I'm just a little pissed.

After I wrote about the implementation of school uniforms at Aycock this morning, I received an email from an Aycock parent who thought I should know about some correspondence that was forwarded to her by a school board member back in May. (which caused such correspondence to enter the public domain).

Aycock's Principal William Price's email to Dr. Grier is here.  His email refers to an earlier correspondence from parent Erica Derr's to the Board of Education as being indicative of the true sentiments of Aycock's parents.  Derr's email is here.

The emails identify anyone opposing school uniforms at Aycock as "nay-sayers" according Derr and that such opposition is "trying to cause dissention and disruption" according to Mr. Price.  Derr even uses the recent baseball stadium debate as evidence that I - and yes I take it as personal attack - am one of those "who have boundless amounts of energy for stopping any program dead in its tracks."

To characterize the leaders of the opposition to the school uniform debate in such a fashion is shameful and hurtful because many have been deeply involved with improving Aycock for many years.  As one of Derr's identified "nay-sayers" and Mr. Prices "disruptors", I say to both... "Take the good with what you consider to be the bad."

Naysayer, huh?  Disruptive you say?

Neither of them were there in 1999 when school redistricting threatened to turn Aycock into a predominantly single race school thereby destroying the diversity that the place is known for.  Derr was probably off somewhere considering "removing (her) daughter from this school" last November when I was busy advocating and raising money for Aycock's fledgling Drum Line as a way to re-involve some of Aycock's students into taking responsibility for their educations.

Do they know who it was that made the calls to get Aycock's outdoor basketball courts fixed last year?  I don't remember hearing any charges of disruption or naysaying when I was president of Aycock's PTA for two years and worked to get more folks involved in getting the school the things it needs.

Doesn't spending endless hours working to make the neighborhood surrounding Aycock Middle School a desirable and safe place where families would want to send their children count for something?  What about recent efforts to obtain a $300,000 investment in the school's athletic facilities - is that disruptive?  Is Mr. Price "appalled" at such "tactics"?

The point of my and other parent's "disruptive" actions against the implementation of school uniforms is the "top down, my-way-or-the-highway" manner in which the whole thing was handled.  I have said all along that if a true and earnest effort had been made toward getting buy-in from Aycock parents, and a such buy-in was favorable... you wouldn't have heard a peep out of me.  But that was not the case.

Instead of listening to, acknowledging, and addressing, the concerns of  parents who, according Mr. Price (who is a recent transplant from Texas), supposedly "have a history of changing policy in their favor", Aycock's administration chose to ignore ANY voices of opposition. 

Ms. Derr is so upset that someone whould have the audacity to oppose her and the administration's own "tactics" and views, that she threatens to get out of town if us "nay-sayers" don't shut the hell up and play along.  To prove her intentions, she offers this jewel, "I am so frustrated by their actions, which I believe may result in a poor-quality educational environment for my child; I am seriously considering moving to another city or another state"

Why limit yourself? I hear that Cuba and China are real nice this time of year.

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From an unposted N&R article on upcoming changes in various schools for the coming year:

"Students at Aycock Middle School will have something in common when school starts Wednesday - their clothes. Aycock has become the first middle school in Guilford County to require a more strict dress code than the district demands."

From a conversation I recently had with School Board member Kris Cooke when asked what would happen to students who don't adhere to Aycock's mandatory school uniform requirements:

"I'm not sure.  We have no policy covering it"

The School Board has been publicly mute on the implementation of school uniforms.  They have ignored repeated requests by Aycock parents for them to weigh in on a school's requirements that run contrary to their written "Student Dress Code (JCDB)" which opens with this statement:

 "The Guilford County Board of Education respects a student's right to choose his or her style of dress or appearance."

Because they have refused to either force adheremce to, or change, their written policy on school dress, it is likely that another written policy will be tested in the coming weeks - Grievances - Students/Parents (JCE).  This policy seeks to resolve grievances between parents and the administration and defines such grievances as...

...a claim based on an event or condition that adversely affects a parent or his/her child, allegedly caused by a violation, misinterpretation, or inequitable application of Federal or State statutes and/or Guilford County Board of Education policies and administrative policies or procedures...

The Board has had ample opportunity to resolve the disparity between what their policy is and what Aycock's administration has mandated but they have chosen to create strife instead of work to resolve it in the months that have ensued since the policy was first proposed.

Why does everything have to be a fight?

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The N&R's editorialists identify how the No Child Left Behind Act only helps to hasten, rather than stem, a "failing" school's decline.  Under a provision of the Act, schools who do not meet certain standards over time must provide unfettered access to nearby schools who have met the standards. 

This provision predictably causes an exodus of students whose parents are paying attention and are involved in their children's educations.  Such families are the answer to such a school's failings... not the cause of it.  Or as the N&R puts it:

"...parents of children who are struggling may be less inclined to request transfers. Many of those parents -- for reasons of poverty, English deficiency or other problems -- are not engaged enough in their children's education to exercise their options.

Schools that lose their best students will be left with higher concentrations of children who present greater challenges for teachers, making it that much more difficult to recruit and retain top educators. That could send those schools into further decline...."

Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier sees the obvious too and observes, "That's exactly what's happening."

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