I genuinely appreciate everyone posting comments to my blog, even if I wish so many didn't post anonymously. As I have said before, I have a self-imposed policy of not responding to anonymous posts.
That is not because I think those who post anonymously have nothing useful to say. Rather, it is because a give and take discussion is impossible when you aren't sure the same person is responding to your statements each time. I wouldn't want to incorrectly attribute something to a person when they were not the author. So, that is why.
The only time I violated this policy was for the same reason I am posting now - I will not let false accusations of racism go unanswered. For the second time since I started writing on this subject, an anonymous poster has accused those opposed to the CES/HES merger of doing so on racial grounds. I do not profess to speak for anyone other than myself, but for me, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Just to be sure that I wasn't unintentionally sending out the wrong message, I went back and re-read everything I have written on the subject - both here and on Squeeze the Pulp. I couldn't identify anything that would give the impression that race had anything to do with my opposition to a merger or the decision to enroll my son at HES.
In fact, what I read was pretty consistent criticism of the Orange County Board of Education - a conspicuously all white body, by the way - for their eagerness to exploit the performance of HES students to hide their failure to address the needs of students at CES.
As I have a written a number of times, in one way or another, "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." That belief knows no racial or socioeconomic limits.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
RETREAT!
Earlier today the OC Board of Education held its much anticipated "retreat" to more fully discuss the reasons they seem to be pushing forward with plans to merge Central and Hillsborough Elementary schools.
According to an agenda distributed earlier this week the BOE was supposed to use this four-hour meeting to create a "shared problem statement" that defines what they hope accomplish.
Although there does appear to be some moderation of support for the current merger proposal (it's amazing what a judge's ruling that forced year-round schools are illegal will do), but from what the Raleigh News & Observer reports, I am not convinced they are any closer to a concensus than before.
Susan Hallman: "I definitely think it is time to look at the high concentration of free and reduced lunch. I don’t think that’s a statistic I can be comfortable with. ... Does it means merger is the answer? Not necessarily, but it certainly remains on the table as a way to solve that problem. ... I think Central has a lot of positive things happening there, a lot of things we know are important in education is already happening there -- experienced teachers, small class sizes, some community involvement going on, extra tutoring, First School is something we’ve agreed that would help."
Elizabeth Brown: "I’m not actually ready to make a final decision on that. ... I think it’s worth looking at whether we want to keep Hillsborough Elementary open as an extra elementary school. ... [If closed] we would still have 300 extra elementary seats open. ... I'm uncomfortable with forcing Central to adopt a year-round calendar. ... I also think we should do something immediately, if not sooner. I don’t think it’s fair to make Central chug along at 70 percent [free and reduced lunch recipients] for another year."
Debbie Piscitelli: "I think that looking at the proposed combination is worth pursuing. ... I just feel in the year 2007 in Orange County we should not have a school that has a high free and reduced lunch [rate] and a high minority [population]. ... I’m also in agreement that we need to move quicker than slower. I’m concerned about Central in general ... a child’s education in one year is important. ...It may be a multi-step process ..."
Anne Medenblik: "I think we can all agree that diversity makes us all richer. I’m coming from that perspective. I’m sorry that a diverse community has not populated Hillsborough Elementary. I think that if the make-up and demographics of Hillsborough Elementary were different, we probably wouldn’t be at this table today. It’s a school of choice, and I wish that a more diverse community would have made a choice for Hillsborough Elementary. That hasn’t happened and I’m wondering how we can foster that even more so. ... I just really struggle with how this is all going to come together. If there’s a merger, my question is will the students who may not have met AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress], will they make AYP if they’re combined with students who have in the past?"
Al Hartkopf: "When I started thinking about this ... I was having a really hard problem because, in the scientific definition of the word absurd, there's so much about this plan that is absurd at a macro and micro level, it’s really difficult to consider. ... These schools are apples and oranges, totally different, when you start pulling the lid off that, start looking at choice versus districted school, that’s so totally different. ... I know there are folks in the community, not this board, there are folks in the community who are trying to make political hay on the backs of this issue. That’s unfortunate. It really needs to be about these kids."
Ted Triebel: "I believe we have a problem and an issue that appears to be impacting performance. ... Diversity for diversity’s sake is not something I’m on board with. At times less diversity is a good thing, for example, in middle school where boys and girls have been separated for math and science, with good outcomes. I think we have to be careful how we throw diversity around. I am not yet set personally on whether we should combine or not combine these two schools."
