Hundreds turned out Monday to talk about the faith community’s role in reducing the chance that students are consigned to public schools where most students are poor, nonwhite and struggling academically.
As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools delves into student-assignment policies, speakers with expertise in the district’s history, demographics and challenges said it’s not only poor and minority students who benefit from diversity, but middle-class and white students as well.
“We’re talking about equality of opportunity, giving every child an equal chance to succeed,” said James Ford, a recent N.C. Teacher of the Year who now works for the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “We’re going to make sure that isolation is no longer a factor for students of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.”
The forum was a follow-up to a May presentation that drew more than 200 people to UNC Charlotte Center City to hear about the district’s history of desegregation and what many call the resegregation of CMS.
The Rev. John Cleghorn, pastor of Caldwell Presbyterian Church in uptown Charlotte, convened Monday’s gathering to talk about how the faith community can engage. Sandra Conway, a longtime education activist and consultant, helped organize the event.
“Historically, faith has had a lot of power in this,” she said. “And we have a lot of power in the pews.”
The sanctuary at Caldwell, which seats about 300, got an overflow crowd for the 5 p.m. session. Because there was also strong interest from people who have been taking part in MeckMin’s summer series of weekly talks about race, that group scheduled a second session with the panelists starting at 7 p.m.
The talks were scheduled to end this month, but the interfaith group has now scheduled September talks focused on educational equity and hopes to lead ongoing faith-based efforts to improve education.
Nelson comparing CMS with the racially torn St. Louis area: “Like St. Louis, our children’s neighborhood is becoming their academic destiny. ... Unlike St. Louis County, we have the ability to have diverse schools.”
▪ Frye Gaillard, former Observer education reporter and author of the “The Dream Long Deferred,” a history of CMS desegregation initially published in 1988.
Gaillard on the role of churches in desegregation: “The faith community in that crucial time in Charlotte-Mecklenburg underscored that we have to come together for the common good.”
▪ Sam Fulwood III, a journalist who has written extensively about race and public policy and is currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is a CMS graduate and a former Observer reporter.
Fulwood on being a student who was bused for desegregation in the 1970s: “The children were the ones who had to be forced into the schools to desegregate, because the grown-ups wouldn’t do it themselves. I think it was a necessary choice at the time.”
In the late 1990s, white families sued to get the desegregation order lifted, saying race-based magnet assignment discriminated against their children. The plaintiffs prevailed after a court battle that exposed deep rifts in Mecklenburg County, and in 2002 a race-neutral “choice plan” took effect.
Since then a growing number of schools have seen white and middle-class enrollment dwindle or disappear.
▪ Keep up with the CMS student assignment review at www.cms.k12.nc.us; select “2017-18 Student Assignment Review” under Spotlight at the bottom of the page.
As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools delves into student-assignment policies, speakers with expertise in the district’s history, demographics and challenges said it’s not only poor and minority students who benefit from diversity, but middle-class and white students as well.
“We’re talking about equality of opportunity, giving every child an equal chance to succeed,” said James Ford, a recent N.C. Teacher of the Year who now works for the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “We’re going to make sure that isolation is no longer a factor for students of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.”
The forum was a follow-up to a May presentation that drew more than 200 people to UNC Charlotte Center City to hear about the district’s history of desegregation and what many call the resegregation of CMS.
“Historically, faith has had a lot of power in this,” she said. “And we have a lot of power in the pews.”
The sanctuary at Caldwell, which seats about 300, got an overflow crowd for the 5 p.m. session. Because there was also strong interest from people who have been taking part in MeckMin’s summer series of weekly talks about race, that group scheduled a second session with the panelists starting at 7 p.m.
The talks were scheduled to end this month, but the interfaith group has now scheduled September talks focused on educational equity and hopes to lead ongoing faith-based efforts to improve education.
The speakers
▪ Amy Hawn Nelson, director of social research for the UNCC Urban Institute and co-author of “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: School Desegregation and Resegregation in Charlotte,” published this year.Nelson comparing CMS with the racially torn St. Louis area: “Like St. Louis, our children’s neighborhood is becoming their academic destiny. ... Unlike St. Louis County, we have the ability to have diverse schools.”
