An open letter from Hood Richardson to the School Board

Issue a simple order




	Hood Richardson, County Commissioner

December 15, 2009

By Hood Richardson, Beaufort County Commissioner

The Beaufort County School Board and the County Commissioners have battled for years. The fracas has gone thru the County jail, the State Supreme Court, various school construction sites, illegals in the school system, Chicken Gate, partial truths, half truths and no truths, secret funds, overbuilt schools, phony budgets and the SBI.

The latest incident involves the presentation of information about various grants at the December 8th Commissioners meeting, and specifically about a quarter million dollar grant they have to teach our teachers how to teach U. S. History.




	Interim Superintendent John Conway

End of Course test scores have shown for the last several years that our students do poorly in U. S. History. In 2008 only a little more than half (57%) passed the state test. At best, 1 out of 3 of our students fails U. S. History year in and year out. Several students have reported that they were not well prepared in history when they got to college.

My concern, and that of other commissioners, is not only whether our students are learning U. S. History but whether they are learning the right things in U. S. History. So that is why I asked for a report from the School Board. We still don't know the answer to those two questions.

Once again we were flooded with paper that meant very little. But one thing it did say was this quarter million dollar grant was not teaching our teachers how to teach the most important part of our nation's history...the founding of our Republic. (1750-1790). This is the period that led up to our independence and includes the development of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We can't afford for that period to be left out. There are too many parallels between those days and what we are experiencing right now to not understand that period.

A few days before the Commissioners meeting there was information from the school system that no one was going to make a presentation. Documents would be given to the Commissioners and someone would possibly answer questions we were informed. This is code for "We are going to give you more pages of boiler plate stuff than you will ever be able to read and understand," a sure fire signal that the game of smoke and mirrors was continuing. There was some complaining about the lack of a personal presentation. It ultimately appeared that Mr. John Conway, Acting Superintendent, was going to make the presentation. When he started speaking I realized that he was reading from the same printed material that had already been given to the Commissioners. So I asked some questions.




	Robert Belcher, left & John Conway, right; during heated exchanged with Hood Richardson

That is when I realized we had another School Board shell game. Mr. Conway became uneasy as if someone had limited his speech. Chairman Belcher proved what I suspected when he rose from his seat and came to the podium to interrupt (protect?) Mr. Conway. Belcher said to me, "I was just going to tell him (Mr. Conway) not to answer your questions. We don't intend to answer your questions because you are a county commissioner and you are trying to micromanage the schools..." Belcher would never have felt the need to protect Mr. Conway had he not have given instructions beforehand limiting what could be said; once again proving my point that the School System is determined to not be transparent. I guess I pushed too hard because Chairman Langley began restoring order. I apologize to Mr. Conway for my part in putting him in this no win situation.

But I do not apologize for wanting to know if our students are being taught what they need to be taught and whether they are learning it. No taxpayer of North Carolina or Beaufort County should ever be told "we don't intend to answer your questions" when the questions are about what our students are learning.

The entire Beaufort County School Board has a wonderful opportunity to clear the air, build respect between the County Commissioners and the School Board and give Beaufort County a wonderful gift---transparency. The Shell Game should stop. The School Board should order the new Superintendent along with all staff to simply TELL THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

This School Board should adopt a formal policy that mandates every board member and staff person being transparent. If they want to improve the relationship with the County Commission they should answer every question and they should tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

No Mr. Belcher, that is not "micromanagment." Micromanagment is when the school board chairman tells the staff what to say and what not to say.

And I might add, LEADERSHIP is developing trust and confidence that we can count of getting the information we and the public need and getting it honestly and without a hassle. The TRUTH is not too much to ask for and expect.

When the School Board spends $250,000 of the taxpayer's money it is not "micromanagement" to ask: What is it doing for our students? Do our students know what they need to know about the history of our country? And we still don't know.

Comment

And if he gets his answers....
December 15, 2009 | 06:29 AM

You will know the rest of the story. THANK YOU Hood. Keep pushing, drilling, and gouging. Sooner or later the BOE will HAVE to give the answers. As another story told, Cumberland county spends LESS per student than Beaufort county does to educate our kids. Whats up with that?

Clifton
Way to go Hood
December 15, 2009 | 08:59 AM

my child graduated from BCS and I know he was not taught U. S. History correctly. He got plenty of anti-American history but did not learn about the founding of our country until he got in a U. S. History course at ECU. This is an absurd situation we have in our schools. Good luck on getting it corrected

Edward T
School Board, just rubber stamps for the Superintendant.
December 15, 2009 | 11:02 AM

Problem is most of the School Board Members are rubber stamps for the Superintendants "suggestions."
Years ago, when I was still unfortunate enough to have children in the public schools here, I tried to question one Board member. (he was later indicted for selling drugs out of his pharmacy.) Oh, I digress... when questioned by me, his response was. "Look we don't know all this stuff, we have jobs and families and & are busy, that is what we Pay the staff and Superintendant for. Because we don't have time to keep up with all this."
Soooo, your current school board members probably are NOT wearing their "thinking caps." Thinking is hard work. They most likely sit there and allow themselves to be brainwashed by the so called "experts."

Why not find out what district you are in and then LOBBY that board member.

