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[btango]

I think one board member does hav children in the South district. Not 100% on that.

Doubtful Earnhart knows Superintendent Griffin but I am guessing he follows politics closely on the state level.

Having four separate fully functioning school districts with seperate superintendents? The county has trouble paying for one. How would having four work and how would you determine district lines? How would you divide the tax base? You would see a more severe case if "have and have nots".

 

[bulldog nation2014]

To the world outside NC this is not uncommon at all as far as having seperate districts per school. In all reality in the long run you would save money additionally the money would be used wisely. Keep in mind when ACS was it's own district it had $2 million in a war chest which is ultimately why, as far as I have been told SCS was so motivated to bring them in. They not
Only wanted that money but needed it.

Much like our current medical insurance system the ACA one size does not
Fit all. If you have these seperate entities they can now do what's in the best interest of the schools. The bias for the most part is removed.

I have been a part of and my kids have been a part of this type of system and it has been some of the best schools we have been apart of. The need for SCS central office would not be needed this saving money to allocate towards the admin of our county schools. Taxes would be easy. The people and businesses in those school district pay taxes and those tax dollars would go toward that school district. As far as district lines the first thing would be all kids in Albemarle city limits would goto ACS just like all kids from locust would goto WSHS and so on. It would bring a sense of community pride as well.

 

[Dogs9]

Todd Swaringen has children who attend Aquadale.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

Wasn't that another school that was mentioned about keeping open? So essentially all schools that the boards kids attend would remain open? Interesting.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

You wonder if they proposed to close one of the schools that their kids went to of this would still be dragging out? Probably not and they probably wouldn't have many friends. So why drag it out now?

 

[Earnhardt Forever]

Four school districts within Stanly County would not work. You have to look at the population increases/decreases throughout the county. Locust and possibly Richfield is where we will see the most growth in the next 10 to 15 years. Unless Albemarle revives and retools its economy you won't see many people migrating to Albemarle. You would see fights among fights among the school districts to move lines. You would also see more and more families pull their kids out of public education when nothing positive occurs.

I also believe any reference that the School Board rammed these plans down the throats of its citizens is overstated. The School Board came up with two plans/proposals to address the much needed improvements for the county. The Board knows it's not going to get any more money from Raleigh and if anything it will get less. The County Commissioners are then responsible to come up with funding the rest of funds needed to run the schools. This decrease in funding by the state started around 2009 so this is a situation that has not been addressed whatsoever the past 6 years. The Board presented these plans to the public and as a result people overreacted. The Board made it very clear to the public that they were open to express their opinions and to present any other plans to the Board. In fact, one person actually presented a plan to the Board.

Rep Burr has done nothing whatsoever to help the schools. If he saw a need to improve the schools he would have started trying to fund the schools from the state level. Why wouldn't he try and get the legislature to increase funding? Well, that answer is politics and he knows that increased spending for the schools will not help out his political career. Instead, he offers a bill for recall elections without even grandfathering the current board members. That in itself is very telling. He's punishing the Board for having the audacity to even come up with a plan. At the same time his own elected position is not open for recall. That's another telling sign.

Burr's idea to make the School Board a partisan event also does nothing to improve the quality of education. Why make it a Democrat or Republican event? The answer is that Stanly County is by and large a very Republican county and Burr is a Republican. By getting people elected to the Board as Republicans, he's got another potential ally and can leverage these relationships for his own advantage. This has nothing to do with education but everything to do with politics and power.

Burr's deal with the George Washington portraits is nothing more than throwing cold water on the teachers of North Carolina. Most people believe that teachers are unpaid. Spending money on these portraits have nothing to do with the quality of education. Digging deeper, we should all wonder who will profit from such a deal.

And lastly, Burr has shown no class at all with his attacks on anyone who disagrees with his narrow-minded stance. His attacks on a particular County Commissioner has been shameful. He has distorted the truth to many and they are eating this up like ice cream.

I'd have no problem at all if Burr just told the truth or allowed others to espouse their opinions regarding Plan A and B. Logistically closing Albemarle would be the worst thing to happen to the county. Albemarle has already sacrificed so much for the rest of the county when the city schools agreed to merge with the county.

