Boards play politics once again

I thought this was going to be the year that politics were not going to be played simply because of the meltdown in Raleigh.

I guess I was wrong.

E.C.

Another view of the budget crisis

From Neal Andrews, 5th grade teacher, Northern Guilford Elementary School, via this week's N&R:

I was embarrassed by the actions of public educators who demonstrated in the streets of Raleigh May 16 in protest of Gov. Perdue's mandate that all state employees will have 0.5 percent of their annual salaries withheld from their May paychecks. Their protest revealed they are completely out of touch with what is happening to many around us.

I respect their constitutional right to voice their feelings. However, I want the taxpaying public to know those educators do not represent all public school teachers in North Carolina and certainly not me.

I don't have to look any further than the parents of students in my classroom, folks in my neighborhood, or at close friends to see that we are in an economic downturn like none we've ever seen or experienced. Many who have lost their jobs and benefits would likely have taken 20 percent pay cuts just to remain employed.

As public servants of the taxpayers of North Carolina, we must be responsible and do our part to help solve the economic crisis. I urge fellow public educators to examine our local and state budgets and with equal fervor protest wasteful pork spending that has passed in recent state budgets.

Neal C. Andrews
Browns Summit

The writer is a fifth-grade teacher at Northern Elementary.

****************************

E.C. :)

NGHS turning into a scandal

Illegal recruiting seems to be only one part of the problem, the scandal at Northern Guilford H.S. seems to be getting worse.

And I'm unsure what's worse, the issues surrounding the investigation or the fact that no one seems to be talking. It's like everyone is adhering to a gag order, from Mo Green to Darlene Garrett to paid-by-the-hour school attorney Jill Wilson.

But one person is talking....

N&R:

GREENSBORO — Northern Guilford principal Joe Yeager and Athletics Director Derrell Force cleared boys basketball coach Stan Kowalewski of recruiting and using ineligible players in January 2008 — one month after Kowalewski paid for the men and their wives to accompany the team to a holiday basketball tournament in New York City...But e-mails released this month by school system officials as part of their current investigation shed light on that initial probe and suggest a possible conflict of interest involving Yeager and Force, two of the main investigators.

Former schools Superintendent Terry Grier, who initiated the 2007 investigation, said Thursday that he was shocked to learn of the paid trip.

“Had I known about it then, I would have stopped (the trip) immediately,” Grier said. “You can’t take a trip like that and expect to render a full, fair report.”

Northern-gate continues...

E.C. :)

Board meets tonight amid several conflicts

Pictures from a recent rally in Raleigh tell the story...teachers in this state are pissed off, and rightfully so. More teachers may be laid off across North Carolina, one report I heard this morning said as many as 6,000.

Combined that with threats of shortening the school year (guess that one solves the pesky calendar/school makeup day problem), teacher furlough days, threats of four-day school weeks, and you have an eye-opener...public education in North Carolina is in trouble.

School board members, who will meet in regular session tonight, appear to be concerned, but are they really?

Not to mention, your school board continues to deal with the situation at Oak Ridge and Northern Guilford High School's ongoing "Nighthawk nightmare."

N&R:

“I’m very, very concerned,” said school board member Kris Cooke.

Seven legislators told Cooke and two other county representatives that the state House budget could create as much as a $36 million budget shortfall for Guilford County.

That sum represents almost 5 percent of the district’s overall $651 million budget.

Cooke said it would be impossible to avoid further layoffs if that happens.

“The impact for North Carolina and the impact to Guilford County, it will take us backwards,” Cooke said. “I understand the money is not coming in, but you have to find money to fund education.”

The state's primary responsibility is to adequately fund education...they're not doing so. And so far, we have shockingly heard very little from our local delegation.

Recall Bev now!

E.C. :)

My response to Margaret Arbuckle

I submitted this to the News & Record as a Counterpoint submission earlier in the month. It has not run.

But it will run here:

With all due respect, Margaret Arbuckle misses the point on globalization as it pertains to public education in the U.S.

Education is indeed the path to success, but our public education system has not kept up with the global economy so many of us aspire for our children to latch on to. Our students will never be ready for the knowledge-based economy Ms. Arbuckle mentions unless we solve the problems plaguing our educational system.

We have a governor who gives "lip service" to education while gutting the state budget that public education can operate under. Massive teacher and paraprofessional layoffs combined with sliced school and teacher supply budgets threaten the livelihood of our children statewide. This, combined with the annual rogue testing that zaps the creativity right out of our classrooms, occurring in schools that are crumbling to the ground, in a state with double-digit unemployment...all of this is festering right here at home, in our neighborhoods. And it should shake everyone of us right out of our armchairs and prompt us to do something.

