Does our school system have to run scared?

Well, what do you think about this? I know what I think, and I know you know I'm going to tell you! Then I want you to leave a comment and tell me what you think.

The ACLU has written to Gwinnett County Schools, demanding that the system unblock the web-filtering technology that is keeping students from viewing gay sites at Brookwood High School in Snellville. Granted, they're not talking about unblocking gay porn sites, but gay/transgender etc informational sites. So, okay -- that's educational and may be needed. But so are heterosexual educational sites, but the school blocks those, too.

Heck, my daughter can't send a text message from their cell phone to me from South Gwinnett High School whenever and wherever she wants to, because it's blocked. As they would say, "Derp." Do my daughters complain that it's unfair or wrong? Sure they do. But here's the kicker -- I DON'T CARE  that they don't like it. They can send texts another time. They are there for learning the required curriculum. I feel the same about kids viewing any kind of sex education sites, even if they're informational -- are they part of the school's CURRICULUM? No, they are not.

You can say (and I'd probably agree with you here) that kids who think they are gay or want to learn about transgender issues can't always go talk to a parent or even a trusted adult about their concerns. But the same can be said of heterosexual teens considering sex issues.

The sticking point of the news report below to me is that sites that help teens NOT be gay ARE accessible. It should be all of them or none of them in my opinion. I think the solution to this situation will be to approach websites the same way the school libraries and county libraries approach books.

We may need to make it ALL available, then let citizens file a complaint and review of the material in question and it goes before the school or library board. Great. More bureaucracy. So I ask you --

• Do we need to provide everything for everybody?

• If sex information sites are filtered for everybody, isn't that fair?

• Isn't it enough that they are learning English (now called Language Arts to probably please some special-interest group), math, science, etc on the taxpayer's dime?

Are gay rights important? Sure, just like any human being's rights are important.  But I also care about all our citizen's rights to have an educational system that isn't pushed around by every special interest group. If it was Planned Parenthood that wanted access to sites with Planned Parenthood information unblocked, I'd have a problem with that, too.

My gay friends will probably not like this post. But for the record, I don't consider you my "gay friends," I consider you my friends. And that's where I am on this issue. Tell me what you think.

ACLU Warns School District Over Web Filtering
WGCL Atlanta
by Steve Kiggins, CBS Atlanta Reporter SNELLVILLE, Ga. -- The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Gwinnett County Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to demand Brookwood High School stop using web filtering technology to block lesbian ...

Gwinnett Schools Under Fire For Blocking LGBT Websites
WSB Atlanta
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- The Gwinnett County School district is under fire for blocking access to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) related websites. The ACLU is now demanding that the district lift the filters, or they could face a lawsuit. ...

3 Snellville schools honored

Three Snellville elementary schools will be recognized for 8 consecutive years of achieving AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). The schools will be awarded Title I Distinguished School designation at a Gwinnett County Board of Education meeting tonight.

The schools are: Britt Elementary School, Doris Jones, Principal; Shiloh Elementary School - Betty Ann Schoeneck, Principal; Norton Elementary School, Dr. Daundria Phillips, Principal.

Title I provides reserved administrative funds to reward school districts that made the greatest gains in the percent of children in the Economically Disadvantaged category who meet or exceed state standards on assessments.   The awards are $50,000 each.

For complete agenda of tonight's meeting, visit www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/Board.nsf/Public

Food fights shut down school cafeteria

This isn't Snellville news, but Lilburn news...however, it relates to Gwinnett County Schools, so I decided to share my thoughts here on this topic.

Berkmar High School in Lilburn is having some challenges keeping students in the mindset for learning. Recently, the principal had to suspend all student's privilege to the cafeteria due to ongoing food fights. I think it's a great idea to shut down the cafeteria so students can learn to appreciate it. Instead of being able to use the cafeteria, the students will eat lunch in their 5th period classrooms. They'll have healthy lunches, but limited choices of what they can eat...and of course, they won't get to sit with their friends.

