Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools

Roofs Leaking at Local Schools

Some things you have to see for yourself to believe.
 
I recently took a tour of about a half dozen schools, mainly older facilities, in the Chapel Hill Carrboro school system.  Because the County Commissioners fund the school systems' budgets, it's important for me to see first hand what the parents, teachers, and school administrators are complaining about.  I took a similar tour of facilities in the Orange County School system a while back and wanted to assess the situation in the city schools.
 
Boy, am I glad I did.
 

Grading Policy in Our Schools: What's the Real Story?

Yesterday's Chapel Hill News was full of items complaining about a change in the grading policy that the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School District is contemplating. They led me to go find and read the proposed policy itself.

Among other things, the proposal would limit the bottom score for schoolwork (whether completed or not) at a 61.

I was really quite stunned by the pervasiveness of teacher discontent with the proposal -- and the fact that the district would consider proceeding with such a change in the face of such broad dissatisfaction. (Scroll about halfway through the pdf of the proposal to see the collected teacher comments from various schools in the district.)

Schools propose 08-09 budgets

The County Commissioners have received the proposed budgets from both school systems. According to the Chapel Hill Herald, the city schools are requesting $61.2 million, a %12.56 increase in last year's budget. The county system is requesting an %8.35 increase to $23.8, which is actually less than they asked for last year.

The county school board recognizes, "the fiscal realities of the day," said school board Chairman Ted Triebel.

"[The budget] is well-researched, fully-debated and it is lean, very lean," he said. "This new fiscal approach, this minimal budget, comes with high expectations and confidence that you, our board of county commissioners, will favorably respond to the citizens of our district and look at this responsible budget to provide the necessary opportunities for our county's youth."

- heraldsun.com: County praises school boards' budgets, 4/23/08

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education (choose up to 3):

· Jean Hamilton
· Jeff Danner
· Lisa Stuckey
· Pam Hemminger

All Kids Are Gifted

Guest Post by Alan McSurely
Originally published as "School board right to end ‘segregation,'" a letter to the editor of the Chapel Hill News.

Several letters and at least one News & Observer column by Rick Martinez have explicitly attacked the NAACP and, by implication, Valerie Foushee and Elizabeth Carter of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board, for our efforts to provide equal educational opportunities for each differentiated (and gifted) learner in our schools. These attacks suggest an organized effort to racialize this initiative.

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