▪ Frye Gaillard, former Observer education reporter and author of the “The Dream Long Deferred,” a history of CMS desegregation initially published in 1988.
▪ Sam Fulwood III, a journalist who has written extensively about race and public policy and is currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is a CMS graduate and a former Observer reporter.
Fulwood on being a student who was bused for desegregation in the 1970s: “The children were the ones who had to be forced into the schools to desegregate, because the grown-ups wouldn’t do it themselves. I think it was a necessary choice at the time.”
The back story
CMS got national attention for its court-ordered busing plan to desegregate schools in the early 1970s.In the late 1990s, white families sued to get the desegregation order lifted, saying race-based magnet assignment discriminated against their children. The plaintiffs prevailed after a court battle that exposed deep rifts in Mecklenburg County, and in 2002 a race-neutral “choice plan” took effect.
Since then a growing number of schools have seen white and middle-class enrollment dwindle or disappear.
Why now?
The school board has embarked on a review of student assignment, with a goal of making changes for 2017-18. A majority of members say they believe CMS needs to do something to counteract the concentrations of poverty that hinder educational opportunities for some students.Stay engaged
▪ MeckMin will lead talks on educational equity in September and coordinate efforts to get the faith community engaged in student assignment. www.meckmin.org/educationalequity or 704-565-5455.▪ Keep up with the CMS student assignment review at www.cms.k12.nc.us; select “2017-18 Student Assignment Review” under Spotlight at the bottom of the page.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
ReplyDeleteWell, if HUNDREDS showed up, then it must be the people's will.
ReplyDeleteAgain, if they really cared, they'd tax themselves and give the money to the poor.
Until that time...
Funny that while everyone in the libtard media is screaming about "diversity", when you look at the international rankings of places, "diversity" doesn't really seem to matter much.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of rankings to choose from, but when you
get down to the serious quality of life matters, if it isn't the Scandinavian countries sweeping the top, it's usually some other monoculture doing about as well.
Singapore and Canada seem to be exceptions, but still...
Just recently Hong Kong was declared the top country for economic freedom by The Heritage Foundation (those old neocons!).
The US ranks 12, which isn't half bad.
http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
And having lived here for a year, I can GUARANTEE you HK is NOT "diverse". Neither are most of the top 10 countries.
But that doesn't seem to be stopping anyone from doing just fine here and all those other "non-diverse" places with all THEIR "racial, economic isolation".
Gee, how do they do it?
Guess no one wants to talk about that much.
Also, just look at China. Sure, they'll tell you they have hundreds of ethnic "minorities", but most of the world would STILL consider them Chinese, except the Uyghurs, of course.
ReplyDeleteAnd while people in the US will try to tell you that you need "diversity" to understand "markets" of people who are "different", the Chinese seem to be able to sell their crap to nearly EVERYONE IN THE WORLD.
It doesn't matter if they're black, white, Asian, Hispanic or whatever.
They will simply buy cheap crap and the Chinese know this.
Of course, they may have hit their limit now, but the same applies to upcoming producers of products (and wealth) such as India and Vietnam.
Hell, those folks ARE ALL INDIAN AND VIETNAMESE.
Yet look at the markets they can reach.
Again, the "diversity" argument is largely full of it when applied to the real world.
And look at Starbucks, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds.
ReplyDeleteHeck, who in CHINA or INDIA cares if a black or Hispanic or even an Asian is working at GHQ in the US at those places?
No one at all. It doesn't matter.
It's the "if we only had a brain err... I mean equal funding"... or "schools with diverse student bodies"...
ReplyDeleteI mean good God, et over it alreadly. Poverty schools already get MORE funding pers student than those with fewer poverty students.
It's amazing too that the current political climate is calling out these liberal, bleeding heart shysters who are still putting the fear of the GOP Satan into the hearts of those people on the Democrat's plantations, warning them to turn away if approached offering a way off the plantation.
