School board candidate John Tedesco is responding to the attacks made that the new board will resegregate schools and do away with magnet programs.
Tedesco says they'll find a new way for schools that's not the Charlotte way or the Wake way. While they won't abolish magnet schools, Tedesco said they will look at changing "inequities" in the selection process that reduce the odds for gifted students in low-income communities from getting into the program.
The current selection system is weighted toward giving applicants from crowded, more affluent schools higher priority. That's because the base populations at magnet schools usually have a high percentage of poor kids.
Below is the post he sent in response to the new NAACP/CCCAAC attack on the board. At his suggestion, I'm turning his reply into a separate post.
Keung - This post may be better served under it's own heading but I will leave that for you to decide. This is being written in a bit of haste/frustration so forgive me this one time from typos/spelling mistakes and a hint of tone.
We have heard a lot about the D-2 race in the weeks since OCT. 6th from everyone except the man who won 49.4% of the vote in a 5 way race that drew a 38% increase in voter turnout from the previous school board election. I remain humbled by that support. I am looking forward to working with Mr. Tart and Dr. Truitt. But despite being out spent 2-1 by both Mr. Tart and Dr. Truitt, voters selected me over each of them by more than 2-1. Why? For over 6 months those voters had a chance to get to know me, hear me, see me, and then make up their minds. My message was clear, my vision has not changed, my character remained steadfast.
So in the last two weeks many have scrambled to re-cast my vision or stance on key issues. We have heard extreme sensationalism such as "blow up our schools" "resegregation" and "abandon magnets". While this may sell papers and strike fear it does not hold an ounce of truth. Now Calla wishes to pigeon hole me and note me as segregating schools with the KIPP model. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.
I do believe there is some value to the KIPP models and we may want to borrow from some aspects or even create one. But this does not even touch the surface of my dreams and visions for our community. Try knowing me and what I believe before you decide. We spent too much time in our community looking for the lines that divide us and not enough time seeking the ties that bind us.
I have said from day one that I am committed to a community schools model. But do any of them even know what that really is??? I am committed to ushering in a digital age of innovation in our classrooms. I am committed to creating a vision to get us there together. I am attaching a few links to highlight some of these items that motavated me last year. I am also copying below a letter I sent to a parent who wrote the newly elected leadership with concerns.
Let me please encourage those truly interested in these matters to really pay close attention. Actually read the whole letter AND watch the videos before you chime in. It was the comments in the letter that helped assure Cathy of my goals. We will not agree on all of these things and I will not have all the answers on all of these issues. But I do believe that we can find them together.
First the videos are critical to understand. This link will take you to a page that shows a video tour of just some of the community schools around the country and what they have been able to do (each different). I have watched all of them several times and have contacted these schools. All of these were done while saving millions not adding millions.
ALLOW ME TO PLEASE ASK YOU to at least watch the first one the page (it is 17 minutes and you need to see the whole thing to understand how they put it together) it is the John A. Johnson Elem. School in St. Paul, and it is titled Great Schools by design. This represents one end of my vision geared at reaching our most vulnerable. The end end geared at reaching our most gifted uses a similar approach but taps into our rich resources to do dynamic things. Video link below.
http://thecommunityagenda.org/video/main/
This is the link for the home page of the Coalition for Community Schools. This is extra for those who really want more. Here there are countless resources, other videos, tool kits for funding for every size system, and so much more. http://www.communityschools.org/
The few videos below are each about 3 minutes and they reflect other pieces of my vision.
How about a need for digital innovation in teaching?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8
Now go from that to see that there some new schools that are building walls and desks like this video shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Kn2HKCWqs
How about how we teach?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l72UFXqa8ZU
How about how we design our schools?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLvoNrjryeg
How do we get to all of this?
My letter as noted above, is below. This will show some insight to how I want to get there. Imagine what we can do together.
For those of you who watched all of these and read all of this and want to share in this process - Thanks. John
My email is jtedesco@4wakekids.com for those who want to continue the dialogue of all we can do together. Bare with me if I am slow on the response (I am a little busy these days as you likely can see if you read these blogs).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear S.
