become future burger flippers.

Very cleaverly, and this is the genius of these people, they were able to mask the first two measures citing "socio-economic balance" and the last measure citing Judge Manning decree.

They have no genuine commitment to diversity except of their own school, which has been made obvious. If they did they would, of course, be up in Greensboro making motions for busing up there.

You have been giving them a free pass in your columns. You either have to call them out, or for the love of Pete, stop running this same editorial over and over.

Regarding the yester years of "The Grove" ... don't forget about Paradise, one of the best places to eat in southeast Greensboro. I recall the thrill of crossing Lee Street, being sure not to be seen by my father, who owns his own business and would pop up at school on occasion. No we didn't venture into the "Grove" but would take a chance to get one of the best sandwiches around from James, the cook.

Ah, yes, the Paradise Drive-In ... home of the famous fatback sandwich. We'd go there for nonnutritious lunches when I was a student at Dudley.

Allen,

OK, let's try this again. Your editorial expressed concern that Guilford County Schools were increasingly becoming resegregated, and, as I understand it, that racially unbalanced schools are unequal. You further assert that racially imbalanced schools leads to have- and have-not schools, which leads to unequal schools. I'm not sure what Ms. Arbuckle's point is regarding the problem being as much about unequal access. All county students have access to any county school as long as they live in the attendance area of that school. so where is the unequal access?

You have said that busing students across the county is not the answer and magnets aren't working. So, what is the answer? A look at 2006 enrollment statistics at county high schools shows that there are only four of them that have a majority white enrolment; Grimsley - 55%, Northwest - 86%, Southeast - 72%, and Western - 57%. All other traditional high schools have a majority minority enrollment ranging from Southwest at 51% to Dudley at 99% minority. Since these schools already exceed 50% minority, then you really can't draw any white students from those schools to "balance" any others.

Allen, if we can't bus students across the county, then Northwest and Southeast are off-limits. That leaves Grimsley and Western to draw students from to exchange students with Dudley and Smith. So, the answer seems to be to redistrict or reassign white students from Grimsley and Western to Dudley and Smith, with returning minority students to Grimsley and Western. There really doesn't seem to be any other answer to the problem that you feel exists of resegregated schools. Will you support this plan to the school board?

Let's face it, Allen, the real culprit of resegregation is that in 2006 there are 11,098 minority students enrolled and there are 9,460 white students. That is, there is a decreaing number of white students in the county to use to desegregate schools, and an increasing number of minority students. As this trend continues, the effect will be more pronounced, so what do you propose to do when all of the schools, other than possible Northwest and Southeast are majority minority students?

Allen, this is the real issue. What do you recommend that the school board do to solve this problem, other than continue to write editorials proclaiming there is a problem and somone should do something about it?

Stormy:
You're right. The county schools are 57 percent nonwhite.
That makes the problem more daunting.
But I don't think we should stop writing about the issue because we don't have all the answers.
We're for peace in the Middle East, too, and an end to the war in Iraq. We write about those subjects too although we hardly pretend to have all the answers.
(Otherwise we are grossly underpaid.)
But the beginning of a community solution has to be a community dialogue.
This is the beginning of such a dialogue (I hope).

Stormy is not saying NOT to write about it. He's saying get mad, go after people. Name names. Call people out.

Look Allen, we realize you have to live and work in this town. Just put a little asterisk at the bottom of your next editorial on re-segregation with some kind of disclaimer that says "I would be more aggressive in calling for action and challenging members of the schoolboard for their glaring inconsistency and impotence on this issue, but it's clear that the powers that be in our town don't want it, and if I start calling for the dismantling of Grimsley, Action Greensboro will see to it that Joey Medaloni use my butt as a wall hanging in his rooftop disco.

Stormy,

I've followed your writings for some time now and I must tell you that this is by far the finest post you have ever written. In fact, with your permission, Allen could use your logic and verbatim comments in a follow-up editorial.

You have analyzed the problem, provided the supporting factual details and done the impossible - offered a real solution. Simple.