It boggles the mind.
I've always loved the poverty excuse for the "achievement gap" because it's so easy to discredit.
ReplyDeleteIt's totally bogus. I've pointed out how in the gubmint reports on the Black/White Achievement Gap how the Free Lunch white kids STILL outperform the supposedly richer (probably middle-class) non-FRL black kids.
So, bring all the black kids out of "poverty" enough that they do not qualify for the FRL program, and they will be roughly equal to the Free Lunch white kids.
Mix the "poor" black kids with the "middle-class" black kids and it will STILL be the blind leading the blind since the "middle-class" black kids do no better than the poorest Free Lunch segment of white kids.
Assuming, of course, that perfect "osmosis" of learning will take place simply because a poor black kid sits next to a middle-class black kid or any white kid.
Which is pure poppycock anyway.
Is THAT a goal worth striving for?
All this assumes, of course, that throwing money at those kids will, in fact, raise them to the same level as the black kids who aren't poor or white kids who either are or are not poor.
And who's to say that it will?
I'd say that's still pretty darned unlikely.
Because lack of money is probably not the root cause of the problem.
Yet that myth still continues.
Because people refuse to look at the data we already have on this and break it down correctly.
Oh well.
Where was Taylor Batten to write an opinion piece supporting the cause while his kids are comfortably sequestered in private school?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the racial makeup of CMS these days? It was 60% white when we moved to Charlotte in 1992 - before my son landed 175 on the "non-black" wait list at Myers Park Traditional. The school refused to allow me to tour it until I received a letter of acceptance through the lottery. Warm and fuzzy CMS. Right from the get-go.
ReplyDeleteI can't make this stuff up.
Latest numbers are 29% White and 40% Black.
DeleteWhat's notable, other than the continuing decline of White kids, isthat the Black student population in CMS declined from 42% to that new number of 40%. That's a decline of roughly 1,225 Black students from the previous report of 42%.
You're correct, in 1987, CMS was 58% White, Blacks were 38%, so Black students have remained relatively the same while Whites have left in droves.
Mecklenburg County is about 58% White, CMS is 19% White, yet the brain dead school board, activists and politicians absolutely REFUSE to acknowledge the giant, White elephant that has left the room.
sorry, Whites are 29%.... still too early so I hit the wrong key.
DeleteMaybe if they add another 100 partial magnet programs that will solve the self induced problem? Better yet, how about closing West Charlotte and sending half its students to Harding IB? Or, CMS can run its own charter schools. No, no, no... I think "schools within a school" will do it while hiring more consultants to look for the next rock star superintendent. Ok. So let's just mess with the Thornhill neighborhood in Ballantyne again! You know, the only REAL solution is continuing to have two and three way "split-feeds" into middle school and high school. Seriously, it's all a matter of continuing to bus the neighborhood across the street from Calvary church to Myers Park HS. And if we deny District 6 the opportunity to attend the magnet IB program at Myers Park, they'll all miraculously head over to East Meck.
ReplyDeleteThat will be $100.
Curious as to the number of students from District 6 who jumped at the opportunity to attend the STEM program at Kennedy MS? You know, the school that earned a D from the state but has lots of kids headed to MIT.
I'm sorry. Well no, I'm really not.
Here's a thought...
ReplyDeleteHow about an Opportunity Culture exchange program? Right here in NC!
CMS can bus its racially isolated Title 1 schools to my neck of the woods where students can have the opportunity to sit next to real white students with TWO giant rebel flags on the back of their pick-up trucks before barreling out of the double-wide trailer park on their way to their Title 1 school.
It's this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that made America.
I'll never forget the Korean immigrant business owner who proudly pulled out a fake drivers license to show me with a false address on it in order to send his son to Providence High. Or the year of the bar mitzvahs (7th grade) at South Charlotte MS or the African-American family who bought a condo that they rented out in order to get their kids into a better school. Oh yeah, and the Indian mom with an arranged marriage and $50 bucks to her name who did everything she could to get her daughter - a future doctor - into a better CMS school. Yep. It's just all us folks.
