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Guilford H.S. probes to stretch into July

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
(Updated 8:17 am)
By Robert Bell
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- Guilford County Schools' investigation into eligibility issues at two area high schools won't be ending anytime soon. For that matter, neither will the investigation into a pair of area boys basketball coaches.

Blame it on summer.

School officials said this week they've been unable to schedule appointments with people involved in the investigations of Northern Guilford and Page high schools.

Jill Wilson, the school system attorney and lead investigator, said she's hoping the school system can wrap up its investigations this month -- sooner rather than later.

Wilson said last month she expected the investigations to be completed by the end of June.

"I really thought we could get it done but for whatever reason -- and I'm sure summer vacations are a big part of it -- we just haven't been able to meet with everyone we need to," said Wilson.

School system officials are looking into eligibility issues at at least two schools -- Northern Guilford and Page.

Investigators have already determined that five Northern Guilford students were living outside the school's attendance boundaries. Those infractions cost Northern Guilford its 3-A state boys basketball title as well as forfeitures in baseball, wrestling and junior varsity softball.

The ongoing investigation into student eligibility at those schools has prevented Wilson from examining former Northern Guilford boys basketball coach Stan Kowalewski's handling of a booster account at the school.

"My first priority is I've got kids who have to go to school next year and they need to know where," said Wilson.

School officials are also looking into whether Northwest Guilford boys basketball coach Manny Bloom was accurate with local school officials in his account of an investigation into his financial dealings in Palm Beach County, Fla.

Nora Carr, chief of staff for Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green, said this week that GCS officials have contacted Palm Beach County School District officials and will be speaking with Bloom, Northwest Guilford principal Angelo Kidd and athletic director John Hughes.

Carr said school system officials will also be checking with the references Bloom provided and the additional references Hughes sought out.

"It's not as simple as just making a call," said Carr.

 

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Margaret Baxter (News & Record)

Comments

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ilvteaching

July 1, 2009 - 10:40 pm EDT

By the way, my asking you why they resigned was a rhetorical question. I was well aware of the fact that you can't answer the question. That was the point. It was in response to your telling me what to assume. I am not assuming anything.

Robert Bell

July 2, 2009 - 8:27 am EDT

ilvteaching,
Nonsense. If Mr. Kowalewski believes I am twisting his words I urge him to 1) Stop talking to me 2) Complain to me or my editors. He has done neither. If Mr. Force and Mr. Yeager want to wrongly believe I have the last word, they can write a letter to the editor explaining their side of the story. Thanks.

ilvteaching

July 2, 2009 - 9:32 am EDT

There is one thing we agree on!!!! Stan needs stop talking.

ilvteaching

July 2, 2009 - 9:38 am EDT

And I do think that they will eventually present their side - in fact, correct me if I am wrong, at least one of them sent you a message that he would talk to you when he was ready. I don't remember when that was, so I don't know if he is still planning to come to you or not. They are waiting and watching to see how this ends first.

ngparent

July 2, 2009 - 10:35 am EDT

Mr. Bell,
Through the newspaper, you definitely have the ability to guide this story any way you want. Coach K, Mo Green and Jill Wilson have given you a lot of material and you have run with it. I have read all of your stories and it certainly is the talk of Greensboro. If I were Mr. Yeager or Mr. Force, I would not speak with you. I would take your advice and write a letter to the editor. You have a responsibility to sell newspapers and to report the news. I would not leave my story up to any reporter that could somehow misconstrue its intent. Most average people don't know how to speak in terms that cannot be misunderstood. Most lawyers, like Mo Green and Jill Wilson, know how to play this game and how to manipulate the press. Most people can put their thoughts accurately down on paper. I hope Mr.Yeager and Mr. Force would write a letter to the editor because they do have something interesting to tell. You would be very surprised and upset about the tactics GCS used during this investigation.

Robert Bell

July 2, 2009 - 11:15 am EDT

ilvteaching,
I can't comment on any private messages Mr. Force or Mr. Yeager may have sent me regarding comment. It's my hope that they are able and willing to speak soon.

ngparent,
You're correct. Just as th subject of a story tries to manipulate a story in their direction, a reporter also has the ability to guide a story in any direction they want. There's nothing wrong with the latter as long as they first and foremost make sure the story is reported honestly and fairly. Forums like this allow others to weigh in and judge that. I'm also aware there are two sides to every story (or in this case 11 sides and counting). If one of those sides feels they won't be represented fairly by me, they can talk to another reporter -- or write a letter. Thanks.

dcolin

July 2, 2009 - 8:14 pm EDT

I have spoken with them at length about the issue, ( Yeager )

What did you expect them to say? We were bad.
Come on.