Dennis Whitling: "The reason I think the school board hopefully considers anything is academic success. We also value diversity,but getting back to academic achievement, the reason you would do SES [socioeconomic] diversity is to benefit academic achievement. ... As far as the combination, I think it’s something we certainly have to consider and consider seriously and fairly quickly. I know some groups out there [from both schools] are trying to work on solutions ... That would be the ideal situation certainly, getting these two school communities [to bring a solution before the board], but I don’t think they’re so far different that they couldn’t be put together in an academic way."
According to an agenda distributed earlier this week the BOE was supposed to use this four-hour meeting to create a "shared problem statement" that defines what they hope accomplish.
Although there does appear to be some moderation of support for the current merger proposal (it's amazing what a judge's ruling that forced year-round schools are illegal will do), but from what the Raleigh News & Observer reports, I am not convinced they are any closer to a concensus than before.
Susan Hallman: "I definitely think it is time to look at the high concentration of free and reduced lunch. I don’t think that’s a statistic I can be comfortable with. ... Does it means merger is the answer? Not necessarily, but it certainly remains on the table as a way to solve that problem. ... I think Central has a lot of positive things happening there, a lot of things we know are important in education is already happening there -- experienced teachers, small class sizes, some community involvement going on, extra tutoring, First School is something we’ve agreed that would help."
Elizabeth Brown: "I’m not actually ready to make a final decision on that. ... I think it’s worth looking at whether we want to keep Hillsborough Elementary open as an extra elementary school. ... [If closed] we would still have 300 extra elementary seats open. ... I'm uncomfortable with forcing Central to adopt a year-round calendar. ... I also think we should do something immediately, if not sooner. I don’t think it’s fair to make Central chug along at 70 percent [free and reduced lunch recipients] for another year."
Debbie Piscitelli: "I think that looking at the proposed combination is worth pursuing. ... I just feel in the year 2007 in Orange County we should not have a school that has a high free and reduced lunch [rate] and a high minority [population]. ... I’m also in agreement that we need to move quicker than slower. I’m concerned about Central in general ... a child’s education in one year is important. ...It may be a multi-step process ..."
Anne Medenblik: "I think we can all agree that diversity makes us all richer. I’m coming from that perspective. I’m sorry that a diverse community has not populated Hillsborough Elementary. I think that if the make-up and demographics of Hillsborough Elementary were different, we probably wouldn’t be at this table today. It’s a school of choice, and I wish that a more diverse community would have made a choice for Hillsborough Elementary. That hasn’t happened and I’m wondering how we can foster that even more so. ... I just really struggle with how this is all going to come together. If there’s a merger, my question is will the students who may not have met AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress], will they make AYP if they’re combined with students who have in the past?"
Al Hartkopf: "When I started thinking about this ... I was having a really hard problem because, in the scientific definition of the word absurd, there's so much about this plan that is absurd at a macro and micro level, it’s really difficult to consider. ... These schools are apples and oranges, totally different, when you start pulling the lid off that, start looking at choice versus districted school, that’s so totally different. ... I know there are folks in the community, not this board, there are folks in the community who are trying to make political hay on the backs of this issue. That’s unfortunate. It really needs to be about these kids."
Ted Triebel: "I believe we have a problem and an issue that appears to be impacting performance. ... Diversity for diversity’s sake is not something I’m on board with. At times less diversity is a good thing, for example, in middle school where boys and girls have been separated for math and science, with good outcomes. I think we have to be careful how we throw diversity around. I am not yet set personally on whether we should combine or not combine these two schools."
Dennis Whitling: "The reason I think the school board hopefully considers anything is academic success. We also value diversity,but getting back to academic achievement, the reason you would do SES [socioeconomic] diversity is to benefit academic achievement. ... As far as the combination, I think it’s something we certainly have to consider and consider seriously and fairly quickly. I know some groups out there [from both schools] are trying to work on solutions ... That would be the ideal situation certainly, getting these two school communities [to bring a solution before the board], but I don’t think they’re so far different that they couldn’t be put together in an academic way."
I'm back!
I sincerely apologize for seemingly dropping off the face of the earth. Thank you to the number of you who regularly read my blog and wrote to see if everything was OK with me and my family.