ReplyDeleteAnd 500 people with one mindset in a system with 140,000 students and a growing public charter school movement is going to change this? That would be a spectacular miracle. Yes indeed.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteFrom the old Andrew Dunn blog, it's about 30% white now.
http://obsyourschools.blogspot.hk/2014/06/cms-school-demographics-are-here.html
" There are no dramatic changes from previous years. As noted before, the district is now 41.2 percent black, 30.8 percent white, 19.4 percent Hispanic and 5.5 percent Asian."
So CMS has a seriously low white cell count...
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ReplyDeleteBusing little urbrainiacs to the trailer park for an Opportunity Culture "experience" of a lifetime?
ReplyDeleteMan, that would be brutally twisted (having survived HS in BOTH subcultures...).
Sorry I didn't think of it first.
I'm sure someone would riot and burn down the woods over that, though.
Yeah, I think it's easy to forget that CMS is not just in black and white...
ReplyDeleteBut that's the way the "community" sets the stage for the battle with all their talk about "returning" to "segregation" and all that crap.
Plenty of other folks going there as well who don't have as much of a voice in the matter as all the "reverends" and "ministers" out there.
And you sure as heck can't please them all.
But, hey, don't knock buying a condo to get a place at a school.
That's essentially what we've done in Ballantyne, only it's a townhouse.
I'm fully expecting the libtard powers-that-be to put "affordable" housing nearby any day now. They're just itching to do this for whatever ignorant reason they have.
Maybe forcing a housing development boom somewhere else?
If (or rather when) they do, either all hell will break loose or there will be a mass exodus and property prices will fall like a rock bringing EVEN MORE "affordable" housing into the market.
Then we all know what will happen after that.
Yes, it will be time for the libtards to find new territories to conquer and "urbanize".
Here are the numbers from April of 2015. Also, there is a link within the article (below) that you can look at each school's demographics.:
ReplyDelete▪ Black students remained the largest demographic group in the CMS population at 40 percent, but their overall numbers fell slightly.
▪ White students fell below 30 percent for the first time after several years of declining population.
▪ Hispanic students jumped by nearly 10 percent, making up almost the entire increase in the overall CMS population. They now account for 21 percent of the district.
▪ Walter G. Byers School, a K-8 campus in west Charlotte, remained the least diverse school in the district with 89.7 percent black students. Only two white children attend.
▪ The Renaissance School at Olympic High appears to be the most representative school, with its demographics almost equivalent to the district as a whole.
Read more here:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article17147018.html#storylink=cpy
So, basically, they have to recruit outside the boundaries of CMS to get what they probably really want (if they want it for ALL the schools, and not just a select few).
DeleteIt would be interesting to know the FRL within racial percentages as well. I wonder how many "poor" vs. "non-poor" exist in each ethnic/racial group, since they're also so supposedly concerned about "economic" segregation (yeah, sure...).
Of course, we all know the drill on how bogus the FRL number are, but they are typical of the official "statistics" being kept on schools nowadays (since you can't ask a direct question like "what's your family income?" and store it in a database).
Personally, I wouldn't put my kids in a school which was "balanced" according to the district demographics unless it had fantastic security and a really compelling academic program which was a proven success.
And Mandarin classes, of course...
The other thing they often don't consider is exactly when is the "school culture" primarily defined by a particular ethnic group (or academic level).
DeleteThat's the real kicker in all this.
Some groups of kids just have more "influence" (in both good and bad ways) than others.
Well behaved kids who are pretty much at or slightly above grade level really don't have much of an impact.
I think the "bad" influence can be achieved with a lesser number of bad kids than the "good" influence can with good kids.
After all, how many thugs does it take to ruin a neighborhood?
Not many.
Probably only around 5% can really mess a place up pretty seriously.
How many kids who are "behind" do you need in a class before the teacher is forced to dumb-down the classes for everyone?
My experience has been that about half-a-dozen can mess up a class of 30 or so, if you try to cater to the low achievers in the class.
