Sometimes, you just gotta say it
During Thursday's budget workshop, Commissioner Bruce Davis waded into finding if one goal of magnet schools in Guilford County had succeeded: to balance race levels in schools.
Instead, he dove in.
"Is the magnet system giving the success that you thought it would?" he asked Alan Duncan, chairman of the school board, "To bring white folks back to inner-city schools?"
Race is often a touchy subject among the elected officials in Guilford County. Other times, it becomes a joke.
After his first statement, Davis rephrased his thoughts on magnet schools.
"They were designed to balance the socio-economic environment in the schools," he said.
To that, Duncan said, "they were meant to balance race." And he added that they would be reviewed soon.
Laughter settled among the commissioners as Linda Shaw chimed in.
"That was a racial remark," she said, smiling, while Melvin "Skip" Alston giggled beside her and several other commissioners chuckled along.