goodschoolz.org

Flint O’Brien and David Hamm won School Board seats for district 1 & 2. Sally Kost and Mike Cross won County Commissioner seats for district 1 & 2.

The hottest race by far was District 1 School Board race with Flint O’Brien and Mia Munn. This race was decided by early voters who came out in record numbers. Both campaigns had people manning the county’s three early voter polling places to plug their candidates. O’Brien credits his victory to the work he’s put in over the past 2 years advocating for good schools, the support of the Chatham Coalition, the support of the Democratic party, and the support of many many individuals. Continue reading »

GoodSchoolz endorses two county commissioners and two school board candidates. Continue reading »

by Matt Dees, N&O Staff Writer

Chatham County Commissioner Patrick Barnes was ousted by challenger Sally Kost on Tuesday night, according to unofficial election results. With all 19 precincts reporting, Kost led Barnes 60 percent to 40 percent.

In the other Democratic primary, District 2 incumbent Mike Cross appeared to hold off a spirited challenge from Jeffrey Starkweather. Cross led by 10 percentage points. Starkweather’s chances might have been hurt by a third candidate, Armentha Lee Davis, who received about a quarter of the vote.

Kost said she wants Chatham County government to be more responsive to residents’ concerns and find more money for schools. “We need to be much more collaborative,” said Kost, chairwoman of the county’s planning board. “We’ve got to make schools our highest priority. We do that by finding money in the budget, by establishing goals and priorities.”

More at N&O http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/chatham/story/1063799.html

GoodSchoolz congratulates Cross and Kost on their wins and for running a very clean, respectful, and issue-based campaign. We look forward to working with them on improving Chatham County schools.

GoodSchoolz is endorsing Sally Kost and Jeffrey Starkweather for Chatham County Commissioners in district 1 & 2. They are running against incumbents Patrick Barnes and Mike Cross.

Flint O’Brien, one of GoodSchoolz founders said, “I know Sally and Jeffrey. I trust them. We need their help in our effort to make all schools good schools. ” O’Brien went on to say, “It’s the county commissioners that allocate funds to build schools, renovate schools, and provide competitive teacher pay - or not. We need to keep moving forward.”

GoodSchoolz asked Kost and Starkweather the following questions on school issues. Here are their replies… Continue reading »

The Chatham County Board of Education has selected Robert Logan as its unanimous choice to be the next Superintendent of Chatham County Schools. Logan will begin working in the district on May 15. Continue reading »

Board of Education meeting (BOE) March 17, 2008 at Bonlee

The Board dropped all plans to reassign North Chatham students to Horton Middle and promised one mobile classroom for next school year and possibly more. Bennett and Silk Hope were also promised one additional mobile classroom each. All reassignment options were dropped due to overwhelming opposition from parents. The Board did not discuss any solutions for North Chatham overcrowding in the 2009-10 school year. Continue reading »

Board of Education meeting (BOE) March 10, 2008 at Central Office, Pittsboro
Pete Rubinas and John Zaremba contributed to this report.

To solve overcrowding at North Chatham over the next two years, the board said a pod is too expensive, Woods Charter space is unworkable, and reassignment to Horton Middle is the preferred solution. The board asked the superintendent to come back with various scenarios to decide which grades would move to Horton Middle next school year. No decision was made.

The new middle school at Briar Chapel was supposed to open August 2009, but the school board dropped the ball. Now the new middle school will open in April 2010. That’s two more years of overcrowding at North Chatham and Perry Harrision until their middle school students move to the new middle school at Briar Chapel. Continue reading »

Citizen advocates Sally Kost and Jeffrey Starkweather are running as a team in the Democratic primary for Chatham County Commissioners from Districts 1 and 2 respectively.

The Chatham Coalition has been working with GoodSchoolz to make school funding a priority in Chatham. Continue reading »

Board of Education meeting (BOE) February 25, 2008 at North Chatham School

The OR/Ed. group from NC State presented the latest school growth estimates which are lower than previous estimates. Among other findings, it said that, “Since the board recently decided to expand Northwood High to 1200 students, the new northeast high school is no longer valid.” When the board was asked to respond to this, board chair Kathie Russell said, “We’re not changing our plans,” meaning the board still intends to build the new high school (opening in 2011) and expand Northwood (completed in 2010). Continue reading »

Board of Education meeting (BOE) February 25, 2008 at North Chatham School

Around a hundred North Chatham parents and teachers showed up at the school board meeting Monday and demanded to hear the plan for fixing overcrowding at North Chatham School. The new Briar Chapel Middle School was recently delayed a year, so major overcrowding relief is now two years away instead of one. Board members responded by saying they were playing catch-up and were dependent on the County Commissioners for funding. After parents spoke, board members did not offer any plans for managing the next two years of overcrowding at North Chatham. Continue reading »

Committee to Elect Peter Rubinas
Contact: 919-302-7054, email: prubinas.chatham@gmail.com

Chatham County parent Pete Rubinas filed today as a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Chatham County Board of Education. School Board District 2 is Pittsboro and Manns Chapel.