Simply put, we're trying to educate students in the 21st-century with a 19th-century curriculum, with 17th-century standardized testing, using technology out of the 15th-century, operating in a state economy out of the 13th-century; and our children are being educated in buildings out of the 11th-century.

What is the answer? How did North Carolina get into this mess? More importantly, how do we get out?

Stop electing politicians who only give lip-service on political pamphlets, only to do nothing while in office. Demand that they stop spending, balance the budget (not on the backs of our children), kick the fat-cats out of Raleigh, and demand true accountability from our schools balanced with a world-class curriculum that does not turn our schools into testing factories every May. Demand leaner central offices, demand school board members that have the children's best interest at heart (not agenda-driven nor setting the stage for future self political aspirations), and collectively, demand that our cities, counties, and state as a whole do better...so that we may be able to begin recruiting real businesses again, recruiting real companies again, and having citizens who view our city, our county, and our state as one to relocate to, not one to shy away from.

Investment in our educational system begins in our own house. And we need to clean our house.

--
Erik "E.C." Huey
Greensboro, NC (GSO)
owner & moderator,
http://guilfordschoolwatch.blogspot.com/

Oak Ridge teachers walk on edge

From today's N&R, regarding yesterday's impromptu holding of classes outside:

Seventeen of the 34 teachers held lessons outside to show frustration at how county school and health officials are handling their concerns over air-quality problems.

One teacher said colleagues decided Friday to go outside to send a message to system officials. Being outside, the teacher said, is safer than being inside.

That teacher, who declined to be named for fear their job could be jeopardized for speaking publicly, said many of the Oak Ridge staff felt system administrators and county health officials were not being transparent in addressing the issue. School and health department officials told teachers and parents in a meeting last week they would keep communication open.

Nuts.

What's nuttier is that we still have teachers feeling threatened over speaking out openly. I see the culture of fear hasn't changed.

E.C. :)

Class outside, anyone?

Ongoing mold concerns at Oak Ridge Elementary prompt some teachers to hold class outside this morning.

More from the N&R.

E.C. :)

"Exam"-boarded

Heard through the local grapevine over the long weekend...as EOGs wind down and EOCs prep up, GSW hears that a 5th grade student fainted during last week's administration of a Science EOG exam at one local school. At another, we also learn that students are forced to do the first retakes after missing the cutoff for a "3" by only a couple of points.

These are the stories GSW is hearing and it is profoundly ridiculous what we're putting our children through. This is not No Child Left Behind...this is not accountability. This is game-playing, and people are playing with the lives of children and it is wrong.

The term "waterboarding" has been in the news a lot lately. Well, long-time readers of this blog know that I'm a fan of "exam-boarding." What's that? That's when we have an opportunity to lock the Raleigh bureaucrats and the legislators in a room (literally) and give them these same exams under "live testing conditions"...yep, the same ones that your children (and mine) are being prepped since August to take. Let these idiots in Raleigh take these same tests...let them fail it, and let them have to take it two more times...and watch if things don't change in our schools...quickly.

I'm for responsible accountability...these tests are neither responsive nor accountable. They're criminal. And someone needs to be prosecuted.

E.C. :)

Dire...pt. 2

Statement from State Board of Education Chairman and CEO Bill Harrison and State Superintendent June Atkinson on Potential Budget Cuts to Education

"It is our hope that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education’s budget draft is only a beginning and that there is much more discussion ahead. It is clear the state faces an extremely difficult economic situation, and that sacrifices will have to be made. The 11 percent budget cuts outlined by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education are severe and would have a significant negative impact on our classrooms and our schools."

Following is a sample of the proposed cuts:

• Reduction of the length of the school year for students by five days in fiscal year 2009-10 and five more days (total of 10) in fiscal year 2010-11. This would reduce instructional days to 175 in 2009-10 and to 170 in 2010-11 (rather than the current 180).

