Cuts in education?

There has been a lot of buzz going around North Carolina lately about proposed cuts to the public schools from the state level. I'll be upfront in not understanding for one second why between Forsyth County and North Carolina, the WS/FC school system is budgeted at $7000 per child, when our small private school accomplishes more on an academic level at a fraction of that cost. Nevertheless, I pay attention. Cuts in the state budget for the '09-10 school year led to 3000 teachers losing their jobs. (1) If we lost 3000 teachers, who is teaching the children? Obviously there was not a mass exodus of students from the public school system, they are still there, but they have no one to teach them now because of a supposed "budget crunch". I thought we had an educational lottery to help cover the expense of the school systems?

(video)

According to the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education, public education revenue is drawn from three sources of government: federal, state, and local. In 2004- 2005, state government provided the largest share of public education revenues: 46.9 percent. Local governments provided 44.0 percent, and the federal government provided 9.2 percent.(2) Based on that, I wonder what North Carolina as a state, and Forsyth County is doing to ensure our children receive the best education possible. From what I am seeing now, the state is looking to cut even more from our children's educational experience through teacher furloughs, cuts in local salary supplements (and other ways) in order to save another $5.2 million for 2010-11. Is this what our children deserve? Isn't there another way?

Today, the N.C. Association of Educators will release its report cards for state legislators, giving them grades according to how well they support education issues. This will be interesting, and I wonder if the results will be published online. However, there is something else I am wondering. Who else can bring our public school system funds to cover the expenses required to help our children succeed academically in this economic climate? We know that the federal government is only responsible for 9%, the state government is 46%, but who do we look to in the local government? The School Board? They are not responsible for the financial end, right? Taxes? Goodness knows that cannot be the only answer.

What got me thinking about this was the role the Clerk of Superior Court plays in local education. In past elections I have seen the signs. I even voted I believe. But who did I vote for? I don't even remember. I do remember wondering what that position was about, and have been learning little by little recently about it. Did you know that any bond forfeitures goes straight back to the county and city school systems? I didn't. What this means, is, when someone is arrested, they are allowed to call a bondsman, and that bondsman will come make bail for them upon the agreed terms of their bail and of course that they will show up for their court date. If they do not show up for their court date, the bondsman is responsible for paying the bond in full. Apparently a bondsman can file a motion with the courts to set aside final forfeiture based on the idea that an order for arrest has been made for the person who skipped their court date. Apparently, this motion can be granted, and the person who skipped bail could be in hiding for however long, and no bond or fines are paid to the county at all.

EXCEPT ... if your Clerk of Superior Court steps in, like Brian Shipwash (3) did a few years ago in a case with two illegal aliens who skipped out on a two hundred thousand dollar bond. In this particular case, the bondsman filed the motion, and under normal circumstances it would had been allowed, forfeiture would have been delayed and the bondsman would have been allowed to continue writing bonds for others, except for the Clerk of Superior Court of Davidson County. In a September 28, 2006 Press release (4), it is said:

"Shipwash ordered that the Insurance Company be restricted from writing bonds in Davidson County, on the basis that the order for arrest had not been served. After meeting with Perry Mastromichalis, Attorney hired by Holeman, the Attorney stated they would be withdrawing the motion to set aside.

Today, Shipwash received $200,000 to go to the Davidson County Schools. Shipwash has collected more than 1.8 million dollars in his 7 ½ years as Clerk. Especially notable, Shipwash has collected more in the last 3 years than was collected in the previous 15."

I believe Forsyth could use a windfall like that. Who is our Clerk of Superior Court, anyway? I had to do some digging, but I was able to find a website of the appointee who is currently running, but that's about it. That makes me wonder if there's much to brag about accomplishment-wise in Forsyth County. Brian Shipwash (who is NOT an attorney, but an administrator) of Davidson County has a lot to brag about on his website and rightly so! I do know that this office is up for re-election every four years, and this year is election year for that position.

Who will be the best person to serve the citizens of Forsyth County in the position of Clerk of Superior Court? If they have the ambition and administrative skills to accomplish things like bringing millions of dollars back into the Winston Salem / Forsyth County School system, they are worthy of our attention, AND our vote.

- Wendy Wood

Facebook: Wendy Wood

Twitter: @CalvaryGirl

(1) Educators face tough climate

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/mar/18/educators-face-tough-climate/news-regional/

(2) Does Spending More on Education Improve Academic Achievement?