We greatly appreciate your concern and comments. These are legitimate concerns in our community, but I assure you our new leadership is committed to being respectful of our past while building our future. There is an unfounded community fear (I believe a bit of media hype - personally) that we are going to abolish our magnet schools. This is simply not true.
We are intelligent, reasonable, respectful people who will provide good stewardship of our school system and the community it serves. No one will be acting rash or as renegades.
When it comes to our magnet schools I believe there is great potential in the programming they offer, but I believe there are inequities in the way it is offered. So I do feel we need to do some tweaking. There are some amazing and talented children in Wake County who live in our poorer communities. These kids get a bus ride to an average school to balance out socio-economic numbers. In my mind they should have a chance at the very best we have to offer. Our magnet schools should truly offer exceptional programming to our gifted and talented kids regardless of their economic or racial status.
We are also committed to building a community schools model. I fundamentally reject that it is either the Charlotte way or the Wake way – we can and we must create a new path. But we understand that these are things that will take time to find the appropriate balanced solutions, so we intend on building a vision that moves us forward - together. Parents and community stakeholders will have a say in the process.
Our vision remains to create a new path to a 21st century system of education; a dynamic system that is efficient and effective in the education of our children, while building up our families and communities. This vision will be created with care in a thoughtful an diligent manner with all stakeholders to build a community schools model that is respectful of our past while embracing our future.
We will provide expanded choice for parents. We WILL challenge our most gifted while raising up our most vulnerable. We will usher in a digital age of innovation. We will create a better educated citizenry, a more healthy and reliable workforce, and a more engaged community. We will prepare our children for the global economy AND the local economy. We CAN do this while being fiscally conservative.
On behalf of our children, we will tap into the rich resources of our region such as our wonderful universities, thriving business communities, government partners, compassionate churches, and our diverse cultural assets. As we build this unified vision in our community we will do some amazing things together. Together we will use this opportunity to cross many divides: generational, geographic, racial, economic, political, cultural, and more. This will require real leadership. This will require heavy lifting, and we remain committed to bringing everybody to the table in this process.
I hope this answers some of your questions, and we looking forward to working for you and all of the parents and tax-payers of Wake County.
Thanks,
John Tedesco
Comments
I volunteer in a 'top' base
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 08:32 — red_balloonI volunteer in a 'top' base school and find the standards disheartening. Further, the poor performing students are a drag on the more industrious students. It falls to the parents to provide some semblance of quality education at home while the time in school goes toward academic regression.
I am hopeful the new Board will appreciate the fact that there are many students sandwiched between the magnets and low performing schools. These are the students of the so called 'top' base schools that are used solely to churn out statistics showing AYP but to whom a huge disservice is done in preparing these talented students for the competitive world.
WCPSS has a good reputation but only now do I realize it is for diversity and not for education. I hope the new Board puts a greater emphasis on education and giving each child at every school a better opportunity to succeed. There should also be a greater emphasis on parental involvement. Teachers alone cannot influence the chances of a student attaining academic success.
It will be interesting to
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 09:24 — user12345It will be interesting to see how they sort this out ... I am sure for top performing parents that the low performing kids are a drag and distraction on the teacher ... but what to do with them ... they are thrown in a class of good students hoping the poor ones will go with the crowd and improve ... the poor students could be sent back to their neighborhoods but than will need new programs and intense work to make a difference ... that increase in resources will come at the expense of someone ... some will say it will all come from fewer busses or a lower supt. salary but I am guessing it needs to come from the "top" schools ... utlimately, I am guessing the "top" schools will need to slightly increase their class by a few kids so the poor schools can decrease their classes by a few to provide the extra attention needed ... I think that is the trade off that will be needed if all the poor kids are going to be concentrated back in their neighborhood school which I am thinking parents at the "top" schools will gladly take to accellerate their child's education.
