Category Archives: Education

East Meets West Forsyth

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I just came across something way cool that involves my kids' high school but I only heard about it because it showed up in my "forsyth county nc" Google news alert.  From the SECCA blog:

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art would like to congratulate all of the students who recently participated in its Inside Out Classroom: Switch Video Project. During this international educational program two groups of students–one from the National Art Honor Society at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, NC; and one from Lincoln High School in Seoul, South Korea–explored and documented their communities through video and other new media tools. The students maintained an ongoing dialog using Skype™, a web-based videoconferencing software, to discuss the differences and similarities of their cultures with their counterparts. The students then “switched” or traded video footage with their counterparts who edited and finalized each other’s video. To see the students’ final videos click on this linkhttp://iiieyekids.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc.

Now that's what I call effective use of new technology in education.

$54,000?

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In a story about a proposal by NC Republicans to give a $2,500 tax credit to families who pay to educate their children at private schools there's a very interesting figure: $54,000.  That's the amount they say that North Carolina spends on each student in public schools each year.  That's an incredible number when you think about it and it leads me to ask a few questions of my own:

  • If the Summit School can educate kids for $16,000 in tuition a year why does it take almost triple that to educate public school children?  Before you start hollering about lunch programs and the like, let me say that I can understand why it has to be more expensive in general to compensate for the mandate of educating all children, no matter their economic, emotional or intellectual status, but does it really have to be three times more expensive?
  • Why wouldn't you give a $2,500 tax credit to any family that takes their kids off the public rolls?  They are literally saving you $50,000 if they send their kids to a private school or if they home school. One answer might be that the cost per child will go up because you're shrinking the pool of children, but I think that only highlights the inherent inefficiency of the system.  
  • I wrote a bit about the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools' budgeting last fall when I was befuddled by their textbook purchasing procedures.  At the time I was hoping to dig into the school budget so I could see how exactly funds are allocated, but I just haven't had the time to do it.  I'd still love to see how the school system spends its money, and after seeing the $54,000 figure I'd really like to know where it all goes. 

I have to believe that there's a better, more efficient way to get our kids educated. 

WSFCS Furlough Questions

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This morning I was reading in the Journal about the survey that the school system sent to teachers asking for their feedback about taking a one day furlough next year.  That one day would save the system $1 million, but the catch is that it would have to be taken on one of their professional days which is also known as "teacher work day" or in most households as "who am I gonna get to watch my kid today day".  That's because the school system is mandated to provide a certain number of instructional hours each year so they can't furlough the teachers on an instructional day.  After reading this I had a couple of questions:

  • The article mentioned a $9 million deficit so why wouldn't they propose two or three furlough days in order to save two or three million dollars?
  • The leader of the teacher's association said they are opposed to furloughs at this point because they know too little about next year's budget and they want to make sure that the schools have exhausted all other possibilities like program cuts. Good point, but when you read later in the article that employee salaries and benefits account for 90% of the budget you have to wonder exactly how much program cuts will add up to.  Given that it seems a reasonable question to ask about benefits.  In the private sector health benefits have been slashed over the last few years in order to better the bottom line.  How about for school system employees?  Would it make more sense to look at benefit packages for cost savings?

I don't want to sound like I'm ganging up on teachers because I truly admire what they do and having three kids in the system I truly appreciate what the good ones do every day (don't ask about the not so good).  Still, when you're looking at the economic realities you have to put everything on the table and I don't think it's unreasonable to look everywhere you can for savings.

Sen. Burr Nominates Mt. Tabor Student for Naval Academy

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Sen. Burr's press office sent out notice of his military academy nominations and two were from the Winston-Salem area, including Mt. Tabor student Jennifer Penley of Pfafftown.  Sen. Burr nominated her for the U.S. Naval Academy.  Congratulations to Jennifer, and best wishes to her especially as she gets ready to head to plebe summer.  Any kid willing to give up the half of their last summer before college and to knowingly go into the grueling atmosphere of the Naval Academy deserves our respect, big time.

One of the craziest guys I knew in high school, Andrew Heino, went to the Naval Academy and the last time I saw him at a party during our college years, he said that getting through that summer was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.  He also said his whole first year was no picnic.  I haven't seen him since then, but every once in a while I'll catch word of him.  In February, 2007 he was interviewed on CNN's Accent Health show about some of his men doing yoga and at that time he was a Lt. Colonel in the Marines.  That comes as absolutely no surprise to me.  

Heino was the guy who got me through an open water test for our SCUBA class in freezing water in a quarry in West Virginia.  On that dive the visibility was about one foot and the water was literally freezing and when we got down to the dive platform (I think it was at about 50 feet) the guy next to me went into shock and the dive instructor had to do an emergency ascent with him.  There was another instructor around but we couldn't see him and I was ready to head up, but Andrew grabbed me and signalled to sit tight.  We did and eventually the instructor came back and we finished our test.  That's the kind of guy Heino was.  Also, he could recite every line of Apocalypse Now verbatim from memory, and I guess that says something too. Heck, the fact that he talked me into taking a SCUBA class says a whole lot about him.