• 6,005 fewer Classroom Teachers (increase class size teacher allotment by two per grade)

• 4,663 fewer Teacher Assistants (base formula on K-2 ADM rather than K-3)

• 354 fewer Instructional Support personnel (counselors, media specialists, social workers)

• 187 fewer Assistant Principals (increase allotment to 1:890 rather than 1:799)

• A 5 percent reduction to Non-instructional Support (clerical and custodians)

• Low Wealth Supplemental Funding – Fund counties at 90 percent and below. This adjustment would eliminate funding 13 school districts from Low Wealth funding. (Craven, Cumberland, Davie, Gaston, Lincoln, Madison, Mitchell, Onslow, Pender, Perquimans, Union, Warren, Yancey)

• A reduction of $4.5 million to Small County Supplemental Funding

• A 10 percent reduction to More at Four

• Elimination of Learn and Earn Online

• Elimination of application fee payment for teachers seeking certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

• Elimination of Literacy Coaches

• A non-recurring reduction of $38 million to Textbooks

• Non-recurring reduction to staff development (no funding for two years)

• A 5.38 percent reduction or $6.5 million to Central Office

• An 11 percent reduction in FY 2009-10 and an additional 4 percent (total of 15 percent) reduction in FY 2010-11 to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This would eliminate 52 positions in 2009-10 and 19 more (71 total) in 2010-11.

**************************

E.C. :)

Dire

400 out of work teachers in Guilford County? If that's not a dire situation, I don't know what is. We as a county, we as a state are in serious trouble.

CBS-2:

First the furloughs, then salary cuts, and now a state house budget proposal that teachers warn is the worst so far.

"The house budget is just absolutely horrifying," says Guilford County Association of Educators president Mark Jewell. "What that does is cut... not only 6,000 teaching positions, it also eliminates about 4,000 teacher assistant positions."

Jewell predicts as many as 400 teachers could lose their jobs in the district. "We just can't take another hit," says Jewell. "And there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough."

Recall Bev now!

E.C. :)

Children ask Co-Cos to Save their Schools

Where do you continue cutting if there is nothing else to cut?

That seems to be the proverbial question as some of our children pleaded with Guilford County Commissioners last night to save the axe from cutting $3 million from the school system's general maintenance fund. And the ongoing leaky roof situation at Archer took center stage, among other items children brought to board members last night.

N&R:

“I don’t like my hair getting wet when I come to school,” Archer Elementary fifth grader Theresah Woodland said after reading a letter to the commissioners Thursday night during a hearing on the proposed county budget.

Archer’s roof leaked until just a few weeks ago when crews were finally able to repair it using donated materials.

Before that, Woodland and other students had to dodge leaks throughout the school.

That repair is just one of dozens on a list of maintenance issues throughout the school district.

But officials say many of those projects would be delayed if county commissioners approve a proposed $3 million cut to the district’s maintenance fund.

***********************

Recall Bev now!

E.C. :)

TFA cadets replacing veteran teachers in Charlotte

My friend Doug Clark discusses the issue of Teach for America cadets, literally, replacing veteran "below standard" teachers at many schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, a move characterized by a local NCAE head as "insulting."

The move seems to be defended by the Charlotte Observer. What do you think?

E.C. :)

More troubles for Northern

Some parents upset over the ongoing athletics scandal have asked the local chapter of the NAACP to get involved. Andy over at GreensboroSports.com and his readers have some good thoughts on this.

Is outside intervention necessary?

In a related matter, investigators are also pouring through fundraising and booster club money records to see if they may have been misappropriated. N&R has more on this today.

E.C. :)

Getting political at Jamestown Elementary?

Hat-tip to Bubba over at Noteworthy...an unconfirmed report tells of this "song" that may be performed at a 5th grade graduation ceremony at Jamestown Elementary.

If this is, in fact, true, this is unsettling.

E.C. :)

Oak Ridge parents want answers

In a hastily-called meeting last night, parents demanded answers from GCS brass as to why toxic mold may have been found inside Oak Ridge Elementary School. Not your usual-case of "sick building syndrome."

N&R reports school administration has not found anything else at the school, but parents aren't buying it.

The complaints began in 2005 after renovations and additions were completed on the school. Mold has been found at the school twice in the past four years.

The school system reports spending nearly $600,000 addressing mold and other issues at the school. The system spent nearly $400,000 installing a dehumidification system four years ago. This month, carpet found to have mold was removed from several classrooms.

Leo Bobadilla, Guilford County Schools’ chief operations officer, said tests have been done and issues have been addressed. At this point, workers can’t find any other issues, he said.

“As far as we know, there is not an issue here,” Bobadilla said.

Additional thoughts from PiedmontParent.com here.

E.C. :)

Testing Madness

EOG madness is setting in this week as all of our classrooms become testing factories.