I suppose that is one
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 10:34 — red_balloonI suppose that is one scenario. I, however, believe that 'top' schools can become top schools through differentiated education within existing constraints. Assuming every grade has multiple classrooms, which would be true in 'top' schools, the students can be assigned to a classroom based on his/ her academic and behavioral development needs. Thus, students needing help with the basics would be in one classroom while those more comfortable with the syllabus would be challenged in a different classroom.
This approach also optimizes resource utilization in the school since not every teacher has the required aptitude to teach all types of children found in his/ her class. Thus, a teacher with the skill to advance struggling students can bear his/ her expertise on an academically needy group instead of dissipating it on a larger, and non-receptive, audience. Likewise, the struggling student would not be lost in a maze of math and language arts and thus be increasingly demotivated.
I believe a pragmatic solution is possible within existing resources and the school Board will get to it someday when they realize education is about education; not the manipulation of AYPs and demographics. In the interim, I don't believe any concerned parent should count upon WCPSS.
Our elem school does this
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 11:33 — jenmanOur elem school does this for math in 4th grade--not sure why its only that grade. Anyway, it has worked out well for both of my kids. Each of 6 teachers has a different level class and the kids are often moved between classes if they start to slow down or accellerate.
I do share lferreri's concern about certain kids getting tracked lower or higher than they should. But if we can start using that EVAAS system/data to help determine the best place for kids then I think that differentiated instruction could really work.
BTW, our elem school is naturally diverse. All races, many recent immigrant families, etc. What are generally considered to be the 'top' students includes all races and SE status.
Millbrook too
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 13:09 — JSBinNCMillbrook ES also does the differentiated and team teach approach starting in first grade - maybe even Kindergarten. The kids are grouped and move to different teachers for reading and math... the groups are flexed meaning that the kids are routinely assessed and if they need to be regrouped (because they have progressed, or hit an area where they need some catch up - it goes both ways) they move them. It's terrific!
And look at how much better on average MEMS has done on EOG's for their ED and LEP kids...
My kids benefitted from
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 16:18 — shank56My kids benefitted from this approach too at some grade levels in math. The key is having teachers who were willing to work and plan together. We were in some grade levels where tenured teachers could give a rat's.... about working with others on the grade level- and principals couln'd MAKE them team teach.
They had their own 20 year old lesson plans and worksheets already in a folder--so by gosh, NO- they are not going to learn something new to help others. (Same ones who couldn't click File/ Save if their lives depended on it. )
Don't laugh. It still happens in schools today. A team such as this is a PLT- and most these teachers need time to meet and plan beyond what is given.
PS: In asking schools to learn and use EVAAS, when is this expected to happen if Wacky Wednesday is eliminated? We are asking/ demanding now that staff and teachers look deeper into students psat performance- when som have never done this.
How many of you have served on a School Improvement Team and seen how hard it is to get some teachers "motivated" to look at the data that exists now?
Haven't heard or seen
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 23:04 — TrailerParkGirl"How many of you have served on a School Improvement Team and seen how hard it is to get some teachers "motivated" to look at the data that exists now?"
I haven't heard/seen that this has been an issue at our school, but my understanding is that those types of teachers were essentially encouraged to find somewhere else to teach a few years back.
I think the issue with Whacky Wednesday was a case of poor project management. WCPSS did not appreciate the importance of 1) getting stakeholder buy-in early in the process (4 parents on the Committee but the other 100K or however many parents there are were not involved at all or even knew about it) and 2) failing to communicate early and often. By not engaging enough stakeholders, WCPSS missed issues with implementation. Parents were completely blind-sided and most had no idea what PLC/PLT even was when they first found out that Whacky Wednesay was enacted. It was a shoot (push it through) first, ask questions (explain PLCs) later approach. Then rather than acknowledging concerns and trying to address them, the BOE as usual tried to gloss over them.
Maybe if they tried revisiting the concept with a better project management approach and openness to outside the box thinking, a more overall workable solution could be found?
