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The following are some of the worst things that happened in 2009:
(1) Extension of the Supt. contract. He had not been on scene to make a proper evaluation. Besides, when he came he said he wanted four years, and if He couldn't improve things, he would be out of here. With extremely high unemployment, this looks like the BOE is protecting the people that make the most money.
(2) Renewing contracts with top staff. Here again, the lower paid people get nothing and the top people are insulated from job reductions and possible pay adjustments. These people are already here, they are not going anywhere. The only people that need contracts are the Supt. and newly hired executives that are brought in from non-commuting areas.
(3) Refusing to hire design firms for new progjects that can bring a project in a reasonable price. They completely ignored Darlene's work in finding firms the are more economical than the ones we use.
(4) Declining to do anything meaningful about the Mission Possible program. When it was implemented, the BOE said they would not continue the program after a few years unless we got considerable academic achievement out of it. We have some schools where we a getting nothing. The fact it is easier to hire and keep jobs filled with Mission Possible was not a factor in establishing the program. The only factor was that we would get substantial acaemic achievement. This has not been done. In schools where little or no progress has been made, the program should be abolished and the funds used on other programs.
(5) The BOE did not and should have pulled the plug on some of the magnet schools. Here again, Darlene Garrett's idaeas were ignored. There is no reason to have a thematic magnet if the children are below grade level in reading and math.
(6) The BOE showed it's support for reading by abolishing the jobs of most of the Libarary Assistants. The Supt. and the top staff still do not appreciate the importance of reading in academic achievement.
(7) Jill Wilson prevented the Supt. from being transparent as he promised. Too many decisions decided in secret session. Jill continues to give advice on non-legal issues. The BOE appears to listen to Jill Wilson when something else may be in the best interest of the students of Guilford County.
(8) The BOE continued to delay redistricing even though hundreds of thousands, mayby millions, could be saved in modular bulding purchase/setup costs and bus transportations costs. Some of our schools are only 50% full when neighboring schools are busting at the seems.
(9) The BOE went along with Leo and awarded CM at risk contracts for most of the projects even though this method costs considerable more money.
(10) The BOE seems to not want to discuss the Oak Ridge Elementary situation. They say it is a "legal issue" and Jill won't allow people to talk. The citizens of Guilford Co. deserve to know the cause, causes or probable cause of the air quality issue. We will not accept spending one and half million on a problem that did not exist.
(11) The site selection staff needs to go back to school. They throwed $10,000 down the drain by putting an option on a site on Mt. Hope Church road that would not work. They are supposed to check this out before signing an option. They work too much with realtors vs getting out and doing due diligence on various properties.
(12) Paying people to not work is a crazy idea. If the minority business coordinator did something wrong, he should be suspended WITHOUT pay not told to stay home and we will send you your full pay. Sending out a press release only after people come to the BOE meeting is way too late. The BOE should not try to hide departures of key individuals from the public.
(13) Since the District is short on funds, why did they buy new schools buses out of local funding. Millions could be saved in transportation if the BOE factored in transportation costs in making decisions.
(14) In 2009, we paid beginning teachers the highest salaries of any system in NC. Yet about 50 systems scored higher than we did on the achievement levels of the children. We are not getting much for the extra pay.
(15) The system does not encourage students to go to highly competitive schools like Davidson, Wake Forest, Duke and Ivy League schools. These schools offer a great opportunity for top-notch students to fully develop their abilities.
(16) The BOE continued to do nothing about Tasers in our schools. Students stand the risk of losing their life only because they did not comply with some order of a SRO.
(17) The BOE continued to allow armed SROs to be in Middle Schools. Children in the 12-14 age group need unarmed counselers to do this job.
(18) The BOE and the Supt. continue to show little interest in copying the practices that have proven successful in other systems. I know we have differences from other districts, but learning is the same. School is work for the students. You may make it fun for some students but you cannot make it fun for all students.

That was thorough.I don't agree with all of it but I do admire your attention to all of these issues.Great job!

Brian:

A couple of thoughts:

Best: Mo's handling of the situation at Northern High School. Mo set a tone for the district by doing something very difficult, but very much necessary when he dealt with, what can only be called cheating at Northern High School. His message was that we must all play by the rules and those who don't will be held to account.

Worst: Continued failures by central office staff to be communicate with BOE members and the public. We must be transparent in all we do. If BOE cannot get timely and accurate information from staff, they are of little value to BOE.

Best regards,

Paul Daniels

Hard to pick the worst of the year from among so many awful decisions, but I think the decision to essentially write off around $500,000 in unpaid lunch charges and then try to recoup the costs by raising the price for paying students takes the prize. Afraid to make any attempt to collect the charges, the BOE compounded their fear by making no arrangement for anything less than a full meal for indigent students AND imposing a price penalty on students who pay each day. I have never seen food prices raised like this before not because food costs had gone up, not because salaries had risen, not because preparation costs had risen . . . but just because the BOE didn't want to even try to collect owed money. Following the curve of unpaid lunch costs over the past few years, I would fully expect this year to hit nearly $1 million; once more and more parents see that no one will even try to collect from them, the natural trend will be for more children to stiff the system.

Joe...
Great comments and I agree with most of them except one major exception....

Our SRO is more of a deterrent in the middle school than an arresting officer and I will argue the need for one in
our middle school everyday.. My oldest son was in the middle school when we did not have an officer and it was
a terrible situation. If we could clone Officer Taylor , I would recommend placing him in elementary schools where he could reach kids at even a younger age. If I ever suspect there is a problem .. I can call him and he has a gift for bringing the kids in his office and teaching the students how to settle the situation before it escalates.
I wish we had a count of how many kids lives he has changed and kept out of the system, but no one keeps stat on that.

The SRO situation is very complex. There are times when they are needed in Middle Schools. I don't object to that. I do object to one size fits all. We have some middle schools where they are not needed. You have had good experiences with an SRO and that's good. I heard another SRO say that does nothing unless he get's a written referral from a school employee. I have also heard of SRO's refuse to help teachers that wanted help in occasionally showing force by their presence in the classroom. For the cost of 1 SRO we could hire two counselers.
I believe two properly trained employees, on average, would be more effective than one SRO.