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Bowles endorses New Leaders for New Schools at a CMS press conference on
Wednesday, December 10th held at Sedgefield Middle School.
Nonprofit to train 50 new principals
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2008
By Eric Frazier
A nationally recognized nonprofit is joining forces with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to place 50 principals in some of the county's most troubled schools over the next six years.
Superintendent Peter Gorman described the project Wednesday as “an enormous stride forward” that will help turn around the lowest-achieving CMS schools.
New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit that often reaches into the military, nonprofit and business world to train new principals, picked CMS from among about 20 applicants nationwide. More>>
Deal-making by CMS board unseemly
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2008
Opinion Section
So, the games are under way. On Tuesday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board named a new representative for the District 3 seat vacated when George Dunlap became a Mecklenburg County commissioner. They named Republican James Ross to represent the heavily Democratic district, a move orchestrated to unseat Democratic chairman Joe White.
That unseating is likely to occur in January now. Two board members were nominated for chairperson Tuesday, and Joe White wasn't one of them. Molly Griffin and Trent Merchant each got four votes, with Republican Larry Gauvreau unexpectedly siding with the Democrats in voting for Griffin. New board member Ross voted with other Republicans for Merchant, who has made it clear he wants the job as chair. The Republicans then voted as a bloc for Kaye McGarry as vice-chair. With the deadlock, the board set a new vote on a chairperson for Jan. 13. More>>
GOP adds school board seat, chairmanship ends in a draw
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008
By: Eric Frazier and Ann Doss Helms
Republicans have added a seat on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, but an alliance formed by the strangest of bedfellows kept the board's top leadership in limbo.
Republican Larry Gauvreau, a near constant-critic of the board's Democratic majority, joined with his political foils tonight to block Trent Merchant's ascension to the board's chairmanship. Sources had said that starting last week, Merchant, the panel's only Independent, had hammered out a deal with Republicans to support their candidate for the District 3 seat. In return, they would help him unseat longtime Democratic Chairman Joe White. More >>
No gamesmanship, please!
Choose wisely
Pick school board member who will work to benefit all students.
Monday, Dec. 08, 2008
By: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer
It's troubling to hear talk of a possible behind-the-scenes deal to fill the
District 3 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board seat left vacant by George
Dunlap. But sources told the Observer a deal is being struck to replace Joe
White as chairman in exchange for votes for a particular candidate. Dunlap
said such a deal would be a "slap in the face" of District 3 residents. It's
an affront to CMS students and to the rest of this community too.
The deal is possible because two seats on the school board are vacant.
Dunlap and board member Vilma Leake were sworn in as Mecklenburg County
commissioners this month, leaving the school board with three Republicans,
three Democrats, and one independent. That independent, at-large member
Trent Merchant, is now the swing vote. Merchant is said to be eager to be
chairman, but he denies being part of any vote-swapping. He says board
members should pick the best person based on merit.
They should. The good news is that several smart, able and earnest citizens
want the seat. Seventeen people made their pitch to the board Thursday
night, among them persons of accomplishment, community activism and
integrity. More>>
School board could go to GOP
As two factions battle over filling vacant positions, the choice of a new
member could deliver a new chairman, too.
By Eric Frazier
efrazier@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Dec. 06, 2008
Joe White, center, speaks about the the final plan to approve the revised
school capital package, as Parks Helms, left, Jim Puckett and Bill James,
right, listen at the Government Center in Charlotte.
A behind-the-scenes battle involving race, power and political ideology has
broken out among Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board members trying to fill
the first of two vacant seats on the board.
It could cost chairman Joe White his gavel and vault the board's three
Republicans, long a political minority, into a new ruling bloc with the help
of independent Trent Merchant.
The struggle centers on the search for a replacement for George Dunlap, a
Democrat who was appointed in October to fill the unexpired term of the late
Valerie Woodard on the Mecklenburg County commission. More>>
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How can you enrich the classroom?
