Carrot tied to the NCLB stick

The Rhino’s Paul Clark discusses the recent Rhode Island school firings and what it probably won’t mean for Guilford County Schools’ Oak Hill Elementary:

The Rhode Island case is similar to that of Oak Hill – only worse. According to press reports, 65 percent of the students at Central Falls High School are Hispanic and have English as a second language. At that school, half the student body is failing every subject and only 7 percent are passing the state math test.

Central Falls also shows why the Bush and Obama administrations alike consider teachers’ unions an impediment to fixing failing schools. There are states in which teachers are still poorly paid – but Rhode Island isn’t one of them. Teacher salaries at Central Falls High School average between $72,000 and $78,000 a year, in a city with a $22,000 median income. Most people would say that 25 more minutes a day is a small price to pay to make that kind of money in that kind of market.

For now, Guilford County Schools is taking less drastic corrective measures at Oak Hill, including pairing the school with a more successful school with similar demographics in Charlotte, bringing specialists in to plan lessons with Oak Hill teachers and tracking the performance of the school’s students more closely.

Before we start talking about an education revolution —- which probably wouldn’t happen here in Guilford, anyway —– let’s remember that this is all tied to the ”carrot tied to the NCLB stick”—-$3.5 billion in federal grants.

I don’t see how offering up billions in fed grants to effect change truly is ‘change.’

Re: Hagan’s liberal church

I’ve followed with interest the discussion over at Guarino’s regarding Sen Kay Hagan’s ‘liberal church’ —- Greensboro’s First Presbyterian.

For starters, I also read the N&R article about Hagan’s in front of local clergy. I agree that it wasn’t much of an article, but I’ll also note that it was written by the education reporter, not a political reporter. My guess is Brian Ewing got stuck with the weekend shift and Hagan giving a speech in town was as good a space-filler as any.

I attend one of Greensboro’s prominent downtown churches, and I don’t know for sure, but I would not be surprised if my pastor was in attendance at Hagan’s speech. I also suspect that he leans left politically, since he once said he ‘hates it when he agrees with Cal Thomas.’ How ironic that a minister would disagree with a newspaper columnist who proudly proclaims his Christian faith.

But for the most part his message –and that of his associate pastors — is to maintain love, dignity and respect for one another, just as Jesus would. I take that message and use to navigate through the rigors of daily and weekly life. I also pray to grant me the strength to react with respect and an open mind to the total lack of common sense that’s devouring our country, our state and our city.

Sometimes that strength fails me.

Get ready for G’boro trash talk

Pretty good N&R editorial on the controversy surrounding the White Street landfill, which will come before the City Council yet again.

I certainly agree that “one reason this issue won’t die is the council’s reluctance to discuss it clearly, completely and forthrightly.” But do they even no what to discuss? Let’s face it, some the proposals from these companies sound as crazy as the downtown hotel, even crazier, because we’re talking about a landfill here, a much more complicated endeavor.

One proposing company says it would take revenues from landfill operations and invest it “in a nonprofit that would help develop the community around the landfill.” How would that work?

Another company says it would “build a recreation facility for the community” as part of any agreement with the city. Yippee.

Here’s something that has to be said: Greensboro voters elected this council on a platform of fiscal responsibility. With that in mind, someone on the council should have the courage to propose re-opening the landfill, as the one true budget hawk on the previous council —-Mike Barber —- did before he left office.

I’m not saying that’s the right answer, but if the council is dedicated to its platform — and thus dedicated to the majority that at least bothered to show up at the polls —- then that option at least needs to be considered.

Commenting at PP

JLF vice president of communications Jon Ham e-mailed regional bloggers, saying he was taking down the “current barriers to commenting on the regional blogs. For some reason a lot of our users find the sign-on procedures very difficult.”

Requirement for registration will be removed, and commenters need only put in a screen name and an email address before commenting. They will not have to be previously registered.

PTIA passenger numbers drop

A U.S. Department of Transportation study shows that Piedmont Triad International Airport’s passenger numbers dropped significantly over the last year.

Guess why —- 86,000 Skybus passengers in 2008, compared to zero Skybus passengers in 2009.

As a result, PTIA dropped from the 86th-largest airport for passenger boardings in 2008 to the 90th-largest airport in 2009. Only the Cincinnati and San Bernandino airports saw bigger declines.

Tournament blues

The N&R’s Ed Hardin sings the ACC Tournament blues:

As the throngs of Carolina fans walked out of the Greensboro Coliseum while the Georgia Tech band played drinking songs, an odd pall seemed to settle over the tournament. What happens now is anyone’s guess, but it won’t involve the two schools closest to Greensboro, and it will likely play out before some empty seats.

Noticed plenty of empty seats during State’s win over Clemson in the night cap.

But if you makes you feel any better —-and it probably doesn’t —- things aren’t so hot out the PAC-10 tournament, either:

In years past, an Arizona-U.C.L.A. game would have been a marquee match between the two programs that have dominated the conference over the last quarter century.

But when the game tipped off at noon here, perhaps 2,000 fans were in attendance. Among them was the actor and comedian Bill Murray, who might have been more entertaining than the product on the court. The play was at times so uninspiring that the former coach Eddie Sutton pulled out a newspaper to read during several timeouts.

The story there is Arizona’s streak of 25 consecutive NCAA appearances is has ended.