How did I miss this one?

I don't know how this very insightful, and accurate, column from former Orange County Board of Education Chairman Keith Cook failed to catch my attention before now. I guess my news searches aren't triggered by columns in the Chapel Hill News.

While Mr. Cook and I agree on many things with regard to this runaway Board, I have to disagree with one statement from his column.

As the parent of a rising third-grader at Hillsborough Elementary School, I can say that I am far from "happy" with the Board's "shell game" of a plan. Unfortunately, Mr. Cook has fallen for the frequently hurled accusation that parents of children at Hillsborough Elementary care only about their own children. This is a brush with which HES parents have been unfairly painted for over 10 ten months now.

I have always maintained that "I believe that the purpose of any school system is to provide the best possible education to each individual student given their individual abilities, talents and motivations." This belief knows no socioeconomic limit or arbitrarily drawn attendance zone.

As Mr. Cook writes:

"This plan does nothing to ensure that our children at Central and Efland-Cheeks will become academically successful learners in math and/or reading."

"This hastily conceived plan has nothing to do with what is best for children or with the board being an advocate for all children. The board's plan to remove Central and Efland-Cheeks from the Federal School Improvement Plan does nothing to raise math and reading scores or to increase enrollment at Central. Just because Efland-Cheeks and Central will no longer be in Title One School Improvement Status doesn't mean that their students have now become proficient in reading and/or math. What it means is that those schools will no longer have access to federal dollars for resources to prepare students in the lower grades to be successful learners in math and reading by the time they get to the third grade."

He is absolutely correct.

And, as he goes on to say, "For board members that voted for the plan, shame on you!"

We're #8! We're #8!

According to the Durham Herald-Sun, the proposed (and abandoned) merger between Central and Hillsborough Elementary schools was the #8 news story for Orange County in 2007.

Our efforts to derail the runaway train of a myopically arrogant Board of Education even beat out John Edwards' presidential campaign (#10) on the Herald-Sun's list.

Had it not been for the work and vocal opposition of parents at both schools the Board planned to destroy, I am sure it would not have even made a ripple in the news ocean.

While the year is rapidly drawing to a close, the fight against this Board's tendency to ignore and try to hide those most impacted by its poor decision-making is far from over.

Let's hope that next year's Top 10 list includes a dramatic turnover of Orange County Board of Education members.

Rest for the next week, because the new year's work is about to begin.

Why isn't everyone doing it?

Just like disgraced Enron executives, the Orange County Board of Education is playing a financial shell game, only this game threatens the educational futures of the children they were sworn to serve.

Rather than come up with a plan to actually provide a better education or enriched educational experience to the children at the county's two poorest schools, the Board has decided to use a blatant accounting trick to hide its accountability for the decline of Orange County Schools.

Even though I was there and heard it first hand, I still had to hear it explained in this video clip a few more times before I could believe what I was hearing.

[The voice you hear from off-screen is Mary Alice Yarbrough, Orange County Schools' director of elementary instruction.]

So, by withdrawing $300,000 in federal Title 1 education funds from the accounts of Central and Efland-Cheeks Elementary schools, and depositing it into the account of an entirely new Pre-Kindergarten program, the District ceases to be accountable to the federal government for failing to teach its poorest children?

If it is this easy, why isn't everyone doing it? Well, maybe other school boards care more about actually helping the children they serve, than they do about appearing to be vanguards of social engineering.

As Former Orange County Board of Education Chairman Keith Cook told the Durham-Herald Sun, "You heard nothing about how we're going to raise scores for Efland-Cheeks or Central Elementary. It seems that we got caught up on a lot of things that don't matter." He is absolutely right.

In fact, there has been no discussion about how any of these changes will academically benefit a single child in Orange County. And, that is because the academic performance of children at the district's poorest schools "doesn't matter at all" to the ideologues on this Board.

Mr. Cook also told the Durham Herald-Sun that "he would be looking into whether Friday's process was legal." It is looking like this matter may end up being decided in a courtroom rather than in the Board of Education's meeting room.