I don't blame the Board for coming up with some type of plan to improve quality instruction. The Board knows it has to get this right or it's going to set back the entire county for a generation. The sales tax referendum must be passed or you will see the quality of instruction decrease even more.

 

[Buddy Rich]

Just read on ACES about an internal investigation they did and here are the results. Projected enrollment at the 4 high school for 2016 are as follows. AHS 545 or 74 % of capacity. SSHS 594 or 89% of capacity. WS 934 or 109% of capacity and NS 694 or 105 % of capacity. These do not include mobile classrooms. Both WS and NS are landlocked so how in the world could they handle these students if they closed AHS and SSHS. I know these are just projections but they had to get these numbers from somewhere. Don't think they just made them up. Just shows me how dumb and stupid these 2 plans are and how little foresight went into them. Until someone shows me other wise I have to lay this on Dr Griffin.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

Four school districts within Stanly County would not work. You have to look at the population increases/decreases throughout the county. Locust and possibly Richfield is where we will see the most growth in the next 10 to 15 years. Unless Albemarle revives and retools its economy you won't see many people migrating to Albemarle. You would see fights among fights among the school districts to move lines. You would also see more and more families pull their kids out of public education when nothing positive occurs.

I also believe any reference that the School Board rammed these plans down the throats of its citizens is overstated. The School Board came up with two plans/proposals to address the much needed improvements for the county. The Board knows it's not going to get any more money from Raleigh and if anything it will get less. The County Commissioners are then responsible to come up with funding the rest of funds needed to run the schools. This decrease in funding by the state started around 2009 so this is a situation that has not been addressed whatsoever the past 6 years. The Board presented these plans to the public and as a result people overreacted. The Board made it very clear to the public that they were open to express their opinions and to present any other plans to the Board. In fact, one person actually presented a plan to the Board.

Rep Burr has done nothing whatsoever to help the schools. If he saw a need to improve the schools he would have started trying to fund the schools from the state level. Why wouldn't he try and get the legislature to increase funding? Well, that answer is politics and he knows that increased spending for the schools will not help out his political career. Instead, he offers a bill for recall elections without even grandfathering the current board members. That in itself is very telling. He's punishing the Board for having the audacity to even come up with a plan. At the same time his own elected position is not open for recall. That's another telling sign.

Burr's idea to make the School Board a partisan event also does nothing to improve the quality of education. Why make it a Democrat or Republican event? The answer is that Stanly County is by and large a very Republican county and Burr is a Republican. By getting people elected to the Board as Republicans, he's got another potential ally and can leverage these relationships for his own advantage. This has nothing to do with education but everything to do with politics and power.

Burr's deal with the George Washington portraits is nothing more than throwing cold water on the teachers of North Carolina. Most people believe that teachers are unpaid. Spending money on these portraits have nothing to do with the quality of education. Digging deeper, we should all wonder who will profit from such a deal.

And lastly, Burr has shown no class at all with his attacks on anyone who disagrees with his narrow-minded stance. His attacks on a particular County Commissioner has been shameful. He has distorted the truth to many and they are eating this up like ice cream.

I'd have no problem at all if Burr just told the truth or allowed others to espouse their opinions regarding Plan A and B. Logistically closing Albemarle would be the worst thing to happen to the county. Albemarle has already sacrificed so much for the rest of the county when the city schools agreed to merge with the county.

I don't blame the Board for coming up with some type of plan to improve quality instruction. The Board knows it has to get this right or it's going to set back the entire county for a generation. The sales tax referendum must be passed or you will see the quality of instruction decrease even more.

Four schools in stanly county would work please research clinton county OH demographics. Actually their 4 schools are almost identical to income and size as stanly. This has been and currently being done

 

[btango]

Keep in mind when ACS was it's own district it had $2 million in a war chest which is ultimately why, as far as I have been told SCS was so motivated to bring them in.

I have been a part of and my kids have been a part of this type of system and it has been some of the best schools we have been apart of. The need for SCS central office would not be needed this saving money to allocate towards the admin of our county schools. Taxes would be easy. The people and businesses in those school district pay taxes and those tax dollars would go toward that school district. As far as district lines the first thing would be all kids in Albemarle city limits would goto ACS just like all kids from locust would goto WSHS and so on. It would bring a sense of community pride as well.

