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Editorial: Different school, similar issues?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

We are in the midst of teacher layoffs and a statewide education budget crisis &ellipses; and still sports controversies keep wedging themselves onto the Guilford County Schools' agenda.

That in itself is a problem.

First, there was the fallout over ineligible players at Northern Guilford High School that cost the school its state basketball championship and the principal, the athletics director and the basketball coach their jobs.

Now this just in: The background of Northwest Guilford High School head basketball coach Manny Bloom has raised fresh concerns.

At issue are the circumstances surrounding Bloom's departure from his last job as coach at Boca Raton High School in Florida. Bloom has said he was cleared of any wrongdoing before he resigned last year.

Not so, say school officials in Palm Beach County. Had Bloom stayed, they say, he would have been reprimanded. "Did he resign? Absolutely. Was he cleared? Absolutely not," a Palm Beach school official told the News & Record's Robert Bell.

Bloom and the school's principal were under investigation for violating the school system's fundraising policy. Palm Beach County school officials say the two deposited $421,983 in basketball revenues into three private accounts, $250,000 into two personal accounts opened by Bloom.

Northwest Guilford Principal Angelo Kidd said the news surprised him. The school's athletics director, John Hughes, says he checked into Bloom's background in Florida. In fact, Hughes says he phoned 20 references in Florida before hiring Bloom.

How, then, could he not corroborate Bloom's explanation about the investigation with district officials in Boca Raton?

This latest news, among other allegations in Bloom's past, directly contradicts Bloom's account and calls into question Northwest's thoroughness in hiring him.

The situation, again, raises the issue of whether the pursuit of a winning team has clouded local school leaders' judgment -- and planted the seeds for another embarrassment.

What do you think?

21 comment(s)

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igliigli

June 23, 2009 - 3:39 am EDT

The schools' mission is education, not sports titles. But in too many cases, the schools' focus is the reverse. NC schools and universities should get rid of their sports teams.

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 12:46 pm EDT

Igliigli get a life! And while you are getting one get an IQ to go with it. Sports in school are here to stay. Remember every time there is an athletic contest in Guilford County or with UNC system schools YOU LOSE. Your posts are futile at best. Nobody with any clout or authority will EVER listen to you.You are as useful as a football bat.

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 1:33 pm EDT

Why do you continue to insult people directly.

You claim to be a teacher.
Act like one.

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 8:41 pm EDT

I can insult indirectly if you prefer.Also, when you make an interogative statement it should end with a ? not a period. I knew this and I never taught english.

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 10:00 pm EDT

Why are you so nasty???

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 8:49 pm EDT

I am acting like a teacher, I am correcting your punctuation.

Beadbaby

June 23, 2009 - 8:59 pm EDT

DaveW, you forgot to capitalize "English." Don't carp on someone else's minor mistakes if you make them also.

There are also some people who end a rhetorical question with a period to reflect the lack of question intonation. My husband ends a sentence that is grammatically a question with a period if that question really means, "You should do things my way, but I'm telling you indirectly instead of confronting you."

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 10:03 pm EDT

You are wasting your time explaining to him.
Would you want him teaching/coaching your kids with his attitude.

If you disagree with him he calls you names

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 10:18 pm EDT

I'm sorry.
I only had a 2.4.college GPA
Also my age. Dementia you know.
It is not nice to pick on old people.
Do you bully your students???

Andrew Brod

June 23, 2009 - 10:18 am EDT

You say that it's a problem that "sports controversies keep wedging themselves onto the Guilford County Schools' agenda." In fact, those controversies are a very important part of the agenda. In an era when increasing percentages of students think it's okay to cheat on tests, it's good that our school system is trying to enforce old-fashioned standards of fair play. Would it be better if everyone in GCS already played by the rules? Of course! But given that humans are only human and sometimes do unethical things, I'm glad Mo Green is making ethics part of the agenda.

truman

June 23, 2009 - 11:45 am EDT

Simple solution to the problem: promote & emphasize intramural sports; discontinue varsity sports.

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 12:48 pm EDT

Not going to happen.A minority of drivers break traffic laws and the highways are not closed. A minority of coaches break eligibility rules and athletics is not ended.