Really, I think they are much more of a burden in the classroom if you're trying to keep the teaching at a reasonable level for the grade.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(OK, finally getting this all in...)
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, if we cared about "bang for the buck", we'd be spending more money on those poor white kids.
Simply because (and I'm going out on a limb here with this popular assumption...)
If money really "improves" the education result, then spending it on the poor white kids means they will improve to the level of the middle-class white kids which is currently higher than the blacks.
But if we spend the money on the black kids, then they can only do as well as the current middle-class blacks (which is roughly the same as the poor whites).
This means that ALL the blacks will then be at the level of the poor white kids (as the middle-class blacks are NOW) and the poor white kids will not have improved at all.
This will only cause a glut of people at the lower skill levels and result in all of them having to compete harder for the same relatively lower-skilled jobs.
In a practical sense, this will pull more middle-class blacks into the same poverty as the poor whites since their skill levels will be equal to that of poor whites and there will be more equally skilled blacks competing for the same jobs.
I'm not sure this will be the outcome the social planners prefer.
Of course, in the real world, actual abilities may not matter as much.
"I'll never forget the Korean immigrant business owner..."
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought you were going to mention that guy in the LA riots who stood outside his store with a pistol taking potshots at the looters.
Ha.
Don't mess with the Koreans. They are armed and know how to shoot back.
Video from 1992...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tmD0W5r4w
...the only way public education will survive is to eliminate political correctness and correct it with common sense..... Wiley Coyote
ReplyDeleteCommon sense is on life support in the US.
ReplyDeletePolitical correctness still rules, even when it is ridiculous for it to do so.
Take that latest shooting by the gay, black, EEOC whining reporter, for example.
The media first didn't want to mention that the gunman was black (though they did describe his pants and shirt), even though he was on the run with a weapon for a while and they claimed that they knew who the killer was and that it was someone they knew.
They could have flashed his photo immediately for everyone to see because he had worked for the station. People probably would have recognized him on the streets for crying out loud and gotten him arrested much sooner.
But they didn't.
Yeah, didn't want to raise "suspicions", I guess...
At least the killer had the courtesy to kill himself.
And now that his history is known (he even wrote a Manifesto!), they are still unwilling to label it a hate crime, even though it is clearly one.
Again, he's "protected" by political correctness from the same treatment his comrade-in-arms Dylann received for doing pretty much the same thing on a slightly smaller scale.
The dude even made a video of himself pulling the trigger.
Now that's some sick, hateful stuff.
But I agree that this was most likely the work of a severely mentally disordered person and not your everyday attack by a thug.
And no rainbow flags will be taken down.
Wiley, found this comment on common sense I thought you might like...
ReplyDelete-----------
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims and everything was politically correct.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death,
-by his parents, Truth and Trust,
-by his wife, Discretion,
-by his daughter, Responsibility,
-and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;
- I Know My Rights
- I Want It Now
- Someone Else Is To Blame
- I'm A Victim
- Pay me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing
I remember catching some girls in a bathroom after classes had started at a CMS school while substituting. They were standing around a sink. When I asked them where they were supposed to be, one turned around and said she was going to have me fired for coming into the bathroom and looking at she and her friends naked.
ReplyDeleteIn my day this would have been called skipping class and insubordination with appropriate consequences. As a white teacher at a predominately black school known for being better than most in the system, I still wasn't going to risk making the front page of the Charlotte Observer over one smart mouthed brat and her ghetto peanuts gang. My son's fifth grade teacher was crucified in the media before CMS settled with him for over a million dollars in damages (I can't remember the exact amount). I sat outside the courtroom with a number of other parents and teachers during this poor man's trial.
This is how bad it is.
I was terrified when my oldest son worked as a camp counselor at the YMCA. They said it was ok to give kids side hugs. I told him it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteI told the two young men in my elementary education classes at Belmont Abbey to never touch a kid beyond anything but a "high-five" in front of witnesses after a professor said it was fine to give children hugs which I believe is generally true for women but certainly not for men.