Nothing particularly dramatic happened, but there have been some changes that absorbed much of my time recently. Between taking final exams in my Masters' program, leaving my last job and starting a new one immediately after the semester, I haven't had a lot of spare time to commit to writing here.
I also want to thank everyone who shared information with me about the most recent moves of the Orange County Board of Education with regard to merging CES and HES since the meeting on April 23.
But now that things have settled down a bit, I expect to take back up the cause.
Nothing particularly dramatic happened, but there have been some changes that absorbed much of my time recently. Between taking final exams in my Masters' program, leaving my last job and starting a new one immediately after the semester, I haven't had a lot of spare time to commit to writing here.
I also want to thank everyone who shared information with me about the most recent moves of the Orange County Board of Education with regard to merging CES and HES since the meeting on April 23.
But now that things have settled down a bit, I expect to take back up the cause.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Attend the meeting!
Yes, I know they are long, and I know they are, for the most part, boring, but it is important that as many HES parents as possible attend tonight's full Orange County Board of Education meeting.
Orange County Board of Education
Full meeting
Monday, April 23, 2007
7:00 pm
Gravelly Hill Middle School
(Directions are below)
Here is a link to the Board's agenda for tonight's meeting. The CES/HES sub-committee report is scheduled for 8:45 pm, but I hope the public comments period takes more than the scheduled 15 minutes.
The overflow turnout for last month's meeting led BOE Chairman Dennis Whitling to move this meeting to a venue with more space. Let's show him that the effort was not in vain.
Directions to Gravelly Hill Middle School:
I-40 west/85 south
Take exit #160
Turn left at end of ramp onto Mt. Willing Road
Turn right onto West Ten Road
Travel approximately 1.5 miles
The school will be on your right at 4819 West Ten Road (Efland)
Orange County Board of Education
Full meeting
Monday, April 23, 2007
7:00 pm
Gravelly Hill Middle School
(Directions are below)
Here is a link to the Board's agenda for tonight's meeting. The CES/HES sub-committee report is scheduled for 8:45 pm, but I hope the public comments period takes more than the scheduled 15 minutes.
The overflow turnout for last month's meeting led BOE Chairman Dennis Whitling to move this meeting to a venue with more space. Let's show him that the effort was not in vain.
Directions to Gravelly Hill Middle School:
I-40 west/85 south
Take exit #160
Turn left at end of ramp onto Mt. Willing Road
Turn right onto West Ten Road
Travel approximately 1.5 miles
The school will be on your right at 4819 West Ten Road (Efland)
Friday, April 20, 2007
The survey says!
As I listened to the Orange County Board of Education discuss the proposal to merge CES and HES at their last full Board meeting, it became clear that many of the Board members had no understanding of what attracted parents to HES. And, the Superintendent's staff was providing the board with data implying that 100% of HES parents would continue to enroll their children at the combined school - regardless of its total detachment from reality.
When I spoke to Dennis Whitling and Liz Brown after the meeting, they defended the Staff's implication by saying that the only reason they had ever heard that parents prefer HES was the year-round calendar. As I told them then, and have repeated often since that night, my son is not at HES because of the year-round schedule. He is on a year-round schedule because we want him at HES. I felt that surely mine wasn't the only family to feel this way.
So, I did what any good researcher would do, I decided to collect some data based in reality.
I distributed an online survey to the parents of HES students on March 22. The survey stayed open for only 10 days and collected 201 responses. The key findings are shown below:
I have emailed a link to the survey findings directly to all HES parents for which I have an email address. Additionally, that link and a PowerPoint presentation of the survey results will be sent directly to each Board of Education member later today. Finally, I will be speaking to this issue during the Public Comment portion of the full Board meeting scheduled for Monday evening at Gravelly Hill Middle School.
If you did not receive an email with the survey findings link, you can see the results here.
I encourage every parent to join me at the meeting in Efland and sign up to speak on this subject. This is your best opportunity to be heard and it should not slip away.
The Board needs to know how widespread the impact of this decision will be. They also need to understand that no matter what they hope to accomplish by merging the two schools, those plans are destined to fail. Just like HES parents chose to enroll their children at HES, most will make other choices if the schools are merged.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this survey and I hope to see a large crowd on Monday evening.