Norm*

June 23, 2009 - 4:37 pm EDT

Athletes are a minority, there is no benefit beyond the entertainment factor and those who personally benefit from college recruitment. That does not justify the investment. Competitive athletics is a male-oriented justified soap-opera that is a total contrivance. There are no sport heroes, just self-indulgent athletes and the wanna-be types and live vicariously through them. The ethical corruption we are seeing would not be tolerated in the academics of the schools. Time to stop funding the testosterone thrill ride of the coaches and adminstrators who think they are benefitting the majority. It's time that public education focuses on being smart, not some image of athletic domination that somehow gets some kids into college.

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 8:34 pm EDT

Male oriented soap opera.Try telling that to all the female athletes. Tell that to my daughter a recruited athlete now with a chemistry degree and maitaining a 3.84 gpa while competing all 4 years at a UNC system school.
dcolin-- I only insult people that refuse to debate and just spew negativity.
Every profession has people doing the right things and the wrong things.Fortunately in most of the professions most do the right thing. Yes some coaches do wrong, most do right and care about their kids and give them an extra few hours per week of mentoring beyond the school day.
Not too long ago there was controversey about priests that did wrong. I am sure those were in a small minority.99 + % of priests were doing the right things for their parrish. Those that did wrong got in the news. Despite this the Catholic Church still survives. Despite the Northern Guilford and Northwest Guilford foulups, athletics in Guilford County will survive as well. Don't advocate punishing thousands of children and a few adults that do athletics the right way because single digit numbers of coaches in this county have not.

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 1:32 pm EDT

Teach
Long division for the kids.
Ethics for the staff.

It is probably to late for either.

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 8:43 pm EDT

Good job Andrew!

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 2:30 pm EDT

"school leaders' judgment "

There are no "school leaders"

Only managers.

That is why we have principals with PE degrees ( cannot teach a single core subject )
A superintendent with literally no education experience.
A chief of staff that is basically a press secretary
( Charlotte )position after reprimand
Coaches that don't qualify to teach a single course.
Any one interested add to the list.

There are World Leaders no World Managers

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 2:36 pm EDT

"school leaders' judgment "

There are no "school leaders"

Only managers.

That is why we have principals with PE degrees ( cannot teach a single core subject )
A superintendent with literally no education experience.
A chief of staff that is basically a press secretary
Previous Chief if Staff ( still chief of something) was hired after resigning his Charlotte position after reprimand
Coaches that don't qualify to teach a single course.
Any one interested add to the list.

There are World Leaders no World Managers

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 8:37 pm EDT

dcolin-- Run for school board and change things to suit you.

dcolin

June 23, 2009 - 10:05 pm EDT

Can I count on your support???

DaveW

June 23, 2009 - 11:29 pm EDT

It would depend on the issue. Not today but many times on this site I have actually enjoyed some of your posts.
You're really cool at slinging insults also.
I am glad to know I don't monopolize the insults market.
At least I base my barbs on what is true. I don't make up facts about anyone's college records or anything else that I have no way of knowing the truth.
You have never been in my school to my knowlege or know how my students view me.Let me give you a hint if I was someone that bullied students as you have accused me of doing I would not be able to stay at the same school for 20+ years. I have seen many teachers come and go. The ones that have trouble relating to kids do not last long.
Now, until recently you have actually made some intelligent posts. I know you do not work in education because of some of your questions. I actually do respect the fact that you desire to learn about what goes on in GCS. I admit I can be both nice and nasty. I also know that to be effective at times you cannot always be Mr. Nice Guy. I do enjoy my profession and my work location in particular. When people on this site or anywhere else attack what I have given my entire adult life to I tend to get PO'ed and push back. In my family there are many teachers on both my mother's and father's sides. I value education very much. I have one child with a degree and another one with high grades and SAT scores going into the senior year. I was a teacher and a coach 8 years before my 1st child was born and I will continue to teach and coach after my youngest graduates next June. I guess basically there are 2 kinds of people. One kind is ok to PO. I belong to the OTHER group. I do like to debate (I am very competitive) so I guess if I wasn't a teacher I'd have been an attorney.