Unfortunately, the majority of the school population is having to pay for the issues of the few - and those who instigated this are not going to be very popular with the rest of the students. Even when I was in middle school and high school, I thought food fights were dumb.

I'm all for using peer pressure and natural consequences to teach students that disrespectful behavior won't be tolerated in our schools. We don't pay taxes so kids can be unappreciative little jerks. We pay taxes so we can have an educated population.

I only hope that parents of the 'non-trouble' kids won't complain and want this plan revoked. Hey, sorry your kid is affected by this, but please allow school administrators to enforce discipline to help all our children learn about life! Sometimes life isn't fair, and we all are harmed by the 'crimes' of others.

So that's my opinion, and here's the news story. Let me know how you feel about this.

Gwinnett School Suspends Cafeteria Lunches
WSB Atlanta

Parents join forces to alter school redistricting plans

Since the redistricting maps were unveiled last month, the district's central office has received about 1,000 formal notices from parents, many seeking a change in the proposed boundaries. More opinion forms are expected to filter in from schools affected by the redistricting.

The redistricting proposal, set for fall 2010, relocates some 9,000 students in 29 schools as the district cuts back on trailers and draws boundaries for six new schools. The Gwinnett school system, the largest in the state, has about 160,000 students.

The east Gwinnett group, comprised of parents in Snellville and Loganville, is drafting strategies to stop the proposed relocation of about 200 students at Magill Elementary in Loganville to Britt Elementary in Snellville.

The problem, according to parent Shoshone Abdulkariem of Snellville, is that Britt is already overcrowded. Just as important, she said, parents are upset that their children would now graduate from Britt to Snellville Middle School, while Magill students would graduate to nearby Midway Middle, which is set to open next year.

"A lot of residents here felt they had a hand in building that school," Abdulkariem said.

Parent Andrea Raphael of Snellville said the group turned in 160 opinion forms to the district office Wednesday, the deadline for the questionnaires.

"Britt already has about 900 students, and they want to reduce that to about 530," Raphael said. "They'll achieve it with a lot less disruption if Magill students stay at Magill and fewer students are removed from Britt."

The group is sending about a dozen representatives door-to-door to summon more support and address the board of education when it hears public input Nov. 19.

Greg Stanfield, director of planning for the district, said the case of Britt Elementary is part of a domino effect that involves several schools beginning with the new Snell Elementary. All suggestions will be considered, he said. The opinion forms will be reviewed by an educator and a parent based at each of the 29 schools affected. From there, he said, the planning department will evaluate any suggested modifications.

Parents organize to alter redistricting plans
Atlanta Journal Constitution

Gwinnett Schools win $250K prize

Gwinnett Schools didn't win the big Broad (rhymes with 'road') award but did win a prize of $250,000.

Gwinnett Schools Awarded $250,000 Prize
WXIA-TV
district. Broad researchers noted that between 2006 adn 2008, the achievement gap between the county's Hispanic and white students narrowed by 9 percentage ...

Gwinnett Schools win $250k for scholarships
Access North Georgia
By Staff UNDATED - Gwinnett County schools win $250000 in scholarships as a finalist for the country's most improved urban school district. ...

Gwinnett schools get $250000 as Broad Prize finalist
Atlanta Journal Constitution
By Nancy Badertscher and D. Aileen Dodd Gwinnett County schools received a $250000 award Wednesday as one of the top five finalists for the "Nobel Prize" in ...

Gwinnett doesn't win ed Nobel Prize, but still gets bundle
Atlanta Journal Constitution
I have seen that firsthand at many of the Gwinnett schools I've visited over the years. If he believes employees are competent, he seems to allow them to ...

Related:

Gwinnett County Schools finalist in Broad prize for urban education excellence (April 2009)

Gwinnett County Schools CLOSED

Hi! Welcome to My Snellville Blog. THIS POST IS AN OLD ONE from March of 2009. So instead, see this post from 2010 about Gwinnett County Schools closed due to snow/ice conditions.

Gwinnett County Schools will be closed today, according to the WSB Closings list.