School Board: Dump the Sheriff and Get On the Gang Net

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Recent actions by the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools has caused me some concern and prompted me to ask a couple of questions.  First came word that they want to put the school resource officer contract up for bid, effectively putting the sheriff's office on notice that a renewal of the current contract isn't a given. Actually there isn't even a contract at this point, so let's call it an agreement. Then in last night's meeting when they set the legislative agenda the schools' attorney said that they are talking to state Rep. Dale Folwell about introducing legislation to allow the school system to access the state law enforcement agencies' gang database known as Gang Net.  They want to be able to see if students are listed.

So here are my questions:
  • Have the schools taken into account the relationships that the school resource officers have developed with the staff and students at the various schools?  I understand that there are budgetary issues, but I hope that they take those relationships into account when they evaluate the proposals.  The SROs have literally spent years getting to know the schools they work in and just as a police officer who knows a neighborhood is considered more effective than an officer who parachutes in, I suspect that SROs who know their schools are more effective than someone fresh off the street.  I'm not saying that a different department or a private contractor couldn't build up similar relationships over time, but I am saying that I think the school system should keep that in mind as they evaluate bids. 
  • Speaking of private contractors, what are the odds that Blackwater will bid on this contract? 
  • About the Gang Net thing: I thought juvenile records were sealed. If so how can law enforcement agencies open those records to the schools even if there's a state law passed?  I absolutely understand the desire to know if gang members are in the schools, but I just don't know how the database can be opened to agencies outside of law enforcement and still protect the minors' identities.  I'm not trying to be obtuse, I'm just trying to understand. 

Volunteers Needed for WSFCS Eggstravaganza

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The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce sent out an email asking for volunteers for the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools' annual egg drop competition on February 21.  Volunteers will need to be at Hanes Mall at 8:00 a.m. and the event is scheduled to run until 1:00 p.m.  I might do it just to wear one of the lab coats they provide to all volunteers.

If you're interested just visit the volunteer registration web page and sign up.

Phone Trees and TV are So, Like, Old

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I was out last night when the Winston-Salem Forsyth County schools announced today's closure, so my kids called to tell me and to inform me that they were planning on staying up to the wee hours to celebrate.  When I asked them how they heard about the closing they said they'd gotten a text alert from their school's Facebook account.  How very 2009, huh?

When I looked for the West Forsyth account and tried to "friend" it I found that it was moderated, which means they have to approve me as a "friend" in order to see the West Forsyth page.  That's good to know.  I asked the kids if it was an official school page and they said they thought so.  If it's not an official school account then someone could send out bogus info, say a false school closing, but if it is real then my hat goes off to the school for reaching the kids where they live.

When I was looking at this I also saw that the West Forsyth administrator also created a weather info group for all of Winston-Salem Forsyth County schools which is public.  Another good idea.

BTW, I hate to say I told you so.

Prediction: At Least a 2 Hour Delay Announced by 11 Tonight

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Given that we live in North Carolina and that we have a school system that once called off school due to a forecast of snow and stuck to it when the snow didn't appear, and that we have a forecast of 1-3 inches of snow, I'm predicting that we'll have a minimum of a two hour delay announced by the time the news airs at 11 tonight.  If we see any precipitation before then I'm guessing we'll have a full-blown cancelation by 11.

Now back to your regular programming.  

Homeschool Nation – North Carolina, Blog by Local Homeschooler

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There appears to be a new blog for homeschoolers here in the Triad. Actually, upon further review it looks like it's just new to me.  Anyway, Homeschool Nation – North Carolina has posts about homeschoolers' drivers ed (available for free to homeschoolers in Forsyth County at their local high schools), field trip ideas and a link to a Fox8 feature about the homeschoolers' football team among other things.  Looks like lots of good information for local homeschoolers.

WSFCS Spring Break Schedule and Snow Day Make Up Policy

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The Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools made it official today by announcing that the day of school our kids missed due to the 1/2 inch of snow on Tuesday will be made up on March 30, the first day of spring break.  It's no surprise that they are scheduling the make up day for March 30 because they literally printed it in the handbook they distributed at the beginning of the school year, but that doesn't mean the policy is smart.  Here's why I think the policy is dumb:

  • The first two make up days are March 30 and 31 the Monday and Tuesday of spring break, and realistically smack dab in the middle of the break since most people who use it as vacation would start on the previous Friday or Saturday. 
  • The final two scheduled make up days are June 11 and 12, the first two days of summer break which are a Thursday and Friday.  Why not make the first two make up days the summer days since most people won't have vacations scheduled to begin on a Thursday or Friday, while many people will have vacations scheduled for spring break?    
Why not default to the summer break as the first make up days?  For those families with both parents working it's one less day of summer that they have to worry about day care. Sure you could argue that they'd have to pay for day care on March 30, but I think many more people will have scheduled vacation on spring break precisely because they had to find someone to watch the kids that entire week anyway.  Why not take vacation and have some fun with it?

Finally, the school administrators know that people will schedule vacation for spring break even though the make up schedule is communicated at the beginning of the year and every year when people complain I'm sure they say, "We told you so!"  Why put yourself in that position unnecessarily?  Like I said, I think it's a dumb policy for everyone concerned.