Chatham County School Daze

The following posts are extracted from the Chatham County Online Bulletin Board:

Are our kids safe in Chatham County schools?

By Gerald Totten
Posted Saturday, August 11, 2007

chathamjournal.com/weekly

This article is also in the current print issue of the Chatham Journal newspaper

Chatham County, NC - Much has been said about one of the Chatham County School’s strategic plan goals, “Healthy Students in Safe, Orderly and Caring Schools.” Every school has made a presentation of its School Improvement Plan designed to convey its interpretation of how it can best meet that goal.

After a hiatus because of a serious family illness, I hope to be back with some regularity beginning now.

Yesterday’s Board of Education meeting was a long one but one which was again overdue. The rumor about the Board of Commissioners giving the school system another $6 million was squelched. Simply stated there has been no new money made available to the school system. There IS a plan whereby some borrowing capacity by the commissioners MIGHT be available to support a well developed plan by the schools with the following caveat: The MAJORITY of the funds need to be spent at Northwood High School.

Post 24 gives a report of my activities for the week primarily concerning events and time spent on school matters. This post will have some of the meat of what took place in those events.

The high school tour on Thursday was designed to inform the Board of Commissioners of the condition of the schools and why our submitted budget request contained funds for repair and upkeep. The commissioners had their eyes opened as to the disrepair and condition our high schools have become. I had already been to Northwood and did not accompany the tour over there.

A number of posts on the Chatham Journal’s Bulletin Board chide Board of Education members for sitting on their posteriors and not doing anything about the schools. The following is just my events as a board member beginning 14 May and ending at 6 p.m. yesterday.

Last night’s meeting was largely taken up with the first reading of new and revised personnel policies. The length of time taken to discuss the policies may have caused some visitors to leave but those revisions and confirmations were way overdue and long awaited for clarification purposes. This series was probably the largest segment we will have to discuss so those of you who became bored and left, please come back!

After excellent presentations by the contracted architects and the soil and wetlands survey professionals, the Board of Education voted unanimously to procede with the next step in developing the Jack Bennett Road property for a new high school. Several questions remain such as a wider entrance into the property, a professional survey and siting of the various school components and an agreement by Aqua American that they will eliminate their opportunity to return sewage effluent to the site.

What a pleasure to attend a Parent-Teacher-Student Association meeting last night with every chair filled! I didn’t count the attendees but the multi-purpose room was packed, a fact I’d like to see at every PTSA meeting I attend. Only through such well-conducted meetings and participation by the members and guests can sincere, effective dialog be had. Thanks to everyone who made that meeting last night.

We then were entertained by an exuberant chorus of youngsters with lively songs. The group was well-trained in that there were many hand signals to accompany the singing and every child was synchronized like a Marine Corps drill team. A pleasant addition to the program indeed.

On 3 April Northwood High School’s Site Based Committee held a meeting to discuss concerns of teachers, students and parents about the environment there. Invited were members of the Board of Education (BOEd) and three of us were able to attend.

The major concerns were safety, class size and space. Nothing new to some readers but growing concerns now shared by certain members of the BOEd.

Interested crowd of spectators and contributors which added dimension to the meeting.

Major points covered were a suggestion Chatham County abolish paddling as discipline, a presentation refining Board suggestions for some improvements to Northwood and adoption of the proposed budget to be presented to the Chatham County Commissioners.

Questions were raised about the security and financing priorities of the budgeted items at some schools. It was agreed that next year the process will start earlier and the School Improvement Teams will have an opportunity to direct comments and proposals directly to the Board of Education. The screening process will be opened to the Board directly for its review and perhaps realignment of priorities.

Very full meeting but disappointing as to attendance. I certainly thought the agenda would have filled the room with interested parents but there were less than a dozen. If discussing how and where we need to build schools, potential redistricting issues and how taxpayers’ money is to be spent has little interest, what would motivate folks to come see the workings of their Board of Educaton?

The public hearing for the proposed budget had only one speaker and her concern was a welcome one. She is a teacher and pointed out a program being administered locally which, in turn, should be kept local. The proposed budget had a $50,000 staff proposal to hire an outside team which her school was running for much less.