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December 16-31, 2011
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR/ARTICLES
12/31/11 Triangle Politics: Wake school board makes 'gesture of good listening'
"Speakers once again will have three minutes each during the public comment section at Wake County school board meetings."
12/31/11 Teachers' pay that reflects respect
"I also realize that this idea is also pie in the sky. But as long as we continue to pay teachers low wages across the board, and only pretend to respect the profession, we will continue to hear the phrase, "Oh, he/she is just a teacher."
12/31/11 Teaching success requires interaction with students
"Teachers must motivate and counsel. Increasing the number of students a teacher daily works with is unlikely to have a positive impact on that critical part of the job."
12/30/11 Accusing Tony Tata of militarizing the Wake County school system
"Is the Wake County school system undergoing "militarization" under the tenure of Superintendent Tony Tata?"
12/29/11 Restoring public comment to three minutes per speaker
"School board chairman Kevin Hill said he'd institute the change starting in January. It came after new school board member Jim Martin said giving three minutes would be a "gesture of good listening" as he also noted that speakers at Wake County commissioner meetings get three minutes."
12/29/11 Education week?
"Instead, some observers have concluded that schools will use the five days to pump up test scores by giving teachers more time to teach to the test - something abhorred by most educators, but made necessary by the state and federal governments' relentlessly bureaucratic micromanagement of the public school system."
12/28/11 Bringing back the school board committees in January
"Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill said that the restoration of committees will be brought up at the Jan. 10 board meeting."
12/27/11 Former superintendent Burns writes of Wake schools
"Former Wake County Superintendent Del Burns is having his say about the history of the state's largest school system and the controversial changes that have taken place since 2009."
12/27/11 After split, new charter school group forms
"Eddie Goodall, a former state senator, is forming a new charter school organization after a split a few weeks ago with the charter alliance he ran as president."
12/27/11 Knightdale High promotes STEM careers
"Michael Cromartie is the engineering branch recruiter for Wake Technical Community College. He told students that simulated game development, nursing and health care are currently the biggest programs at the institution."
12/27/11 Questions surround filling new Wake schools
"With Wake County schools overflowing with students, some new schools will open early on temporary campuses to banish crowding before their permanent buildings have started construction."
12/27/11 State broadens student tracking
"Oh yes, there's a permanent record that collects a public school student's career, and a new federal grant will expand North Carolina's digital record-keeping of student academic histories, beginning in infancy for some children.
12/18/11 Racial mix changes in Johnston schools
"For the first time, Johnston County schools have more Hispanic students than black students."
12/18/11 Single-sex positives
"The last few years I taught six middle school classes per day in one of Wake's neighboring counties, and my superintendent allowed me to configure each class as all-boys or all-girls. I found that gender-specific classes not only minimized hormonal distractions and disruptions, they also allowed me to more effectively accommodate different learning styles and maturity levels of males and females."
12/18/11 Pride and pay
"I was so proud to read that the Wake County school system is first in the nation in total number of certified teachers. Why is it then that they are so far down the totem pole in compensation? I really wish we could find a way to pay our wonderful teachers what they are worth!"
12/17/11 South Florida charter schools admit few special needs children
"From South Dade to the northern reaches of Broward County, only a handful of students with profound disabilities make it into charter schools, according to a Miami Herald/StateImpact Florida analysis of student enrollment data. The trend holds true across the state, where 87 percent of charter schools don't serve any students with the most intense support needs."
12/17/11 Realtors give assignment plan mixed reviews
"This is a hard reset and mental adjustment to make," said Susan Pullium, a member of Wake's student assignment task force, to 225 members of the Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors. "There's no longer base assignments."
12/17/11 N.C. snags pre-K $70M
"North Carolina on Friday won another round of the federal "Race to the Top" competition, getting $70 million to boost services for children before they reach kindergarten."
12/16/11 Tata reassures real estate agents about assignment plan
"Wake County schools Superintendent Tony Tata met Friday with local real estate agents to answer questions they have about how the district will soon be assigning students."
12/16/11 School board to vote on restoring use of Blue Diamond
"It looks like one of the first changes the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board wants to make is restore use of the Blue Diamond assessments."
12/16/11 N.C. Policy Watch says John Tedesco's education reform group has done "zilch"
"The liberal N.C. Policy Watch is accusing conservatives of giving John Tedesco a do-nothing job so that he can pay his bills while serving on the Wake County school board."
12/16/11 9 states win early learning grant
"California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington state will see funding for innovative efforts in often-overlooked pre-K schooling."
12/16/11 Tata urges families to apply to magnet schools
"Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata urged parents today to not be discouraged from applying to magnet schools even though it looks like it might be hard for their children to get accepted in some cases."
12/16/11 Tony Tata on magnet schools and talking to Realtors about the choice plan
"Here are some tidbits from today's news conference with Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata."
12/16/11 Wake still can't use school lunch data for student assignment
"Despite what you might be hearing, the Wake County school system hasn't gotten permission from the federal government to resume using school lunch data to promote socioeconomically diverse student assignments."
12/16/11 NC wins grants from US Department of Education
"North Carolina has won a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Gov. Beverly Perdue announced Friday."
12/16/11 Questionable company targets NC for virtual charter school
"The nation's largest for-profit virtual education company quietly took steps this week to open up an online charter school in North Carolina that would subsist off of public funds and siphon off profits to Wall Street investors."
12/16/11 Tedesco group hits six-month anniversary
"And here are the words that most accurately convey the evident substantive output of the group that employs Tedesco at $6,000 per month (at least from a pretty thorough review of the group's website):"
12/16/11 Board hears proposal for virtual charter school
"Joseph Chisholm, vice president of school development for K12 Inc., a technology-based education company that provides curricula, presented a proposal for the school."
12/16/11 NC among nine states to share $500 million in education grants
"Nine states, including North Carolina, will share $500 million in grant money won in a high profile competition intended to jumpstart improvements in often-overlooked early childhood programs."