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2008/09/Does-Spending-More-on-Education-Improve-Academic-Achievement

(3) Brian Shipwash : http://brianshipwash.com

(4) Shipwash Protects School Systems - Nets $200,000.00

http://brianshipwash.com/?p=press/20060928

Stamp Malfunction

Stamp Malfunction:
The Postal service created a new stamp with a picture of President Obama on it. The Postal service noticed that the stamp was not sticking to envelopes. This enraged the President, who demanded a full investigation. After a month of testing and 1.73 million in Congressional spending, a special Presidential commission presented the following findings:

1. The stamp was in perfect order.
2. There is nothing wrong with the glue.
3. People were spitting on the wrong side.

(LOL!!)

Book review: George's Marvelous Medicine

9/5/11: Welcome to my blog! I welcome you to join me on the homepage, and lets start to get to know each other from there! :) Lets connect on Twitter, and on Facebook, too!

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Since there is no way to link to individual reviews on Amazon.com, I wanted to share one here. Overall, the reviews seem innocent enough claiming the book as a "wacky" book that should be obvious enough to children that it was not a story that should be mirrored in real life. However, with the limited instruction time that teachers already have when it comes to teaching literature in school, it would seem a wiser choice could have been made. A choice that could build up family values instead of tearing it down. The common theme in all of the reviews I read was that the grandmother was this "horrible" woman, and that the boy "hated" his grandmother. The only reason I found, in one review, was that the grandmother told the boy stories he didn't like.

In this self centered age, I believe we need to be careful of the message we send our children, especially in public schools. Kids need to hear of a life where families love each other, not hate each other. This one "kid review" really struck my eye and it seems to me that this kid was in middle school possibly. They leave some good points about what message the book sends (the emphasis' are mine.):

George's Marvelous Medicine, March 19, 2006
A Kid's Review
George's Marvelous Medicine
By: Roald Dahl
Reviewed By: S. Kim
Period: 1

George's Marvelous Medicine is about how a little boy who hates his grandmother. When it is time for him to feed his grandmother his medicine, he makes a concoction of different things. Although he was late in giving his grandmother his medicine, his grandmother still took it. You may be thinking, oh where are his parents or his guardian. Well, they left for an errand and left George's grandmother in charge. That was a bad idea, but nobody knew that George was thinking of a way to destroy his grandmother. He gave the medicine to his grandmother and something odd happened. His grandmother turned very long and tall. Her head broke up into the ceiling. She was literally taller then the house!

Then George knew there was something odd about his medicine that he put together. So he decided to try it on a hen, a pig, bullocks, sheep, a gray pony, and finally a goat. One thing that he realized in all animals was that the medicine made it get bigger in size. Obviously his parents were outraged, and needed a place where grandma can sleep, and the only place was the barn, so she slept there for a while. George and his father needed something so that it would make his grandmother smaller. So they came up with another concoction. They gave the new medicine to George's grandmother and when they did she became smaller and smaller. She was so small that you can barely hear her scream or talk. Then some how George's grandmother became smaller and then disappeared into thin air. This was a good thing for George, but at first his mother going crazy. Then after a while she said that her mom disappearing was okay.

The thing that I disliked from this book was how George didn't like his grandmother at all. There is a quote about that talks about George not liking his grandmother and it is, "He really hated that horrid old witchy woman." How can you hate your grandmother so much that you think that she is horrid and somewhat like a witch? I love my grandmother very much and would never hate her even if she did something annoying, mean, and bad. Another thing that I didn't like about the book was that George's mother didn't think it was a big deal that her mother just disappeared. In the last page of the book it says, "Ah well, I suppose it's all or the best, really. She was a bit of a nuisance around the house, wasn't she?" If it were to be my mom that disappeared I would be crying my eyes out, and every time I would think about my mom I would be sad and depressed.

The part I liked in this book was how George tried it on all the animals and they all turned into a different size. The book says, "George gave a spoonful of the medicine to the pig. The pig blew smoke from its nose and jumped about all over the place. Then it grew and grew." The pig grew so big that it was big as an elephant. The pig was already big by itself and now it just got bigger. That was a hilarious part in the book. Another part that was funny was how George mixed up everything to make replace his grandmother's medicine. It says, "A handful of grease- to grease her creaking joints." When George was picking the ingredients he was very smart about picking each one the correct way.

My favorite part of the book was how George had taken so long just to replace his grandmother's medicine. Another thing that I couldn't believe was that his grandmother believed and trusted George for the medicine, even if he was late on giving it to her. I guess she is very gullible. I think George is a very smart boy, but he uses it for evil planning. Maybe that's why it's called his marvelous medicine.