“My interest in serving on the Board of Education began over two years ago when I participated in the first Citizens College organized by Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities,” said Rubinas. “I was struck by the breadth of the challenges facing our school system, including the significant challenges associated with the County’s rapidly growing and changing population.” Continue reading »

Committee to Elect Flint O’Brien
Contact: 919-260-8411, email: flint@flintobrien.com

Flint O’Brien, a Chatham County parent with a history of activism for good schools, today (Monday, February 18th) filed as a candidate for the Chatham County Board of Education in District 1 (Northeast precincts: Williams, Bynum, & New Hope).

“Many Chatham parents and residents know that I’ve been pushing for improvements in our schools for some time now,” O’Brien said. “I’ve watched some Chatham families grow frustrated with the lack of progress in our schools and the only solution they see is to leave the county. This has to change; and working from the outside just isn’t working. That’s why I’m running for Chatham school board.” Continue reading »

From the NY Times - Jan. 2, 2008.

The stress of teaching is often blamed on rowdy students and unrealistic expectations from school officials. But new research suggests that parents may be the real culprit in teacher burnout. Continue reading »

If you are interested in Chatham County schools, please come to a meeting on Tuesday, January 22nd at 7 p.m. at Horton Middle School multi-purpose room.

The Chatham County Board of Education is conducting this meeting in order to establish Community Focus Groups.  These groups can organize around any topic of interest which will benefit our schools.  We encourage everyone to come out to this meeting and bring your ideas, or if you don’t have any specific ideas just come out to join a group that catches your interest.  Some groups that have been proposed so far are School Nutrition/Utilize locally produced food, Teacher Retention/Incentive program, Drama in the Schools, and middle school football.  There are many ideas yet to come! Continue reading »

When the members of the Chatham Board of Commissioners welcomed the county’s new interim school superintendent last week, their chairman took the opportunity to remind him of certain “high priority projects,” including the planned middle school in the Briar Chapel development and the proposed high school at Jack Bennett and Lystra Roads.

“We especially need the new middle school and high school as fast as we can get them,” commissioners’ chair George Lucier told interim superintendent David Bryant, who took office on January 2 and who will serve until the county Board of Education selects a permanent superintendent by July 1. Continue reading »

Dr. David Bryant, Chatham County’s new interim school superintendent, was formally introduced to the five members of the county Board of Commissioners at a commissioners’ meeting last week. Bryant, who served as Chatham schools’ director of secondary education from 2001 through 2005, was presented by school board member Gerald Totten as “an experienced administrator with a good working knowledge of our county and its needs.” Continue reading »

Members of the Chatham County Board of Education voted unanimously on Monday to elect member Kathie Russell as the new board chair.  Member Norman Clark, who has served as chair for the past two years, was elected vice chair of the board.  (Board rules limit members to two consecutive years as chair.)  Russell is an attorney and Clark is a fire department officer.

Board of Education meeting (BOE) December 10, 2007

At its meeting on Monday, the Chatham County Board of Education instructed an assistant superintendent to continue to discuss a reduction in the Lystra Road speed limit in front of the North Chatham School. Assistant superintendent David Moody was asked to review with NCDOT officials the possibility of implementing a buffer of 35 miles per hour between the road’s existing limits of 55 and 25 mph. This safety issue will be back on the BOE’s agenda in January.

Board member Holly Duncan asked that the subject of realigning school attendance areas be placed on the board’s agenda for its January 14 meeting. “We hope that our review of districts will lead to relief of overcrowding at North Chatham and other county schools,” she explained. Continue reading »

By Carol S. Dweck, Scientific American Mind

Hint: Don’t tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life.

A brilliant student, Jonathan sailed through grade school. He completed his assignments easily and routinely earned As. Jonathan puzzled over why some of his classmates struggled, and his parents told him he had a special gift. In the seventh grade, however, Jonathan suddenly lost interest in school, refusing to do homework or study for tests. As a consequence, his grades plummeted. His parents tried to boost their son’s confidence by assuring him that he was very smart. But their attempts failed to motivate Jonathan (who is a composite drawn from several children). Schoolwork, their son maintained, was boring and pointless. more »

Board of Education meeting (BOE), Nov. 26, 2007

The board voted to hire Ed Dunlap of North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) to head the search for the next superintendent. This is the same firm used for the last superintendent search two years ago. Superintendent Dr. Hart is leaving at the end of this year. The board met in closed session to discuss interim superintendent candidates.

Board members attended the opening ceremony (press release) for Virginia Cross Elementary (website). The school opened for students in kindergarten through fifth grade on Monday, October 22.

Dale Smith with Dixon-Hughes presented the audit report of Chatham County Schools’ finances for 2006-07. The auditors give the county good marks for financial accounting - there were no major findings.