Also I think you said they were your friends

ilvteaching

July 2, 2009 - 8:44 pm EDT

I have been in this county forever. I know lots of the people involved - all of them except the superintendent - either through my job or through my kids. I know a lot about the situation. I do not consider them close personal friends.
I actually don't expect them to tell me anything - although I have reason to believe I have a pretty clear picture. Having said that, I don't care what they did. People should not be forced into a room to be interrogated for hours and then forced to resign on a holiday. NOTHING justifies that. And you will never convince me it didn't happen. I was told by a friend downtown that it was going to happen and I didn't believe it. it did. And my experience with other administrations is that it will happen again. People shouldn't be treated that way .

dcolin

July 2, 2009 - 9:36 pm EDT

"I don't care what they did. People should not be forced into a room to be interrogated for hours and then forced to resign on a holiday. NOTHING justifies that. And you will never convince me it didn't happen. I was told by a friend downtown that it was going to happen and I didn't believe it. it did. And my experience with other administrations is that it will happen again. People shouldn't be treated that way"

We finally agree on something.

However thats what incompetent administrators do.

And I bet Yeager would do the same.

Poor administrators/administration is why our system is so bad.

Why are the EOC numbers so bad?

And all of the kids I know who have gone to Carolina come back from their freshmen year and say how easy it was.

So.

Carolina is the screened group.

Look the numbers speak for themselves ,
There is an overwhelming number of kids we are not educating
Thats a fact nation wide
If you don't believe it you have your head in the sand
It's 2009 and the estimate nation wide is that 30% or more never graduate hugh school
As far as EOC failing and passing the course the system conveniently does not have the data

Look I checked on the so called Summer Mathematics Institute
For the math teachers. Thats a joke..

ilvteaching

July 2, 2009 - 10:10 pm EDT

I think that the assumption that all students are capable of graduating from high school and have the desire to do it is faulty.
I keep thinking of one student I had this year who was tutored constantly to pass his EOCs. Sweet boy, very handsome with an IQ I think of 80. Good teachers worked unbelievably hard with that student. God, for whatever reason, did not give that child the intellectual ability to pass his math tests.

Children who work as hard as they can and still can't do it are the exception rather than the rule. More often they don't pass because, as I tried to explain earlier, they do not have the support at home.. They go home to empty houses or worse and they couldn't care less about school. Often their attendance is not good. Some of the students at my school deal with problems at home that I cannot imagine. Others have well-educated wealthy parent who are totally oblivious to their children.

Alcohol and drugs, unfortunately, can also be factors.

If you can figure out how to teach Algebra II to a child who absolutely has no interest, you are a genius. There are lots of very good teachers who work tirelessly to try to do it and do not succeed often.

Obviously, some of it can be attributed to bad teachers. All teachers teaching math should have a college degree in math - even at the middle school level. Incompetent teachers should not be protected.

If you really want to try to understand the problem - do what I said. You said you have experience in education. Volunteer an hour a week to tutor a child who can't pass their EOC. See if you can figure it out.

dcolin

July 2, 2009 - 10:56 pm EDT

I hear what you are saying.
Thats why I think rather than trying to solve the problem the administrators have given up.

Educators know by the early grades the at risk kids.
It's the ones that don't attend regularly .

It's our responsibility as a country to solve the problem

Some of the failure rates are 40%. 40% of our kids do not have IQ's of 80.

And yes good teachers can get to them.
It takes the right chemistry,personality and desire to help.

Much of the teaching profession has lost that.

Womens Lib I think caused it.

ilvteaching

July 2, 2009 - 11:37 pm EDT

I have worked for lots of administrators. My prinicipal now is AWESOME. I have worked for others that were very good. I have also worked for some that were really bad. Personally I am not a fan of the coaches who become principals, but I do realize that is an unfair generalization.

