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EditorPS
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Posted: Aug 5th, 2006 01:21 pm |
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Since taking over the helm in January 2006, Principal Angelo Kidd has been hard at work to get NWHS back on track following a period that some describe as "unrest." The brief tenure of Dr. Wanda LaGrand has been characterized by one of neglect, the hiring of too many unqualified teachers, and the lack of innovative ideas to improve and enhance the environment and educational experience at Northwest High, Guilford County's largest, and traditionally top-performing high school.
What do you think about the changes you're seeing and hearing about? Are teachers being more carfully selected? Did any of your students have an experience last year in which a teacher was obviously struggling, then possibly salvaged through attention and support toward the end of the year? Like the idea of delayed first period on Fridays? How about the line of communication to the top decision maker?
Running a school of 2,400 students and about 150 staff members is a challenge! Given our present resources, do you have any suggestions for how to improve on the environment and educational experience at Northwest High?
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DToney
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Posted: Aug 5th, 2006 01:53 pm |
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| One thing I would like to see is my daughter's schedule.... she & I were talking with one of her friends last night and apparently they were told that they should be getting them in the mail soon... anyone know when?
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work. - Thomas Edison
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Anna Diemer
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| Joined: | Jan 16th, 2006 |
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Posted: Aug 8th, 2006 09:42 pm |
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DToney, I received my schedule in the mail today, so your daughter's schedule should be on the way.
The first time I heard about the delaying of first period, I was immediately turned off ot it. However, I think it has potential to be a good thing. As long as I am not forced to use that time for something that I don't need (ie: SAT prep--I've taken the test three times!), then that thirty minutes will be very useful to me.
I got the chance to speak with Mr. Kidd yesterday (about something for my Girl Scout Gold Award), and I do like his philosophy--at least, what of it I know.
Although I'm a good student and I've adapted well, Northwest is still a hostile environment (especially socially!). Hopefully, the new programs will help.
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Cracker Jax
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Posted: Aug 11th, 2006 05:12 am |
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EditorPS wrote: Since taking over the helm in January 2006, Principal Angelo Kidd has been hard at work to get NWHS back on track following a period that some describe as "unrest."
Running a school of 2,400 students and about 150 staff members is a challenge!
We were very fortunate to have 6 wonderful teachers last year at the High School. I hear all of these horror stories about other people's kids having horrible teachers or no teacher at all and it makes me wonder if we were blessed with the only good teachers over there.
The kids are very intuitive and most of the information about "the karma" at the school comes from them. About half of the wonderful teachers that we had loved Mr. Kidd and the other half could not stand him.
I talked to a teacher (not one of my child's teachers) during a competition last year and he told me that Mr. Kidd was great. He said that if a teacher didn't like him then it was probably because they were being forced to "toe the line" which they didn't have to do before his arrival.
I have trouble taking that statement as the gospel because 2 of our teachers were new to the school and one was a first year teacher and they had issues with Kidd but would never go into detail as to what the issues were.
I just hope all 6 of these teachers were retained and more like them have been hired!
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Opinions in this post are mine. Do not copy, distribute, mass mail or quote out of context without my consent.
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DToney
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Posted: Aug 11th, 2006 12:54 pm |
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| We had a terrible time with my daughter's English teacher. The original teacher assigned to her class got a promotion & her replacement came about 3-4 weeks into the year... and only lasted about 3 weeks! This lady was from California & the kids really loved her! She was down to earth and made learning fun... but then her co-workers seemed to think she didn't fit in or something and the students were actually told from one of the other teachers when she was out one morning that she would not be back. She was back and when the students told her what they had been told by this other teacher, she was furious and ended up quitting after all. The final replacement was not named for several weeks! The students had no one to get them into the library and were actually turned around at one point and sent back to class because they did not have a teacher present... so they could not do the research for an assignment that was due, they had papers lost, they had assignments completed that had to be redone... it was truly a mess! My honor roll student had an "F" which was resolved through intervention by me. I sure hope we don't have to deal with any mess like that this year!
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work. - Thomas Edison
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zippitydoodah
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Posted: Aug 17th, 2006 04:40 pm |
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I think my child had the same teacher, DToney. It was not a good situation. Assignments were turned in to various teachers who substituted, who "lost" or "misplaced" them, so kids either got a 0 for assignments or had to redo them.
The teacher who was finally hired was not very well suited for the class. I heard from kids that she had been home-schooled and had just graduated from college in Dec. and the kids were mean to her and made her cry almost every day.
My child, who has always been an excellent writer, was given terrible grades on all her writing assignments by this teacher. sometimes she would make something wrong, then when my child made the change she wanted and turned the paper back in, she would mark it wrong again. As an interesting point, my child made a 4 on the state writing test, so it doesn't sound like this teacher's assessment of their writing skills was very accurate. I heard her contract wasn't renewed.
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DToney
Member
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Posted: Aug 17th, 2006 05:46 pm |
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zippy, I sure hope her contract was NOT renewed.... she was terrible! My daughter has always been on the honor roll & for her to have anything less than a B was very rare. I just hate that they would not give the California teacher a chance! The kids really liked her a lot... & they were LEARNING because she made it interesting.
Another doozie teacher was her math teacher. He did not care what they did & at first would allow them to listen to their personal radios in class. That stopped from pressure from others. But mine told me that the boys would give him grief and he never had control of his classroom.
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work. - Thomas Edison
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