I guess some Board members will be more comfortable there than others, after all Dennis Whitling is an attorney, and of course Liz Brown had that other thing.

A telling exchange

If anyone is wondering how a Ted Triebel led Board of Education might act, here is a telling exchange from last Friday morning's Special Meeting:

In the background you can hear Former Orange County Board of Education Chairman Keith Cook ask for the opportunity to comment on the newly revealed plan:

• Keith Cook: “Are you going to allow any input at all before you vote?”
• Ted Triebel: “We had public comment in this room to start with.”
• Keith Cook: “That was before I heard anything.”
• Unidentified attendee: “How can we comment when we don’t know what y'all were going to say?”
• Keith Cook: “That was before we had …

Then Ted Triebel cuts Mr. Cook off and moves on with “board determinations."

Frustration was obvious among those in attendance, and Mr. Cook provided them with a voice in the Durham Herald Sun: "'I'm disappointed because rarely does a school board put something on a table and vote on it at the same time without getting feedback from the community,' Cook said. 'You heard nothing about how we're going to raise scores for Efland-Cheeks or Central Elementary. It seems that we got caught up on a lot of things that don't matter.'"

This Board has shown time and again that the academic performance of Orange County's children "doesn't matter at all" to them. Rather, the fixation on "things that don't matter" is of greatest concern to this group of amateur social engineers.

I understand that Captain Triebel comes from a military background, and is not accustomed to people questioning his orders. But, he needs to understand that he is a civilian elected official now, and that comes with a high level of accountability to members of the community.

He cannot be allowed to show such arrogance and utter disdain for his constituents, and still lead the Board.

It was a bad day

Friday was a bad day in Orange County, not just because the children at our county’s two poorest schools had federal resources specifically targeted toward them suddenly taken away, but also for the premise of open and responsive local government.

Early Friday morning the Orange County Board of Education pushed through an entirely new plan for "dealing" with the disparities between Central and Hillsborough Elementary schools. After spending months coming up with a disastrous merger plan, the Board spent just about two hours coming up with the new plan.

It is amazing how quickly you can get things done when you schedule meetings when most interested parties cannot attend, and you don't feel the need to gather any community input.

Newly named Board Chairman Ted Triebel must be proud that he accomplished in two hours what Dennis Whitling couldn't get done in months - too bad for those parents and children crushed beneath the boot of Ted's efficiency.

First, and foremost, in the Board’s plan is the “redirection” of federal Title 1 funds, currently being spent on remedial reading teachers at CES and Efland-Cheeks, to the creation of a county-wide Pre-Kindergarten program at CES. This program will be open to any child in the county, but the District has no plans to provide transportation for the program. So, the only ones who will be able to attend are those who can either walk to the school or afford to drive there every morning. Wait, wasn't HES criticized for just such a situation when this whole discussion started last spring?

The true goal behind this redirection of funds, is to remove the ability of parents at either “failing school” to opt out and send their children to better performing schools. In essence, hiding the black eye of the county’s failing schools under a coat of makeup without actually doing anything to help the most vulnerable students. Not only are those children losing federal funding earmarked specifically for programs at their struggling schools, but the Board has found a way to ignore that they exist at all.

Next, all children in Kindergarten through 2^nd grade at HES will be forced to reapply for their spots at the school next year. Attendance from any one school zone will be capped at 20% of that zone’s elementary school population. That means some HES children could be forced to leave the only school they have ever known. Once every Free and Reduced Lunch child who applies is admitted, the remaining spots will be awarded to other applicants based on a lottery. After all, the lottery has been such a success for funding our schools, why not use it to assign people the schools also?

The least discussed part of the plan will have the widest county-wide impact. Ted’s new plan includes one apparently innocuous bullet point aimed at helping CES meet its SES balance goals:

• "Ensuring strict adherence to transfer policy"

What this means is that the District will rescind the ability of parents to apply for transfers from one school to another unless there is an “extreme hardship.” While that may not sound like a big change, it becomes one when you look at the number of children currently attending schools outside their zones.