I have and still do and we
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 17:28 — AngelaWI have and still do and we ROCK with data, now with the capabilities of MORE and BETTER.....?? ROCK ON, we are EXCITED by this.....
PS. they did PLT's back when they were PLC'S and back before Wacky Wednesday they just found the time.....granted it's easier for them with this alloted time, but they managed quite well BEFORE...
Your experience must be at
Sat, 10/24/2009 - 07:15 — shank56Your experience must be at the elementary level that has low F&R. Leesville?
Much harder at the high school level finding times to meet, plus high schools are not at the same point that elementaries are & have been, - at least that is my experience.
Also, when new schools open, the principal has great leeway in selecting staff who will fit his/her expectations- unlike older existing schools where there are more teachers who are entrenched in a culture that a new principal inherits. Change is slower to happen at these schools. But it can be done with great principal leadership, especially when the principal has full backing of parent/PTA and staff.
The problem
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 10:50 — lferreri"the students can be assigned to a classroom based on his/ her academic and behavioral development needs"
The problem with this approach (which, in my experience, many schools are already using) is that the teachers do not assign students based on objective criteria but on race/socioeconomic status/parental power. The SAS report shows how pervasive this is. Once students are assigned to a lower track, it is virtually impossible for them to move up because they are taught less on this track. Even if they somehow manage to do well (for example, to get a high score on the EOG) they are still not placed in the higher track. The SAS report discusses only one such decision (Algebra in eighth grade) but, in my opinion, many such decisions are currently being made in the WCPSS in the same way.
How true
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 08:51 — loriac“WCPSS has a good reputation but only now do I realize it is for diversity and not for education.”
When we moved here from NY, we had also heard the 'Wake County has good schools' PR. It didn't take long to find out the real story.
Excellent points about challenging and educating EVERY student.
I can but only laugh at my
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 10:42 — red_balloonI can but only laugh at my naive thinking when we moved here. I remember telling my child upon moving to Wake county that the school here would be challenging. Two years later, my child is being taught in school what he knew when we moved here. That is not to say he has learned nothing new in the two years since but, in the core subjects of math and language arts, the progress at school borders on the ludicrous. This is a painful process of dumbing down students who can do better.
John, In the interest of
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 19:32 — RevHiDJohn,
In the interest of supporting dialog and building a vision with everyone in the community, I would encourage you to ask everyone to treat those with whom they disagree with respect. It's very hard to believe that major stakeholders will be respected when they are routinely called derogatory names like "Whack-Job" and "clueless." You are not using those names, but it is important to encourage others to follow your example so the conversation can move forward.
We all know that parents who were labeled "selfish" and "racist" did not feel respected or heard. If the new majority is going to build a community vision for improvement, you will want to avoid the same mistake.
Respect was granted
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 05:53 — woodstockRespect was granted initially, but must be earned to be maintained. Race-baiters and liars are among those who have not earned it.
A "unified vision" only comes when leaders lead and demonstrate success to the naysayers and critics. Until then, it is a battle.
Data has proven that the status quo is disenfranchising and discriminating against low-income and minority students. Anyone who continues to support the status quo must have priorities other than academic success for all students.
Ideas
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 03:43 — JTedescoHiD - I have made that request here before. I continue to ask each of us to be respectful of others as we move in the sharing of ideas. It will only add to the many road blocks in the way to building a unified vision.
I understand that you are
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 08:03 — user12345I understand that you are your own person and these other folks don't speak for you ... and I know you don't control them and they don't control you ... go John
Would that it were possible
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 20:14 — Bob_SconceConsidering that the NAACP basically just called John, the Republican Party and all the opponents of the current board a bunch of racists, I suspect things are going to get uglier.
As to the blog, it's always easy to insult when the other guy is just some screen name. And, it's always easy to take offense when you don't have the benefit of body language or tone behind a comment. Thick skins and careful writing go a long way.
As I said earlier
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 19:49 — g88ky07a LOT more could be said about people who think the way some of these folks do, but at this point I think you are right. You seem to have it all figured out so I'll drive down your road a little ways and see what I find.