And here's a case study...my daughter, who's a 3rd grader at Pilot Elementary, brings this home earlier in the week:

Dear Third Grader:

Since August. we have been preparing for our End-of-Grade tests. Now it is time to shine! You ARE ready! Remember all of the strategies that you have learned and use them. In reading, make your RUNNERS grid. Give yourself a compliment after each reading selection. When you take your math tests, prepare your blank sheet of paper with all of the strategies that you practiced during Camp EOG. If you get tired, give yourself a short brain break. Them get right back to work. Be sure to listen to ALL of the directions that your teacher reads to you before, during, and after the tests. Track your teacher with your eyes. Stay focused. You want to do as well on the last ten questions as you did on the first ten questions. Remember, slow and steady wins this race!

All of the third grade teachers want you to know that we are very proud of you! We know you will do your best on your tests!

Uh.....is it me? What are we doing to our children? These are our children. Have our children learned anything...besides how to master a three-day exam and how to fill in a scan-tron bubble sheet?

E.C. :)

Teacher pay cuts

Of those teachers that are still gainfully employed, their pay has been cut. And your school board, who voted unanimously for the cuts, are making an example by slicing their own stipends.

N&R reports cuts of 1/2 of 1 percent among all GCS employees will be the end result. Among school board members, this will mean a cut of about $60 for each board member.

Think it's time for Auntie Bev to be recalled?

E.C. :)

Mold at Oak Ridge Elementary

This story is starting to make the rounds, and not for the good.

Mold has been discovered at Oak Ridge Elementary, and that has parents alarmed, and at least one teacher saying that he has tested positive for mold exposure. Parents, who are starting to withdraw their children, will hear from school administrators this evening, the N&R is reporting.

N&R:

Officials have found mold at Oak Ridge Elementary School twice in the last five years, most recently in April. The school system has spent nearly $600,000 attempting address the issue but parents say their children and school employees are still suffering from illnesses related to the issue.

E.C. :)

Andrews Vice Principal gets DWI pinch

Andrews H.S. vice principal Marc Houlihan had a bad day last Thursday when he was cited for DWI by Winston-Salem authorities following a minor accident on I-40.

N&R reports he's still on the job as of today, even though according to the report, he blew a .10, way above the legal limit.

E.C. :)

Addressing substantial inaccuracies in last night's CBS-2 report

Watch this first...then view my comments below...

#1...it's not the teacher, Frank.

On this, I agree with the individual school systems that it is unfair to compare apples to apples...unfair to compare a lateral entry with real-world experience versus a tenured teacher. Both are professionals in their craft.

#2...what methodology did WFMY use to gather its data? In the story, Frank reports:

We found schools with the highest numbers of these teachers struggled to reach academic goals.We considered a successful school one that gets a "B"... reaching 85% of its academic goals. The most recent data show in Guilford County, 7 out of 10 schools with 8 or more lateral entry teachers didn't get a "B". For Alamance-Burlington schools, 8 out of 10 didn't get that "B". For Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools, 10 out of 10 didn't get that "B".

No explanation on what data was used, nor from what time frame, nor how it was obtained.

#3...Did Frank spend a day in a highly-impacted school...no, let me rephrase...did Frank spend more than 10 minutes in a highly-impacted school's classroom? Or was he given the usual and tepid "corridor tour?" If he didn't spend time inside a classroom, then he does not know what goes on inside these classrooms. A lot of good things do go on. But there are issues.

Do many of these teachers have access to vital classroom supplies? No. Do many of these teachers have the support they need? No. Do many of these teachers have good mentors? It is the exception rather than the rule. Do many of these teachers have the parental support? Again, the exception rather than the rule. And are these teachers supported by school administrators when classroom discipline problems threaten the learning environment? That's open to interpretation.

As long-time readers of this blog know, I was once a lateral-entry teacher at Andrews H.S. in High Point. On my first day, I was given keys to my classroom, and was told 'good luck, God bless.' The kids I had, many were good kids, some had behavioral issues, none were 'bad kids.' No such thing as a 'bad kid' when you're teaching. But one has to suspect whether or not many of these lateral-entry teachers have more of the children with behavioral issues than other teachers.

What I dealt with at Andrews was beyond belief: departments being ordered to cut their budgets, spending money out of pocket on supplies, dealing with a state assistance team who threatened to pull licensure on the spot because the school failed to consistently meet state benchmarks (and lateral-entry teachers were deliberately targeted), a superintendent who did not support state assistance teams (Grier), fights on a regular basis, regular false fire alarms (almost daily at one point in the school year), a lack of attention by the school's elected school board member, busing...