As of last February, 123 elementary students were attending schools under the previous regular transfer policy, and every school in the district had both transfers in and transfers out.

I seriously doubt the parents of these 123 children ever thought they would become victims of this Board’s myopic arrogance, but I’d like to welcome them my world.

Like I said back in July, "So, if you think the current discussions about HES, CES and Efland-Cheeks don't involve you, you may be right - but probably not for long."

Did you get my note?

Since time has become such a factor in the next round of Board decisions, I sent a message to every email address I could get from last year's Dolphin Directory.

I heard from some people that they received my message, but some others said their email clients screened it out as potential spam. For those of you who didn't receive my note, here is what it said:

Dear Parent,

I apologize for sending this mass email, but I felt recent developments in the proposed merger of Hillsborough and Central elementary schools warranted such a step. Time is of the essence, and this is the fastest way to communicate with such a large community.

My name is Allan Scott, and my son is a second-grader at HES. Those who know me are aware that I have paid very close attention to the Orange County Board of Education’s efforts to merge HES with CES for over 9 months. While I regularly post developments to my weblog (http://SaveHES.blogspot.com), I have not felt the need to email everyone since last spring; that is, until now.

Every parent with a child in Orange County's elementary schools needs to know that the Board of Education is poised to create an entirely new plan for changing CES and HES that will likely impact every elementary school in the district. And this dramatic change will probably happen with virtually no input from those most directly impacted – the parents. If the Board continues in its current direction, there will be no time for research or debate, and almost no opportunity for public comment.

This past Monday, Board members proposed four entirely new proposals for changes to CES and HES. Among these were:

• Requiring every current HES student to “reapply” for admission, with a cap on the number of students from any one school zone and quotas for those allowed to return. According to the plan, this cap could prevent as many as 80 current HES students from returning to the only school many of them have ever known.
• Capping HES enrollment at 330 and redistricting the remaining 100 students to CES. New students would only be allowed to enroll at HES if a similar number chose to attend CES.
• Recinding all transfers not mandated by federal law. This means that parents who applied for, and were granted transfers, for their children to schools outside their zone would be forced to return unless they can prove an "extreme hardship." This represents over 100 children with a sizable number at all six zoned schools. No elementary school would be unaffected.
• Closing CES for an entire year and “distributing” all CES students to other elementary schools, again taking them away from the only school many of them have ever known.
• Eliminating Kindergarten at HES and only allowing children to apply after spending one year at their zoned school.
• Taking $300,000 in federal funding away from reading teachers at CES and Efland-Cheeks Elementary School as a way to disguise the fact that neither school made Adequate Yearly Progress the past two years.

While many ideas have been put forth over the past 9 months, we are now at a point where time has become a critical factor. Recognizing that, Board Chairman Ted Triebel was recently quoted as saying, “We’re in a time crunch here, and I think everybody knows it.”

In response, he scheduled a two-hour special session to discuss proposed changes to CES and HES. That meeting is scheduled for Friday, December 14^th at 8:30 am in the Central Office Boardroom on King Street in Hillsborough.

To make matters worse, the Board decided Monday night to set January 20, 2008 as the deadline to approve final changes to CES and HES before the next school year. Given that they have not yet had any in-depth discussion of any plan other than a CES/HES merger, any new idea would have only six weeks to be discussed, accepted and approved.

As it stands, the Board does not have another regular meeting until January 7^th. – less than two weeks before its self-imposed deadline. That means that any idea to come out of the December 14^th meeting will likely be approved by the Board in January, regardless of how ill-conceived it may be or how negatively it may impact the District's elementary schools.

It is important that parents at both schools take the few remaining opportunities to voice their opinions before it is too late. If you know any CES parents, parents new to HES, or those who have transfered their children to a school outside their zone, feel free to forward this message to them.

I understand that the time and day of week is difficult for many, but I encourage everyone who can, to attend the Board’s special meeting next Friday morning, and let your presence send a message to the Board.