If Wright, Barber and anyone else wants to have meaningful input they need to come forward and offer their hand to help, not threaten a fight or make demands or call those they don't agree with much worse than anything they've been called!
Phenomenal!
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 19:24 — g88ky07I think John Tedesco has the makings of probably one of the best school board reps ever to hold a seat in this county, if not the country!
Those that try to knock down the doors of the future because they are afraid their ethnicity is being attacked or that others want to treat them differently need to just grow up. Take a close look at the date on your latest donation check, I bet it says 2009, not 1959!
Incredible post, info and facts John! Once again you reaffirm why so many of us believe in you and what you stand for!
THANK YOU John!
Mr. Hui, I've never seen you cover something like you have this D2 chaos, but kudos to you for doing such a great job getting it ALL out there. It's almost over!
What is your plan John?
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 18:41 — occum_sharpeI am very curious to hear "the plan" for returning 7000-12,000 free and reduced lunch children of color back to Raleigh to undo the diversity plan and have neighborhood schools for them. You have to have somewhere for these kids to go and you are not going to be able to add trailers onto these "city" campuses because many of these schools are on small plots of land. With that said, it only leads one to believe that some of the Magnets will have to go! The "city" schools are old, small, and do not have the infrastructure to support extra students, so the only way to bring the students bussed for diversity back is to move the Magnet Students. That means Magnet schools like Washington, Fuller, Poe, Bugg, Conn, Hunter, Powell, Ligon, Carnage, Moore Square, Southeast Raleigh and Enloe, who are closest to the neighborhoods of the "returning" students all have a target on their backs. I want to hear the "plan" for bringing these kids back without "getting rid" of Magnet Schools. I don't see how it's possible. You can't build a KIPP school for 8000 students.
A Plan???
Sat, 10/24/2009 - 19:33 — occum_sharpeIt is very interesting how politicians like John tell the masses they are going to change things, but either have no plan or are unwilling to discuss their plan with the public (just like the old school board) until it is ramrodded through in the wee hours without public discussion.
I, like many others out there, want to hear the plan. You've made these promises to your constituents to end the diversity policy and start neighborhood schools, the magnet folks are freaking out and you are telling them to calm down and not to worry, but THERE IS STILL NO MENTION OF A PLAN!!!
It is time to reveal your intentions. Parents are going to a magnet fair in two weeks with no idea of what is going to happen. Some of them are going to be talking with Magnet schools that won't exist next year (as mentioned earlier, you can't bring 8000 kids back to Raleigh without moving or closing a few magnets.) Put your cards on the table or you will be just as unresponsive as the people you are replacing. People deserve to know now, not later.
Did you read the Dear S. letter?
Sat, 10/24/2009 - 21:18 — TrailerParkGirlFrom paragraphs two and three it sounds to me like the plan is, unlike the old school board that ramrodded things through, to have parent and community stakeholder participation in the process.
It's not like the old BOE hasn't moved magnet programs to different schools (Broughton IB to Millbrook for instance and I think it that was after the first magnet fair), so why the freaking out now? Did magnet parents also freak out every year under the old BOE? Are you one of those people in a $500K node with a current magnet base assignment or someone assigned to an early round school under the current "not really a lottery" lottery process and fear the magnet program becoming more equitable, which may not benefit you?
How will this work?
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 18:13 — occum_sharpeFor the record, my children go to a year round in the Cary area that stands to be > 95 % non Free/Reduced Lunch with the move of F/R kids back to Raleigh, and I am very interested in Magnet Schools .
Promises have been made to end the diversity policy and stop bussing. They were made here in my area and in three other districts. I know that I am restating what has already been said, but those promises can't be kept without doing away with magnet schools (once again, you can't move 8000 kids back to Raleigh without a place for them to go) and you can't do that without creating seats.
People in my area and in Garner are under the impression that this is going to happen sooner rather than later. As far as community input, do you think this means that the magnet schools whose parents show up the loudest and in the most numbers will get to keep their magnets?