As I have written Albemarle City Schools could not have sustained the pace and expenditures they were on without more tax increases. The Albemarle of today is not the Albemarle of 25 years ago. The profit once made from the electrical grid and water systems was huge due to the amount of those services used by the factories which are almost all closed.

All Albemarle students could not go to Albemarle only elementary schools as they are over 100% capacity now. The money to reopen North would be sizable. If you took the students from the South district that live in the city limits how many students would be lost? Where would the line be drawn between South and North or North and West? Would there be one entity that would draw those lines?

The system did not fall apart overnight and it will not be repaired in a day.

 

[btango]

Just read on ACES about an internal investigation they did and here are the results. Projected enrollment at the 4 high school for 2016 are as follows. AHS 545 or 74 % of capacity. SSHS 594 or 89% of capacity. WS 934 or 109% of capacity and NS 694 or 105 % of capacity. These do not include mobile classrooms. Both WS and NS are landlocked so how in the world could they handle these students if they closed AHS and SSHS. I know these are just projections but they had to get these numbers from somewhere. Don't think they just made them up. Just shows me how dumb and stupid these 2 plans are and how little foresight went into them. Until someone shows me other wise I have to lay this on Dr Griffin.

I saw those numbers Buddy but I think they took the numbers from the current grades dropping the junior and senior class and adding in the 7th and 8th grade class. I am not sure if this is what they did but it appears this may be. If so, that does not work. Class size decreases as students go up in grade unless the district has people move in. That is a standard rule of thumb on education. Note I am not sure that is what ACES did and I am a proponent of ACES.

 

[Buddy Rich]

I am also a proponent of ACES.

 

[btango]

bulldog nation the one thing that throws me off when I look at states with a heavy private/Parochial school population is how many students are in those schools and not the publics. How many dollars come from the local government and how much from the state. Ohio has a little less than 10% more public school students. Ohio puts more dollars to their public education than NC by about 15% but the local governments put about 10% less in the budget. So in NC the locals put more in percentage wise but we would be expected for that to increase? I think the issue in NC is we do not support education as a state as strongly as we should and that is an embarrassment for a state with the resources that we have.

 

[btango]

I would vote for Johnny Mullis for school board if he ran and I lived in Stanly County. He will always be Johnny to me.

 

[Earnhardt Forever]

bulldog nation the one thing that throws me off when I look at states with a heavy private/Parochial school population is how many students are in those schools and not the publics. How many dollars come from the local government and how much from the state. Ohio has a little less than 10% more public school students. Ohio puts more dollars to their public education than NC by about 15% but the local governments put about 10% less in the budget. So in NC the locals put more in percentage wise but we would be expected for that to increase? I think the issue in NC is we do not support education as a state as strongly as we should and that is an embarrassment for a state with the resources that we have.

I agree 100%. Comparing Clinton County OH to Stanly County NC actually shows why the School Board is in such a pickle. The local counties have to pony up much more in NC than in OH, not to mention that the tax system in OH is much different than in NC which causes more constraints to our county systems. What Stanly County needs to do is look at the better school districts in North Carolina and see whether they can implement process improvements that will abide by applicable governmental laws, rules, and regulations.

 

[sway1532]

Well it's obvious that I've missed a lot of chatter on this post

I can give you guys a little insight on the proposed "Plan A" with the STEM program.

Sylvan Learning Center located beside Radio Shack in Albemarle had a STEM demonstration about two weeks ago that I took my child too. Like I said, I'm all for the advancement of our children education, but that program will "NOT" work at the high school level unless they bring in some freaking geniuses to teach those students how to build NASA robots or program for Google. Me being an IT guy, I was asking them questions that they could not answer to my liking..... So if they were going to go with Plan A, they better get someone who's "Over Qualified" to teach. Salary would be an easy 100K starting out.

But for elementary it would be good. Honestly they only have two courses for building Robots, so I wouldn't know how they would install that at a high school level with really really advanced courses without getting exposed to coding or programming at the elementary or Jr. High level....idiots

As far as AHS Football goes, there will be some this fall, next fall, and so on and so on. There was never a doubt in my mind that we weren't going to have any. So YVC get your jock straps ready because it go time .

 

[Buddy Rich]

Good to hear from you sway. I was getting a little concerned. I'm tired of all this other crap. I'm also ready for some Bulldogs F O O T B A L L !!!!!!