...did Frank take all this into account for the "Sweeps story" last night?

#4...WFMY quoted James Cibulka from "NCATE" but never explains who NCATE is. NCATE is the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, a national group designed to give accreditation to teacher education programs nationwide.

#5...the story says:

Educators say the teacher shortage means lateral entry is here to stay, so now it's a matter of making the system work.

That, too, is open to interpretation. This state, this county, is laying off teachers. There is no teacher shortage in North Carolina anymore. Anyone who is still feeding you this cock-and-bull is not to be believed. If anything, there is now a gluttony of experienced teachers now out of a job and looking for work. And the teachers that are still gainfully employed in this state are dealing with forced furloughs, cutbacks to the State Health Plan, the possibility of no automatic raises...and that's just dealing with Raleigh. Add to the stress of getting our kids to pass this week's low-stakes EOGs and it is any wonder why anyone would still want to pursue teaching...in North Carolina. But many do, and I applaud them and their desire. My wish is for every teacher to find a job next year.

There were a good deal of things that were either unreported or under reported in this story and it leaves the door open for Frank to do a much-needed follow-up.

E.C. :)

Sample EOG questions

To get you all in the mood for what you (and me) will be dealing with this week, see if you can tackle these sample EOG questions:

1) Jon has 3/5 of a dollar, Pasha has $0.65, Marie has 7/10 of a dollar, and Karen has $0.62. Who has the smallest amount of money?
A -- Jon
B -- Pasha
C -- Marie
D -- Karen

2) Which triangle must have three acute angles?
A -- an equilateral triangle
B -- a right triangle
C -- an isosceles triangle
D -- a scalene triangle

3) DEF is isosceles. Its perimeter is 52 cm. The length of a side of
DEF is 18 cm. Which is the smallest possible length of another
side of DEF ?

A -- 15 cm
B -- 16 cm
C -- 17 cm
D -- 18 cm

4) The art teacher wants to arrange 36 pictures on the wall so that one is in the first row, two are in the second row, three are in the third row, etc. How many rows of pictures will there
be?

A -- 8 rows
B -- 9 rows
C -- 10 rows
D -- 11 rows

SCIENCE

5) Different types of birds within an environment may feed on different types of organisms. What is a benefit of this type of interaction?

A -- It allows different birds to build better nests.
B -- It reduces competition between different birds.
C -- It causes different birds to reproduce more often.
D -- It allows different birds to escape from predators.

6) Two air masses with large differences in air pressure are near one another. What weather condition will most likely exist between the two air masses?

A -- low humidity
B -- high winds
C -- freezing temperatures
D -- clear skies

7) A dog runs 6 meters in one second. By the end of the next second, the dog has traveled an additional 4 meters.
Which best describes the motion of the dog during the two seconds?

A -- The dog slows down.
B -- The dog comes to a stop.
C -- The dog changes in mass.
D -- The dog changes direction.

READING

Read the following poem and answer the questions!

He lifts his hopeful eyes at each new tread,
Dark wells of brown with half his heart in each:
He will not bark, because he is well-bred,
Only one voice can heal the sorry breach.
5 He scans the faces that he does not know,
One paw uplifted, ear cocked for a sound
Outside his sight. Only he must not go
Away from here; by honor he is bound.
Now he has heard a whistle down the street;
10 He trembles in a sort of ecstasy,
Dances upon his eager, padding feet,
Straining himself to hear, to feel, to see,
And rushes at a call to meet the one
Who of his tiny universe is sun.

8) Which phrase best describes the mood of the poem?

A -- hopeful at the beginning but sad at the end
B -- angry at the beginning but relieved at the end
C -- sad at the beginning but happy at the end
D -- careful at the beginning but carefree at the end

9) Which trait best describes the dog?

A -- aggressive
B -- disobedient
C -- loyal
D -- stubborn

10) What is the effect of using personification in line 11?

A -- It describes the dog's uncertainty.
B -- It emphasizes the dog's excitement.
C -- It describes the dog's training.
D -- It emphasizes the dog's talents.

ANSWERS

1) A

2) A

3) B

4) A

5) B

6) B

7) A

8) C

9) C

10) B

***************

E.C. :)

It's still about our children

When I unsuccessfully ran for school board last year, my motto was simple...it's about our children, because our children are our future.