All the dance classes I taught at the Harris Y were filmed and broadcast on giant TV screens. The charter school I worked at installed cameras in every classroom this year while real pedophiles are knowingly allowed to commit atrocities at places like Penn State for the sake of the reputation and lucrative business of the football program.
This is the world we live in today.
I decided to become a property manager this year working less hours and making more money than a NC school teacher. I made 3.5 times more per week managing my own property over the summer than I did teaching. This business adventure is out of my element but I owe it to myself to give it a year and see how it goes. An additional property management opportunity was presented to me by a set of wealthy parents from CA whose son was in my class last year. They were stunned at my weekly take-home NC teacher's salary. As a 5th grade math teacher, I decided to do the 5th grade math. Teaching math didn't add up. And I don't have to witness kids getting sick over an EOG test.
At some point I'll likely go back to teaching dance and directing school plays - where my heart is and where my passion lies.
"...one turned around and said she was going to have me fired..."
ReplyDeleteAgain, these kids know their "rights", but they have no clue about their "responsibilities".
Common Sense truly died decades ago.
And, yet, people are STILL making excuses for the brats, which just reinforced their rotten attitudes.
It spills over into the workplace as well. Just like that EEOC whining shooter.
They know how to work the "system" to their benefit, yet claim that the "system" is run by "The Man" and is there to "keep them down".
Which, of course, is just another ploy to make sure the "system" continues to bend over backwards to accommodate their misbehavior.
Not sure when this will stop, if ever.
And it's just pathetic and sad for everyone in our society.
Hey, property management isn't such a bad gig. Wouldn't mind doing it myself if in the US.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they desperately need something like that in HK, but with the market here being what it is, you can rent a slum for an incredible amount of money.
We pay over US$5000/month for an apt which is somewhere around 1200 sq. ft. (and I'm being generous). It's actually two units combined in a place where something around 600 sq. ft. is the norm.
Recently a new development went up which was selling units around 200 sq. ft. (yes, like one of those "model" apts you see in Ikea!) for somewhere upwards of US$500,000.
I had a laundry list of repairs and such when we moved into our place which shocked our US property manager when she saw it. Everything from washers/dryers/fridges had to be replaced. AC units were moldy, lights were out, etc., etc.
Whereas, we had our places in top-top shape when we got renters and spent whatever we needed to get things in order as soon as they moved in.
A friend who lives in the same complex got an even more raw deal. They pay about the same as we do for a place which is about 700 sq. ft. Their hot water heater for the kitchen (point of use heater) burned out almost as soon as they moved in and their landlord refuses to fix it saying that it MUST have been something they did wrong!
It's a hot water heater, for crying out loud! All you do is let the water run through it. Ours also failed twice and the landlord finally replaced it. He's actually a nice guy in comparison to the rest.
Most of these folks paid 1/10 what the places sell for today (having bought them 15 years ago) and are making a killing.
But they just don't care about the tenants. They don't need to. Someone will always be there to rent.
Anyway, good luck with the property management gig. I really enjoy fixing up our places at times. I'm a real skinflint at times, but I've learned how to repair a lot of things via the Internet, so it's kind of fun.
I have learned to distrust most electricians, HVAC, and plumbing folks because they usually charge WAY TOO MUCH for simple things that a decent handyman (if you can find one) can fix for much less.
Anyway, I'm sure you won't get involved in the "nitty gritty" as much if you're managing other people's properties.
Oh, and I might add that our place was one of the better deals in better condition than a lot of places we saw. Of course, we had to "settle" for an area that our real estate agent (who we summarily dumped) called "too local". Hell, this is HONG KONG. It's all "local" as far as we're concerned.
ReplyDeleteI think she meant there weren't enough white foreigners around where we are. As if we care.
Heck, our kids actually go to a school which is smack-dab in the middle of "gubmint" housing projects.
Of course, with the demographic we have here, those places are really safe, orderly and clean.