Magnet parents are freaking out with good reason. They know that some of their schools are going away, they have to to make room for kids returning to Southeast Raleigh. What they don't know is which ones are losing their magnets. This decision needs to be made before parents waste all of their time researching and applying for a school that isn't going to exist next year. This needs to be the new school board's first order of business.
Conversation
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 22:08 — SDR256How's it going to work? Having stayed in this conversation for about 18 months, my reckoning is that we have a board now who will keep the conversation lines open. That's a damn sight better than where we were. I plan to continue my education about education in this county, NOT stick my head back in the sand (my kids situation has been solved for over a year) and engage in whatever conversation mechanism this board sets up. These folks are saying all the right things and I have every expectation that they have their goals set in the right place.
How about you? Willing to work at it or just hoping to have it spoon fed to ya? I'm hoping its the former.
Some thoughts
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 21:58 — TrailerParkGirlFor the record I'm in a naturally diverse area, assigned to what Millberg referred to as a "not the right" school. I was interested in magnets, too. I went the fair and the open houses thinking that diversity was a factor considered, but not realizing the extent of the non-lottery lottery process that meant we had <10% chance of acceptance until after all that. WCPSS doesn't exactly advertise it that way. Most parents that start the process think it is more like a true lottery. One parent at one of the open houses asked if it was true that it was not an actual lottery and there was a lot of shock in the audience when people were told that was the case. So, I went through the "waste all their time" experience under the old BOE.
How it will work - IMHO, I think it's a case of time will tell, but doesn't seem fair to expect to have the cake and eat it to. I'm not sure that you can on the one hand want a BOE that doesn't just ram things through and on the other hand expect the new BOE, which hasn't finished the election process yet, to announce magnet program details set in stone at their first meeting. New BOE members have said they support continuance and even expansion of magnets, that they don't plan on turning the world upside down on a dime and they want community engagement in the process. It seems their vision of that is something other than they sit behind a table and feign interest while the concerned citizens stand behind a podium and speak for three minutes until "time's up". Hopefully, there will now be some actual dialogue in the process.
Again, keep in mind that under the old BOE people were told they were accepted and could stay in a program, not a particular school and schools were demagnized and new magnets created.
I'm not sure where your 8K comes from, but not all magnets are in SE Raleigh.
Have you tried contacting the new BOE members directly with your questions?
Thank you for articulating
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 20:00 — RevHiDThank you for articulating my concerns very well. This is the reason I remain skeptical of the new board's position on magnets. I'm ok with some change, and I agree with John that the choices in the current system have been weighted to the affluent. But the idea seems low on practical specifics.
I hear nobody wants to "re-segregate." But the main thing I hear in response to concerns about this issue is that segregation by neighborhood won't be so bad, because community schools and KIPP schools are great. It doesn't add up for me yet... especially the KIPP schools. They have to be choice-enrolled only, it's part of the concept. Suburban parents didn't like summer and Saturday school attendance forced on them, but KIPP involves BOTH.
I admit I do like some of the ideas that surround Community schools... but they are a very broad concept. There's a lot to flesh out before I'll be convinced. By some definitions of "community" school, our Magnet is a community school already.
and bring your ideas and concerns to the board
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 20:08 — mbgjwaltersThen please be involved. As John said, we spent too much time in our community looking for the lines that divide us and not enough time seeking the ties that bind us.
We're going to see a more open and responsive school board. Please contact a board member about your concerns and offer to be part of the discussion.
When was the last time Mayor
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 19:55 — DrActualFactualWhen was the last time Mayor Meeker and City of Raleigh contributed some land for school infrastructure? It appears to me that if they can bring revenue in from pricey commercial development rather than devoting that land for school infrastructure they are more than willing to make that trade off. In the meantime they bus students out to other communities that have to pay for and provide that infrastructure. In the meantime it seems to rob the downtown urban community of the value that a school brings to housing. It seems that the last big project a developer dropped turned into a parking lot....just sayin he's been in office a long time, long enough to make a difference in this area if he wanted to do so.