Ann Doss Helms
The Charlotte Observer
Nov. 17 2008
At suburban Lake Wylie Elementary, music teacher Patti Anderson gets an allowance from the PTA to buy extras for her kids.
There's no such money at Westerly Hills, a high-poverty school where she spends half her teaching time. But a host of benefactors – many of whom have never set foot in the west Charlotte school – have bought her kids instruments, sheet music and classroom posters.
The kids at Westerly Hills – along with dozens of other schools in the Charlotte region – are reaping the rewards of a Bronx schoolteacher's brainstorm that has pumped more than $25 million into classrooms across the country. More>>
Learning goes on in struggling schools
Fannie Flono
The Charlotte Observer
Nov. 14, 2008
When you walk into Wilhelmenia Wilcox's fifth grade class at Devonshire Elementary, you can tell a lot of learning is going on.
The students clamor to answer questions and read from their work. The room is plastered with maps and pictures and inspirational sayings. Books and classwork line shelves. And in several corners you'll find cardboard replicas Ms. Wilcox built of inventions from African Americans. She uses them as teaching tools in her class. More>>
Will fewer magnets help other schools?
Eric Frazier
The Charlotte Observer:
Nov. 14, 2008
Randolph Middle School will lose the Paideia and open magnet program next year, but will still have its International Baccalaureate program.
As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools dismantles magnet programs affecting thousands of students, the pressure is on to upgrade struggling neighborhood schools where some of those students will return.
The school board's vote Wednesday night to close, move or modify magnets at schools across the county will change the campus or curriculum for about 2,800 children – 90 percent of them minority. More>>
Board trims, revises CMS magnets
The changes will cost about 2,800 students their current school assignments. Almost 90 percent of those students are minorities.
Eric Frazier
The Charlotte Observer
Nov. 13, 2008
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board made sweeping changes in its magnet schools Wednesday, ending months of debate over programs that were once the hallmark of local school desegregation efforts.
The board largely followed recommendations that Superintendent Peter Gorman offered last month for eliminating unpopular or ineffective magnet programs and modifying others. More>>
Reading scores reminder of need to help poor students
Editorial
The Charlotte Observer
Nov. 9, 2008
We must commit resources to help all students meet goals.
The drop in N.C. reading scores this year was hardly a surprise. State and local education officials had warned that scores would be lower after a new reading test was introduced last year.
That new reading test was necessary. The old one was largely a scam, falsely labeling too many children with weak reading skills as making the grade.
But the fallout from addressing that problem stings nonetheless. Just 57 percent of the students in grades 3-8 passed the state's reading tests this year; 86 percent did last year using the old tests. All student groups showed lower passing rates: 69 percent of whites passed, 68 percent of Asians, 39 percent of Hispanics and 36 percent of blacks. The disparity between the performance of low-income students and non-poor students was huge: 39 percent versus 71 percent passing. More>>
What About Other Schools?
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Making math uncool is hurting America, report says
Reuters
www.boston.com
Oct. 10, 2008
Americans may like to make fun of girls who are good at math, but this attitude is robbing the country of some of its best talent, researchers reported on Friday.
They found that while girls can be just as talented as boys at mathematics, some are driven from the field because they are teased, ostracized or simply neglected. More>>
Under 'No Child' Law, Even Solid Schools Falter
Sam Dillon
www.nytimes.com
Oct. 12, 2008
Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now. More>>
Well Paid Teachers? I'm on Board
Christine Gralow
New York Times
Oct. 7, 2008
When I recently saw an ad for a $125,000-a-year teaching job at a New York City charter school, my first thought was that it must be some sort of phishing scam. Everyone knows teachers don’t make $125,000. My second thought was, “Why shouldn’t we?” After visiting the school’s Web site and reading a New York Times article about the school, I realized it was not only legit, but potentially revolutionary in terms of education reform. So this school year, in addition to my regular special education teaching job, I’ve decided to get involved in the creation of this new school. More>>
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