We also have one of the several remaining "squatters" villages just outside our complex. I've been by there and while it looks like a pile of slapped together shacks (which it is), the people who live there look and act just like everyone else when you see them on the streets or when they get on the bus.
Even though some of them are actually Asian "minorities" and indigenous folks to the area known as Hakka (a bit like American Indians in the US...)
This is the area...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_Kwo_Ling
Now how does Barns think CMS can cap schools at 40% poverty levels when the system is almost 60% poverty? 5th grade math, people. Although this does speak my $100 per hour consulation advice for choosing a school with an FRL population under 30-35%.
ReplyDeleteThe stupidity is astounding. Thoroughly astounding. I predict more charter schools in the suburbs and an even higher percentage of high poverty and hyper-segregated schools if CMS tries to manipulate student assignment in a heavy handed way again. This is going to get ugly, folks. Really ugly.
It's liberal stupidity, there is no other explanation.
DeleteUnfortunately, most of the "voters" in this country are just too plain stupid to realize what a totally ignorant plan it is to "cap" school poverty below what the average poverty percentage for a district.
DeleteThere's just no way to do this without throwing the FRL kids onto the streets without any schooling.
It just gets more and more ridiculous the more you think about how this would have to really work in the real world.
Each school above the "cap" which is closed would just force more FRL kids to attend other schools which would then exceed THEIR caps and be closed, since the average is above the "cap".
Ad infinitum (or until ALL the schools were closed).
From what I understand, Wake County poverty level is more like 25%, which makes a 40% cap at least MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE.
Jeez. What an absolute MORON Barnes must be.
I noticed that Project LIFT schools are adopting Core Knowledge curriculum. Not to be confused with Common Core Standards.
ReplyDeleteMy charter school uses this curriculum which I think is outstanding but generally a bit over kids heads. The problem is then state testing students based on Common Core, not Core Knowledge.
Interesting.
Just noticed online that tomorrow's Observer will feature an article on how unfair the PTA/PTO system is--how much more money the "advantaged" schools raise as compared to the "disadvantaged" schools. This is more deja vu all over again. Back in early 2000s the Observer really went after this (Are they just referring back to their archives right now? All the topics and the players seem to be the same.). At least in the story that will be in the paper tomorrow they tuck in a small recognition that high poverty schools get much more funding than low poverty schools. It took years to get that acknowledged last time around.
ReplyDeleteYep, just saw that one.
DeleteOf course, Pamela Grundy is out there trying to swat away anyone who disagrees with her "liberal" agenda of people with any money left after taxes giving more to the "disadvantaged".
She actually told one person who disagreed with her to "take your prejudices somewhere else."
As if no one else has "prejudices".
Ha.
Of course when the "disadvantaged" schools spend their extra Project LIFT money on things like "movie night" and FREE Zumba classes for the parents (who won't bother to go to the PTA/O meetings), I have no sympathy.
Unless they get "real" and rename it Project LIFT Your Fat Ass Out Of Poverty and cancel movie night for MORE ZUMBA.
I'd even be willing to donate a few bucks to that cause.
If Jenny from the Parks Helms Tax & Spend Block gets elected mayor, welcome to Detroit.
ReplyDeleteThen you will see CMS disintegrate into chaos, especially if the moron liberals vote in a "living wage" of $15.00 per hour.
The issue of PTA/PTO funding disparity is not limited to CMS. I was a PTO president and Vice President for two years at a Mecklenburg Area Catholic school which had the same problem. The difference is that the MACS system also had a separate fundraising MACS foundation that attempted to address disparities. I was also on a School Leadership Team with CMS at a school that had a 56% FRL population that worked closely with our PTO. It was difficult raising money here on top of the fact that the school wasn't quite destitute enough to receive all the extra funding and freebies other schools with higher FRL populations did. The schools in the middle really do get a raw deal in terms federal, philanthropic foundation and PTA funding.
ReplyDeleteWe then transferred to a CMS school with a 10% FRL population with a PTA on steroids. When I VOLUNTEERED to run an after school dance and drama club, the PTA wanted to know what my credentials were - just in case I didn't have a master's degree, college level teaching experience, and state teacher certification in the subject. I can't make this stuff up.