Will you join me there?

If you are unable to attend, please contact your elected Board of Education members to let them know how you feel. You can find email addresses for all members here: http://www.orange.k12.nc.us/board/ocs_board_edu.html .

Sincerely,

Allan Scott

Save the Date!
What: Orange County Board of Education CES/HES Special Meeting
When: Friday, December 14, 2007 @ 8:30 am in the Central Office Boardroom
200 King Street
Hillsborough, NC 27278

Not exactly convenient, but maybe that's the point

At this past Monday's Orange County Board of Education meeting, Chairman Ted Triebel decided that the Board needed more time to fully consider both his "Rainbow Plan" and Dennis Whitling's latest attempt to destroy both CES and HES. So, he decided to call a special meeting for further discussion - for 8:00 am on Saturday, December 15th.

Now, I am told, the meeting date was changed because at least one Board member couldn't make a Saturday meeting, but the unusually early meeting time was of Ted Triebel's choosing.

[Note: The Board's website posted information about the meeting on Friday. The posted time is 30 minutes later than what was originally scheduled. I have updated information in my column to reflect the new time. - Allan]

So, it looks like Ted thinks he's found a solution to the overwhelming opposition parents have shown to the Board's consistent failure to find a plan the community can support - hold meetings at a time when most parents cannot attend.

In an obvious attempt to make the meeting as inconvenient as possible for parents from either school, Ted has scheduled it for two hours starting at 8:30 am on a weekday.

Since the Board has not even seen fit to announce the existence of the meeting on its website, I guess I will have to do so here.

What: Orange County Board of Education CES/HES Merger Discussion
When: Friday, December 14, 2007 @ 8:30 am
Where: Central Office Board Room
200 E. King Street
Hillsborough, NC 27278

So, here is what I propose: Every parent able to spare the time, should go directly from the drop-off circle at HES to the meeting at the Central Office. We need to send the message to Ted, and the other Board members, that no matter how hard they try to exclude us from this process, we will still be watching them and our voices will be heard.

Who's with me?

What are the Board's priorities?

There has been a great deal of discussion about how to balance the percentage of Free & Reduced Lunch children between Orange County's elementary schools.

As it currently stands, four of the district's 7 elementary schools fall outside the Board's professed goal of 38% (+- 10%) FRL at each school.

While the Board has spent over 9 months trying to create a rational plan to address the disparity at two of the four schools (and ignoring the other two), virtually nothing has been said about improving student academic performance at any of the three elementary schools that failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress this past year.

That begs the question: What is more important to the Board - SES balance or academic performance?

Al Hartkopf made his answer to that question perfectly clear Monday night.

While Liz Brown made her position perfectly clear earlier in the year.

It is time for the rest of the Board to show enough courage to publicly state what they see as the top priority for the Orange County Schools.

Is it a profoundly unpopular social engineering experiment, or is it, as the Board's own policies state, "setting high academic standards for student success"?

Until every member of the Board models the "integrity and moral courage" to live up to the Board's own policies, how can it expect such behaviors from the county's students?

To the other 5 Board members: Stand up and be counted!

And then there were five (at least)

Going into last night's Orange County Board of Education meeting, there was only one plan officially under consideration for the destruction of two of Orange County's elementary schools - Dennis Whitling's disastrous "Big Plan."

Now that the Board has met, there are at least five plans on the table for Board consideration. And, as if they were ordering from a Chinese restaurant menu, Board members encouraged each other to pick and choose elements from each plan to form something entirely unique to them. Presumably, the combinations could be infinite.

To open last night's discussion, the Board was again formally presented with the opinions/recommendations of the Board-appointed CES/HES Merger Task Force. The Board then promptly ignored the Task Force's suggestions.

The Task Force's only unanimous recommendation was for the Board to scrap Dennis Whitling's "Big Plan" for merging CES and HES, but the Board did no such thing.

