UNTHINKABLE AND UNCONSCIONABLE

Well, here's the latest in the "challenge the school law" saga. I share this with you because the final outcome of all of this could be a precedent-setting decision for every school system in NC. As my last post explains, the Department of Public Instruction recently sent a letter informing Guilford County that they were not adhering to the law by setting make-up days as late as June 15th. That is indeed the case. Well... the Guilford County school board members voted to ignore that "ruling".

In steps the newly appointed head of the State Board of Education, William Harrison - the man who Governor Perdue tapped to take charge of education in NC, thus making June Atkinson's elected position as Superintendent of Public Instruction an office "in name" only. Mr. Harrison referred to DPI's sending of their letter as "an error", and stated that local boards could indeed revise the ending date of school if they deemed it "necessary". Whoa - big can of worms opened there!

Anyway, here's a link to Mr. Harrison's letter to the Guilford County School Board.

Here's a link to a letter I wrote that was published in last week's Rhino Times in Greensboro (before Harrison's decision)

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Letters-15991.112113_School_snow_days.html

Here are copies of letters to the editor of the Greensboro News and Record

The school board models wrong kind of behavior

Your article, “Vote defies state on snow days” (March 11), fails to point out the unintended message sent to schoolchildren throughout the county: Guilford County Schools can pick and choose which law to follow.

Schoolchildren aren’t necessarily going to understand Jill Wilson’s argument that the state law is too vague. I do not believe the law is vague. I was part of the grass-roots “Save Our Summers” movement to contain the impact of the school calendar on family life. It is a shame there has to be a law to give families and children time to live free of the rat race of school. It is a crime to not follow that law. If Guilford County Schools does not have consequences, children will be taught that following a law is not really important. Education is about actions as much as it is about words.

Libby Thompson
Greensboro

Posted at the News & Record on March 16, 2009 3:00 AM Permalink

School board's defiance presents a poor example

Congratulations to the Guilford County school board. What a wonderful example you are making to your students, staff and the community at large. We don’t like the state rules; therefore, we will ignore them. The date of June 10 for the last day of school was set in state law by the Legislature. Saying the law does not apply to us is like telling the highway patrolman, “Sure I was doing 80 in a 65, but so were others; therefore, it’s OK.”
Shame, shame, shame.
Richard Schroer
Oak Ridge

Posted at the News & Record on March 13, 2009 3:00 AM Permalink