 

[Dogs9]

I agree Buddy but I still haven't heard for sure if Doug Talbert was coming back as head coach. I know he said if it was just for one year and then they closed the school or did away with the football program he said he wouldn't take the head job.

 

[Buddy Rich]

I can fully understand Doug's position. This damn BOE just keeps dragging things out and leaving people hanging. Wonder how they would like it if the shoe was on the other foot!

 

[sway1532]

Yeah Buddy, I've been taking it easy. Just enjoying my new born and life itself.

 

[btango]

The BOE put out several weeks ago that regardless of the any plan that no high school would close next year. The issue was that Albemarle would close for a year and move the students out while they prepared the school for the changes and those students would then move a second time. SCS realized that did not work.

I have been thinking for more than a month that AHS would be business as usual next year. The biggest question had been the elementary schools.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

The issue is we are all assuming business as usual but to my knowledge nothing has been said. And regarding the half thought out plans it was said in this plans that Albemarle would shut down immediately following the school year. I believe in Plan A it stated this and that is plan Dr. Griffin is favoriting correct?

 

[btango]

The issue is we are all assuming business as usual but to my knowledge nothing has been said. And regarding the half thought out plans it was said in this plans that Albemarle would shut down immediately following the school year. I believe in Plan A it stated this and that is plan Dr. Griffin is favoriting correct?

There was information put out that Albemarle students would not be moved more than one time if the school was shut which meant if Plan A were implemented the school would remain open next year. I read that well over a month ago and posted it on this site. I think I may have did a copy and paste. There were two items that I referenced and was questioned about and this was the one I was able to find after I wrote about it. The other, which I cannot remember what it was, I could not locate.

 

[Earnhardt Forever]

News Flash!

Albemarle High School will be operating during the 2015-16 school year.

Btango, is that sufficient? I don't want anyone to think I have a "hidden agenda" or anything.

 

[Buddy Rich]

After reading the Snap's report on the school board meeting Tuesday night I'm just not sure I like where Dr. Griffin is coming from. She reported that Plan B was complete but that Plan A needed some adjustments. Without major adjustment in these 2 plans they are junk to me. I'm afraid that Dr Griffin is going to push these plans on the school board. To me she doesn't seem interested in looking at alternatives. While I still believe nothing will happen for the coming school year, it looks to me like these 2 plans are not going to go away. If she continues to shove these plans in front of us, I think she needs to seek employment elsewhere. Somebody tell me I'm wrong!!!!!! Please!

 

[Sleehrat84]

More buzz . I won't let it out, but big news coming out today.

 

[Buddy Rich]

You're really just a big tease, nipit. lol

 

[btango]

Sleeh that is an understatement. When that comes out it is going to make people talk even more especially with the BOE situation and the time of the year. That is the surprise to me the timing.

Wow is all I can say if that is the deal.

 

[Buddy Rich]

Well we're all waiting for the big news! btango? nipit?

 

[sway1532]

Please share. I have my pop corn.

 

[Abiggdogg11]

Anyone living in "good ole Stanly County" can tell you. If it's news today, we (as residents) won't find out until a week later. Things tend to move a little slow.

 

[Buddy Rich]

Unless you have an affair, then it's out before you can get home.lol

 

[Sleehrat84]

I guess we'll just have to wait until this goes viral. I am not Koala-fied to share this, but this changes everything. (In the words of ol' Nipit..."This is BIG. Real BIG.")

 

[Buddy Rich]

OK Barney.

 

[sway1532]

Whatever it is, I will not be surprised. I'd rather see Albemarle go back to its own and cut ties with SCS as a whole....maybe that's what it is.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

What's the BIG news??

 

[Buddy Rich]

Nipit and Btango know but their sitting on it, nation.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

That's wrong on so many levels lol.

 

[btango]

Whatever it is, I will not be surprised. I'd rather see Albemarle go back to its own and cut ties with SCS as a whole....maybe that's what it is.

Not even in the ballpark. That one has left the toilet and went through the system.

 

[bulldog nation2014]

So what are we just suppose to keep guessing lol

 

[Buddy Rich]

Sorry I'm tired of this little game, btango. If you're not going to tell us, why even bring it up!!!!!!