Goodbye GSW...Hello Vegas Valley View

It's time to hang the "Closed sign" up on GSW.

Hello Vegas Valley View. Yes, Vegas...as in Las Vegas!

Visit and bookmark the all-new Vegas Valley View on http://vegasvalleyview.blogspot.com/

Thank you, Greensboro, for the memories.

E.C. :)

Well, THAT was short-lived..

Our old friend Terry Grier didn't stay long!

The Houston Chronicle reports that the former superintendent in Guilford County-tuned school chief in San Diego, is now a finalist for the top spot in Houston. Reports say it may even be a done deal. A blurb from Voices of San Diego mentions the pending deal, if inked, could top as much as $400,000.

Wow...

Apparently, it is being reported by the Chronicle that a new school board was elected recently...and imagine that...they ask questions. It is not the same board that elected him.

Good luck...God bless...haste makes waste...

E.C. :)

Cut the fat

Our school board remains embroiled in budget discussions with talks of cuts including the employee dental plan, SROs and the IB program at Smith H.S.

Skeptical? You betcha. Seems I'm not the only one either.

Board member Garth Hebert, talking about yesterday's budget workshop:

“What we had today was what Mr. Green wanted to consider versus what the board wanted to discuss, therefore nothing got done,” said board member Garth Hebert after the meeting.

“We were expecting more meat and we got a lot of pudding. I’d like to see more options, more choices.”

Seems as though no one is talking about cutting the fat downtown. We'd rather nix teachers than trim Central Office across the board. Something's wrong here.

And while we're at it, it seems the popularity of Board members Kris Cooke, Darlene Garrett and Nancy Routh is on the decline.

Comments like these are popping up over at the N&R:

The school board is nothing but a forum for long winded people to try and hog the spotlight...Cooke, Routh, and Garrett are the worst! Routh wants to re-run the numbers as she can't imagine anyone but her getting it right. Cooke is just a narcissist who has no idea what is going on--but stands ready to be at your ribbon cutting when called! Garrett is a one note violin who cares ONLY about her beloved Northwest part of Guilford County. Spinkle in some ignorance (Jeff Belton) and you have enough nuts to make a fruitcake. Nothing will change until we the people change the school board.

Ouch.

Cooke is a waste of a school board seat, plain and simple. Garrett was just reelected and Routh is rumored to retire from the Board after her term is up next year. And Hayes continues to field rumors about a possible City Council run.

Just another day in paradise...

E.C. :)

She's back

...thankfully, nowhere near a classroom nor a school building!

Click here...

E.C. :)

Amos Quick is too quick to rid SROs

It's no secret that GCS is broke.

For them to nearly axe a strings teacher at Weaver Academy, you know things are bad. Lunch price increases, nixing new teacher StartCards, eliminating busing (we can only wish)...all are on the table.

But it is now becoming apparent that some on the Board are using the ire of budget cuts as a means to do other things that have nothing to do with budget cuts.

School Resource Officers have been on Board member Amos Quick's "s--- list" for a long while now. GSW has documented this for a good long while now. Both Quick and Board member Deena Hayes have long wanted the SROs out. Quick, once again, says he wants to order a "review" of the use of SROs in middle schools.

Mr. Quick, we've been down this road before. We've reviewed this, and reviewed this again. It's nice to know you all on the Board have spare time on your hands.

Just come out with it...you don't like how cops treat kids in schools, therefore you want them out.

My friend Guarino has a good perspective on this:

Perhaps we should question whether this is a well-intentioned effort to reduce expenses; or whether it is yet another manifestation of antipathy toward police in our local African-American political and clerical communities, and the identity politics that reflects.

Makes you wonder...

E.C. :)

Not feeling the brotherly love in Philly

I can only think that with the budget cuts we're continuing to experience in NC, combined with drastic cuts in summer school, were teachers under pressure to pass kids this year, such as being alleged in Philadelphia?

Read this, then shake your heads.

E.C. :)

Failure to understand

After some well-deserved days away from the Triad, I'm back...and it is good to be back.
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The thing I can't understand is this...why is GCS almost being pressured by outside entities to move from N. Eugene to S. Elm?

This boondoggle has been reported in the N&R over the last couple of days and I'm trying to wrap my arms around this thing...but I haven't yet. See, while we're laying TEACHERS off right and left, there's no supply money whatsoever for the teachers that still have jobs, no money to fix leaky roofs, school lunch prices going up, but we have people who have basically told GCS brass that...they're moving to S. Elm.

I don't get it.

Not to mention that downtown essentially lacks MAJOR EMPLOYERS! Recent cutbacks at Lincoln Financial and United Guaranty only add to the desolate feeling in the Center City, and yet it is still being touted as a prime destination. Shouldn't we be doing everything we can to find new jobs and bringing them into town?

And what would happen to GCS' current Central Offices?

Not passing the smell test.

E.C. :)

Briefs from the last day...

1. Today's N&R reports attendance on yesterday's last day was fewer than 69% versus 94% on an average day.

N&R:

GREENSBORO — Monday was the official last day for Guilford County students, but it seems Friday was the unofficial last day.

Fewer than 69 percent of elementary and middle school students showed up Monday. About 94 percent attend on an average school day.

School was scheduled to end June 10 but was extended by the school board because of classes canceled in late winter.

Haley Miller, a spokeswoman with Guilford County Schools, said teachers weren’t surprised by the turnout.

“A lot of parents had already planned vacation starting this week and a lot of schools anticipated that,” she said.

Monday was an exam makeup day for high school students. Seniors completed graduation ceremonies a week ago.

What a waste...

2. Someone on this blog wrote in and informs us of a report of a fire in the gym and a malfunction in the air conditioning system yesterday at Jesse Wharton Elementary (thanks for the report).

3. Went by Pilot Elementary School yesterday...unconfirmed report surfaces of at least six teachers leaving Pilot in the fall due to budget cutbacks, almost all were first year or lateral entry teachers. Increased class sizes are expected in the fall.

Wow...

E.C. :)

Long meetings

This was not really news, and I'm unsure if it warranted a front page story on yesterday's News & Record...this being the fact that GCS Board meetings run WAY into the night, some as long as 2am.

Tell us something we don't know...such as WHY they run so late?

N&R:

Five of the last six school board meetings have gone past midnight.

Recent meetings’ agendas shed some light on why the meetings are running so long:

-- Updates on a regularly shifting budget crisis the likes of which hasn’t been seen in 30 years.

-- Mystery illnesses reported by students and staff at Oak Ridge.

-- A controversial proposal to donate, then sell a dilapidated former school.

-- An investigation into the athletics programs at Northern Guilford High School.

That said, some, including board members, question how effective the school board and administrators can be when attempting to tackle complicated issues during marathon meetings.

What are the answers? Daytime meetings? Smaller agendas? A new chairman? A smaller, leaner school board?

Talk to me...

E.C. :)

Bored at School?

...many children have been bored during these last few days/weeks...since EOG/EOCs/AP testing is now complete and since no one downtown knows how to properly make a school calendar, our children suffer.

Hence, this story in today's N&R...and the fierce comments that follow!

N&R:

According to the central office, the extra days are the same as any other.

“These are going to be regular school days, especially for the elementary and middle school students, and the same expectations of learning and instruction happening would apply this day as it does any other day,” said Haley Miller, a school spokeswoman.

The educational value of the extra days has been debated, though.

School board Chairman Alan Duncan has said holding the days after exams and tests was not helpful. He and others have said educational goals would be better served by holding the makeup days earlier.

E.C. :)