But, we all know that neither Allen will print nor the School Board will do anything.

I think the solution must be to ban private schools because that is the only way you can even begin to get these numbers to work. Of course, what were supposed to be acheiving in the process is still illusory and amorphous.

I agree, Allen, you have spent too much time beating this drum while unable to explain your rationale or offer any solutions (assuming you can identify AND explain a problem in the first place).

Let's assume we all agree there is a problem. What would you do then? Surely, you must have thought about a solution as much as you write about the problem.

Whoa, Sam. You expect all that in one editorial?
But not to worry. School resegregation is one of our "agenda" tpics for 2006. More will follow that concentrate on possible solutions.

Allen,

As you develop your solutions to school resegregaton, be sure to factor-in the reality that non-white enrollment will be increasing and white eenrollment is decreasing as percentages. Coupled with the reality that in a few years, all but a couple of high schools will be majority non-white, how will you change the racial balance of these schools. I submit to you as Sam said, the numbers aren't going to work. You just aren't going to have enough white children to distribute around to find balance.

One other reality is that Dudley parents don't want their children being bused all over the county, chasing your racial balance. They love their school, and rightly so. You still haven't proven that these students can't be educated in their own school. Our school administration and school board don't know how. Their only answer is to throw money at a problem. I would submit to you that history has shown that when a child gets educated, a teacher does it, nothing else.

As a Dudley alum who saw it as an all-black school my 10th-grade-year and as an integrated school my junior and senior years, I saw both scenarios firsthand. I agree that good teachers are the key. We had plenty in those days at Dudley.
But I also believe this is not an either/or proposition -- that it's possible to have both racially diverse schools and schools with quality educational programs.
As for the majority of the students in the system being nonwhite, so what?
I'm not suggesting that the schools have to be majority white to be diverse. Given that the Guilford County Schools are 57 percent nonwhite, that's unrealistic.

Allen,

As Stormy stated, the Dudley students and parents like Dudley the way it is. I doubt many, if any, would want to be bused to Grimsley.

They have expressed their wishes to the board and the board has respected their wishes - i.e., they have community buy-in.

Your thoughts?

We keep talking about the numbers of white and non-white students in Guilford County schools and the fact that there are more non-white students in the public schools in this county.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the overall demographics of Guilford County suggests that there are actually more white school-aged children in this county. That tells me that more and more white children are choosing private schools and home schooling instead of public schools.

I didn't know either one of you were speaking for Dudley?
Who have you talked to? H

Not too many years ago the school board tried to redistrict Dudley and Southeast. Parents from both schools raised hell, therefore, the plan was scrapped.

Is that to interpret that they want Dudley to remain the same?

I'm not speaking "for" Dudley. I am repeating what many of my friends (Dudley alumni) have told me. My friends are many of those who sprang into action at Dudley when Judge Manning first threatened to close some of the low performing schools. My friends are tutors, hall monitors, etc. at Dudley. We have spoken often about the situation and the information I have is from them.

Also, 4 different school board members have told me the same thing.

Well, I'm a Dudley alum myself and many other Dudley alums I know aren't pleased with the status quo.

Well then Allen, as a concerned citizen you should address the school board at the next meeting.

I will be watching for you on TV.

Present a petition signed by all your "friends".

It might not work but it's a good first step.

If this is too much work for you, maybe you could just draft an email to all the board members stating your desire to have a diverse Dudley and post a copy of it here.

Allen,

What does not pleased with the status quo mean? I'm not sure that I have sufficient information to understand what it is that you want. If Dudley parents are pleased with the status quo, what would make them happy?

You say that you are not suggesting that schools must be majority white to be diverse, so to help us understand what you want, please tell us what utopia would look like. Would every school have the same racial balance? What percentage of white and non-white would constitute diverse? You must have this information in mind as you keep writing editorials about the problem, so what does the perfect world look like, give the directon of the demographics in the county? What do you think that Dudley parents want interms of a diverse environment for their school?