Such lofty words....
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:24 — dubiousI will be very interested to see how this Board reacts when their devotees start demanding new schools closer to their "neighborhoods". I expect that building and renovation funding with be diverted from existing, older schools in southeast Raleigh and Garner to support construction of schools near the new developments of McMansions in northern and western Wake. I also expect that "magnet programs" will no longer be used to enhance enrollment in base schools with otherwise high levels of free or reduced lunch, as they were intended.
I hope the lofty words are genuine. I'll believe it when I see it.
John is the swing vote ...
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 17:13 — user12345John is the swing vote ... which I think he will use to ensure SE and Garner get their fair share.
What the hell are you
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 19:02 — woodstockWhat the hell are you babbling about now? You don't even make sense.
Just a suggestion, but
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 21:34 — CaryCurmudgeonJust a suggestion, but considering ignoring posts from useless1234567. I believe he is a lonely person starved for attention and if he doesn't get it here he will go elsewhere.
Are you just a troll
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 20:58 — user12345Are you just a troll following me around .. I feel honored that you feel you need reply to all my posts ... though you need to expand your brain beyond single sentences ... your are not Dad3? he use to follow me around too ...
Chortle
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 06:01 — Dadof3Follow you around? That's not quite right, but when you adore mirrors, I suppose it might seem that way. Your bizarre, self-aggrandizing irrationality has a "don't-go-there" appeal, like a criminologist who get to "into" the pathology of crime. I then realized what a complete utter waste a time it was and did the right thing. I blow through your posts now, but saw my nom de guerre here and had to look.
I'm not woodstock, but your narcissism remains unabated, you blog-responding hottie!
like a legend in his OWN
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 06:04 — AngelaWlike a legend in his OWN mind!
I prefer his words... which
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:53 — J8307200I prefer his words... which you describe as lofty... I describe as genuine care.... to your fear mongering, race baiting, divisive rhetoric!
Wake County School Mission
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:07 — chriskennedy1John,
Would suggest revising the School System Mission statement as one starting point:
"The Wake County Public School System will educate each student to be a responsible and productive citizen who can effectively manage future challenges."
Sounds a bit like the rehabilitation of prisoners before they are released back to society. I think its the parents' job to teach kids responsibility and prepare them as well for the future. I think its the schools' responsibility to educate them with fundamental mathematics, problem-solving, english language, history, social studies, and other basic skills so they can compete in local and global economies. Today, some of our kids are getting taught in career decisions in 7th grade. What a waste. They are not even exposed to all of the fundamental subjects, such as chemistry, physics, biology, classic literature, economics, etc to even contemplate career decisions.
Good luck!
focus on the basics
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:57 — red_balloonEvery kid deserves a fair chance. The WCPSS needs to quit playing lottery and diversity games. Focus on an equitable distribution of resources to all schools.
Legal?
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:54 — SDR256As I understand it, have already started busing folks in for voting. What does that mean?Is that legal if the run off has been cancelled by the one who had requested it? John shouldn't have to be 'tried' again if Cathy has quit. This isn't John running against another candidate who has stood up and said they would run, fair and square. This is John running against a whole constituency who wants to do an end run around the voter for their own agenda. In this way voters don't get the chance to choose Candidate A vs Candidate B and have them vet their ideas in public with the public. It is John shadow boxing with an unknown vacant seat holder, to be identified by shadowing unknown means and behind the curtain of mystique.
This is not how democracy is supposed to work, to my understanding.
Thanks / Sorry
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:43 — JTedescoThanks Keung for the post.
Sorry to the rest of you since now I see all the typo's and errors. Forgive me as it has been a long week.
John
no sorries needed John, you
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:54 — AngelaWno sorries needed John, you rock and we will continue to support you and get you elected DESPITE wacky Wake County and their BoElections .......
just never imagined living in the Twilight Zone.....