Nominations for the 2008 GSW Rotten Apple Awards

This is sure to get the local bloggers going and get under the skin of GCS.

We here at Guilford School Watch are proud to open up nominations for the first annual 2008 "Rotten Apple" Awards. Of course, this is for fun and jest, but these are to recognize notable and memorable one-liners and events from Guilford County Schools, and that Board that oversees them, from over the past year.

This may be funny, or this may end up being a total-flop, but let's have a little fun.

For one week, I want you to think about all of the memorable events of 2008 (or the 2007-08 academic year) affecting our school system and school board.

We'll compile the nominations, narrow them down to the top three or four or five, and we'll pick the best one. You can research the archives from this blog site, as well as my previous "campaign" blog site for possible nominations.

Start posting your nominations here to this strand, or e-mail them to me at guilfordschoolwatch@gmail.com. Nominations will close on Monday, Dec. 29.
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I would like to start off the nominations with these three:

Dot Kearns: "Ethos of Slavery." January 25, 2008.

In a "Voices of San Diego.org" article, retired GCS at-large Board member Dot Kearns described Guilford County as "an ethos of slavery" while referring to the failed "High Point Choice Plan" a.k.a. the High Point Busing Scheme.

An excerpt:

In Guilford, a major redistricting plan sparked some parents’ ire, as students were bussed to schools far from home. When Grier arrived in Guilford County in 2000, the school district, cobbled together from three smaller school systems in 1993, was deeply divided along race and class lines, Kearns said. She called it “the ethos of slavery.” When the school board created a plan to reshuffle students, diversifying the schools, parents complained about the change, and took Grier to task.

The article was part of a larger roll-up to introduce the city of San Diego to the city's new superintendent of schools, Terry Grier.
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Deena Hayes: "Aunt Jemima." May 24, 2007.

This one is a little dated, but I would like to throw this one in the ring.

Excerpt from GSW, May 24, 2007:

...during a discussion of the naming of the Reedy Fork area elementary school in honor of the late NASA Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair, she [GCS Board member Deena Hayes] publicly said that she had a problem naming a school after persons who, she claims, were not going to be respected. She went all over the place, again, using the School Board as her personal agenda, from Northeast Guilford H.S. having some alleged entrenched racial issues to those living in ZIP Code 27406 versus 27410 to pointing out the conditions of several cities in which various Martin Luther King Drives cut through to allegedly shopping at local yard sales and buying “aunt jemima figurines” for her home simply where “they will be respected.”

The kicker was she quoted an article she claims “she carries around with her at all times” which discusses “if Emily and Greg are more likely to get a job than Lakisha and Jamal.”

What more can be said.
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Yvonne Johnson: "Life Happens." Feb. 18, 2008.

An excerpt from GSW, Feb. 18, 2008:

I’ve met Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson only a couple of times, and this was going back a few years ago while she was still on the City Council. At the time, I really didn’t formulate an opinion other than she seemed to be a nice lady.

When she was voted in recently as the first black mayor of North Carolina’s third largest city, I was hoping it would signal an era of change and transition, not withstanding “Mitch-Gate” and the mountain of corruption currently plaguing City Hall.

So you can imagine my sense of confusion when I opened up the N&R Monday and saw this article. Now, everyone lately has something to say about the state of Guilford County’s youth, especially our youth of color…about how we need more programs, this program, that program, that other program.

The confusing part were these series of quotes:

“Many of our youth start out with dreams of the future… then life happens,” she said.

I explored "Life Happens" in more detail in that post.

I thought about this a little more…and the more I think about it, the more I’m troubled at one other quote she used above. Johnson said: “Many of our youth start out with dreams of the future… then life happens,” she said.

What does the mayor mean by that?

Yes, life happens…but that can be a good thing, it doesn’t have to be bad. Just because many of our youth are differently-advantaged, does that mean they don’t have a chance to succeed in life? No…absolutely not.

But I fear she may be using victimization here. I could be wrong, but the context is puzzling.

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Your turn!

E.C. :)