When I spoke to Dennis Whitling and Liz Brown after the meeting, they defended the Staff's implication by saying that the only reason they had ever heard that parents prefer HES was the year-round calendar. As I told them then, and have repeated often since that night, my son is not at HES because of the year-round schedule. He is on a year-round schedule because we want him at HES. I felt that surely mine wasn't the only family to feel this way.
So, I did what any good researcher would do, I decided to collect some data based in reality.
I distributed an online survey to the parents of HES students on March 22. The survey stayed open for only 10 days and collected 201 responses. The key findings are shown below:
I have emailed a link to the survey findings directly to all HES parents for which I have an email address. Additionally, that link and a PowerPoint presentation of the survey results will be sent directly to each Board of Education member later today. Finally, I will be speaking to this issue during the Public Comment portion of the full Board meeting scheduled for Monday evening at Gravelly Hill Middle School.
If you did not receive an email with the survey findings link, you can see the results here.
I encourage every parent to join me at the meeting in Efland and sign up to speak on this subject. This is your best opportunity to be heard and it should not slip away.
The Board needs to know how widespread the impact of this decision will be. They also need to understand that no matter what they hope to accomplish by merging the two schools, those plans are destined to fail. Just like HES parents chose to enroll their children at HES, most will make other choices if the schools are merged.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this survey and I hope to see a large crowd on Monday evening.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Food for thought
I have been spending some time going through the results of the HES Parents' Survey over the past few days. I will be presenting these results to the Board during the public comment period on Monday and openly distributing them (as promised) via this blog before the meeting.
One the of most interesting things I have seen in the data is the strong interest that will exist among HES parents for charter school opportunities if HES is dismantled.
According to survey respondents, enrolling their children in a charter school will be second only to returning to their neighborhood school among parents that say they will not keep their children at a merged CES/HES. I found that to be pretty surprising.
As I have said many times, I am not well versed in the complexity of public schools nor did I pay much attention to the different flavors of education before enrolling my son at HES. We looked at our neighborhood school, considered a few local private schools and then we visited HES, and the decision was made for us. The idea of a charter school never even crossed my mind.
After seeing the importance many other parents are placing on this option, I started doing some reading and I found some interesting information on the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools website.
Did you know that you can convert an existing public school into a charter school if a "majority of the teachers" and support staff, and a "significant number of parents" support the idea?
"§ 115C‑238.29B. Eligible applicants; contents of applications; submission of applications for approval.
(a) Any person, group of persons, or nonprofit corporation seeking to establish a charter school may apply to establish a charter school. If the applicant seeks to convert a public school to a charter school, the application shall include a statement signed by a majority of the teachers and instructional support personnel currently employed at the school indicating that they favor the conversion and evidence that a significant number of parents of children enrolled in the school favor conversion."
And, to make things even more interesting, the application to convert an existing school into a charter school can be made directly to the State Board of Education - in essence, entirely bypassing the local School Board. The local Board will be allowed to comment on the application but the decision is entirely up to the State Board.
The administration of a charter school is entirely up to that school's Board of Directors. They "decide matters related to the operation of the school, including budgeting, curriculum, and operating procedures" without input from the local School Board. Even so, the local School Board is required by state law to fund the charter school "an amount equal to the per pupil local current expense appropriation to the local school administrative unit for the fiscal year" and "no other terms may be imposed on the charter school as a condition for receipt of local funds."
This may be a viable alternative should the OC Board of Education move forward with dismantling HES.
Hillsborough Charter Elementary School has a pretty nice ring to it.
One the of most interesting things I have seen in the data is the strong interest that will exist among HES parents for charter school opportunities if HES is dismantled.
According to survey respondents, enrolling their children in a charter school will be second only to returning to their neighborhood school among parents that say they will not keep their children at a merged CES/HES. I found that to be pretty surprising.
As I have said many times, I am not well versed in the complexity of public schools nor did I pay much attention to the different flavors of education before enrolling my son at HES. We looked at our neighborhood school, considered a few local private schools and then we visited HES, and the decision was made for us. The idea of a charter school never even crossed my mind.
After seeing the importance many other parents are placing on this option, I started doing some reading and I found some interesting information on the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools website.
Did you know that you can convert an existing public school into a charter school if a "majority of the teachers" and support staff, and a "significant number of parents" support the idea?
"§ 115C‑238.29B. Eligible applicants; contents of applications; submission of applications for approval.
