Wayne County school officials have put the brakes on a cash for grades fundraising effort at a Goldsboro middle school.

The school district reacted to today's article by Lynn Bonner, in which she reported that a $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School would have gotten a student 20 test points — 10 extra points on two tests of the student's choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D.

Are any individual schools in Orange County following similar policies? Or any other sort of classroom incentives to reward fundraising?

E-mail me or post a comment.

As noted in today's Chapel Hill News, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools released their annual Opening of Schools Report last Thursday.

Highlights of the report include decreased enrollment, more Asian students than ever, bigger classrooms and fewer new hires. There's also information on budgets, test scores, facility maintenance and more.

To read the full report, click on the document linked to at the bottom of this post and download the PDF.

Documents:

I wrote a story in Sunday's N&O about the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board elections.

Greg McElveen, the only incumbent in today's race, called in and wanted to clarify some of his statements on the school budget cutbacks.

The state's Department of Public Instruction released School Report Cards for districts and individuals schools late last week.

Each school's report card can be viewed at www.ncreportcards.org. You can click to view details on each school district and individual schools in categories like technology usage, funding, test scores, suspensions and teacher quality.

It's a quite interesting and comprehensive read. In addition to the standard testing reports, you can also check out how many of your school's computers have Internet access, or how many teachers have advanced degrees.

An FYI to OrangeChat readers requested by the PTA Council:

The video for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board candidates forum sponsored by the PTA Council and League of Women Voters is available at ptacouncil.com

The senior leadership team of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools will not be receiving bonuses this year.

But they wanted it that way.

At the annual superintendent's evaluation last Thursday, superintendent Neil Pedersen, assistant superintendent for instructional services Denise Bowling, assistant superintendent for support services Todd LoFrese and chief technology officer Ray Reitz, petitioned the school board to forgo their annual bonuses in light of the economic downturn.

More than 4,000 people walked down Franklin Street Saturday afternoon to show their support for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system.

The Public School Foundation's "Lucky" 13th Annual Walk for Education raised more than $83,000 to support the schools.

Seawell Elementary had the most walkers at 426. Rashkis Elementary raised the most money.

For photos from the walk, visit the Chapel Hill-Carrboro flickr site.

Both school systems in Orange County were honored Monday for having high graduation rates.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools received recognition at a state ceremony held by the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh. State Superintendent June Atkinson and former govenor Jim Hunt presented the honors.

North Carolina's overall graduation rate is 71.7 percent. At Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the overall rate for their student cohort was 86.7 percent; in Orange County Schools, the rate was 81.4 percent for the class of 2009.

The student cohort rate tracks the progress of all students who enter districts in the ninth grade.

The Orange County Democratic Women hosts the second public forum for school board candidates tonight.

All six candidates will be present at the forum, held in the OWASA Community Room located at 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro. The forum will run from 7:30-9 p.m.

There are six candidates vying for three seats on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board.

All six candidates for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board plan to attend the first candidate forum of the season Monday night.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP plans to pose questions for the candidates on the achievement gap, budgets, retention rates and accountability. There will also be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions.

There are six candidates vying for three seats on the school board.

The forum will be held Monday from 7 - 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul AME Church on 101 N. Merritt Mill Road.