Puddingtane
I agree!!!
December 15, 2009 | 11:08 AM

I have had three children graduate from BCS and not one of them learned U. S. History. If you have a child who has taken U. S. History why the Bill of Rights was adopted and see if they can tell you. Ask them what "Enumerated powers" are or how the Supreme Court gets the power to rule an act of Congress unconstitutional. And none of my children made lower than a B in history or civics. Two made IV and one made III on history. But don't get me started on economics.
It is just pitiful what is not being taught in our schools.

Mother of Three
Founding Fathers, Terrorist?? Some teach it!
December 15, 2009 | 12:01 PM

Yes, it is a fact. I saw an instructor lecturing a group of law enforcement personnel on that very thing.

Well the last I heard we won the war for independence and that makes the Founding Fathers & the Colonial Armies, all HEROES!

When we win the war we get to write the history praising our victory. That was true BEFORE we were conquered from "within" by radical commie leftist consisting mostly of Democrats.

Lest you forget, Nikita Khrushchev while banging his shoe against the podium said, "we will Defeat you from within."
Now I am not saying that the "we" is Russia, but that the "we" is a widely organized radical left agenda,working for years to "transform" the United States. They have made no secret of it, Obama, SEIU & the "Workers Unite" movement, George Soros who never saw a leftwing org (such as GLSEN) he didn't want to throw money at, & the Environmentalist who have made it a New religion.

For years they have been transforming us, by making you doubt yourself. Taking away your God, your religion, even your own American History and Pride, replacing it with Godless self- loathing, immorality, degenerate sexual perversion, & finally Earth Worship (your new God). Yes indeed even children are being taught to Pledge Allegience to the Earth. The schools are the battle field. If they can transform your children they have won, as we are all told, "the children" are our future.
Bull, at this point, the 20 and 30 year olds are our future. I hope they will soon recognize the scam being played on them by the radical Left. Demand accountability from the schools!

Puddingtane
December 15, 2009 | 03:09 PM

It is sad that schools teach children to hate the country they live in. We are being destroyed from within and teachers are being made to make this happen by what they are forced to teach if they want to keep their jobs.

The school board and superintendant should answer to the Board of Commissioner, they represent the taxpayers and their questions should be answered. If they don't answer they should not receive any more taxpayer money. WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? One could only think it must be really bad if they won't answer simple questions about the history being taught.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the teachers being forced to teach hatred and to the children and their families that have to suffer in BC school system. From all I read it is not a place that any child should be going, it sounds horrible.

No name
ok, I'm on board with Hood on this one
December 16, 2009 | 08:44 PM

It almost makes me think that maybe Mr. Belcher isn't SURE exactly what students are taught about US history in the schools. Better to say nothing than to later be found ignorant? It isn't necessary to understand your subject in order to manage it, is it? (oh, how many times I've heard this in non-school management situations)

On the other side of the coin; if I were in a position to have access to the facts (as I would HOPE that Mr. Belcher is) that I would make a point of discovering exactly the nature of the questions that our children are faring poorly on and scoping out the US history textbooks and curriculums that are actually being taught in various grade levels.

I myself graduated from WHS over 20 years ago and you can believe US history was not a particularly difficult course to pass THEN, at least if you showed up for class every day. I don't think it's liberal teaching; I think it's just the dumbing down of the population in general and the mainstreaming of all students in mandatory classes for graduation. Maybe that IS the basic problem here, everyone has to have it to graduate so it's taught at the very lowest academic level possible and the chapter tests are designed accordingly. (unless something has changed since I graduated in 1981. Not to mention that our history classes at the time tended to be taught by teachers that specialized in other areas...such as PE...I bet Mr. Belcher remembers this). For the record, neither civics nor economics was taught at WHS the years I attended and I doubt that has changed. Neither did our history classes include more than the very most basic civics at the federal level and mostly historical, not current. The only business class I took covered how to write checks, and how to establish credit.

Point of interest if only to myself; after all my years and my childrens' years in schools...if there was ever a 'curriculum' teachers were required to cover for any given class, very few are organized or bold enough to share it with the parents or the students. The 'textbook' , when there IS one...and I wouldn't assume that there is or that everyone gets a copy these days...is apparently meant to represent the curriculum whether it all gets covered or not. (I distinctly remember most of US history being reading time to yourself in class; obviously some don't pick up as much information this way)

It might would be helpful for the commissioners to take a look at the textbooks for each grade that teaches US history? Might be revealing if you had access to students to do a student survey on what was covered, how it was covered, and how more knowledgeable they felt at the end of the class year. I think we would all learn a thing or two.

Unfortunately access to students isn't something any of us outside the system get unless we have kids of our own in school and then it's mostly to our own and their friends and alot of second hand hearsay.

cj
What's going on here????
December 17, 2009 | 07:29 PM

On Friday 12/18/09, PS JONES School is having a basketball game between members of the faculty and the boys Basketball team. Ok. That's fine and good. But they are charging students $2.00 to see a game DURING SCHOOL!!!!!!! Does our school board have no shame??????? The kids are given a choice. Pay up to see the game or go sit in another classroom. This is as bad as the school in Wayne county SELLING higher grades. WHY, WHO, WHERE, AND WHEN does the BCS system get the nerve to do this and FORCE CHILDREN to pay for something they do not even care about. The school wants to raise money so they force kids into a no win situation. I have come to the conclusion that EVERY Board member, secretary, office personnel, Principal, assistant principle , guidance counselor, kitchen staff and any one else involved in this fiasco should be THROWN OUT on their butts. Imagine teaching our kids that if you don't like something, throw money at it. This is sickening. How far are we going to let these people go????

Clifton