Guilford County, NC Superintendent

I want to post a few headlines and comments that I have read in today's Sunday editions of local newspapers: The Greensboro News & Record and The High Point Enterprise. I feel like the topics that I may mention that are regional stories can have impact in other areas of the country as well.

Maurice "Mo" Green has recently been appointed the Superintendent of the Guilford County School system. He does not come with the traditional pedigree of a school superintendent. Although he worked with the Charlotte/ Mecklenburg Schools, his formal training is as a lawyer. I am not here to knock him, his ideas to improve our schools, or his abilities.I hope he does well actually. I will just state some facts and make some comments.

Mr. Green's salary is set at $250,000 a year. He was also set to receive a set percent raise each year he held his position. This year he chose to not receive his raise which amounts to $7500 based, he says, on the overall state of our economy. He felt it would be in bad taste to take that raise at this time. It's a nice gesture, but I've just got say hmmm! My second topic that the N&R chose to run today is that Mo does not plan to raise the budget. He also has come to the conclusion that a reorganization is needed to improve the district's listening skills and responsiveness. He will implement something that the Charlotte area did--"learning communities" -- they allow quicker response times and better informs school system decision makers. Again...hmmm... has our $250,000 been well spent?