BUT HERE'S THE KICKER:
When I donated wall mounted ballet barres through the PTA at the higher income school, I was told I couldn't make a restricted donation at which point I made the donation directly to the school through CMS. Once CMS got involved, I had the Equity Committee (appointed by the school board) all over my ass. A special representative had to come to the school, assess my donation, take it back the the Equity Committee before determining if they would allow a custodian to mount wood poles on a stage wall. At my suggesting, I looked up every damn school in CMS that had wall mounted ballet barres in an effort to convince the blockheads on the Equity Committee to approve my donation and volunteer efforts.
Can't make the stuff up. Honest to God.
I wonder if the "Equity Committee" vetted those Project LIFT (Your Lazy Ass Out Of Poverty) Zumba class instructors as thoroughly.
DeleteAnd I'll bet they were PAID, not volunteers.
Of course, the only qualification for that was probably going to the right "church" with the right crowd.
The Equity Committe had no problem-o with me running a FREE after school dance and drama club, writing a $1,000 check for the ESL program, purchasing school pictures, backpacks and school supplies for kids who couldn't afford these things or serving as grade parent and SLT member at the school that was 56% FRL. No sir-ee. No problem with me at all. It was only when we transferred our children to a school in the Ballantyne area that my financial and volunteer efforts were put up for question and debate. I have nothing nice to say about the Equity Committee.
DeleteBack even before busing ended, when supposedly all schools were wonderful and equal, CMS was watching those donations. When one of my sons was in 8th grade, probably 1998, CMS allowed him and another boy to take algebra II online from Stanford (we paid the tuition) since they had already completed math through geometry--I realize this might not fly today--don't want to give anyone a leg up. Anyway, the school needed to have a computer at school for them to do the coursework--none were available. So the principal's husband volunteered to donate a used computer. Simple solution, right? Wrong! CMS scotched that idea--wasn't fair to all the other schools. The boys wound up doing the coursework at home, which was not a particularly popular solution with them since that meant an extra hour of school (at home) each day. Anyway, Alicia, I later became one of those "blockheads" on the Equity Committee. However I was appointed by a board member who wanted to balance things out, as were a couple of other members--not an easy task but we gave it our best shot. Needless to say, we were not popular with the diversity and justice crowd.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely believe that part of the goal of public education is to attack the "achievement gap" by reducing the opportunities for the high achievers while giving way more opportunities and resources to the low achievers who really don't care and probably never will achieve much.
DeleteExcept maybe, perhaps, maybe, if they're really lucky... that "coveted" HS diploma.
Which has largely become a joke anyway.
Meanwhile, those in the middle and the top are sacrificed for those on the bottom.
The "diversity crowd" has no clue what they really want.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, they want to send their kids to the school closest to their homes yet bitch and moan because the shool closest to their home is a high poverty school with a large percentage of the student population being non-White.
Then they scream we don't have the same opportunities, funding or other things schools in the suburbs have.
What else do you expect though. This has been going on for decades and most likely will go on for many more decades to come.
Well, if you look at it, though, they have succeeded in getting more than their "share" of the public pie by being such whiners.
DeleteIf you can believe those numbers, the poor kids in CMS just might be getting up to 3 times as much per student as the "rich" kids.
Of course, the REAL "rich" kids just don't go to CMS, but you know what I mean.
After seeing that article about "NC School Grades" which showed a photo of a Community House middle school classroom (an "A" school), I'm not so sure I'd want my kids going there without taking a closer look at the place now.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article32575104.html
That happens to be the school they would be "zoned" to attend from our Ballantyne townhouse if we lived there.
I've heard a few rumors that the school isn't all it was cracked up to be, but I think it would be worth an investigation before committing my kids to it.
I'll be watching those "grades" pretty closely as well as any other problems I see cropping up in the area.
And I'll sell at the drop of a hat.
Because once a school starts going downhill, there's usually no stopping the decline.
Especially if the demographics back the decline.