Even though most members of the Board acknowledged that Whitling's plan had no "buy-in" from the community, it failed to remove the plan from consideration. In fact, a significant amount of time was spent in a defense of the plan by its sponsor - ex-Chair Dennis Whitling - during which he laid blame for its failure on the inability of less "idealistic" parents "to look beyond their narrow interests."

Then, current Chair, Ted Triebel took his turn at recommending a "Big Plan" of his own to address the issue - or, make that THREE plans.

I. Blue Plan

1. HES K-5, Year-round calendar
• All current HES students would have to apply to return with a cap of 20% accepted from each of the six elementary zones. Application would include an optional question about FRL status.
• "Controlled choice" would be a quota system imposed by the District on who could be admitted to HES. This means that if you do not fit the SES or demographic groups the Board designates, you will have no choice. It sure sounds more like "control" than "choice."
  
• If HES enrollment does not reach 350 students, then the cap will be lifted, but the District will still restrict who is allowed to attend based on their SES or demographic quotas.
• Students living within a 1 mile radius of HES will be assigned to the school, but with an option to opt-out to another school.
• Transportation provided for all.
• Free intersession programs for all FRL students.
• Free summer camps for all FRL students.
2. CES K-5, Traditional Calendar
• "Mini-redistrict" for SES composition.
• Limit opt-out option to two schools.
• Guarantee lower student/teacher ratios compared to other schools
• Appropriately staff CES based on proven experience and performance
• Offer "extended year" option with enrichment. Basically, starting the year two weeks earlier and ending two later as an option for families.
• Improve building aesthetics
• Provide child care and transportation to parents who want to participate in PTA activities.

II. Gold Plan

1. "Reconstitute" CES as a "theme" school after closing the school for a full year of preparation. In essence, this is the creation of a magnet school but only after shutting the school down for a year.
• Current CES students would be "distributed" to other elementary schools for a single year with priority given to FRL students who want to attend HES. So, if your child attends CES but is not on FRL, you will have to go where the Board sends you for a year
  
• FRL students would be provided the same incentives as in the Blue Plan.
2. Reopen CES as a "new" school with "controlled choice" and a "mini-redistrict."
3. CES teachers, TAs and classified staff would have guaranteed job security during the year the school is closed.

III. Green Plan

1. Maintain school structuring as is, but increase focus, programs and resources meant to ensure continued improvement of SES balance between CES and HES.
• The Superintendent would be expected to provide initiatives to the Board that would move the SES numbers in both the short and long term.
• Year one SES change goal would be at least 5% decrease at CES and 5% increase at HES.

Added to Ted Triebel's "Rainbow Plan," was yet another attempt by Dennis Whitling to destroy both CES and HES, while also taking a huge chunk of money away from Efland-Cheeks as well - a trifecta of sorts.

In his new vision, Whitling suggested that the Board take $300,000 in federal Title 1 money away from CES and Efland-Cheeks, and use those funds to pay for a Pre-K program at CES. According to Whitling, those funds are currently "wasted" by paying two teachers at each school, funding additional programs for at-risk children, and providing options to parents seeking the best educational opportunity for their children.

By not "wasting" federal money to help the struggling children at the District's lowest performing schools, the District could remove itself from accountability to the federal No Child Left Behind law. Without that accountability, parents at those schools (and most likely New Hope next year) would not have the choice to opt-out of their "failing schools." Of course, that doesn't mean that the students at those schools would be performing any better than in previous years, only that the District wouldn't have any accountability for helping them improve.

I can't help but use a healthcare analogy here. Dennis' new idea is akin to seeing a precancerous lesion on your face that, if treated properly, can be cured, but if ignored will only get progressively worse. Rather than seek that curative treatment, Dennis would have you remove the mirrors from your house so you simply can't see the problem any more.

Without the inconvenience of parental choice in response to Board actions, Dennis' new plan would force families into specific schools based on a pre-set quota system. New students could only attend HES if children of a similar SES or demographic profile also choose to attend CES.

This entire process reminds me of a joke. Question: What is a flamingo?

Answer: A duck created by committee. The situation would be funny if it wasn't so embarrassing.