(a) Any person, group of persons, or nonprofit corporation seeking to establish a charter school may apply to establish a charter school. If the applicant seeks to convert a public school to a charter school, the application shall include a statement signed by a majority of the teachers and instructional support personnel currently employed at the school indicating that they favor the conversion and evidence that a significant number of parents of children enrolled in the school favor conversion."
And, to make things even more interesting, the application to convert an existing school into a charter school can be made directly to the State Board of Education - in essence, entirely bypassing the local School Board. The local Board will be allowed to comment on the application but the decision is entirely up to the State Board.
The administration of a charter school is entirely up to that school's Board of Directors. They "decide matters related to the operation of the school, including budgeting, curriculum, and operating procedures" without input from the local School Board. Even so, the local School Board is required by state law to fund the charter school "an amount equal to the per pupil local current expense appropriation to the local school administrative unit for the fiscal year" and "no other terms may be imposed on the charter school as a condition for receipt of local funds."
This may be a viable alternative should the OC Board of Education move forward with dismantling HES.
Hillsborough Charter Elementary School has a pretty nice ring to it.
Why so many from Efland?
Over the past few weeks I have been involved in a running debate of the proposed merger on a local politics blog named Squeeze the Pulp.
One of the people debating me on the issue is Brad Davis who recently sent a Letter to the Editor of The News of Orange County in support of merging CES and HES. Throughout his arguments, Mr. Davis keeps repeating that:
"55% of children at HES come from Central and Efland-Cheeks."
In reality, the number is more like 57%. According to the OCS data presented to the BOE in February, 31.1% of HES students are zoned to Efland-Cheeks and 25.7% are zoned to CES.
As a CES parent, Mr. Davis believes that parents from the ECES and CES zones who enroll their children at HES are "largely responsible for the situation" facing those two schools and that such an exodus should have been prevented by the Board of Education.
However, he is generous enough to suggest a compromise under the guise of "school choice." He suggests a 15% cap on HES enrollment from any one school zone - in essence forcing more than half the HES students zoned to Efland-Cheeks and over 40% of those zoned to CES back to their neighborhood school, while at the same time virtually guaranteeing admission to anyone zoned to New Hope (5.4%), Pathways (8.8%) or Grady Brown (10.5%).
While I am very opinionated, I am also comfortable admitting when I don't know something. This is one of those cases.
My family is zoned to New Hope Elementary, so I don't know first-hand what drives so many parents from the ECES and CES zones to seek out alternatives to their neighborhood schools.
I would love to hear from parents with first-hand knowledge and can explain why HES is so popular in these neighborhoods. With the Board of Education's next full meeting scheduled for Efland on Monday, I encourage as many local parents as possible to signup to make public comments and share your experiences with the Board.
If you are unable to speak about this at the Board meeting, feel free to leave your comments here or join the discussion on STP.
One of the people debating me on the issue is Brad Davis who recently sent a Letter to the Editor of The News of Orange County in support of merging CES and HES. Throughout his arguments, Mr. Davis keeps repeating that:
"55% of children at HES come from Central and Efland-Cheeks."
In reality, the number is more like 57%. According to the OCS data presented to the BOE in February, 31.1% of HES students are zoned to Efland-Cheeks and 25.7% are zoned to CES.
As a CES parent, Mr. Davis believes that parents from the ECES and CES zones who enroll their children at HES are "largely responsible for the situation" facing those two schools and that such an exodus should have been prevented by the Board of Education.
However, he is generous enough to suggest a compromise under the guise of "school choice." He suggests a 15% cap on HES enrollment from any one school zone - in essence forcing more than half the HES students zoned to Efland-Cheeks and over 40% of those zoned to CES back to their neighborhood school, while at the same time virtually guaranteeing admission to anyone zoned to New Hope (5.4%), Pathways (8.8%) or Grady Brown (10.5%).
While I am very opinionated, I am also comfortable admitting when I don't know something. This is one of those cases.
My family is zoned to New Hope Elementary, so I don't know first-hand what drives so many parents from the ECES and CES zones to seek out alternatives to their neighborhood schools.
I would love to hear from parents with first-hand knowledge and can explain why HES is so popular in these neighborhoods. With the Board of Education's next full meeting scheduled for Efland on Monday, I encourage as many local parents as possible to signup to make public comments and share your experiences with the Board.
If you are unable to speak about this at the Board meeting, feel free to leave your comments here or join the discussion on STP.
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