I used the last bit of coarse salt that I had on the porch and driveway. I had trouble walking back up the driveway. It's icy, and if you know Gwinnett County Schools, they don't close unless things are really bad. I thought I was doing so well, buying that box of coarse salt back when the weather was warm. But I should have bought 5 or 6 boxes. (Oh durnit, when you need it, you can't get out to the store to get it)

Do Snellville Police and emergency services (and yourself) a favor...stay home and off the roads today!

Related links:
Channel 11 has closings organized by type of facility.

Hi! Welcome to My Snellville Blog. THIS POST IS AN OLD ONE from March of 2009. I think you'd prefer this post from 2010 about Gwinnett County Schools closed due to snow/ice conditions.

Top 5 Gwinnett County School ACT Results

ACT College Entrance Exam Results

• Parkview High School: 24
• Brookwood High School: 23.8
• Collins Hill: 23.4
• Duluth High: 23
• Peachtree Ridge High: 22.9
  

SAT Scores are expected later this month.

....More from AJC

Gwinnett County News

University growing in Gwinnett
Online Athens - Athens,GA,USA
The University of Georgia will expand graduate and continuing
education courses in Gwinnett County after the university vacated
a campus there this month to ...

Suwanee taking fight with Catholic school to high court
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By REBECCA McCARTHY A Gwinnett County judge has issued
an order allowing a private Catholic school to build a new campus
in Suwanee, but the city has ...

Gwinnett asked math teachers to stay for summer school
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By D. AILEEN DODD Gwinnett County Schools began to prepare
teachers for higher than normal failure rates on the standardized
math exam for middle-schoolers ...

Murder Victim's Husband: 'She Was My Life'
WSBtv.com - Atlanta,GA,USA
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A public plea today from a
Gwinnett County man, almost a month after his wife's murder.
Harold Wenal says he's desperate to find out ...

Jury awards $5 million to family of drowned patient
Live 5 News - Charleston,SC,USA
hospital bathtub shower eight years ago. (AP) - A jury has
awarded $5 million to the family of a woman who drowned in a
Gwinnett County...

Public hearings seek feedback on millage
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
School officials said the rate is necessary to support the 2009
fiscal-year budget for Gwinnett County Public Schools, which
is nearly $1.9 billion. ...

Gwinnett places focus on the fallen
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Before the ceremony began, members of Gwinnett County's
honor guard stood at attention as family members and friends
gathered. Some touched the monument, ...

Ruling gives private Catholic school hope
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By BY REBECCA McCARTHY Gwinnett County Judge
George Hutchinson issued an order that paves the way for
the private Catholic school to proceed on plans to ...

File Under Snore

I just received the Fall 2007 publication from Gwinnett County Schools.
It's called the Communique'

My sincere apologies for the people who create this newsletter, because I know that a lot of time and effort has gone into it, and it's not your fault I'm sure.....but I just have to say - it's boring. Booooorrrrinnng. Boring with a capital B. (hey, B also stands for Bureaucratic!) Again, I'm very sorry. I know you are just doing your job.

Now look - I will read anything. I will even read the backs of shampoo bottles, so you know from that, I am a boring person. So I know how to recognize extreme boring when I see it. It would be nice if at least parts of it were interesting looking enough to get some students to read it.

I wondered if it's worth the expense of printing and mailing out. I mean, if I won't read it, I can tell you that probably hardly anyone else is either. Could our education funds be spent better?
It is in only 3 colors (exciting burgundy, classic midnight black, and dazzling gray) so maybe it's not very expensive to produce.

I looked through it to see if I could find any interesting news in it to post to this blog but I kept dozing off. I'm sorry, I just can't force my brain to process phrases like "System-level initiatives anchor commitment to environmental stewardship."

PS: If you decide to take up reading the backs of shampoo bottles, in my opinion, L'Oreal Kids Shampoo bottles are the best read.

Photo Credit: Mary R. Vogt, a talented contributor to MorgueFile.com