You are living in a dream world - it is not a problem that can be magically solved. The right chemisty, personality and desire to help does meet the right personality and the desire to learn in our classrooms today and there are kids that are saved. But even the best teachers can't get to some of them. And no one can help the kids who aren't there.

Obviously I know hundreds of teachers. Some of them are terrible. But the vast majority of them work very hard, do have the desire to help and love kids. In fact, I have never worked in a school where that was not the case.

Women's lib did not cause the teaching profession to lose its desire to help - that is crazy. I do think that it has meant many moms aren't at home anymore and paying the attention to their kids that the kids need . The high divorce rate, kids having kids, gangs, drugs . . . it all has a negative impact on the schools and the kids.

Most teachers I know are doing the best they can. Maybe that isn't good enough. If you can do better, please do. Some of these kids need all the help they can get.

dcolin

July 3, 2009 - 12:14 am EDT

I did not say that.
Think on it a while it will come to you.

The cream of the crop no longer go into teaching.

There is Law, Medicine, Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry,
Etc.

Before Womens Lib there was Teaching and Nursing as professions.

dcolin

July 3, 2009 - 12:19 am EDT

All teachers teaching math should have a college degree in math

Math or Math. Education

There is a big difference

TOTHE POINT

July 3, 2009 - 10:05 am EDT

To DCOLIN AND ILVTEACHING, you both have made some very good points and I do agree with some of them. Although I must admit that I am saddened that our system of education has gotten to this point. Although this does not have anything to do with the 3 individuals that lost their jobs and I think we would dissagree there because I think they were guilty and just got caught and I think the time that Wilson and the Superintendent are taking to finalize this issue is justified. However, the fact that the grades in our schools are so bad and given the reason you sighted as to why does not look good for the future. You both sound like educators. Well here is one for you, I think the reasons you both gave are true but I also feel that our education system has become diluted with topics like critical thinking and other nonsense when we should be teaching how to read, write and speak properly. I guess you may be able to tell that I am from the old school and I am very well educated and I think certain bonus subjects have their place but our education system has gotten away from the foundation of learning. You must first teach the basics and the foundation before you get fancy. I have a PhD and there were times when even I could not help my child with their homework because of the types of homework they were bringing home. I feel for those parents who do not have the background that i have to help their kid. You pointed that out as one of your arguments the reasons why kids have low grades. You also said go volunteer to tutor... I think you would get more takers on that if they could handle the topic. I do understand the point about math and if you know math you know math, but, some of this other stuff is rediculous. I agree with you that some parents just do not give a d..... about reading to or helping to educate their kid in the early age. That there is one of the major issues. You need to teach them early not when they get to be 14. But let a teacher touch that kid because the kid was in the wrong and watch that parent start to come alive and scream lawsuit and demand that teacher be fired. When that same parent did not take an active role from the beginning. So in closing those score will go up if the basic math, reading and writing were being taught in detailed and at an early age. Do not let me get into geography. We have kids now that do not even know the difference between a state and a country. Heck we have a governor in Atlaska that has problems with continents and countries. Case closed. Have a great 4th. Oh, ask those kids at Northern and Northwest why we celebrate the 4th and see what answers you get.

ilvteaching

July 3, 2009 - 11:04 am EDT

What is it, exactly, that you think those three were guilty of?

Parents should be reading to their children when they are young (or better yet, teaching them to read). Children who are read to from ages 2-5 everyday have a HUGE advantage over other children that last a lifetime. And it doesn't take a PhD to do it. - I am sure we all agree on that.

As far as the tutoring, I am not sure I am following the logic . . .If the schools are so much worse than they used to be, why is is difficult for you to help your children? True, I have had to review a few math formulas but it hasn't been that bad. They are on their own with Spanish . . but we are talking about EOC classes - English, civics (no rocket science there), math, and science (ok, i understand the science - that takes re-learning for most people).
If your kids are in the top classes (AP), you are right - they are doing amazing things!! Things that I did in graduate school. And I think the things that the group of students in the middle are doing are amazing. It is the group at the bottom who are struggling. And if people don't have the knowledge to volunteer and help the kids at the bottom with their EOCs, then they didn't have a very good education either.

You are right, though. Schools have definitely lost the basics - I am the grammar nazi at my school. But there are plenty of writers that the News and Record (and news reporters) who can't get their relative pronoun correct. Drives me nuts.