And lately, too many things are clouding that philosophy. The ongoing drama at Northern High (from staff changes to the revoking of the school's athletic championship) is one example. Threatened teacher layoffs across the state is another.

And during all this...this week's psychological nudity of low-stakes end-of-grade testing.

No Child Left Behind...leaving too many of our children behind. And it's enough to ask yourself 'why.'

Then it should be enough to get yourself off the armchair and demand action.

E.C. :)

Principal moves

Monique Brooks-Wallace is out as principal at High Point Andrews H.S. It is somewhat significant because she was swifted in on the promise of attempting to do great things at Andrews. Did any of them materialize though? Well, if you count the technology magnet, the health sciences magnet or the aviation academy magnet programs that had surfaced there in her short tenure, then yes. If you look at the declining enrollment and its continuing struggle to get off the state's watch list, then no.

Point blank, Andrews wasn't always in a precarious position...it always was...and still is a crown jewel of High Point. Forced busing didn't help matters much through the years and ineffective leadership among school board representatives didn't help either.

I will say this...very few people that I taught with at Andrews who were there in 2005-06 are still there; many have left. The school needs stability.

But the school may be in good hands. Rodney Wilds, current principal at Jackson Middle School, will be Wallace's successor.

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Other principalships, via GCS:

Gay Citty, an instructional improvement officer for the district, will be principal at Morehead Elementary. In 2008, she received the Central Office Administrator of the Year award from the North Carolina Association of Educators. Prior to serving in central administration, Citty was the principal at Gibsonville Elementary from 2003 to 2006.

William Laine, principal at Kernodle Middle, will be the principal at Northern High, effective July 1. Since 1998, Laine has held positions as a science teacher, assistant principal and middle school principal. This year at Kernodle Middle, he worked to create a staff culture built around collaboration and strengthened community relations by establishing a monthly parent communication forum.

E.C. :)

Mo addresses NGHS PTA on athletics scandal

The ongoing investigation into improprieties within the athletics department at Northern Guilford H.S. prompted Supt. Mo Green to address questions at a town hall meeting sponsored by the school's PTSA.

Andy from GreensboroSports.com has good play-by-play coverage on his site today. What's notable about the goings-on with this investigation can be found in these questions:

When will the investigation end? This is hindering preparation for end of school testing and the exam period, why did this have to happen now and why couldn’t the county wait until a time when the entire student body wasn’t in such a crucial academic time frame?

When will the non-faculty coaches be allowed to return to the Northern Guilford campus? Why wasn’t Mo Green at Northern and on campus the day all of this broke in the media, Friday April 10, the same day that Joe Yeager, Derrell Force and Louis Lawson were forced to resign?

Will the other schools in Guilford County also be investigated and why is Northern being singled out? Questions were targeted toward Dudley and Page and other Guilford County Schools in general……

Why has there been so much insensitivity on the part of the interim principal and others that were there during the transition period and why haven’t the student voices been heard at Northern during this entire ordeal?

Mr. Green, if you had it to do over again, would you handle these changes at Northern Guilford in the same manner?

Coverage from the N&R here.

E.C. :)

Raleigh asks for MORE money back

I'm going to keep posting this picture as evidence that we elected this ditz to the Governors mansion. And teachers across the state were in full support of her. And what do our schools get in return for their vote?



...exactly. (cue the crickets)

Now comes word that Raleigh wants even more money back; this, on top of the money we've already sent back earlier in the year? When will it end?

By the way, I read, with interest, Guilford Education Alliance's Margaret Arbuckle's op-ed in this past Sunday's News & Record on education in the 21st century as it related to globalization. Well, with all due respect, we cannot have this conversation until we fix what's going on in Raleigh and elsewhere in the state.

I have penned a response, and submitted it to the N&R. I'll let you know when it gets printed.

E.C. :)

Welcome the New Eastern High

GSW wishes the new Eastern Guilford H.S. many and much successes, but lest we not forget...the person (or persons) who started the tragic fire that brought down old Eastern is still out there. Someone knows something. And if you do, say something to someone, please. Let's put the past to rest so that the Eastern family can concentrate on its future.

E.C. :)

Work days may become furlough days

So I have to ask...where DOES the NCAE stand on Gov. Bev's outrageous furlough plan? Today's News & Record analyzes what may happen, including the theory that teachers may use work days as furlough days.

I guess the question I have is this...if Bev is requiring all state employees to take unpaid days off and give up salary, will she be the first one to do so?

Anyone?

E.C. :)