You guys have fun - my family is off for the weekend to celebrate the 4th.

ilvteaching

July 3, 2009 - 11:34 am EDT

ok.last comment, really
On second thought Algebra II would be really hard for the average person to tutor. But all this wasn't was I was thinking of when I spoke of parent involvement. I was think more of parents simply saying, "What is you homework? Can I see it? When is your next test . . Go to your room, turn of the playstation and study".. Teachers are required to provide after school tutoring to their students (yes, I know . . the public thinks that we all leave at 4. That is a myth. Parents can MAKE their children go to tutoring. Nothing is more frustrating to a teacher than a child who will not come for help. Many of my friends (and I) tutor on Saturdays in the spring before testing. Again, spend as much time looking for the good things that teachers are trying to do as you do criticizing them. No teacher WANTS their students to fail (not all of them go the extra mile - I get that). But you can't open their brains and pour it in there for them..

It is always interesting to see young teachers come out of college and enter the classroom. Many of them think that their classrooms will turn out like it does in the movies . . .that if they work hard enough, they can change the whole class. It very, very, very rarely works that way. Young teachers are also not prepared for how much work teaching is - they believe the myth that teachers only work 40 hours a week 10 months a year. They become disillusioned very quickly and leave teaching. It is sad.

Here is an idea . . let's hold up as role models teachers who change the lives of one child. Not the EOC grade, but the life of a child. Rather than saying, "You can't change the world, you are a failure" say, "you are a hero, you changed another person's life." That would make more difference in education than money ever will.

ilvteaching

July 3, 2009 - 10:45 am EDT

dcolin -
math - I have never taken an education class that was worthwhile . . . no, that isn't true - I took one graduate class at UNCG that was worthwhile. The rest of them were terrible.

dcolin

July 3, 2009 - 2:25 pm EDT

“Most teachers I know are doing the best they can. Maybe that isn't good enough. If you can do better, please do.”

Yes I believe I could
I tried too( math ), starting in 2003. I am in my 70’s.

Remarks from Principals: (reflecting my age)

You won’t know the material (however they are not prepared/qualified to discuss it)
I have used it every day for almost forty years.

You will lack the stamina

Won’t be able to handle lunch room duty/hall monitoring.

Teachers can’t teach the way they did in your day ( said this is reason he never learned math). This from a principal.

We are expected to teach unreachable students. Since you will have the least experience you would be given the kids that have repeatedly failed ( this man is enlightened ).

"No team work collaborative experience". ( I was a successful Engineering Director, directing among other things NASA space projects)

I exceed the math requirements for highly qualified. ( Georgia Tech )
In fact more math than many education math majors with MS degrees( I am serious)
Many have less than the 24 hrs required for lateral entry

Taught developmental math for GTCC ( 4 years )

Excellent references/letters of recommendation. Not a single one was ever checked.
Not one.

I was also interested in Science:

Chemistry and Physics was 20 hours.

Significantly more in Mechanics ( expanded subset of physics / Static’s, Dynamics, Strength of Materials and Thermo Dynamics)

I was told DPI will not count these as science. You figure it out. I still can’t believe it.
However Northwest hires a basketball coach with a K-6 license( I’m sorry ISS teacher )

When I told a DPI representative that I thought the education system was “incestuous”
She said, if I spoke filthy again she would hang up. ( I quickly grasped the intellectual level )

“Volunteer an hour a week to tutor a child who can't pass their EOC. See if you can figure it out”

I volunteered the end of April to work free ( 8 to noon ). Five days a week until summer vacation. Math Chair said yes we need you. Three remediation classes of about 6 kids each..

Filled out paper work for clearance ( central ). No response. If we don’t hire him we won’t let him volunteer. The hell with the kids

Your profession quite simply is not interested in people that can think

Oh, I passed all screening including Haberman successfully
Some Principals actually never send you back a response from the interview Nothing.

Some actually told me they had filled the position when they had not.

In all the interviews (except the Haberman ) not once were my teaching technique/method for teaching math discussed. They all said they were not qualified to discuss it. Why then were they interviewing me?

If you are interviewing for something as critical as math they should set up A mock class for an hour or so
.

Married 50 years
Never Jailed
Traveled and worked all over the world.

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